New Delhi, July 31 (IANS) Amid a heated controversy over former minister Anurag Thakur’s caste remarks in Lok Sabha, the Hamirpur MP on Wednesday took to social media and shared a video of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav to show him the mirror on furious tirade — ‘how one can ask about caste?’

The video shared by BJP MP is a compilation of instances when the Kannauj MP and SP supremo asked the journalists about their caste. The undated video shows Akhilesh Yadav making a deliberate effort to enquire about the caste of the scribe and then mocking him over his surname.

Notably, BJP MP Anurag Thakur’s speech in Lok Sabha and pointed caste jibe, apparently at the Leader of Opposition (LoP) stirred up a hornet’s nest in the Opposition ranks, the fallout of which became evident in Wednesday’s House proceedings also.

As the House began its proceedings on Wednesday, the Opposition benches created a ruckus over BJP MP’s caste remarks and demanded an apology. They also resorted to slogan-shouting. Reports also suggest that Congress is also mulling to bring a privilege motion against Anurag Thakur.

Meanwhile, Anurag Thakur’s stirring speech, while responding to Rahul Gandhi’s assertions on ‘Mahabharata and Chakravyuh’ is drawing accolades from various quarters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also extended a shout-out to the Hamirpur MP for putting the INDIA bloc on the mat with his fiery counters.

“This speech by my young and energetic colleague, Shri @ianuragthakur is a must-hear. A perfect mix of facts and humour, exposing the dirty politics of the INDI Alliance,” PM wrote sharing his Lok Sabha speech.

Notably, Anurag Thakur cited experts from a book authored by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor to hit out at previous dispensations and also dubbed the LoP as the ‘Leader of propaganda’.

What left the Cong-led INDIA bloc fuming and protesting furiously was his remark, ‘those unaware of their caste are talking about caste-based census.’

His remarks resulted in angry protests by the Opposition benches including SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.

Rahul Gandhi also stood up and demanded to intervene, claiming that he was abused and insulted by the BJP MP.

“You can insult me as much as you want, do it every day. But don’t forget that we (the opposition) will get the Bill (on Caste Census) passed here (in Parliament),” Rahul Gandhi said in response.

–IANS

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Chennai, July 31 (IANS) The Madras High Court on Wednesday said that the breach of privilege proceedings initiated against elected legislators continues even after the dissolution of the Assembly to which they have been elected.

A division bench, comprising Justice S. M. Subramaniam and Justice C.Kumarappan, said that certain privileges to the Assembly would become meaningless if the proceedings lapse during the completion of the tenure of the elected Assembly.

The division bench said that the sovereignty and dignity of the House must be valued in the interests of the people who had elected their representatives and added that issues such as breach of privilege cannot be washed away after the dissolution of each Assembly.

The court made these observations while allowing writ appeals filed in 2021 by the then Legislative Assembly Secretary as well as the chairman of the Committee of Privileges against a single judge’s 2020 order quashing the show cause notices issued to incumbent Chief Minister M. K. Stalin and 18 other DMK MLAs for having displayed gutkha sachets in the Assembly in July 2017.

The judges rejected the argument of the DMK MLAs that the proceedings initiated during the 15th Legislative Assembly, which was dissolved in May 2021, cannot be continued during the tenure of the present 16th Legislative Assembly.

–IANS

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Bengaluru, July 31 (IANS) A 33-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday on the charges of posing as a CBI officer and duping people in Karnataka’s Belagavi district.

The accused, identified as Dayananda Raju Jindrale, a resident of Islampura in Hukkeri town, had been cheating youths by promising them government jobs in exchange for money.

Jindrale collected money from youths in Nippani, Rayabagh, Kagawada, Chikkodi, and Harogeri, promising them jobs in Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, Forest, and Excise departments.

During a preliminary investigation, police recovered around 10-12 ATM cards from his possession.

The arrest was made after Afzal Beedi, a resident of Auto Nagar, complained to the police that Jindrale had cheated him of Rs 5 lakh and issued him cheques with different signatures.

Jindrale had taken the money claiming that his friend had met with an accident.

During police questioning, the accused confessed to other crimes.

The Malamaruthi police are investigating the case.

–IANS

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Kolkata, July 31 (IANS) An internal report of CPI(M) in West Bengal has revealed some major lapses in the organisational network, especially, at the booth level which could have led to the party’s disastrous results in the Lok Sabha elections in the state.

Despite the several campaign programmes held jointly with Congress with whom it had a seat-sharing agreement, the Left Front including CPI(M) ended with zero seats, while Congress could win one constituency.

Party insiders said that as per the internal organisational report findings, CPI(M) was not able to field polling agents in at least 14 per cent of the total booths in the state in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.

The report also indicates party agents leaving the counting centres during the early hours when trends started surfacing.

Party insiders further said that the internal report has also highlighted some possible reasons behind pathetic results both in the rural and urban pockets of the state. While on one hand, the increasing communication gap between peasants and sharecropper sections was the reason for the electoral disaster in the rural belts, in the case of urban pockets the apathy of educated urban middle-class Bengali society prompted that disaster, as per the findings

“For 34 years from 1977 to 2011, the peasants, working class and educated urban middle-class Bengali society had been the strong base of our party in West Bengal. It is unfortunate that we are now facing maximum erosion of support in those bases. Unless some pragmatic programmes are adopted to regain that lost dedication, times will be tougher for us in the coming days,” admitted a state committee member of the party who refused to be named.

At the same time, the internal report has also identified some tactical flaws in the party campaign strategy in the recent polls, especially the one related to different welfare schemes of the state government. Some over-enthusiastic party activists launched scathing attacks on social media describing such schemes as “petty dole projects” without realising that such schemes often have a positive impact on the financially backward sections, especially women voters.

–IANS

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Patna, July 31 (IANS) The Patna district administration has initiated a survey of the coaching institutes and discovered several fire safety violations in the Masaudhi region.

Many of these institutes operate in just two or three rooms, with only one entry and exit gate and with a lack of fire safety measures.

“The inspection, which has been ongoing since Tuesday, has revealed several irregularities in multiple coaching centres in the Masaudhi subdivision, including the absence of fire extinguishers and other safety features,” said Amit Kumar Patel, SDM of Masaudhi subdivision, Patna.

“We will submit a report to the district magistrate, who will then take appropriate action against the non-compliant institutes,” Patel said.

The Patna district administration’s survey of coaching institutes has uncovered multiple deficiencies, including inadequate registration, insufficient entry and exit doors, lack of fire safety measures, non-compliance with building by-laws, and absence of emergency services.

Many of these institutes also lack basic amenities such as toilets and drinking water facilities.

Apart from Masaudhi, deficiencies in safety parameters have been identified in coaching institutions located in Makhania Kuan, Machua Toli, Langar Loti, Ani Besant Road, Bhikhana Pahadi, Khajanchi Road, and other areas within the Patna district.

On Tuesday, a team inspected the coaching institute of prominent educationist Khan Sir and checked the registration certificate, classrooms, fire safety equipment, and emergency services. This comprehensive survey will continue for the next two weeks.

The decision to inspect these coaching institutes was made by Patna district magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh, following a tragedy at Rau IAS Study Circle in New Delhi’s Old Rajendra Nagar locality last week, which claimed three lives, including one from Bihar’s Aurangabad district.

–IANS

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