The Congress scrambled to save its government in Himachal Pradesh, amid dramatic developments that included the resignation of high-profile minister Vikramaditya Singh and the suspension of 15 BJP MLAs by the Speaker. Earlier in the morning, Himachal Pradesh Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh quit the council of ministers, sending his resignation letter to the chief ministers and the Governor.
The CBI has summoned Samajwadi Party president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav as a witness for questioning in illegal mining cases, five years after registering the case. The case pertains to the issuance of mining leases in alleged violation of e-tendering process. The Allahabad High Court had ordered the probe.
The Army was called in as fresh tension mounted in Manipur and four columns of the Assam Rifles were deployed in Imphal East after a senior police officer was abducted allegedly by cadres of the Arambai Tenggol, a Meitei organisation, from his residence, officials said. Hundreds of commando personnel of four districts in the Imphal Valley region on Wednesday held a symbolic arms down protest against the mob attack on the residence of an Additional Superintendent of Police, officials said.
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File ImageIndian Navy and the NCB have in a joint operation apprehended a dhow off the Gujarat coast with five crew members and seized 3,300 kg of drugs from it, the largest quantity of narcotics seized in recent times, officials said. The dhow and crew members have been handed over to the law enforcement agencies by the Navy after being apprehended, the officials said.
Congress' Kerala unit said the party leadership has urged former AICC chief Rahul Gandhi to contest from Wayanad which he currently represents in the Lok Sabha in the forthcoming general elections. Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan said that the party's state unit strongly demanded the national leadership that Gandhi contest from Wayanad.
West Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari claimed that absconding TMC strongman Shahjahan Sheikh of Sandeshkhali is in 'safe custody' of the state police since last night. Adhikari's claim comes just two days after TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh's assertion that Shahjahan would be arrested within a week.
Congress leader Rana Goswami resigned from the party, and headed to New Delhi where he is likely to join BJP. Soon after sending the resignation letter to Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, he went to New Delhi where he is likely to meet BJP president JP Nadda and join the party.
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File ImageAhead of the March 10 deadline for the withdrawal of Indian military personnel in the Maldives, an Indian civilian team has reached here to take charge of one of the three aviation platforms in the island nation, local media reports said. After a high-level meeting in Delhi on February 2 between the two sides, the Maldivian foreign ministry said India will replace its military personnel operating the three aviation platforms in the Maldives by May 10 and the first phase of the process would be completed by March 10.
Billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited the tech giant's India Development Center (IDC) in Hyderabad, the company said. The development centre is celebrating its 25th year of research, engineering, and development, marking its pivotal role in shaping world-class products such as Azure, Windows, Office, Bing, Copilot, and other AI applications, according to the company.
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File ImageThe number of Ultra-high Net Worth Individuals in India increased 6 per cent annually to 13,263 last year on rising prosperity and the number of affluents would grow further to reach nearly 20,000 by 2028, according to Knight Frank. The number of UHNWIs in India is expected to expand to 19,908 by 2028 from 13,263 in 2023.