"Will Remain A Hero": M Kharge As Manmohan Singh Retires From Rajya Sabha

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will retire from Rajya Sabha tomorrow, ending his 33-year-long stint. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge wrote a heartfelt letter dedicated to the 91-year-old's work, the policies he introduced during his tenure as the PM and finance minister, and his legacy.

Mr Kharge said in the letter that with Manmohan Singh's retirement, "an era comes to an end". "Very few people have accomplished as much as you for the nation and its people," he wrote. Mr Kharge expressed his gratitude to Manmohan Singh for his wisdom and guidance and said it was a "privilege" for him to serve under Singh's cabinet. "Over the last few years, you have made it a point to be available for the Congress party despite personal inconveniences. For this, the party and I will always remain grateful," he added. 

"Even as you retire from active politics, I hope that you will continue to be the voice of wisdom and moral compass to the nation by speaking to the citizens of our country as often as possible. I wish you peace, health and happiness."

Congress President Shri @Kharge writes to… pic.twitter.com/fq2nTbwXqE

— Congress (@INCIndia) April 2, 2024

Appreciating the economic policies introduced by Manmohan Singh, Mr Kharge said, "You have shown that it is possible to pursue economic policies that were equally beneficial to large groups, young entrepreneurs, small businesses, the salaried class, and the poor ." "Thanks to your policies, India was able to lift 27 crore people, the highest number of poor people out of poverty in the world while you were the Prime Minister," he said. 

He also said that Manmohan Singh will always remain "a hero to the middle class and the aspirational youth, a leader and guide to the industrialists and entrepreneurs, and a benefactor to all those poor who were able to climb out of poverty due to your economic policies."

Mr Kharge praised Manmohan Singh for introducing the MGNREGA scheme and said that it continues to provide relief to rural workers during times of crisis. "The nation and particularly the rural population will remember you for ensuring that they can earn a living and live with self-respect through this scheme," he wrote. 

In the letter, Mr Kharge mentioned several achievements and key moments of Manmohan Singh's tenure as the PM and as finance minister. He appreciates him for pursuing the historic Indo-US Nuclear Deal "even if it meant putting your government at risk for the sake of the nation's security." He also mentions remembering when former US President Obama said for Manmohan Singh, "Whenever the Indian Prime Minister speaks, the whole world listens to him."

Mr Kharge said that we live in times that are largely shaped by Manmohan Singh. "The economic prosperity and stability that we enjoy today is built on the foundations laid by you along with our former Prime Minister, Bharat Ratna Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao."

"The current set of leaders who have reaped the benefits of your work are reluctant to credit you due to political biases," Mr Kharge said, attacking the ruling government. He said that the reforms done by the current government has its seed in the work initiated during the UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh. 

Mr Kharge said that the nation misses the quiet yet strong dignity Manmohan Singh brought to the office of the Prime Minister. "The Parliament will now miss your wisdom and experience. Your dignified, measured, soft-spoken yet statesman like words are in contrast to the loud voices filled with lies that signify the current politics," he said. 

Mr Kharge also recalled Manmohan Singh's speech on demonetisation, in which he called the move a "monumental management failure" and "an organised loot and legalised plunder".

"Even as you retire from active politics, I hope that you will continue to be the voice of wisdom and moral compass to the nation by speaking to the citizens of our country as often as possible. I wish you peace, health, and happiness," said Mr Kharge. 

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11 Killed As Israel Strikes Iran Embassy In Syria

Israeli air strikes destroyed the Iranian embassy's consular annex in Damascus Monday, Syrian and Iranian officials said, with a top Revolutionary Guard commander among seven members the force said were killed, amid worsening regional tensions.

Israel said it would not comment on the reported attack, but Iranian officials vowed a stiff response with fears of even further violence between Israel and Iran's allies triggered by the Gaza war.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps named Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and another high-ranking officer, Brigadier General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, as among seven of its members killed.

Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 11 people, including several Guards members, were killed when "Israeli missiles... destroyed the building of an annex to the Iranian embassy".

The toll includes "eight Iranians, two Syrians and one Lebanese -- all of them fighters, none of them civilians," Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Observatory with a network of sources in Syria, told AFP.

