Rajasthan Suspense Ending Soon, BJP Meet To Pick Chief Minister Tomorrow

The newly elected BJP MLAs in Rajasthan will meet in Jaipur Tuesday to formally pick the next chief minister of the state, ending days of suspense after the party won the assembly elections.

“The meeting of the BJP Legislature Party has been called at 4 pm on Tuesday at the BJP state office. Registration of all newly elected MLAs of the BJP will start at 1.30 pm,” BJP state general secretary and MLA Bhajanlal Sharma said.

He said all newly elected MLAs have been asked to compulsorily attend the meeting.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who has been appointed as observer by the party, and the two co-observers -- national vice president Saroj Pandey and national general secretary Vinod Tawde -- will be present at the meeting, BJP leader in charge for Rajasthan Arun Singh told reporters.

When asked about the possibility of a Dalit leader being chosen as the Chief Minister, Mr Singh said, “Everything will be revealed tomorrow.” Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje and Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Ashwini Vaishnaw are said to be in the running for the Chief Minister's post in Rajasthan, one of three states that the BJP won in the recent elections.

The MLAs were informed Monday about the meeting of the legislature party, where the BJP's central leadership will make known its choice for the post, nine days after the results of the November 25 elections came in.

The BJP won 115 seats out of the 199 where polling took place. Polling was postponed in one constituency due to the death of a candidate.

Earlier, BJP MLA Jogeshwar Garg said the observers will hold one-on-one talks with the MLAs before the meeting to formally elect the legislature party leader, or the CM-designate.

When asked about the new legislators who met former chief minister Vasundhara Raje at her home Monday, Kirodi Lal Meena said 17 MLAs visited him as well after the results and this should not be seen as lobbying. Meena resigned from the Rajya Sabha after his election as an MLA.

Several MLAs have called on former Raje in recent days in what was seen as a show of support, amid speculation over what the party will decide. She also met party leaders in Delhi.

Rajendra Rathore, who lost the assembly elections, claimed that the BJP does not have the show-of-strength culture. Neither does anybody has the courage to do so, he said.

He said MLAs go to meet senior leaders to exchange wishes and it should not be seen in that sense, and asserted that all BJP leaders in the state are united.

Mr Rathore said the new "double engine” will take shape in Rajasthan tomorrow, a reference to the party holding power both in the state and at the Centre.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Cash Haul Linked To Congress MP Crosses Rs 351 Crore, Counting Still On

The cash seizure in the income-tax department's searches against an Odisha-based distillery company, owned by a Congress MP's family, has been calculated at Rs 351 crore after five days of counting and is the "highest-ever" haul in a single action by any probe agency in the country, official sources said on Sunday.

The premises of the Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, in Ranchi and other places, were also covered during the searches by the department. The company and the member of Parliament did not respond to PTI's queries regarding the action being carried out against them.

The marathon raids against Boudh Distillery Private Limited, its promoters and others entered the fifth day on Sunday. The raids were launched on December 6 by the taxman on charges of tax evasion and "off-the-book" transactions.

The sources told PTI that Rs 351 crore cash has been counted and the process has ended.

The counting involved nine teams of about 80 people from the tax department and various banks, working in shifts in a 24x7 cycle.

Another team of 200 officials, including security personnel, drivers and other staff, joined in after the taxman found 10 almirahs stuffed with cash apart from some other locations.

As many as 200 bags and trunks were used to transport the cash for depositing it in various bank branches in Odisha, the sources said.

The department believes that the entire cache of currency is "unaccounted" money earned from cash sales of country liquor by the business group, distributors and others.

It is the highest-ever cash seizure made by an agency in the country as part of an action against a single group and entities linked to it, the sources had said.

Some of the high-value seizures in the past include one from 2019 when the GST Intelligence raided a Kanpur-based businessman and seized cash amounting to Rs 257 crore and another instance where cash amounting to Rs 163 crore was unearthed by the I-T department during searches against a road construction firm in Tamil Nadu in July 2018.

The department is also recording the statements of the executives and other staff who were present at the searched locations and will soon issue summonses to the main promoters of the company for recording their statements.

It was not clear what amount of cash and other documents were seized from Mr Sahu's house.

The maximum cache of currency, largely in Rs 500 denomination, was recovered from the premises of the company in Bolangir district, the sources said.

The BJP on Sunday stepped up its attack on the Congress and other opposition parties, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah saying it is now clear that their "propaganda" about probe agencies being misused was driven by the fear that their corruption will be exposed.

