The Evening Wrap: Leave BJP hospitality first, Congress tells rebel MLAs

The Hindu Newsletter - Here are the latest updates and the big news stories to follow today Tuesday 04, August 2020 [alt_text]( The Evening Wrap [Here are the latest updates and the big news stories to follow today]( [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. Leave BJP hospitality first, Congress tells rebel MLAs [Congress national spokesperson Randeep Surjewala]( on Tuesday said the party could hold talks with rebel MLAs of the Sachin Pilot camp if they leave the hospitality of the Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana and come back to their home. Asked whether doors are open for the dissidents, Surjewala said the legislators should first hold a dialogue with the party on the pre-condition that they give up the security of Haryana police in Manesar, and the hospitality and friendship of the BJP. “Gang-rapes are happening, people are being beaten up in Gurgaon. There is no police available for them, but 1,000 policemen are deployed for the security of 19 MLAs. The legislators should first give up the Haryana police’s security, and friendship and hospitality of the BJP, return home, and only then will the dialogue take place,” Surjewala said. Trump signs order against hiring of H1B visa holders for federal contracts [ Application for United States of America work visa H1B ] Application for United States of America work visa H1B In a huge blow to Indian IT professionals eyeing the US job market, [President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order]( preventing federal agencies from hiring foreign workers – mainly those on H-1B visa – for federal contracts. “Today I am signing an executive order to ensure that the federal government lives by a very simple rule: hire American,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House before signing the order against hiring H1B visa holders for federal contracts. The move came over a month after the Trump administration suspended the H-1B visas, along with other types of foreign work visas, until the end of 2020 to protect American workers in a crucial election year. The new restrictions took effect from June 24. Lord Ram belongs to everyone, says Priyanka ahead of Ayodhya ceremony [ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra ] Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Breaking her party’s silence on the ground-breaking ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya scheduled for tomorrow, Congress general secretary in-charge of [Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday said the occasion should symbolise “national unity, fraternity and cultural harmony”](. In a Hindi statement posted on Twitter, Vadra said the character of Lord Ram is the thread that connects everyone in the Indian sub-continent, from North to South, East to West. “Ram is in everyone, Ram is with everyone…With the message and grace of Lord Rama and Mother Sita, the Bhoomipujan ceremony of the temple of Ramlala became an occasion for national unity, fraternity and cultural congregation,” she tweeted. Other senior leaders, from former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath to Lok Sabha member Manish Tewari, affirmed their support for the temple to counter the narrative that the “Congress is caught in a dilemma”. After holding a recitation of Hanuman Chalisa at his Bhopal residence on Tuesday, Nath announced that the Congress would send 11 silver bricks to Ayodhya for the temple “on behalf of the people of Madhya Pradesh” and “credited” former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi for opening the lock of the earlier temple at the disputed site in 1985. Eid ceasefire opens window for Indian hostages return [Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani attends a consultative grand assembly, known as Loya Jirga, in Kabul. File photo]Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani attends a consultative grand assembly, known as Loya Jirga, in Kabul. File photo The [Eid ceasefire between Afghan forces and the Taliban, which included prisoner exchanges](, has yielded hope that all three Indian hostages kidnapped in 2018 will return home soon. Sources have told The Hindu that negotiations for the release of two hostages have been completed, while Afghan officials are hopeful of resolving issues for the release of the third as well. A Loya Jirga (a grand tribal council) called by President Ashraf Ghani on August 7 to advise him on the fate of about 400 Taliban convicted of “heinous crimes” could also prove crucial in securing the release, the sources said. The hostages, Prasadi Mahto and Hulas Mahto from Jharkhand, and Mantu Singh from Bihar, were part of a group of seven employees of Indian engineering company KEC International (owned by the RP Goenka group) that was developing a power project in Afghanistan’s Northern Baglan province. China asks India to avoid politicising normal cooperation [China on Tuesday called upon India to “avoid politicising normal cooperation,”]( following moves to review ongoing cooperation for language training between