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Patna, Sep 22 (IANS) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD national President Lalu Prasad Yadav will meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on September 25.

Both the leaders of Bihar will go to New Delhi for the meeting.

Nitish Kumar is currently flexing his muscles to unite opposition parties in the country. He went to Delhi for the three days and met several leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Sitaram Yechury, D. Raja, Arvind Kejriwal, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav and others. As Sonia Gandhi was not present at that time, he did not meet her.

Following the meeting with Sonia Gandhi, Nitish Kumar will go to Haryana's Fatehabad for former Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal's birth anniversary. It is expected that leaders of opposition parties of the country will assemble there during the rally.

The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), headed by Om Prakash Chautala, used to organise a rally every year on the occasion of the birth anniversary of "Tau" Devi Lal.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday visited Madrasa Tajweedul Quran in the old Delhi area, and interacted with the children there.

Madarsa director Mahmudul Hasan told IANS that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat reached the madrasa around 10 a.m.

"You have the responsibility of the country... so you have to work for the country by reading and writing," Bhagwat told the students.

He stayed at the madrasa for about an hour and met the teachers besides the children.

Bhagwat also reviewed the education infrastructure and sought some details such as the number of children enrolled there.

The RSS chief who has been holding discussions with the Muslim intellectuals to strengthen the communal harmony, also met Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, the chief of All India Imam Organisation, at Kasturba Gandhi Marg mosque on Thursday.

Recently, Bhagwat called on a group of Muslim intellectuals, including former chief election commissioner S.Y. Qureshi, former Delhi L-G Najeeb Jung, former vice chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University Lt. Gen. (Retd) Zameer Uddin Shah, former MP Shahid Siddiqui and industrialist Saeed Sherwani.

--IANS
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Varanasi (UP), Sep 22 (IANS) A Varanasi court, on Thursday, rejected the Muslim side's plea for allowing 8 weeks' time before going ahead with the hearing in the Gyanvapi Shrinagar Gauri dispute case.

The next hearing in the matter is scheduled for September 29.

The court also issued a notice to the Muslim side to file their objections on the application for carbon dating of the 'Shivling' by the Hindu side till September 29.

Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the Hindu side, said that they are filing an application to demand carbon dating of the Shivling.

"We are demanding carbon dating. The Muslim side says it is a fountain, we say it is a Shivling. An independent body must investigate and ascertain this," Jain said.

"The court issued a notice over our application for carbon dating and demanded objections from the Muslim side; disposal on September 29. The court rejected the 8 weeks' time sought by the mosque committee to prepare for the next hearing," he added.

The Court further raised objections on dropping the 16 impleaders from the Hindu side, who had joined in over and above the 5 original litigants. The matter is set to be brought up during the next hearing on September 29.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) Former Union Minister Manish Tewari is also preparing to contest the Congress presidential poll, sources close to him revealed that he was in his constituency to meet the state party delegates who are the voters in the election.

Every candidate requires 10 Pradesh Congress committee delegates to propose his/her name for the candidature.

Tewari is one of the vocal critics of the Congress leadership and has demanded reforms in the party. However, there are now chances that there could be a multi-cornered contest if Tewari throws in the hat.

The Congress' central election authority on Thursday issued notification for the Congress president polls.

According to the notification, while the nomination forms will be available from Thursday, the filing of nominations will be held between September 24 and 30.

Scrutiny of nomination will take place on October 1, and the same day, a valid candidate list will be published. The last date of withdrawal is October 8 following which, a final list will be brought out. While the poll will be held on October 17, counting will take place on October 19.

Amid hectic political lobbying, there is a likely contest between Ashok Gehlot and Shashi Tharoor while Suresh Pachauri also met Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday, besides Mukul Wasnik and Pawan Bansal.

Ashok Gehlot had met Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi and the meeting lasted for two hours, after which he left for Kerala to join Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.

Sources said that Sonia Gandhi has asserted that the poll will be fair and she will not endorse any candidate. Apparently, the issue of Rajasthan was also discussed in the meeting but there is no official word on it.