Iran's ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, giving a lower toll, told Iranian state TV that "at least five people were killed in the attack which was carried out by F-35 fighter jets" which fired six missiles at the building.

AFP reporters saw the annex building had caved in, and emergency services were rushing to search for victims under the rubble as sirens wailed in the upscale Damascus district of Mazzeh.

Security personnel shielded the site where earth-moving equipment was brought in to clear the debris and remove charred vehicles from the road outside, watched by a crowd of onlookers.

Syria's defence ministry said "the attack destroyed the entire building, killing and injuring everyone inside, and work is underway to recover the bodies and rescue the wounded from under the rubble".

- Regional tensions -

 Iranian state TV said Zahedi -- a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' foreign operations arm, the Quds Force -- was among the dead.

The Observatory said Zahedi served as the leader of the Quds Force for Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, adding that he was killed along with his deputy, his aide, and the Quds force chief of staff for the same three countries.

Two other members of the Guards and two Iranian advisers were also killed in the strike, the Observatory said.

The targeted building is next to the Iranian embassy, the front of which is decorated with a large portrait of Qassem Soleimani, the architect of Iran's military operations in the Middle East, killed in January 2020 in an American drone strike in Iraq.

 The Damascus strikes were the fifth in a week to hit Syria, whose President Bashar al-Assad is supported by Iran, Israel's long-time arch foe in the region.

Syria's state news agency SANA had earlier reported that "our air defence systems confronted enemy targets in the vicinity of Damascus".

Iran's ambassador, Akbari, vowed the attack "will lead to our decisive response", adding "the Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate shows the reality of the Zionist entity which recognises no international laws and does all that is inhumane to achieve its goals".

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian called for a "serious response by the international community".

- 'Heinous attack' -

Only the gate of the building was left standing after the attack, with a sign mentioning "the consular section of the embassy of Iran", an AFP journalist said.

Window panes in buildings within a 500-metre (550 yard) radius had been shattered, and many parked cars were damaged by the blast.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad also denounced the attack after visiting the site, calling it a "heinous terrorist attack... killing a number of innocent people", in a statement carried by SANA.

The Gaza war, which started with the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, has devastated the coastal territory and also seen Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah exchange near daily cross-border fire.

Israel has also struck targets in Syria, mostly army positions as well as those of Iran-backed combatants.

Hamas condemned "in the strongest terms" the attack which it called a "dangerous escalation."

Moscow, a Damascus ally along with Tehran, blamed "the Israeli Air Force" for the "unacceptable attack against the Iranian consular mission in Syria."

The Damascus strike came three days after the Observatory reported Israeli strikes that had killed 53 people in Syria, including 38 soldiers and seven members of Hezbollah.

It was the highest Syrian army toll in Israeli strikes since the Israel-Hamas war began, said the monitor.

"Syria and Lebanon have become one extended battleground from the Israeli perspective," Riad Kahwaji, head of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, told AFP after the Friday strikes.

The bloodiest ever Gaza war erupted with the Palestinian militants' unprecedented October 7 attack which resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign, aimed at destroying Hamas, has killed at least 32,845 people, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.

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

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Congress Announces Candidate For Akola, Warangal

The Congress move to name Abhay Kashinath Patil from Maharashtra's Akola has put a firm period to its intended  friendly ties with Prakash Ambedkar's VBA (Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi). Though the alliance plans of the Maha Vikas Aghadi and the VBA fell through, the Congress and Mr Ambedkar had declared support for each other, especially in Akola, a seat the Dalit leader wished to contest.

In Telangana, the Grand Old Party has announced a candidate for Warangal -- Kadiyan Kavya, who crossed over from K Chandrasekhar Rao's Bharat Rashtra Samithi a few days ago. Ms Kavya is daughter of senior BRS leader and sitting MLA Kadiam Srihari, who also served as deputy chief minister in then BRS government. The sitting BRS Lok Sabha member from Warangal, Pasunoori Dayakar, also joined the Congress in Telangana recently.

In Maharashtra, when the MVA and the VBA were discussing seat sharing, the alliance was ready to give Prakash Ambedkar the Akola seat along with four others.

