The Evening Wrap: Sachin Pilot takes Congress to court

The Hindu Newsletter - The Evening Wrap: Sachin Pilot takes Congress to court Thursday 16, July 2020 [alt_text]( The Evening Wrap [Here are the biggest news stories of the day]( [alt_text]( Welcome to The Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. Sachin Pilot takes Congress to court The Rajasthan High Court has accepted a plea filed by rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot’s camp challenging the Rajasthan speaker’s decision to disqualify him and 18 other MLAs. All 19 were sent notices Tuesday by the Speaker after the Congress complained that the MLAs had defied a party whip to attend two Congress Legislature Party meetings. As PTI reports, their disqualification would reduce the current strength of the state assembly to 181, slashing the half-way mark to 91, and thereby making it easier for Gehlot to retain majority support. In the 200-member assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP 72. The petition by the dissident MLAs sought to challenge the anti-defection law enshrined in the Tenth Schedule of Constitution. At the moment, the tussle between Pilot and the Congress appears to be at something of a stalemate. There are reports that the Congress has left the door open for him and that Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are keen for a rapprochement. Pilot, however, is reportedly not open to any offer that does not involve him becoming Rajasthan Chief Minister. Other sources (from the Ashok Gehlot camp) have indicated to the media that Pilot has “gone too far”. The doubts here, and the continuing suspicion of Pilot’s intentions, are based on some reports from a Gurgaon hotel where he and some 20 rebel Rajasthan MLAs have been camping. Apparently extra rooms have been booked at the hotel and that is seen as a sign that Pilot is trying to add more dissidents to his camp while appearing to patch up with his party. Yesterday, Pilot had told The Hindu in no uncertain terms that he was not joining the BJP. Air bubbles for now India has signed bilateral agreements with France and the US that will allow the airlines of each country to operate international flights starting Friday, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday. He added that similar arrangements are being worked out with Germany and the UK as well. “Till international civil aviation can reclaim its pre-Covid-19 numbers, I think the answer lies in bilateral air bubbles which will carry a possible number of people but under defined conditions, as countries are still imposing entry restrictions including India,” the minister said at a news conference. American carrier United Airlines will be operating 18 flights between India and the U.S. from July 17 to July 31, and Air France, 28 flights between Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Paris from July 18 to August 1, he said. “They (United) are flying a daily flight between Delhi and Newark and a thrice-a-week flight between Delhi and San Francisco,” Puri said. He added that India is planning to establish such agreements with the UK soon, under which there would be two flights per day between Delhi and London. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of coronavirus cases reported from India crossed the million mark on July 16. The country also passed another grim milestone today, with the number of deaths crossing 25,000. [ Medical technicians arrange samples for COVID-19 testing at a facility in Chennai on July 16, 2020. ] Medical technicians arrange samples for COVID-19 testing at a facility in Chennai on July 16, 2020. India has 3,31,146 active Covid-19 cases, which is around a third of the country’s total tally, which had risen to 10,01,449 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 25,582. As the country witnessed a record single-day increase of 32,695 cases on Thursday, the Ministry said the recovery rate rose to 50% mid-June and thereafter, there has been a steady rise in recoveries and a decline in the number of active cases. Contempt plea over committee on 4G restrictions in Kashmir The Centre has informed the Supreme Court that a special committee chaired by Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla had [met twice on the need to review the restrictions placed on 4G Internet connections in Jammu and Kashmir but deferred a decision]( on the issue due to the “startling situation” of continued terror attacks in the Valley. Attorney General K.K. Venugopal informed a three-judge Bench led by Justice N.V. Ramana that the committee had called for “further reports” from J&K while agreeing to meet after two months. [ Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi and advocate Shadan Farasat said the top court judgment required the government to review the 4G ban on a weekly basis and publish its orders so that its deliberations were in the public eye. ] Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi and advocate Shadan Farasat said the top court judgment required the government to review the 4G ban on a weekly basis and publish its orders so that its deliberations were in the public eye. In an order issued on May 11, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre to form a special committee to consider the restoration of 4G services in the Valley. This was meant to be a high-powered committee, distinct from a ‘review committee’. Both Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the J&K administration, were responding to a contempt petition filed