Karnataka Minister H D Revanna sparked a controversy after a video purportedly showing him flinging biscuit packets at flood victims in a relief camp in Hassan district went viral on Monday.

Revanna, PWD Minister and brother of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, was seen picking biscuit packets and hurling them at the people sheltered in the relief camp. Revanna was accompanied by JD (S) MLA AT Ramaswamy who represents Arkalgudu taluk.

As the video clip went viral in the social media besides being aired by TV channels, netizens and BJP leaders termed Revanna’s action as ‘insensitive’.

Senior BJP leader S Suresh Kumar slammed Revanna for the act. “Dear Public Works Minister, throwing biscuits (at the flood victims) is not a public work… Is it the bloated ego, uncivilised behaviour… behind throwing biscuits?” he asked in a Facebook post.

Slamming those who criticized him for hugging the Pakistan Army chief, Punjab cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday said that Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa met him barely for a minute before the swearing-in of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“I did not meet him later,” he told reporters.

Defending his action, Sidhu also said that his seating at the swearing-in in Islamabad on August 18 was changed at the last minute and he did not know who sat next to him.

Without mincing words, he said his visit to Pakistan was a tribute to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who wanted peace between the two countries.

Sidhu said he received a lot of love and affection in Pakistan and was disappointed by some of the reactions in India.

He said he went to Pakistan at the invitation and repeated reminders from Imran Khan.

“Even our government gave permission to me to visit Pakistan. Two days after Pakistan gave him the visa, our External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called me and said that I had been given permission (to go),” Sidhu said.

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday again refused to attend the Tuesday meeting of a committee to select the Lokpal, saying he wouldn’t do so until he gets the status of a full-fledged member instead of a ‘Special Invitee’.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, the Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha said that to exclude the voice of the opposition in a parliamentary democracy would be to exclude and subjugate Parliament.

“… with reference to an office memorandum dated July 6 of the Department of Personnel and Training, inviting me to attend a meeting of the Selection Committee under the Lokpal Act on August 21, I would like to draw your attention to my three letters earlier this year in response to previous invitations to attend the committee meetings on March 1, April 10 and July 19 as a Special Invitee…

“Despite my earlier letters, the government continues to invite me as a Special Invitee, knowing very well what the outcome will be. Perhaps, the government intends this outcome to create another strawman to attack by suggesting that the opposition is not cooperating in implementing the Lokpal Act… there is no provision for a Special Invitee under the Lokpal Act.

“It is deeply embarrassing to Parliament that even after its Select Committee approved amendment to the Lokpal Act to enable leader of the single-largest (opposition) party to be a member of the Selection Committee, the government refuses to bring this amendment before the house.”

The senior Congress leader said that he believed that the process of appointing the Lokpal under such circumstances is “vitiated”.

“…instead of genuinely involving the opposition, the invitation as a Special Invitee without the right of participation, recording of opinion or voting, is being sent out to the opposition.

“Under these circumsatances… I will not be able to attend the committee meeting until the leader of the single-largest opposition (party in the Lok Sabha) is conferred the status of a full-fledged member of the Selection Committee, as envisoned in the Lokpal Act, 2013.”

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not declaring floods in Kerala as national disaster, the Congress on Monday said he did not release enough central fund so as to use the money on self-promotion.

Congress Spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill told reporters that Modi did not believe in the spirit of cooperative federalism and was busy playing petty politics over the natural disaster, which had caused huge loss of life and property in Kerala.

“The relief the Prime Minister gave to Kerala is a classic case of ‘too little too late’. A state witnessing a disaster that cost over Rs 19,000 crore has got only paltry Rs 500 crore from Modi, who spent Rs 5,000 crore on self-promotion and publicity, Rs 35 crore on fitness videos, Rs 1,100 crore on BJP’s Delhi headquarters and Rs 2,000 crore on foreign travels,” Shergill said.

“The Prime Minister is not declaring Kerala floods as a national disaster simply to save central funds for later use on self-promotion. He is not showing large-heartedness towards Kerala because the national treasury will be affected.”

