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The Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar has reportedly concluded the preparations for a significant opposition meet scheduled to take place in Patna on June 23, according to sources. The event is expected to focus on strategising ways to defeat the ruling BJP in the upcoming general elections next year. Around 15 political parties from across the country are set to participate in this crucial gathering.

The venue for the meeting, as per report, will be the 'Nek Samvad Kaksha' located inside the official residence of Bihar Chief Minister at 1 Anne Marg in Patna. The meeting is scheduled to commence at 11 a.m. and continue until 4 p.m.

Congress workers in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi district held prayers and recited Hanuman Chalisa on Monday as they celebrated the birthday of their party leader and former MP Rahul Gandhi who turned 53.

Along with district Congress president Pradeep Singhal, the party workers participated in 'bhajan-keertan' and recitation of Hanuman Chalisa.

The Congress hit out at the Modi government on Monday for awarding the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 to the publisher Gita Press from Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh termed this decision, taken by a jury led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as a "travesty". He compared it to awarding Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar and Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse.

While slamming the Centre, Jairam referred to a 2015 book by Gita Press which was authored by a journalist named Akshaya Mukul and claimed that it reveals the "stormy relations" that the publisher had with Gandhi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US is set to take forward the roadmap for defence industrial cooperation, which envisages greater links between defence industries and research organisations of the two sides, foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra said on Monday. The visit should be seen more in the context of forging links for joint development and production of military platforms and collaboration in critical technologies, and not individual defence deals, Kwatra told a briefing on the prime minister’s visit to the US and Egypt beginning June 21.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Monday warned people that they will have to face the consequences if they do not stop violence in the state. He was reacting to the injury suffered by an Army soldier after unidentified men resorted to unprovoked firing in Imphal West district on Sunday night.

"Stop it (violence). Otherwise, they will face the consequences. I also appeal to the people... Meitei people who are with arms ... Not to attack anything and maintain peace so that we can restore normalcy in the state," Singh told reporters in Imphal.