by the Forum for Media Professionals (FMP). The FMP argued that the Centre had defied this SC order by failing to form this committee, and therefore must be held accountable for contempt of court. When Venugopal and Mehta informed the court that the committee had indeed been formed and had met twice, the court pointed out that the details of this committee were not in the pubic domain. Senior advocate Hufeza Ahmadi, representing the petitioners, argued that “the idea was not to form a committee, pass orders, and keep it in a drawer. The SC judgement required the committee to review the ban every week and publish their decision, bringing it in public eye. How can we challenge the decision if we are unaware of it?” The court has given the Centre a week’s time to file its response. Rahul tweets video from Scindia’s constituency Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted a [video clip from Guna in Madhya Pradesh]( today. The clip shows a Dalit farmer couple being forcibly evicted from government land by the police. Gandhi shared the video with a comment that this was the kind of injustice and mindset that his party wanted to fight. [ Screenshot from a video tweeted by former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath shows police personnel beating up a couple in the State’s Guna city. Photo: Twitter/@OfficeOfKNath ] Screenshot from a video tweeted by former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath shows police personnel beating up a couple in the State’s Guna city. Photo: Twitter/@OfficeOfKNath The parliamentary constituency of Guna is the traditional Lok Sabha seat of Jyotiraditya Scindia, who switched to the BJP in March. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Scindia, then in the Congress, had lost to the BJP’s Krishna Pal Singh Yadav. [Gandhi’s tweet is also politically loaded](as it comes amidst the Rajasthan crisis and rumours that former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot is all set to join the BJP. High profile Twitter accounts hacked A series of high-profile Twitter accounts were hijacked on Wednesday, with some of the platform’s top voices — including U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden, reality television show star Kim Kardashian, former U.S. President Barack Obama, billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, and rapper Kanye West, among many others — used to solicit digital currency. “Everyone is asking me to give back,” a tweet from Gates’ account said. “You send $1,000, I send you back $2,000.” Another tweet from Obama’s handle said, “I am giving back to my community due to Covd-19. All Bitcoin sent to my address below will be sent back doubled. If you send $1,000, I will send back $2,000.” Twitter said it was a “co-ordinated” attack targeting its employees “with access to internal systems and tools”. It added, in a series of tweets, “We know they [the hackers] used this access to take control of many highly-visible (including verified) accounts and Tweet on their behalf.” Twitter was forced to take the extreme step of stopping many verified accounts from tweeting altogether. Oli’s comment ‘outrageous’, says former MP Karan Singh Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli is trying to do [everything to alienate his country from India](, former MP Karan Singh has said in a personal statement. Singh, who is also related to the Nepal royals, said Oli’s claim about Lord Ram’s supposed Nepalese origin was “bizarre”. “This outrageous statement will have hurt the sentiments of a billion Hindus living not only in India and Nepal but around the world. The statement could have been dismissed as the gymnastics of a distorted mind, except that it comes fast on the heels of Oli’s unfortunate unilateral action regarding a territorial dispute with India,” said Singh, who has in the past served as India’s envoy to Nepal. In Brief: The Election Commission has decided not to extend the facility of postal ballot to voters above 65 years of age for the Bihar assembly elections and by-elections due in the near future, in view of logistical and manpower constraints, and Covid-19 safety protocols, the poll body said in a press note today. It had earlier recommended extending optional postal ballot facilities to those above 65 years of age in order to minimise their vulnerability and exposure at polling stations. England pacer Jofra Archer was on Thursday [dropped from the second Test against the West Indies](for breaking the team’s bio-security protocols. He will now undergo two Covid-19 tests during a five-day isolation period. The series is being played amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the first Test in Southampton passed off without any incident. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. Today's Top Picks [alt_text]( [Your at-home guide to the stars, planets and comets]( [alt_text]( [Buttered buns and biryani buckets to beat the lockdown blues]( [alt_text]( [Terracotta horses that guard Pulicat]( [alt_text]( [‘Dil Bechara a good send-off for Sushant’]( You are receiving this email because you are a user of [thehindu.com]( If you do not wish to receive any such emails, [unsubscribe here.](mailto:rm-0b4yg2a2bf2f90kauhrxfebysa8hk1r@newsalert.thehindu.com?subject=Unsubscribe&body=You will be unsubscribed from our mailing list.) To ensure you continue to receive emails from The Hindu in your inbox, please add newsletters.th@newsalert.thehindu.com to your contact. 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