Indian universities and Chinese government-run programmes. Following the decision to drop Mandarin from its list of suggested languages under the National Education Policy (NEP), the Ministry of Education (Ministry of Human Resource Development) has also put several institutes that offer Chinese language training under the scanner, as The Hindu reported on Monday. Part of this review extends to the Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms jointly established by China’s Confucius Institute and seven Indian universities and colleges, as well as 54 Memoranda of Understanding on inter-school cooperation signed between Indian and Chinese higher education institutions. “China-India cooperation on Confucius Institute Project has been carried out for more than 10 years,” said the statement from spokesperson Ji Rong. “All Confucius Institutes were established by the Chinese and Indian universities after signing legally binding cooperation agreement in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, friendly consultation, equality and mutual benefit, and on the premise that the Indian side applied voluntarily and met the conditions for running the Institute. Over the years, Confucius Institutes have played an important role in promoting Chinese language teaching in India and China-India people-to-people and cultural exchanges,” the statement added. Bihar orders CBI probe into Sushant Singh Rajput death [Sushant Singh Rajput. File]Sushant Singh Rajput. File The [Bihar government has recommended a CBI probe into Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death](. “Since the family has given the consent, we are recommending a CBI probe on the FIR that was lodged here…I spoke to the State DGP and all the formalities are being done for the CBI probe and I think it will be sent today,” Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told media persons. “Now with the State government having recommended a CBI inquiry into Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case, we believe the truth will come out…we are thankful to the leaders of all political parties and the Chief Minister as well for recommending the inquiry to CBI”, BJP MLA and cousin of the deceased actor Neeraj Kumar Singh told The Hindu. Vivo likely to pull out as IPL sponsor [ A view of the Vivo IPL trophy. File ] A view of the Vivo IPL trophy. File Chinese mobile phone company [Vivo is likely to pull out as the IPL’s title sponsor for this year](. It is in talks with the BCCI for an “amicable separation” amid rising Sino-India diplomatic tensions. The one-year pullout could be treated as a moratorium period and if the relations improve, BCCI may look at inking a fresh three-year deal with the company from 2021 to 2023 on revised terms. The IPL will be held in the UAE from September 19 to November 10 this year. “Yes, the discussions are on between BCCI office-bearers (president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah) and the representatives of the company. There is a possibility that Vivo will not be title sponsors for one year,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity. SC reserves orders in decade-old Prashant Bhushan contempt case [ ] The [Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved for orders a decade-old contempt case against noted civil rights lawyer Prashant Bhushan](, whose office said he refused to apologise but has agreed to issue a statement that his remarks about judicial “corruption” in an interview to Tehelka magazine in 2009 were not meant to hurt judges’ families or tarnish the judiciary. A two-page judicial order published later in the day said the court was yet to receive the “explanation/apology” submitted by Bhushan and Tarun Tejpal, the then editor-in-chief of Tehelka. The three-judge Bench led by Justice Arun Mishra said it would hear the contempt case if “we do not accept the explanation/apology”. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 19,01,856 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 39,811. India on Tuesday recorded 52,050 new cases. Interestingly, at a time when India reported the highest one-day count of Covid-19 positive cases in the world, the Health Ministry in a presentation to the Parliamentary Committee on Health has claimed that the extended lockdown helped save nearly 78,000 lives. It also claimed that India imposed lockdown on the 55th day from the first case, while a majority of the countries waited till stage three with cases ranging from 4,000-12,000. In Brief: Mumbai has recorded its heaviest rainfall since 2005, leading to flooding all over the city and travel chaos. The BMC urged residents to stay indoors. “Mumbaikars are requested not to venture out unless extremely necessary and stay away from the shore and waterlogged areas,” the BMC said. The India Meteorological Department issued a red alert with a forecast of “extremely heavy” rainfall in Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Raigad and Ratnagiri districts in Maharashtra over the next 48 hours. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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