The Shiv Sena on Thursday declared they will not contest the upcoming West Bengal Assembly election, but will stand in solidarity with Mamata Banerjee’s re-election campaign as Chief Minister for a third term.

Taking to micro blogging site Twitter, Shiv Sena MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut said, “A lot of people are curious to know whether Shivsena is contesting West Bengal Polls or not? So here’s the update after discussions with Party President Uddhav ji Thackeray.(sic)” Looking at the present scenario, Raut added that “it appears like a ‘Didi Vs All’ fight” in the West Bengal.

“All ‘M’s – Money, Muscle and Media are being used against ‘M’amata Didi. Hence, Shivsena has decided not to Contest West Bengal polls & stand in solidarity with her. We wish Mamata Didi a ‘roaring’ success, ‘cos we believe She is the real Bengal Tigress (sic),” he further added.

In January 2021, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena had announced its plans to contest the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls.

The party is currently a part of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition with Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra. Uddhav Thackeray is party leader and serves as the current Chief Minister of the state.

Although, the party’s primary base is still in Maharashtra, it has tried to expand to a pan-Indian base.

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Thursday inspected the ongoing work on Dwarka Expressway in Gurugram and directed officers to expedite the construction work.

Union Minister of State Rao Inderjit Singh accompanying Gadkari boarded a bus at Kherki Daula toll plaza and took stock of the progress of the expressway.

During visit, the Union Minister was apprised that 50 per cent construction work of the expressway has been completed.

Officers said that the total length of the expressway is 29 km, of which 18.9 km is on the Haryana side of the border while the remaining 10.1 km is in Delhi.

According to officials, out of the total 29 km length of the expressway, 23 km is elevated and a tunnel will be constructed at a distance of four km.

The minister was informed that eight-lane flyovers and six service lanes are also being constructed on this expressway. Not only this, India’s first four-level interchange will be built on this expressway near Dwarka in Delhi, with tunnel or underpass, grade road, elevated flyover and another flyover above that flyover.

In addition, an eight-lane tunnel of 3.6 km length will be built near Dwarka for the airport. This urban road tunnel will be the first of its kind in India.

About 12,000 trees coming in the way of construction of this expressway have been transplanted so that the environment is not harmed. The entire project will be equipped with intelligent transport system and will have a fully automated toll system.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday during his official visit to Dhaka. Jaishankar presented Prime Minister Hasina with two books on Bangladesh written by his late father K. Subrahmanyam.

“Conveyed warm greetings of PM Narendra Modi. Her sagacity and leadership continue to inspire our relationship,” EAM Jaishankar tweeted. In a subsequent tweet, EAM said, “Presented her with two books on Bangladesh written by my late father K. Subrahmanyam. These are amongst the first books written on Bangladesh in early 1972. He would’ve been proud to see Bangladesh’s remarkable progress.”

Later, Jaishankar also inaugurated the new Indian Cultural Centre in the Baridhara Diplomatic Area of Dhaka, which would serve art and music enthusiasts alike.

During his official visit to Bangladesh, Jaishankar focused on the issues of water sharing, border killings, Covid-19 with his counterpart Dr A.K.A. Momen in Dhaka.

Speaking during a press conference on Thursday, the EAM termed Teesta water-sharing as a big issue, saying, “We did discuss it, we have a meeting of our water resources Secretaries very soon. I’m sure they will be discussing it further.”

Jaishankar’s visit is to prepare the ground for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to Bangladesh and hold talks with his counterpart on the progress of bilateral ties. This will be PM Modi’s first foreign trip in more than a year mainly because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Union Minister V. Muraleedharan on Thursday had to backtrack from his comments after he claimed that the BJP has announced ‘Metroman’ E. Sreedharan as its chief ministerial candidate for the Kerala elections.

He clarified that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not yet decided to nominate Sreedharan, popularly known as ‘Metroman’, as the Chief Minister candidate of the party for the upcoming Kerala Assembly polls.

Speaking to ANI, Muraleedharan said: “There were some statements that E Sreedharan will be CM candidate in Kerala. I heard media reports that the party has announced him as the CM candidate. “After I talked to the party president he said that he hasn’t made any statement and he was only referring to some issue in Kerala, So it should not be considered as an announcement, I am clarifying it,” he added.

Earlier on Thursday, Muraleedharan told ANI that Sreedharan would become the CM candidate for the upcoming Kerala Assembly elections. “BJP will fight Kerala polls with E Sreedharan Ji as its chief ministerial candidate. We will defeat both CPIM and Congress to provide a corruption-free, development-oriented governance for the people of Kerala,” he tweeted.

“Kerala BJP under the able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji will strive to take care of the needs of the people of Kerala. The New Kerala under E. Sreedharan Ji will pave the way for an efficient & effective Govt in the state.” he added.

Prior to that, Kerala BJP chief K. Surendran had said that the face of the state can be changed if Sreedharan is made the CM of the state. “If ‘Metroman’ becomes the chief minister, the face of Kerala can be changed,” Surendran told ANI.

Sreedharan formally joined BJP in Malappuram on 25 February in presence of Union Minister R.K. Singh. He joined the party during BJP’s ongoing Vijaya Yatra led by Kerala BJP chief K. Surendran.

On 18 February, Sreedharan announced that he will join the BJP. “If BJP comes to power in Kerala, I am ready to become the chief minister. The party has not asked me till now as it is too premature. But if BJP asks me, I am willing to take up the post and show how a state can be run efficiently like we are running DMRC,” Sreedharan had told ANI earlier.

The election for the 140-member Kerala Assembly will be held on 6 April.

With ANI inputs

The Delhi High Court on Thursday showed apprehensions over non-utilisation of coronavirus vaccine to its full capacity by the country, asserting that it is either being donated or sold off to foreign countries rather than being provided to Indians.

Justice Vipin Sanghi made the observations while hearing a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) concerning vaccination of judges, court staff and lawyers on priority and for them to be treated as frontline workers so that they could receive it without limitations of their age or physical condition.

Justice Sanghi said, “If the capacity of the two vaccine manufacturers were being utilized to the full and then the restrictions were to be put, it would have been one thing. We should not have the situation where we are not even utilizing the full capacity.” His remarks came after Covishield and Covaxin vaccine manufacturers Bharat Biotech and Serum Insititute of India apprised that the capacity to vaccinate the judicial staff is available.