NEWS

A day after the formal announcement of alliance among BJP, former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, former Akali Dal veteran, several prominent faces from the state, including former India cricketer Dinesh Mongia and two sitting Congress MLAs, joined BJP at the party headquarters on Tuesday.

The Congress legislators who joined BJP are Fateh Singh Bajwa, MLA from Qadian and brother of senior Congress leader Pratap Singh Bajwa and Balwinder Singh Laddi, sitting MLA from Hargobindpur.

The two Congress MLAs joined the saffron party a day after another senior Congress MLA, Rana Gurmit S Sondhi, joined BJP, reinforcing the assessment in certain quarters that BJP- Amarinder- Dhindsa Front may turn into an alternative platform for those who cannot be accommodated by Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal. Sources said Fateh Singh was apprehensive of losing out to his sibling for the ticket for Qadian. There was also uncertainty about Laddi getting renominated.

In his latest criticism of the UP government, BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Monday reacted strongly against the state government’s decision to impose night curfew to curb resurgence of Covid 19 cases and wondered why no measures were being taken to restrict public rallies in the pollbound state, which could spread the infection.

The Pilibhit MP urged the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh to “honestly decide” after the state government imposed state-wide night curfew to check rising Covid cases, in a tweet on Monday.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday (December 27, 2021) spoke on the COVID-19 situation in the state and said that many people with coronavirus symptoms are coming from outside.

Banerjee, who was addressing a meeting at the state secretariat Nabanna, asked officials to be on guard to prevent any spike in cases.

She also hinted at the reimposition of strict COVID-19 restrictions if the situation warrants.

"Though the situation still remains under control, we should not lower our guards. If required we will reimpose restrictions once more. Not yet, but may be depending on the turn of events in coming days," the TMC chief said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the completed section of the Kanpur Metro rail project in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur city and attend the convocation ceremony of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) on Tuesday, his office has announced.

The new 9km long section stretches from IIT-Kanpur to Moti Jheel in the city.

According to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), PM Modi will also undertake a ride from the IIT Metro station to Geeta Nagar after the inauguration.

The entire length of the Kanpur Metro Rail Project is 32km and is being built at a cost of over ₹11,000 crore.