The meeting comes after several senior party leaders such as Shashi Tharoor and Karan Singh voiced concerns over lack of clarity on the leadership issue.

NEW DELHI: The Congress’ top decision-making body, CWC, met here on Saturday and began deliberations on finding Rahul Gandhi’s successor as the party president.

The party’s top brass, including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Ahmed Patel and P Chidambaram, went into a huddle at the All India Congress Committee headquarters here to find a solution to the leadership crisis triggered by Rahul Gandhi’s resignation following the Lok Sabha polls debacle.

Besides Rahul Gandhi, several state unit chiefs of the party, including Congress’ Rajasthan president Sachin Pilot, were also present in the meeting.

The meeting comes after several senior party leaders such as Shashi Tharoor and Karan Singh voiced concerns over lack of clarity on the leadership issue.

The top Congress leadership held a meeting on Friday with its state unit chiefs, leaders of its state legislature parties, general secretaries and in-charges, where they were told by Rahul Gandhi that the new party chief would be appointed within the next few days after wider consultations, sources said.

The meeting was held at the party’s Gurdwara Raqab Ganj Road “war room” to discuss the government’s decision to abrogate the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir and divide the state into two Union territories.

“Some frank talking marked @incIndia consultative meet with a wide range of party leaders last evening. Convened on Kashmir, the comments went beyond and urged the party to be more pro-active in anticipating major issues and seizing the initiative. Commendable exercise; should be repeated,” Tharoor tweeted.

Senior Congress leaders also met Sonia Gandhi at her residence here on Friday.

Sources said senior leaders Ahmed Patel, A K Antony and KC Venugopal were learnt to have discussed with Gandhi certain names of probables, one of whom could be made the interim president of the party.

The names of senior Congress leaders Mukul Wasnik, Mallikarjun Kharge, as well as younger leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot are doing the rounds for the top post.

Mumbai Congress chief Milind Deora earlier this week batted for either Scindia or Pilot to succeed Rahul Gandhi.

A number of partymen have expressed their opinion in public, saying the delay in selecting the new Congress chief is harming the party.

Last Sunday, Tharoor had said the Congress Working Committee or CWC should appoint an interim president immediately and then hold polls for the party chief’s post as a leader elected by workers will be empowered and have more credibility.

Interestingly, even though Rahul Gandhi had ruled out the possibility of a family member succeeding him, several leaders such as Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Tharoor have voiced support for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra throwing her hat in the ring.

The party has also been grappling with a series of desertions by leaders from Karnataka and Maharashtra, the latest being that of ex-Congress Rajya Sabha chief whip Bhubaneswar Kalita and MP Sanjay Sinh.

Several leaders cited indecision and confusion within the rank and file of the party as a reason to quit.

The party is hoping to resolve the leadership issue and move forward quickly with assembly elections in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana coming up.

According to tweets shared by the official handle of Delhi’s Deputy Commissioner of Police, Cyber Crime Cell, the 28-year-old delivery boy Abhishek Tiwari ‘gave life threats’ to Kejriwal.

NEW DELHI: A 28-year-old man who allegedly sent death threats by email to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been arrested in Mumbai, police said on Friday.

According to the police, the accused, identified as Abhishek Tiwari, who works as a delivery boy with a furniture firm in Mumbai, was not satisfied with his job and his life and wanted to do something big to draw the attention of people.

Tiwari had also sent a bomb threat by email to a national political party’s headquarters in the capital.

Tiwari, a school dropout from Unnao, had been living in Mumbai since 2016. He came up with the idea of sending threatening emails to political leaders in July, said Anyesh Roy, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Cybercrime Unit of Special Cell.

“The first such mail that was sent by him was about a local municipal office-bearer of a major political party in Mumbai. Disappointed with the lukewarm response, he upped the ante and decided to send threat mails to senior political leaders,” said Roy. Tiwari sent threatening mails to the Delhi chief minister, Roy said.

Three police teams were formed for arresting the accused. Based on technical analysis of inputs collected regarding the origin of an e-mail, connected mobile phone and IP logs, teams were rushed to Mumbai and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. With a deep analysis of technical inputs, his location was traced to Nalasopara, Mumbai. The police searched through hundreds of chawls until the accused was nabbed from one.

Power outage is a major issue across the district as strong winds have resulted in trees falling on electric lines in many places

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As incessant rain continued to wreak havoc in the northern districts of Kerala, the southern part of the state experienced destruction on a lesser scale.

Around  50 houses were destroyed and 19 people including eight women and four children were shifted to the newly opened relief camp at Kurisumuttom Grandhashala in Vilavoorkkal panchayat of Kattakada. 
People of five houses were shifted to the camp after a tree fell on their houses.

Public told to stay safe

The district administration has warned people that the rivers now have strong currents and that they must stay away from venturing into the water. 
Power outage is a major issue across the district as strong winds have resulted in trees falling on electricity lines in many places. Overnight rain has left the pits dug on the side of Karamana-Kaliyakkavila highway filled with water. 

The administration has also issued a warning against travelling to hilly areas. “Boating has also been restricted,” said an official. 

Dam shutter raised
The shutter of Aruvikkara dam was raised by 1.10 metre and water is being systematically discharged. If needed, the shutter might be raised a little more. 
“We are releasing water from the dam as the water level has risen close to its capacity. People living on the riverside have been warned,” said District Collector K Gopalakrishnan.

