NATIONAL NEWS
Basavaraj Bommai will be the new Chief Minister of Karnataka
Basavaraj Bommai, 61, has been chosen the next Chief Minister of Karnataka. The name was declared after the meeting of the BJP Legislature Party in Bengaluru on July 27 evening. He is expected to take oath as the 20th Chief Minister of Karnataka on July 28. In a choice that indicated its keenness to protect the Lingayat vote base rather than indulge in experiments, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chose the 61-one-year-old MLA and Minister of state for Home Affairs, Law, Parliamentary Affairs to succeed B.S. Yediyurappa who resigned on July 26. The name of Mr. Bommai was proposed by outgoing Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and seconded by former Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol. The name was announced by central observer Dharmendra Pradhan at a crowded media conference in Bengaluru.
Vaccination of children likely to start from August.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday told a meeting of the BJP parliamentary party that the government may start vaccinating children against Covid-19 as early as August. Mandaviya also said that India was on its way to becoming the largest producer of vaccines as his Ministry would expedite more licences to Indian companies. He spoke for a brief while on the government’s efforts to fight Covid-19 and ramp up vaccination. His statements are in line with the government’s statement in the Delhi High Court in early July that vaccines for adolescents between the ages of 12-18 would be available soon as trials were under various stages and that a policy to regulate the vaccination programme would be spelt out soon.
‘Opposition unity will automatically happen,’ says Mamata, minutes after meeting PM
A united Opposition against the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is a given, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said minutes after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Tuesday. She has also demanded a judicial probe into the Pegasus cyber attack. Banerjee is in New Delhi for her first visit in two years after winning the West Bengal Assembly elections for a third time. During her five-day visit, she will be meeting a host of Opposition leaders. Buoyed by their victory, especially in the face of a resurgent BJP, Banerjee’s meetings with the Opposition parties is being seen as a definitive sign that the TMC wants to play a larger role in national politics. Opposition unity will automatically happen, Banerjee said. Asked if she will lead such a consortium of Opposition parties she said, India will lead and we shall follow. The Lok Sabha elections are still some time away, she said, but the preparations have to begin right away. On Pegasus, she urged the BJP government to call for an all-party meeting to clear the air on its role in the whole issue. The Prime Minister should call for an all-party meeting and consult us. There should be a Supreme Court-monitored probe. On meeting Modi, she said it was a courtesy call and that she was following the Constitutional protocol. I had asked for an appointment with the PM to seek his blessings after winning the Bengal Assembly polls for the third time. During the brief meeting, she said she has urged the Prime Minister to ensure more doses of Covid-19 vaccine for Bengal. I am not against giving vaccines to other States, but considering the population of Bengal we need more doses, she said. She will be meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday. Banerjee also said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav will be meeting her in the next few days. The only significant omission in the list of Opposition leaders is NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar. Banerjee said she has not spoken to him so far. I will speak to him and maybe we will meet once the COVID situation settles, she said. She has also sought an appointment from President Ramnath Kovind but Banerjee complained that protocol may come in the way. She said though she has got both doses of vaccine, she may need to get an RT PCR test too for the visit, which may be difficult. She also met senior Congress leaders Kamal Nath, Anand Sharma and Abhishek Singhvi.
Parliament proceedings: Opposition unrelenting on Pegasus, repeal of farm laws
Both the Houses of Parliament saw multiple adjournments on Tuesday, the Lok Sabha as many as 10, before being adjourned for the day as the Opposition continued with its protests against the government on the Pegasus issue and the three controversial farm laws. The Rajya Sabha, like the Lok Sabha on Monday, managed to pass the Marine Aids to Navigation Bill, 2021 with a voice vote amid sloganeering and protests by the Opposition. The Lok Sabha cleared the Factoring Regulation Bill, 2020 and the National Institutes of food Technology and Management Bill, 2021 in a similar manner on Monday. Rajya Sabha chairperson M. Venkaiah Naidu, amid disruptions during Zero Hour, said he would not be forced like this though undemocratic method to give in to Opposition demands. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla told Opposition members who kept up protests in the House through all its 10 adjournments, that MPs shouldn’t be competing to raise slogans and that they should raise issues pertaining to people. Protests in the Lok Sabha started soon after members paid homage to Anerood Jugnauth, former Prime Minister of Mauritius and Kenneth Kaunda, the first President of Zambia. While members of the Congress, CPI, CPI(M) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) were protesting over the snooping row, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and the Samajwadi Party (SP) raised slogans against the three farm laws. Despite assurances by Birla and subsequent Chairs Bhratruhari Mahtab and Rajendra Agarwal that members would be given ample opportunities to raise issues, the protests continued. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said there were 15 questions with regard to agriculture listed for Question Hour but that the disruptions had made it impossible for these to be put to the Minister. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal appealed for calm to no avail. Some attempts were made during the day to allow for mentions under rule 377, where members raise issues of public importance, but frequent adjournments made it a truncated affair. Placards and sloganeering continued in both Houses with equal intensity. Opposition leaders are firm that there should be an enquiry ordered into the Pegasus issue and the three farm laws should be repealed.