But after the VBA decided to go solo, the Congress -- which had been the one pushing for a tie-up -- had said it would support Mr Ambedkar from Akola. Mr Ambedkar, whose party has significant support among Dalits in the state, had also promised support to the Congress in multiple seats.

The national party's move to field its own candidate from the seat, however, indicates it is no longer supporting the VBA as promised and vice versa.

Last week, Mr Ambedkar's VBA had declared its intention to go it alone in the election, upset over the MVA's failure to come to an understanding over a handful of contentious seats in the state. Mr Ambedkar later claimed he had spoken to Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil and got his support.

Shortly after, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena UBT had jumped the gun and announced candidates for 17 seats, sparking speculation about an open rift within the MVA. Four of the 17 seats were coveted by the Congress.

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Top Court Seeks Poll Body Reply On Petition For VVPAT Slips' Full Count

In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Election Commission and the Centre on a plea seeking a complete count of VVPAT slips in polls as opposed to the current practice of verification of only five randomly selected EVMs through VVPAT paper slips.

The Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is an independent vote verification system which permits an elector to see whether his vote was cast correctly.

The VVPAT generates a paper slip which can be viewed by the voter and the paper slip is kept in a sealed cover and can be opened in case of a dispute.

The top court, on April 8, 2019, had ordered the poll panel to increase the number of EVMs that undergo VVPAT physical verification from one to five per assembly segment in a parliamentary constituency.

A bench comprising justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta took note of the submissions of lawyers representing activist Arun Kumar Agrawal seeking a complete count of VVPAT slips in elections as opposed to the verification of only five randomly selected EVMs through VVPAT paper slips.

It issued notices to the Election Commission (EC) and the central government on the plea which may be listed for hearing on May 17.

Senior lawyer Gopal Sankaranarayanan and advocate Neha Rathi appeared for Agrawal.

The plea assailed the EC's guideline that mandates that VVPAT verification shall be done sequentially, one after the other.

The plea said if simultaneous verification is done and more officers are deployed for counting in each assembly constituency, then complete VVPAT verification can be done in a matter of five-six hours.

The government has spent nearly Rs 5,000 crore on the purchase of nearly 24 lakh VVPATs but presently, VVPAT slips of only approximately 20,000 VVPATs are verified, it said.

Given that many questions are being raised by experts with regard to VVPATs and EVMs and the fact that a large number of discrepancies between EVM and VVPAT vote count have been reported in the past, it is imperative that all VVPAT slips are counted and a voter is given an opportunity to properly verify that his vote as cast in the ballot is also counted by allowing him to physically drop his/her VVPAT slip in the ballot box, the plea said.

The top court issued the notice and tagged it with pending matters on the issue. 

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

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Dhoni Slams 37* Off 16 On IPL 2024 Batting Debut, Internet On Overdrive

Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) icon MS Dhoni batted for the first time in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) when he walked out in the middle during the side's IPL 2024 game against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Visakhapatnam. Dhoni didn't get the chance to bat in CSK's first two matches, having demoted himself in the order. The player, however, came out to bat against DC when CSK went 6 down. Dhoni walked out to bat amid raucous reception from the crowd in Vizag and ended up slamming 37 not out off 16 balls, an innings that was laced with 4 fours and 3 sixes.

The moment we've all been waiting for #Dhoni #ThalaDharisanam #IPLonJioCinema #TATAIPL #DCvCSK pic.twitter.com/HYlcWz7Tqc

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) March 31, 2024

On the very first ball he faced, Dhoni hit Mukesh Kumar for a boundary and never looked back. Though CSK lost the match by 20 runs, Dhoni made sure the crowd got the perfect entertainment through his pyrotechnics.

Here is how the fans reacted to it:

Vintage Dhoni #CSK #WhistlePodu @msdhoni pic.twitter.com/QaspLRyXGp

— Prince Edwin (@GhilliArun666) March 31, 2024

Thala is tha best finisher #MSDhoni pic.twitter.com/u56TuQwtR5

— __Elvish (@SakshamJai83012) March 31, 2024

Vintage Thala @msdhoni #CSKVDC pic.twitter.com/geuz4EmxBj

— SANDEEP RC (@SANDEEPRC18) March 31, 2024

MS DHONI - THE GREATEST EVER FINISHER...!!!!

