Bihar Assembly Election 2020: Congress releases list of 30-star campaigners

Al Franken: Republicans always find an excuse to cut unemployment benefits

Former Sen. Al Franken discusses the GOP efforts to cut unemployment benefits and says he doesn’t think that most Republicans in Congress actually believe that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump.

Mamata visits Kalighat temple after TMC sweeps Bengal, PM Modi congratulates

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee visited the Kalighat temple on Sunday. The TMC supremo offered prayers at the temple after victory in assembly polls. Mamata was accompanied by her nephew & TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee. Meanwhile, many leaders including PM Modi have congratulated her for the TMC win. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also congratulated Mamata for her victory. Bengal Guv Jagdeep Dhankhar also took to Twitter to congratulate Mamata. Congress' Rahul Gandhi congratulated Mamata & people of Bengal for defeating BJP. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh & Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik also congratulated Mamata. Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut congratulated the 'Tigress of Bengal' on Twitter. Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati also congratulated Mamata for the good performance of TMC.

Watch: People without face masks undergo on-spot COVID-19 tests in Punjab's Ferozepur

Amid increasing COVID-19 cases in the state, Punjab Police have come up with an innovative move. Police in Ferozepur made people, who were found without face masks, undergo on-spot COVID-19 tests. Police also distributed free face masks to these people. In Punjab, night curfew has been extended in nine worst-hit districts by two hours daily, by advancing it from 9 pm onwards. Night curfew will now be in place from 9pm to 5am, instead of 11pm to 5am in districts of Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Mohali, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Ropar. All these districts are reporting spike in daily cases. On March 19, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh extended the night curfew in these districts and also clarified that if required, he would go for more stringent measures to limit its spread in the days to come.

Construction of water filtration plant underway in JandK's Nowgam

The construction of a water filtration plant at Nowgam village of Shangus Block of Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district is currently underway. The new water filtration plant would be equipped with the latest purification technology and will provide clean drinking water to over 40 thousand people in four villages of Shangus block of Anantnag. According to Muhammad Ayoub, the assistant executive engineer Jal Shakti sub division Anantnag, "The work on this water filtration project will cost Rs 13 crore and 33 lakhs and within next month, the project will be completed and villagers will get clean drinking water." "Two main projects are underway here under two different programs. One filtration plant of one million gallons per day (MGD), SRA of two lakh gallons and allied structures are being built to give clean water to locals. This is a centrally sponsored scheme," he said. Muhammad Amin, a local said, "Last year in December, the work got stalled because of winter. But now we can drink clean water. The work is going on very well and we are thankful to the government for this filter plant. Four villages will get the benefit from this plant." Ghulam Nabi, another local said, "The quality of water was very bad and caused many diseases here. Now, we are getting clean water. The work is underway and now we will get to drink clean water. We thank the government for this plant."

'Will support Left Democratic Front' in Kerala polls: PC Chacko

PC Chacko, who recently left the Congress party, on March 16, said that in the upcoming Kerala elections, he extended his support to Left Democratic Front (LDF), and indicates that he will likely to join the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) or LDF after meeting with NCP chief Sharad Pawar. "I'm meeting Sharad Pawar. Whatever crisis party is facing, it needs to be discussed. I'm also meeting Sitaram Yechury and GN Azad to discuss future course of action. I need to extend my support to LDF. I'll decide (on joining) after meeting Pawar sahib," Chacko said.

Where is PM Cares Fund, asks Congress amid COVID crisis

Amid the horrific situation due to COVID-19 in the country, Congress has questioned the central government about the money that was donated in the PM Cares Fund and the work it has done in one year. "The question is what you have done in one year, where is the money collected in PM Cares Fund. What else do you have to show except 0.Ventilators which were claimed to be bought were bogus. Oxygen plants were tendered but they were never set up," said Surjewala

COVID: Digvijaya Singh, Harsimrat Badal, other politicos test positive

As COVID-19 cases spread across India like wildfire, several politicos on April 16 tested positive. Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Shiromani Akali Dal MP from Bathinda Harsimrat Kaur Badal, an independent MLA from Vadgam Assembly Constituency Jignesh Mevani have tested positive for COVID-19. The leaders urged people who were in their contact to get tested. Country reported highest ever spike of over 2.17 lakh COVID-19 cases on April 16.

Debar PM Modi, Amit Shah, urges Congress amid ban over Himanta Biswa's campaign

BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma was barred from campaigning for 48 hours by the election commission over his alleged threat to the chairman of Bodoland People's Front, who is a Congress alliance partner in the state. After which Congress General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala urged EC to debar PM Narendra Modi, HM Amit Shah, CM Sarbananda Sonowal and BJP president JP Nadda too as they were also shown in ads which ran on Assam's newspapers. Surjewala said, "EC debarring Himanta B Sarma from campaigning for 48 hrs prove that BJP has lost polls and is resorting to tactics."

Covid: Ashok Gehlot tests positive; Manmohan Singh discharged from AIIMS

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday. The 69-year-old Congress leader made the announcement on Twitter. Gehlot isolated himself on Wednesday after his wife Sunita had tested positive. PM Narendra Modi wished good health and speedy recovery to Gehlot, his wife. Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra also wished for Gehlot's speedy recovery. Meanwhile, former PM Manmohan Singh was discharged from AIIMS Delhi. The 88-year-old Congress veteran was hospitalised after testing positive for Covid. Singh was admitted to AIIMS trauma centre, a dedicated Covid facility, on April 19. Singh received the first dose of Covid vaccine on March 4 & second dose on April 3.

BJP demands CM Gehlot's resignation, CBI probes over phone tapping allegations

Rajasthan BJP president Satish Poonia lambasted state Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot over phone tapping allegations and asked him to resign on moral grounds. BJP also demanded CBI probe in this regard. "The questions (over phone-tapping issue) were raised in August last year and the response has come now. It is a serious matter. Chief Minister must take responsibility and resign on moral grounds. CBI should investigate this issue now," said state BJP chief Poonia.