In a statement, the senior BJP leader questioned the "silence" of INDIA bloc leaders, saying he can understand why the Congress is keeping mum but wondered why parties like the TMC, DMK, JD(U) and the RJD were doing the same.

While the Congress has distanced itself from the MP, claiming that the party has nothing to do with his business, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah accused the Centre of targeting only the Congress and asked why no searches were carried out against BJP leaders.

Jharkhand Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey said, "Since he is Congress MP, he should make an official statement about how such a big amount of money came to him." Union Tourism Minister and BJP leader G Kishan Reddy asked why Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was "silent" on the issue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Friday assured the people that the money looted from the public will be returned and had posted a Hindi newspaper report where the cash recovered by the IT department was shown stacked.

Taking to X, he had said, "The countrymen should look at the pile of these notes and then listen to the honest speeches' of their leaders ...Whatever has been looted from the public, every penny will have to be returned, this is Modi's guarantee."

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"Bihar Caste Survey Has Issues That Need To Be Resolved": Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday that the central government never had any intention of creating hurdles in caste-based survey and the BJP had supported it in Bihar when it was in power in the state.

Chairing the 26th meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council in Patna, Mr Shah said there were some issues regarding the caste-based survey which he hoped that the Bihar government would be able to resolve.

"The central government never had any intention of creating hurdles in the caste-based survey. When the BJP was in power in Bihar, it supported the caste-based survey. The governor also approved the bill," he said.

The home minister said the zonal council meeting on Sunday  went well and on all the issues one or other decision has been taken.

"Some issues have been resolved and on some issues, committees have been formed to look into the subjects," he said.

Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar and senior ministers from Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand attended the meeting.

Secretary of the Inter-State Council Secretariat, chief secretaries of member states and senior officials of state governments and central ministries and departments were also present.

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Top US University President Quits Amid Backlash Over Campus Anti-Semitism

The president of an Ivy League university stepped down Saturday in the wake of a firestorm of criticism after a congressional hearing on the rise in anti-Semitism on US campuses.

University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill "voluntarily tendered her resignation," the chair of the university's board of trustees Scott Bok announced.

Bok then stepped down himself, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian, the campus student newspaper.

Magill was among three presidents of elite universities who faced withering critism for their testimony Tuesday during a congressional hearing on campus anti-Semitism.

The trio gave long-winded, lawyerly and seemingly evasive answers at the hearing when asked whether students who call for the "genocide of Jews" on their campuses violate codes of student conduct.

Blowback was rapid and intense.

Seventy-four lawmakers wrote letters demanding the immediate removal of Magill and the presidents of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Harvard's president, Claudine Gay, apologized afterward for failing to more strongly condemn threats of anti-Semitic violence on her campus.

"When words amplify distress and pain, I don't know how you could feel anything but regret," Gay later told the Harvard Crimson newspaper.

Magill faced even more scathing criticism. 

Pennsylvania's Democratic governor called her performance "absolutely shameful," and a major donor said he would rescind a $100 million donation to the university's Wharton School of Business.

Bok, who helms the university's board of trustees -- a body that handles major governance issues -- said Magill made "a very unfortunate misstep" as he announced her departure.

"She was not herself last Tuesday," Bok said in the statement published by the school paper.

"Over prepared and over lawyered given the hostile forum and high stakes, she provided a legalistic answer to a moral question, and that was wrong."

"It made for a dreadful 30-second sound bite in what was more than five hours of testimony."

He said his own resignation was "effective immediately."

In Bok's note to the campus, he said Magill would stay in her post until an interim president is appointed and would remain on the faculty of the university's law school.

Anti-Semitism and hate crimes have risen in the United States and on university campuses since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants and the ensuing war in Gaza.

With passions inflamed on campuses, a broader debate has taken place about when freedom of speech on campuses turns into conduct that threatens others.

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Mumbai Man Kills Wife After She Refused To Give Money For Alcohol: Cops

 A 42-year-old man was arrested by Borivali Government Railway Police (GRP) for allegedly beating his wife to death after she refused to give him money for alcohol, the police said on Saturday.

The accused was identified as Moinuddin Nasrullah Ansari and the victim was identified as Parveen Moinuddin Ansari aged 36.

The couple used to live on the side of the railway track between Goregaon and Malad stations.

As per the police, Parveen sustained fatal injuries and though she was rushed to a nearby hospital, she was declared brought dead by doctors.

The Borivali GRP registered a case against Moinuddin Ansari under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which pertains to murder.