37* (16) with 4 fours and 3 sixes - smashed Nortje for 20 runs in the final over. The man has still got it, the GOAT of the league. pic.twitter.com/NPUjclvebY

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) March 31, 2024

A SIX BY MS DHONI...!!!

THE EVERGREEN FINISHER HAS STILL GOT IT. pic.twitter.com/aSPpQfqGeG

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) March 31, 2024

During the IPL 2024 match against Delhi Capitals, Dhoni also became the first player to reach 300 dismissal mark in the T20 format.

Dhoni who is often hailed as one of the best wicketkeepers of the modern era once again showed his prowess behind the stumps by completing a clinical catch.

Ravindra Jadeja forced out an edge from Prithvi Shaw and Dhoni didn't make a mistake behind the stumps as he held onto the ball to complete his 300th T20 dismissal.

The wicketkeeper who comes closest to Dhoni is former Pakistan cricketer Kamran Akmal with 274 dismissals in T20 cricket.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) veteran keeper who hasn't taken the role behind the stumps this season is in the third spot with 274 T20 dismissals.

South Africa's Quinton de Kock and England's Jos Buttler are on the fourth and fifth spot with 270 and 209 dismissals respectively.

(With ANI Inputs)

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IPL: Pant, Mukesh's Heroics Help DC Beat CSK Despite Dhoni's Late Show

DC vs CSK IPL 2024 Live Score: Mukesh Kumar has taken his third wicket of the day and this time, he dismissed Shivam Dube for 18. Ravindra Jadeja has now been joined by MS Dhoni as six-down Chennai Super Kings aim for a stable partnership in the chase of 192. On the other, DC bowlers are eyeing some quick wickets. Half-centuries by David Warner and Rishabh Pant helped Delhi Capitals post 191/5 in 20 overs against Chennai Super Kings. Opting to bat first, DC started off on a brilliant note with openers Warner and Prithvi Shaw forming a good partnership. However, CSK bounced back by scalping four wickets in a quick succession. Later, skipper Pant played a quick knock as helped DC post a big total. (Live Scorecard)

Live Updates of IPL 2024 12th Match Between Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings, straight from Visakhapatnam

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They Wanted To Go To Germany, Sent To Russia Instead By Agents

Two men from Haryana's Karnal were allegedly lured on the pretext of a permanent work visa in Germany and tortured by agents, police said on Saturday. They had been promised jobs in a hotel and a permanent work visa. But they were sent to Russia instead where they were allegedly tortured by the agents.

"I went abroad on September 24 last year. The agent who sent me said that they will provide me with a permanent work visa in Germany, but they handed over a Bangkok ticket. When I reached there, they started torturing me. Additionally, they took money from my family," Mukesh, one of the men who allegedly faced torture in Russia, told ANI on Saturday.

"From Bangkok, they (agent) game me the ticket to Russia and said that their people would come to pick me up at the airport. After reaching Russia, they began torturing me. Donker took me to their place, started beating me and demanded money," he said.

Mukesh further alleged that he was denied food and was kept thirsty while in captivity.

"By taxi, I was taken to Belarus from Russia; they took me to their place in the border forests, put burnt cigarettes on my body. Through me, they used to do video calls to my family, and threatened to kill me if my family didn't credit money," he said.

"We were then arrested by the Army for not having valid travel permits. They asked us to join the army or serve in jail for 10 years. We refused to join the army, then they tortured us, and put us in jail in Moscow, the youth added.

"I was sent to a camp in Moscow, where I was asked if I wanted to join the army or get deported. I chose to be deported.I returned to India on March 14," he said.

According to the police, the family of the man have filed a complaint with the Haryana police regarding the alleged torture.

"They sent their sons abroad, but Donker blackmailed them and trapped them there. They charged Rs 10 lakh and took away Rs 25 lakh in total. An FIR has been launched and arrests will be made soon," Sandeep Kumar, Investigating Officer (IO) of Munak Police Station in Karnal, said while speaking to reporters on Saturday.

"They are still recovering. We met them today. As soon as their condition improves, they will be brought in for further investigation," the officer added.

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

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