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Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday met Supreme Court lawyer Kapil Sibal here and lauded his arguments against the Centre's move of abrogating Article 370 in August 2019.

Azad hoped for a "positive outcome" of the case in the apex court which is hearing a bunch of pleas against the scrapping of the constitutional provision granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

During his one-hour-long meeting with Sibal, Azad praised him for defending Article 370 in the Supreme Court.

Amid the political aftershock in Maharashtra since Ajit Pawar parted ways with his uncle and NCP veteran Sharad Pawar, banners were put up by the rival faction seeking the blessings of senior Pawar for his estranged nephew. The poster war continued as banners with the photos of both the Pawars were put up along the road in Beed ahead of Sharad Pawar’s rally in Parli.

The development comes a day after Sharad Pawar dismissed claims of having been made an “offer” by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar after a “secret” meeting between them last week.

The Centre and the Gujarat government on Thursday justified the decision to allow premature release of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case by arguing that they did not commit "rarest of rare crime" and should be given a chance to reform and reintegrate into society. The Supreme Court asked why the remission policy was implemented selectively and why many similarly-placed prisoners continued to languish in jail.

Countering the contentions of Bilkis Bano and other petitioners against remission for the convicts, additional solicitor general SV Raju, appearing for the central and state governments, told a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan that the offence committed by them was not in the rarest of rare category as they were not awarded death sentence and, instead, were given life imprisonment.

Days after his Lok Sabha membership was restored, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was on Wednesday nominated to the parliamentary standing committee on defence.

Congress MP Amar Singh too has been nominated to the committee, according to a Lok Sabha bulletin.

Newly elected Aam Aadmi Party member of Lok Sabha Sushil Kumar Rinku has been nominated to the committee on agriculture, animal husbandry and food processing. Rinku had recently won the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll and is the sole AAP member in the Lower House of Parliament.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Rs 13,000-crore Vishwakarma Yojana, an ambitious scheme to support those engaged in traditional skills.

Under the scheme, craftsmen will get subsidised loans up to Rs 2 lakh at a concessional interest rate of 5%. Announcing the details, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Vishwakarma Yojana will benefit 30 lakh craftsmen families including weavers, goldsmiths, blacksmiths, laundry workers, and barbers.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.