India

Lucknow, Dec 16 (PTI) Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday announced alliance with his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav's Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia).

The announcement came after a meet between the SP chief and Shivpal at the latter's residence in the afternoon.

"Met national president of PSPL and finalised alliance. The SP's policy to take along regional parties is strengthening the party and take SP and its allies towards victory," Akhilesh said in a tweet in Hindi after the meeting.

Tirunelveli (TN), Dec 16 (PTI) Days after the Madras High Court quashed an FIR against him filed over a deleted tweet vis a vis the IAF copter crash in which CDS General Bipin Rawat and 13 others were killed, well-known YouTuber Maridhas was arrested on Thursday for his video against the Tablighi Jamat members put out in April 2020, police said.

He was arrested over a complaint registered last April. The Melapalayam police here booked him for various offences under the IPC and IT Act.

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 16 (PTI) The UAE government has promised to open a state-of-the-art food park in Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday.

Vijayan, after his meeting with the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, said the gulf nation will set up three food parks in India, and one of them will come up in the southern state.

Guwahati, Dec 16 (PTI) Pitching for opposition unity to take on the BJP, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram targeted West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying the seriousness of a political entity in combating the saffron party should be called into question if it is reluctant about coming under one umbrella.

The former Union minister was responding to questions at a press conference where he was asked about Banerjee unleashing a relentless assault on the Congress while questioning its ability to fight the BJP.

New Delhi, Dec 16 (PTI) The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Friday a plea challenging the setting up of a commission of inquiry by the West Bengal government to probe into the Pegasus snooping allegations.

The matter was mentioned on Thursday before a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana by the lawyer appearing for the petitioner NGO who submitted that the commission was going ahead with the probe despite the fact that the top court has constituted an expert committee in the case.

New Delhi, Dec 16 (PTI) Ghaziabad is the most polluted city in north India and its annual average PM2.5 levels are much worse than those of Delhi, according to data from 137 continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) spread across 56 cities in the region.

The Centre for Science and Environment, which analysed the PM2.5 data from these CAAQMS from January 1, 2019, to November 30, 2021, also said PM2.5 levels in otherwise cleaner smaller towns can exceed the concentration reported in Delhi during smog episodes in early winters.

New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) The Congress on Friday hit out at the government, alleging that it was treating the Election Commission as its "subservient tool".

Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala charged that the government has fallen to a new low in destroying institutions in the country.

Kanpur: There has ensued war of words between BJP and SP on the 9-Km run of the metro rail first phase from IIT to Motijheel here from 28. It will have three coaches.

The SP claimed that it was their project. SP Spokesperson, Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said, "The proposal of metro in Kanpur was sent to Centre in April, 2016 by Samajwadi Party government. The proposal sent by the SP government was accepted and approved by the Centre.”

“The foundation stone was laid in October, 2016. So, the work of Kanpur Metro was started during the SP government.

Dehradun, Dec 15 (PTI) Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said some forces want to spoil India's ties with Nepal, but asserted the government would not allow that to happen at any cost.

Addressing the ground breaking ceremony of Sainya Dham (martyrs memorial) here, he also said the country's armed forces are free to take their own decisions.

"There are some forces which want to spoil our ties with Nepal but I want to tell you as a representative of the government that we will not let that happen come what may," he said.

Kolkata, Dec 15 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asserted that the Trinamool Congress will defeat the BJP in the next Lok Sabha polls due in 2024, and claimed that the saffron party would face similar drubbing that it had tasted in the last assembly polls in the state.

While addressing a rally for the December 19 Kolkata Municipal election (KMC) at Phoolbagan area in the city, Banerjee said her sole aim after returning to power for the third consecutive term in the state is to bring industry and generate jobs.