The accused was arrested in Malwani, Malad, while he was trying to flee the city, the police said.

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UP Man Chops Off Mother's Head With Blade For Refusing To Transfer Land

Aggrieved over his mother for not transferring a land parcel to his name, a man allegedly decapitated her in a village on Saturday, police said.

The incident took place in Mejapur village under the Taalgaon police station area, they added.

Dinesh Pasi (35) allegedly killed his mother Kamla Devi (65) by chopping her head off with a farming blade, Sitapur SP Chakresh Mishra said.

The headless body which was recovered from outside their home has been sent for post-mortem, he said, adding that the accused is missing.

Dinesh Pasi, who is an alcoholic, allegedly murdered his mother as she refused to transfer a land parcel to his name, Mr Mishra said. Efforts are underway to nab the accused, the SP added.

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"She Is Like Most Women...": Rashmika On Animal Character Geetanjali

Ranbir Kapoor and Rashmika Mandanna's Animal has been stroming the box office ever since it released. However, the film has been receiving flak for portrayal of morally bankrupt characters, problematic masculinity and showing women in poor light. Rashmika Mandanna, who plays the female lead Geetanjali in the film, shared an extensive note on her character as the film completed a week in theatres. Rashmika plays Ranbir Kapoor's love interst and later wife in the film. Rashmika shared a few images from the sets of Animal. In one, she can be seen looking at the monitor with director Sandeep Reddy Vanga. In another, Rashmika, Ranbir and the director can be spotted. Rashmika began her note with these words, "Gitanjali. If I were to describe her in a sentence ...it would be the only force at home holding her family together. She is pure, real, unfiltered, strong and raw.. At times as an actor, I would question some of Gitanjali's actions.. And I remember my director telling me - this was their story..Ranvijay's & Gitanjali's.. it was their love and passion, their families and their lives - this is who they are.. "

Rashmika continued, "In a world full of all violence, hurt and unbearable pain - Gitanjali would bring peace trust and calm.. She would pray to her Gods to keep her husband and her kids safe.. She was the rock that weathered all the storms...She would do anything in her power for the sake of her family. Gitanjali is absolutely beautiful in my eyes, and in some ways she is like most women who are standing strong and protecting their families day in and day out."

Rashmika signed off the note with these words, "Happy one week to us #Animal team. Guys. Thank you all for all the love.. it's what keeps me going and makes me work harder with every film. Big hugs to you all too." Take a look at the post here:

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A post shared by Rashmika Mandanna (@rashmika_mandanna)

A few days back, Rashmika shared another post to thank her fans for their unconditional love and support to the film. Rashmika wrote in the caption, "Thankyou all so so much for the love you are showing towards our film #Animal.. I hope we made you all super proud and happy.. #Animalpark (if you know you know) if you don't then please do go watch it in the theatres near you and enjoyyyyy!" Take a look:

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Rashmika has been receiving praise for her performance in Animal. Alia Bhatt wrote for her, "Rashmika, you are so, so so beautiful and honest in the film. As I told you in person...I loved you in that scene - so special and inspiring. Fully joining the #Crushmika club." Reacting to Alia Bhatt's shout out, Rashmika Mandanna wrote in her Instagram story, "Alia Bhatt, big big hugs yaa. Love you." See Rashmika Mandanna and Alia Bhatt's Instagram exchange here:

Allu Arjun said Rashmika's Animal performance is her "best so far." In response to that, Rashmika conveyed thank you to her Pushpa co-star. Here's Allu Arjun's entire post on Animal: "Animal just mind blowing. Blown away by the cinematic brilliance. Congratulations! Ranbir Kapoor ji just took Indian cinema performances to a whole new level. Very inspiring. I am truly in loss of words to explain the magic you've created. My deep respects to the highest level. Rashmika Mandanna, Brilliant and magnetic! Dear this is your best performance by far and much more to unfold." For Bobby Deol, Allu Arjun wrote, "Bobby Deol ji's impactful performance silences us. Your terrific presence commands respect." Take a look:

Sirrrr.. @alluarjun 🤗 thankyouuuu. ✨🤗 https://t.co/2Gg8lXBNhA

— Rashmika Mandanna (@iamRashmika) December 8, 2023

Rashmika Mandanna made her Bollywood debut with Goodbye, last year. She also featured in the espionage drama Mission Majnu with Sidharth Malhotra this year. She will next be seen in Pushpa 2: The Rule, opposite Allu Arjun.

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