Gehlot is tipped to file his nomination next week for the president's post. However, he is reluctant to leave the Chief Minister's chair in the state.

--IANS
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Chennai, Sep 22 (IANS) The Popular Front of India (PFI) and its political arm Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) cadres were protesting in Chennai, Dindigul, Salem, and other places of Tamil Nadu against the early morning raids by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at the offices of the PFI on Thursday.

The raids were part of nationwide raids that the central agencies were conducting at the premises of the PFI, including New Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala and eight other states.

More than 100 cadres of PFI and SDPI were present in front of the party offices in Chennai after the commencement of the raids. The central agencies are accompanied by the Central police forces and have avoided the state police.

R. Nasser, a functionary of PFI at Mylapore, Chennai while speaking to IANS said, "This is the attack by the fascist forces against a social organisation. We strongly protest against the anti-democratic raids being carried out by the central agencies with the blessings of the fascist regime. We will not be cowed down by such cowardly acts and we don't have anything to hide from the agencies."

The Popular Front of India (PFI) is an Islamist organisation and has been in the news for some financial transactions in its various accounts in New Delhi and Kerala. Some of the PFI office-bearers were earlier questioned by the central agencies.

At Dindigul also the NIA and ED were conducting joint raids at the offices of the PFI as also the residences of some senior office-bearers of the organisation. PFI cadres in large numbers were present in front of the office of the organisation and were protesting against the raids.

Suhail Khan, an office-bearer of the PFI at Dindigul while speaking to IANS said, "The early morning raids of the NIA is an indication of the fascist nature of the powers at the centre. They are trying to intimidate PFI, which is functioning for the welfare of the downtrodden in the society, including the Dalits and Muslims. These raids are being carried out to crush our morale but they are mistaken. We have the resilience as we are an organisation that is functioning under the pure ethos of democracy."

--IANS
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Washington, Sep 22 (IANS) Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has declared a public health emergency for Puerto Rico due to the severe flooding caused by hurricane Fiona which made landfall in the American territory earlier this week.

Under the declaration issued on Wednesday, the HHS haas deployed a 15-person health and medical task force from its National Disaster Medical System and a 10-person incident management team to Puerto Rico.

"The declaration follows President Biden Biden's disaster declaration and gives the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) beneficiaries and their health care providers and suppliers greater flexibility in meeting emergency health needs," the Department said in a statement.

Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, Becerra said: "We will do all we can to assist officials with responding to the impacts of Hurricane Fiona and stand ready to provide additional public health and medical support."

"We are working closely with territory health authorities and our federal partners and stand ready to provide additional public health and medical support."

Hurricane Fiona made landfall on Puerto Rico on Sunday as a Category 1 hurricane, bringing heavy rain, catastrophic damage, and an island-wide blackout.

Localised flash and urban flooding due to swells continue to affect the island, which has over 3 million residents.

More than 1 million customers in Puerto Rico were still without power as of Wednesday evening, according to poweroutage.us.

Fiona, which has strengthened into a Category 4 storm, is approaching Bermuda, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Sep 22 (IANS) Karnataka Police have arrested a man and three others in connection with giving 'supari' or contract to a gang to kill his wife, who had lodged a dowry case against him, police said on Thursday.

The City Central Branch (CCB) police arrested Siddharth Hosamani, an insurance agent and Ambulance helper Yogesh, driver Ranjith. The police have also booked rowdy-sheeter Bettappa, who is presently lodged in the jail.

According to police, accused Hosamani had married a widow 10 years ago. He had got insurance done for their family, when her husband passed away he had helped to get the claims realised. The widow developed a special bond with Hosamani and later they married and had a son from this marriage.

However, Hosamani was already married with two children. He had given away a son born to second wife to his first wife's sister who didn't have children. The second wife had been demanding that her son should be given back to her.

