NEWS

Protection of India’s sovereignty and integrity is to be ensured at any cost, Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari said after taking over as the chief of Indian Air Force (IAF) at the Air Headquarters in Delhi on Thursday. He called upon Defence Minister Rajnath Singh soon after taking charge.

His predecessor, Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria, retired on Thursday,

Before becoming the Vice Chief of the Air Force in July, Chaudhari was commanding the “Sword Arm” of the IAF, as the Western Air Command is called, since it is responsible for parts of the border with Pakistan on the west and China in the north.

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal stated that his party's Chief Ministerial candidate will be someone Punjab can be proud of. The AAP leader is expected to make major announcements ahead of Punjab's Assembly elections scheduled for next year, the party said.

"We've said again and again that we will give you such a CM face that all of you will be proud, Punjab will be proud. We're holding a detailed press conference tomorrow," Kejriwal was quoted as saying by a news agency.

Also, the political situation in the state is highly volatile with Captain Amarinder Singh resigning and Charanjit Singh Channi taking oath as the new CM less than two weeks ago.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed confidence that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win the next year's assembly polls in the state easily. In fact, the chief minister said that the party will surpass its 2017 seat tally of 312 and win between 325 and 350 seats.

In an interview to a national daily, Adityanath, 49, rattled off his government's record in terms of governance, economic development, and law-and-order to buttress his claim.

Adityanath is confident that he will overcome any anti-incumbency by focusing on his government’s record of governance and getting the caste equation right.

With opposition parties promising freebies before the Assembly polls scheduled in the hill-state next year, BJP national president J P Nadda on Wednesday asked party workers to not let Uttarakhand’s sacred land get polluted by “politics of lies and frauds”.

He emphasised that while workers in other parties are “vyaktinishth (loyal to individuals)”, the BJP cadre believes in “vicharnishth (loyalty to an ideology)” and “kartavyanisht (loyalty towards duty)”.

In an online speech, addressing BJP’s shakti-kendra conveners and in-charges of all 70 Assembly constituencies, Nadda said that left with no issues, other political parties have started “politics of lies and frauds”. Without naming leaders from any party, he asked BJP workers to expose before the people those who go missing after making fake and alluring promises.