The Congress leader said that the people will realise the infair treatment to Kerala when funds released are compared with relief given to BJP-ruled states like Gujarat and Assam where damage caused by natural disasters was less compared with Kerala, Shergill said.

“Modi should explain to the nation about floods that have taken the lives of nearly 400 persons, displaced 3.5 lakh persons to 3,560 relief camps — if such a disaster does not warrant to be called a national disaster, what else is?” he said.

The pet dog of a 14-year-old girl attacked and bit one of the two men who allegedly raped her near Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, forcing them to flee, police said on Monday.

The incident took place on Friday night in Kareela village of Sagar district, a police officer said, adding the duo was later arrested.

On the night of the incident, the minor girl went out of her house to bring fodder to create smoke for keeping mosquitoes at bay, Motinagar police station in-charge Vipin Tamrakar said.

As she came out of the home, two people, identified as Aishu Ahirwar (39) and Punit Ahirwar (24), overpowered her and took her to a nearby deserted hut at a knife-point, where they allegedly raped her, he said.

The girl shouted for help and her pet dog reached the spot and bit Aishu Ahirwar on his leg. The accused attacked the dog with the knife but the dog continued to bark, Tamrakar said, quoting the victim.

The victim freed herself from the clutches of the accused and ran towards her home. After hearing the noise and the dog’s continuous barking, people from nearby homes rushed towards the hut, forcing the duo to run away, he added.

The victim’s family filed a complaint on Saturday following which the two were arrested on Sunday, he said.

The duo has been booked for rape and abduction under relevant sections of the IPC and also under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the police officer said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s National Democratic Alliance would be back in power, but barely so, if elections were held today, according to India Today’s Mood of the Nation July 2018 (MOTN July 2018) poll. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance may not be able to fulfill its goal of ridding New Delhi of the Modi-Shah duo, but the coalition has much to cheer.

MOTN July 2018 shows the UPA getting a jump of as many as 20 seats in the seat-share forecast compared to MOTN January 2018. According to the biannual poll, the NDA would be just nine ahead of the Lok Sabha halfway mark with 281 seats.

The UPA would win 122 seats while other parties would pick up the remaining 140. In terms of the vote share, the NDA would win 36 per cent of votes polled while the UPA would win 31 per cent. This is a drop of four percentage points for the former and a rise of four percentage points for the Congress-led alliance.

The numbers above are based on the current political climate of the country — for the numbers to hold, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) will need to continue to be a part of the NDA. The numbers will also change if the Janata Dal (Secular) suddenly were to quit the UPA or if the Telugu Desam Party and the J&K Peoples Democratic Party were to become part of any of the national alliances.

NEXT PM OF INDIA: Quite unexpectedly, considering the NDA’s strong showing in MOTN July 2018, Narendra Modi emerges as the clear favourite to be the next prime minister of India. His popularity is (49 per cent) followed by that of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s at 27 per cent. The race, it seems, is only between these two leaders as the third choice is Priyanka Gandhi at a distant 3 per cent. Rahul is also seen as the best alternative to PM Narendra Modi, who maintains his position as the best prime minister of India in the MOTN July 2018.

DEMONETISATION PAIN: One of the biggest policy decisions of the Narendra Modi government, the pain of the shock November 2016 demonetisation exercise hasn’t gone away for India, according to MOTN July 2018. Nearly three-fourths of the respondents said that demonestiation caused more pain than gain; the number (73 per cent) is the same as what it was in MOTN January 2018 but is a steep rise from last year’s MOTN (61 per cent).

RAHUL CAN REVIVE: Asked purely about the Congress, as many as 47 per cent of respondents said that they believe Rahul Gandhi can revive the Congress party. 46 per cent also believe that Rahul as prime minister is something that other leaders of a potential national grand alliance will be able to swallow.

BJP VS CONGRESS: One of the biggest takeaways from MOTN July 2018 poll is that the Bharatiya Janata Party cannot hope to maintain its Lok Sabha supremacy. While the party will remain the single-largest, according to the poll, it will not enjoy its current single-handed majority. The party would win 245 seats (it won 282 in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls), making it dependent on allies. The Congress, on the other hand, would nearly double its 2014 tally by winning 83 seats.