She also lodged a complaint of dowry and child kidnapping against her husband in the Malleshwaram police station. Hosamani was sent to jail in this case and later obtained bail. Enraged by this, he decided to finish off his second wife. He sought the help of accused Ranjith and Yogesh to kidnap and gave 'supari' to another gang to kill her.

He had told them that his second wife was a drug addict and she could be kidnapped from a club in the pretext of bringing her to a rehabilitation center. From there, another gang would take her away and kill her.

Accused Siddharth made contacts in prison and used them now. However, the police got to know about the suspicious movements of the ambulance and arrested the accused before they could kidnap.

The investigations have shown that rowdy-sheeter Bettappa, who always stayed in prison, used to take 'suparis' and get them executed. The police are probing further into the case.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 21 (IANS) With a view to streamline the functioning of Accredited Driver Training Centres (ADTCs), the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has notified amendment in its rules.

The new rules include five-year accreditation of driver training schools. The ministry also said that the syllabus for imparting training for two-wheelers has been specifically detailed to comprehensively cover practical as well as theoretical knowledge.

The trainee will be required to pass the "test of competence to drive" in order to receive the proficiency test certificate for issuance of driving licence and other provisions linked to ADTC like fees, issuance of driving license etc.

The new rules include knowledge and understanding of fuel efficient driving techniques among the training topics for those learning how to drive.

The two-wheeler driving training will be covered in multiple sessions over a span of two weeks. The theory sessions will cover traffic education, first-aid, road etiquette, causes of accidents and fuel efficiency, among others. The practical lessons include basic and skill driving practices, night driving, and driving in single and multiple lanes, among others.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 21 (IANS) Delhi Police's Special Cell has made one of the biggest seizures of heroin from Mumbai, with the contraband valued at Rs 1,725 crore in the international market, and arrested two Afghan nationals in this connection, a senior police official said Wednesday.

The accused were identified as Mustafa Stanikzai and Rahimullah Rahimi.

Delhi Police's Special Commissioner, Special Cell, H.G.S. Dhaliwal said in a bid to bust the entire transnational drug syndicate, the two accused, who were arrested with record quantity of 312.5 kg methamphetamine and 10 kg heroin on September 3, were put to sustained interrogation.

"Their intense questioning revealed that 17 bags containing licorice roots soaked with heroin, or 350 to 400 gm per kg (amounting to a total of approximate 345 kg of contraband) have been concealed among other bags. The total weight of the consignment was 20,000 kg which was stored at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust, Mumbai," he said in a media briefing.

It was learnt that during preliminary examination that the entire consignment had already been checked but in the process, the bags of the consignment had got damaged and the licorice roots were lying inside the container.

"As the Special Cell team, after obtaining permission from court, started to inspect each and every stick of the consignment on September 16, it was observed that the colour of some sticks of licorice roots were darker than the others," the Special CP said, adding the team was, after several hours, able to detect heroin in all the sticks that were darker in colour which ultimately led to the major drug haul.

According to Dhaliwal, the consignment was first transported from Afghanistan to a neighbouring country, from where it was shipped to a country in the Middle East to avoid detection by the agencies. From there, the consignment containing the contraband blended with legitimate import goods was further shipped to JNPT, Mumbai.

"This consignment was supposed to reach the makeshift factories based in MP, Punjab, Delhi, Haryana and other states at opportune time for its further extraction and processing to get the final product heroin," he added.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Sep 21 (IANS) The Karnataka government is all set to implement the controversial Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021 popularly known as the anti-conversion bill in the state.

The bill, which has been effective in the state through promulgation, has been passed in the Legislative Council during the ongoing Monsoon session. It was passed in the Legislative Assembly on December 21, 2021.

Home Minister Araga Jnanendra on Wednesday tabled the Act in the assembly to be sent for the Governor's consent. Once the consent is given, which is just a formality now, it will be implemented across the state.

According to the new law, any converted person, his parents, brother, sister or any other person who is related to him by blood, marriage or adoption or in any form associated may lodge a complaint of such conversion which contravenes the provisions. The offence is non-bailable and cognizable.

--IANS
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