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BHOPAL: Demand for special session of Madhya Pradesh assembly made by leader of opposition in Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Gopal Bhargava has given rise to fierce controversy not only between the BJP and Congress but also within the BJP itself. While Bhargava wanted special session to test the majority claim of the Congress, Rakesh Singh, state BJP president has asserted that the party has no intention to seek floor test. In a formal statement issued here Rakesh Singh has said that party did not demand floor test. Bhargava had written to the Governor Anandi Ben Patel to call assembly session and had demanded debate on current issues, said Singh.

When Modi assumed office in 2014, he was particularly lucky that the oil prices were at a most comfortable level, which helped his government to handle the sensitive fiscal deficit problem with great success. But his second term, which looks almost a foregone conclusion ahead of the counting of votes, might see luck turn into a curse.

The new Government at the centre that will be taking over after May 23, has to immediately jump into action to deal with the burgeoning crisis among the non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) of the country which threatens to land the financial sector in a bigger mess. The Modi government earlier expressed its intention to initiate prompt action but the two month long election campaigns disturbed the pace and now there is little time to lose.

Weekly Round-Up of Major Decisions of the Courts in India as also Legal Policy Developments

Though the recent record of the Supreme Court on expanding civil liberties, in terms of decriminalisation of homosexuality, adultery, and allowing women to enter Sabarimala have been widely hailed, the Court has not shown the same zeal in other aspects of civil liberties, i.e., with respect to the cases under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 (‘UAPA’). Two judgments bear testimony to this.

If one looks into India's elections, the largest election of the planet, which ended on 19th May, one finds that this time there was no strong visible anti-incumbency wave among the electorates. It is true that Modi government’s rural schemes starting from providing cooking gas to 60 lakh women under Ujjwala Yojana to open bank accounts for more than 30 crore bank accounts who have never had them to build 9 lakh toilets to provide Rs 6,000 yearly to farmers and to provide free medical care to 50 crore people with health insurance of around Rs 72,000 under the Ayushman Bharat have got a good response among the people living in the rural areas. His strict position against terrorism and Pakistan plus his clear image as a non-corrupt leader are the additional plus points for Modi. The recent listing of Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by United Nations also strengthened the perception among the people that Modi is tough against terrorists.

BHOPAL: Whether she wins or loses it will be difficult for Pragya Thakur to live in Bhopal. Several BJP leaders in private admit that by her highly provocative utterances she has caused embarrassment to the BJP. First she said that it was her curse which caused the death of Hemant Karkare. Her comment against Karkare caused nation-wide furore. Even Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that she should not have made derogatory comment against Karkare. Fadnavis also praised Karkare by saying that “he was a brave and honest officer”.

Most exit polls have predicted a clear majority for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party but that hasn’t stopped the opposition from going ahead with their plans of forming a non-BJP coalition to stake claim for power. Opposition leaders, including West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, have pooh-poohed the exit poll predictions claiming that they were wrong. Congress leaders in private have rubbished them pointing out that the pollsters have gone wrong in 2004 and 2014. It is this hope which is keeping the unity move go forward.

“Trade is a zero-sum game.” “There can only be one winner and one loser, and the United States is losing.” That’s the message Donald Trump has been hammering since before he even came into office. The biggest villain in his nationalist nightmares, beating and cheating the U.S. in the cutthroat game of global economics? China, of course.

All exit polls predict the Congress-led UDF will win 15 out of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala. The only loss might be that of Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram, which might go to the BJP’s Kummanam Rajashekharan. But the Congress rubbishes the predictions, saying that the party does not believe in exit polls. Similarly, the Congress does not agree with exit polls that it will win the most number of seats in Punjab.