INDIA’S BIGGEST HEADACHE: Unemployment, price rise and corruption remain the three biggest issues of concern for Indians. In fact, all three are issues that seem to have become bigger concerns since the January MOTN poll. Unemployment is an issue of concern for 34 per cent, which is five percentage points more than the previous poll.

MAMATA IS THE BEST: Firebrand Bengal leader Mamata Banerjee has won the poll of the best chief ministers in MOTN July 2018. She is followed by Nitish Kumar and Arvind Kejriwal. Manohar Parrikar, Vijay Rupani, ML Khattar, Devendra Fadnavis and Amarinder Singh are among the chief ministers who have gotten a lowly two per cent popularity mark in the poll.

MODI, NDA DON’T DISAPPOINT: PM Narendra Modi continues to remain a popular prime minister. 55 per cent of respondents have voted favourably when asked about his performance. However, this is a drop of six percentage points compared to MOTN January 2018. A similar percentage of respondents (56 per cent) are satisfied by the NDA government’s performance.

JAITLEY FOR THE WIN: Among the ministers in the Narendra Modi cabinet, Arun Jaitley is seen as the best performing in the MOTN July 2018 poll. Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj follow close behind while Nitin Gadkari and Nirmala Sitharaman rank at fourth and fifth, respectively.

OPPOSITION UNITY FOR REAL: An overwhelming 49 per cent of the respondents in the MOTN July 2018 poll believe that the Opposition unity will hold and translate into a grand electoral alliance against the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. And, Rahul Gandhi is the best person to lead such an alliance, the MOTN poll shows. However, Mamata Banerjee and her TMC are the best suited to lead a non-BJP, non-Congress federal front.

With the flood waters receding rapidly, the Cochin International Airport, one of the three in Kerala and the busiest, will open on August 26 – after 12 days of closure.

Airport authorities have been engaged in a massive cleaning operation of the operational area that was submerged by flood waters.

One side the compound wall of the airport came down after water from the swollen Periyar river and its tributaries, which received an unprecedented amount of water released by major dams, entered the complex, turning it into a virtual sea.

The airport was first closed on August 9, for a few hours, and then on August 15.

Consequent to the flooding, a Rs 60 crore solar power plant, billed as one of the biggest in an airport, was submerged.

The Cochin airport handled 10 million passengers in fiscal 2017-18.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that NOTA (None of the above) option cannot be allowed in the Rajya Sabha elections as it would “wholly undermine the purity of democracy”.

“The option of NOTA may serve as an elixir in direct elections but in respect of election to Council of States which is a different one, it would wholly undermine the purity of democracy and also serve as the Satan of defection and corruption,” said a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud.

Quashing a notification issued by the Election Commission introducing NOTA in Rajya Sabha elections, Chief Justice Misra speaking for the bench said: “The introduction of NOTA in indirect election may on the first glance tempt the intellect but on a keen scrutiny, it falls to the ground, for it completely ignores the role of an elector in such an election and fully destroys the democratic value.”

“The idea may look attractive but its practical applications defeat the fairness ingrained in an indirect election,” the court said.

“More so where the electors’ vote has value and the value of that vote is transferable… It is an abstraction which does not withstand the scrutiny of the ‘cosmos of correctness’,” it added quoting Justice Krishna Iyer.

The apex court said it has to be remembered that “democracy garners its strength from the citizenry trust which is sustained only on the foundational pillars of purity, integrity, probity and rectitude and such strongholds can be maintained only by ensuring the the process of election remains unsullied and unpolluted so that the citadel of democracy stand still as an impregnable bulwark against unscrupulous forces”.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday appointed senior leader Ahmed Patel as the party treasurer and Rajya Sabha member Anand Sharma as the chairperson of its Foreign Affairs Department.

Former Goa Congress chief Luizinho Falerio was appointed General Secretary in-charge of Northeast states, while former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar was made permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee.

Patel, who was political secretary to United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, replaced Motilal Vora as the party treasurer. Vora was made General Secretary (Administration).

Faleiro replaced C.P. Joshi, who belongs to Rajasthan. The state goes to the polls later in 2018. Sharma has replaced party veteran Karan Singh.