NEW DELHI: Political strategist Prashant Kishor met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar here on Wednesday, a day after leaders of eight opposition parties gathered at Pawar’s residence and discussed various issues facing the country.

This was their third meeting within a fortnight.

Kishor, who was instrumental in the thumping victory of the Trinamool Congress in the West Bengal Assembly polls, had met Pawar over lunch at his residence in Mumbai on June 11.

He again called on the NCP chief at his residence in Delhi on Monday.

These meetings with Pawar has fuelled speculations about the possibility of opposition parties coming together to form a third front against the BJP.

Pawar on Tuesday hosted a meeting of the leaders of eight opposition parties including the Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Left at his residence in Delhi.

However, leaders who took part in that discussions asserted that it was a “non-political” meeting of like-minded individuals by Rashtriya Manch that was floated by former finance minister and TMC vice-president Yashwant Sinha along with others.

Before the opposition leaders’ meeting on Tuesday, Pawar also chaired NCP’s national executive meeting the same day and had “a detailed discussion” with his party leaders on its “future policies”, its role in the next Lok Sabha polls and current national issues.

The opposition party leaders’ meet at Pawar’s residence was attended by National Conference’s leader Omar Abdullah, SP’s Ghanshyam Tiwari, RLD president Jayant Chaudhary, Sushil Gupta from the AAP, Binoy Viswam from the CPI, Nilotpal Basu from CPI-M and TMC vice-president Yashwant Sinha among others.

Former Congress leader Sanjay Jha and Janata Dal-United’s (JD-U) ex-leader Pavan Verma also participated in the meeting.

Besides politicians, several eminent personalities such as Javed Akhtar, former ambassador KC Singh and Justice (retd) A P Shah were also present at Tuesday’s meeting.

PUDUCHERRY: After a long wait of 46 days, the induction of ministers in the NDA government in Puducherry has been set in motion with Chief Minister N Rangasamy handing over the list of five MLAs to be inducted as ministers to Lieutenant Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan on Wednesday. 

Chief Minister Rangasamy had assumed office on May 7.

While three of the members in the list are from AINRC, two are from BJP. 

BJP MLAs A Namssivayam and J Sai Saravana Kumar and AINRC MLA K Lakshminarayanan are among those whose names have been shared, sources said.

The Lieutenant Governor will now send the list to the Ministry of Home Affairs for approval. The swearing-in is likely to take place on Thursday.

Though the BJP had demanded the Deputy Chief Minister post for its minister that demand has been dropped at present.

The portfolios of the ministers will be decided after the swearing-in, Rangasamy said. A similar view was also expressed by BJP national leader in-charge of Puducherry Nirmal Kumar Surana .

The AINRC has 10 MLAs, while the BJP has nine. The ruling combine also has the support of three independent MLAs in the 33-member Legislative Assembly comprising of 30 elected members and three nominated members.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Wednesday sought to know whether movie, ‘Nyay: The Justice’, which is purportedly based on the life of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, has been released as scheduled on June 11 after both the director of the film and the actor’s father gave contradictory statements on the aspect.

The high court was hearing an appeal filed by Rajput’s father Krishna Kishore Singh challenging a single judge’s order refusing to stay the release of the movie or to restrain anyone from using his son’s name or likeness in movies.

A vacation bench of Justices Anup Jairam Bhambhani and Jasmeet Singh raised a preliminary query whether the film has been released on OTT platform as was scheduled on June 11.

Senior advocate Jayant Mehta, representing Rajput’s father, said it has not been released yet.

However, senior advocate Chander Lall for the film director, said his instructions are to the contrary.

To this, senior advocate Harish Salve, also representing Rajput’s father, suggested that this fact be verified before proceeding further with the matter.

The bench said, “let the fact be verified. To verify this aspect, list on June 25.”

The single judge had on June 10, refused to stay the release of several movies, including ‘Nyay: The Justice’, saying these films are neither portrayed as biopic nor factual narration of what transpired in his life.

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji was on Tuesday trolled for his remark that frequent power outages in the state were caused by squirrels running on power lines.

“In certain places power outages occur when two cables come into contact due to squirrels running on the power cable while the tree branches rub onto the other line,” Balaji reasoned during a press briefing.

Ridiculing him, PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss, an ally of the opposition AIADMK, asked, “wonder what could be the reason for power cuts in Chennai nowadays? Maybe squirrels are running underground in Chennai? #Doubt,” he tweeted.

Ramadoss, a medical doctor by profession, said in another tweet, “squirrels run over the power lines where scrub touches the cable, causing power outage: (says) Electricity Minister Senthil Balaji! – Science. Science! #TNpowerCuts.”

Many social media users also questioned Balaji’s logic, while hilarious memes involving squirrels also did the rounds.

During the press briefing, the minister had accused the previous AIADMK government of not initiating maintenance work and said this had led to frequent power cuts.

SALEM: A 40-year-old man from Edapatti in Salem died after being beaten up by police at the Pappanaickenpatti check post on Tuesday evening. The man who fainted in the police assault was taken to Salem government hospital for treatment, where he died on Wednesday morning. Following his death, Salem police have registered a case against a special sub-inspector of police Periyasamy and arrested him.

Murugesan (40) from Idaiyarpatti, Attur in , who was under the influence of alcohol, fainted after beaten up by policemen at Pappanaickenpatti check post on Tuesday evening Following this, special sub inspector Periyasamy attacked him. Murugesan fainted and fell down on the road. Due to the impact, he sustained injuries on his head. His friends took him to Thumbal Primary Health Centre, where he was provided first aid, before being shifted to Attur government hospital. Since his condition worsened, he was referred to Salem Government Hospital, where he died on Wednesday morning.Salem district Superintendent of Police (SP) M Sree Abhinav told that a criminal case was registered against Periyasamy and he was arrested. Further investigations are on, he added.Murugesan’s friend who recorded the police attack on his mobile phone uploaded it on social media, and it subsequently went viral.

PANAJI: The Goa government has increased surveillance along the border adjoining Maharashtra in the wake of the neighbouring state reporting cases of the COVID-19 ‘Delta Plus’ variant, which is considered highly infectious.

Since the ‘Delta Plus’ variant has been found in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district adjoining Goa, “surveillance along the border has been stepped up”, the CM said.

On Monday, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Monday said 21 cases of the ‘Delta Plus’ variant have been found in the state so far, including nine in Ratnagiri, seven in Jalgaon, two in Mumbai, and one case each in Palghar, Thane and Sindhudurg districts.

Sawant said Goa has so far reported 26 cases of the COVID-19 ‘Delta’ variant, which were detected in samples sent to a laboratory in Pune.

He said the Goa Medical College and Hospital (located near Panaji), North Goa District Hospital (Mapusa), South Goa District Hospital (Margao) and Victor Hospital (Margao) have been collecting COVID-19 patients’ samples which are sent to the Pune-based lab to check for variants of the virus.

Sawant also said his government has allowed private laboratories to set up their facilities along the Goa-Maharashtra border.

“If we find any suspect (entering Goa with the coronavirus infection), he is isolated and tested before being allowed to move around in the state,” Sawant said.

On Tuesday, Goa reported 303 new COVID-19 cases that took its tally of infections to 1,64,957, while 11 fatalities pushed the death toll to 3,008, as per the state health department.