Relief Material 
Collection Centres 
Thiruvananthapuram Corporation (24×7) – 9496434503
Law College, PMG
Karyavattom Campus
Technopark, Kazhakoottam
Opposite Kedaram Shopping complex
Pattom Govt Model Girls School 
Students Centre, PMG
Bharat Bhavan (24×7) -9995484148

Although the overall situation has improved slightly, the operation to evacuate the flooded areas and moving stranded people to safer locations and providing relief to them is still on.

PUNE: The flood situation in Kolhapur and Sangli districts in western Maharashtra showed signs of improvement on Saturday as water started to recede from inundated areas, officials said.

However, it would take at least two to three days for the water to completely recede from the districts, they said.

Although the overall situation has improved slightly, the operation to evacuate the flooded areas and moving stranded people to safer locations and providing relief to them is still on.

“There is an improvement in the overall situation. Water is receding, albeit slowly. Currently, the water level in Kolhapur is at 52 feet although the danger level is 47 feet. The highest water level during the current flood was 57 feet,” Abhinav Deshmukh, Kolhapur Superintendent of Police, told PTI.

As rains have stopped in the district, the situation is likely to improve further, officials said.

In neighboring Sangli district as well, the water level is receding gradually.

Till 6 am, it stood at 56.7 feet, the officials said.

Deshmukh said considering the current situation, it might take another two to three days for the water to recede from Kolhapur district completely.

The operation to evacuate the flood-hit areas is going on, but there is no life-threatening situation is there in the district, he said.

“Currently the evacuation is mainly concentrated in Shirol and Kurundwad tehsils of Kolhapur,” the officer said, adding that copters are being used to drop food packets.

Meanwhile, three more bodies were recovered in the boat capsize incident that took place on Thursday near Brahmanal village in Palus tehsil of Sangli district during the flood rescue operations.

Nine persons had drowned and as many others had gone missing in the incident.

“We have recovered three more bodies, including that of a girl,” the officer said.

With the recovery of three more bodies, the death toll in the incident has gone up to 12.

A total of 26 Navy teams with 110 personnel and 26 boats have been deployed in Kolhapur and Sangli districts.

They will continue to remain stationed in the area till the flood situation improves, a defence statement said.

Additional 15 teams of the Navy from Visakhapatnam will reach Kolhapur by Saturday afternoon to assist in the rescue operation, a defence spokesperson said.

At present there are 14 Navy teams in Kolhapur district and 12 in Sangli helping the state administration in evacuating the flood-hit areas, the official said.

According to officials, over 2.85 lakh people were rescued due to the devastating floods, from Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Pune and Solapur districts and the death toll due to floods in the five districts was 29 till Friday.

According to an official, the discharge from Almatti dam in Karnataka on the Krishna is 5,00,000 cusec (cubic foot per second), which is expected to ease the floods upstream.

The address comes days ahead of the Prime Minister’s annual Independence Day speech from the ramparts of Red Fort.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation on the historic step to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir and split the state into two Union Territories, informed sources said.

The broadcast will be aired on All India Radio at 4 p.m.

The address comes days ahead of the Prime Minister’s annual Independence Day speech from the ramparts of Red Fort.

Shah appreciated Bangladesh’s policy of not allowing use of its territory by extremists and insurgents for perpetrating violence in other countries including India.

NEW DELHI: Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday raised with Bangladesh India’s concerns over illegal immigration from that country to the Northeast.

The issue was flagged before Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan at the 7th meeting of India-Bangladesh Home Minister Level Talks (HMLT) here.

Shah raised India’s concern regarding the illicit movement of people across the border, with a view to find solutions to this problem especially in Northeast India, an official statement said.

This came ahead of the publication of the final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam on August 31.

When the draft NRC was published last year, 40 lakh names were excluded, leading to a huge political controversy.

Assam and other Northeastern states have been facing the problem of influx from neighbouring Bangladesh through the porus border.

Both the home ministers reaffirmed the need to further curb the menace of trans-border crimes, and therefore agreed to the need for greater co-operation to achieve “our aim of a secure border”, the statement said.

Both sides also reviewed the pending issues related to security and infrastructure at the borders and agreed to take steps to resolve the matters expeditiously.

Shah assured Khan of India’s continuing support for safe and speedy repatriation of the displaced Myanmar citizens sheltered in Bangladesh, for whom India has provided humanitarian assistance in four tranches since September 2017.

The leaders also looked forward to enhancing cooperation in simplifying people-to-people contact and travel for business, health and tourism, including through promoting connectivity, it said.

This was Shah’s first interaction with a foreign leader after assuming charge as the country’s home minister two months ago.

Following the talks, Shah said in a tweet he “had extensive discussion on the bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh”.

During the meeting, the ministers expressed satisfaction that both countries were working closer than ever before in every sector, including security and border management.

They reiterated their commitment to keep the borders friendly, and in this regard appreciated the close co-operation between their border guarding forces, the statement said.

Shah appreciated Bangladesh’s policy of not allowing use of its territory by extremists and insurgents for perpetrating violence in other countries including India.

Shah congratulated the visiting dignitary on his resumption of the office as home minister of Bangladesh for a second term, and reiterated India’s full support for Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s development agenda.

Both the ministers reiterated the significance attached to the bilateral relationship, that is forged in the 1971 Liberation War, which goes far beyond a strategic partnership.

“Today, our ties are a role model for good neighbourly relations across the world. They are rooted in history, culture, language and shared values of democracy, secularism, development cooperation and countless other commonalities,” the statement said.

India shares a 4,096-km-long border with Bangladesh.