Won’t give up even an inch of Assam’s land: Himanta Biswa Sarma
Assam will abide by any law enacted by Parliament that makes it even cede its land to another State but till then it will not allow even an inch to be encroached, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma asserted on Tuesday amid border tensions with Mizoram, PTI reported. Sarma’s comments came a day after six Assamese people, including five police personnel and a civilian, were killed and over 50 were injured in border clashes with Mizoram. He also said Assam will move the Supreme Court seeking protection of Innerline Forest Reserve from destruction and encroachment and deploy three commando battalions in Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts bordering Mizoram to strengthen security. It is the responsibility of the Centre to define the boundary and we will abide by it. If tomorrow the Parliament enacts a law by which our land can be given to another state, we will do so but till then we will protect our constitutional boundary, he told a press conference here after paying floral tributes to the slain personnel. He also visited the Silchar Medical College and Hospital and met police personnel injured in the attack. Assam has declared a three-day state mourning following the incident. Assam, he said, will behave responsibly under all circumstances, and even under provocation, will not fire back at civilians. We hope that the Mizos regret that they have fired at fellow countrymen but we are leaving it to their wisdom and conscience. This is a dispute between two states and not a fight between countries. But the video evidence that we have of the Mizo forces celebrating after attacking our people has saddened and hurt us, he said. The chief minister said that satellite images have shown that roads are being constructed and forests cleared for jhum cultivation which cannot be allowed. We will move the Supreme Court to ensure that the forests are protected, he said. Jhum cultivation is a farming activity where farmland is cleared of trees and other vegetation and then set on fire. The practice is followed in most states of the northeast. The dispute is not regarding land but encroachment of reserved forests. We have no settlements in the forest areas and, if Mizoram can give evidence, we will immediately carry out eviction, he said.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Tunisia’s biggest party calls for talks to end crisis.
Tunisia’s biggest party, the moderate Islamist Ennahda, on Tuesday called for a national dialogue to get the country out of crisis after it accused the President of a coup when he dismissed the Prime Minister and suspended Parliament. In a reversal of a call early on Monday to its supporters to take to the streets against President Kais Saied’s actions, Ennahda urged dialogue and efforts to avoid civil strife.vThe movement calls on all Tunisians to increase solidarity, synergy and unity and to confront all calls for sedition and civil strife, it said in a statement. Ennahda had already told supporters through party branches not to resume a sit-in outside Parliament and to avoid protests. Though some senior party members wanted to retain a street presence, its leaders decided to avoid any further escalation and allow a period of calm, two Ennahda officials said earlier on Tuesday. The area outside the Parliament building, the site on Monday of confrontations between hundreds of supporters of Ennahda and Mr. Saied, was empty on Tuesday morning. Ennahda’s supporters left on Monday evening and have not returned. Tunisia is facing its biggest crisis since the 2011 revolution that introduced democracy.
Biden, Kadhimi seal deal to end U.S. combat mission in Iraq.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi sealed an agreement on Monday formally ending the U.S. combat mission in Iraq by the end of 2021, but American forces will still operate there in an advisory role. The agreement comes at a delicate time for the Iraqi government and could be a boost for Baghdad. Mr. Kadhimi has faced increasing pressure from Iran-aligned parties and paramilitary groups who oppose the U.S. military role in the country. Mr. Biden and Mr. Kadhimi met in the Oval Office for their first face-to-face talks as part of a strategic dialogue between the United States and Iraq. Our role in Iraq will be to be available, to continue to train, to assist, to help and to deal with ISIS as it arises, but we’re not going to be, by the end of the year, in a combat mission, Mr. Biden told reporters. There are currently 2,500 U.S. troops in Iraq focusing on countering the remnants of Islamic State. The U.S. role in Iraq will shift entirely to training and advising the Iraqi military to defend itself. For Mr. Biden, the deal to end the combat mission in Iraq follows decisions to carry out a withdrawal from Afghanistan and wrap up the U.S. military mission there by the end of August. Together with his agreement on Iraq, the Democratic President is moving to formally complete U.S. combat missions in the two wars that then-President George W. Bush began under his watch nearly two decades ago. A U.S .- led coalition invaded Iraq in 2003 based on charges that then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s government possessed weapons of mass destruction. Saddam was ousted from power, but such weapons were never found. In recent years, the U.S. mission was focused on helping defeat the IS militants in Iraq and Syria. U.S. diplomats and troops in Iraq and Syria were targeted in three rocket and drone attacks earlier this month. Analysts believed the attacks were part of a campaign by Iranian-backed militias.
