Left, Right & Centre

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said the party's crisis in Rajasthan "could have been handled better" but steered clear of laying any blame on Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, whom he called a "staunch Congressman who will always be loyal".

The Popular Front of India, along with its front organisations,  have been banned for 5 years after more than 100 members were arrested as a result of countrywide raids. The government believes that without a ban, the PFI would continue its subversive activities and enforce a terror-based regressive regime. While action must be taken, we ask on Left, Right & Centre tonight - what about other groups which also face similar charges? Shouldn't the law apply equally to everyone?

Three Ashok Gehlot loyalists are being blamed for the Rajasthan crisis. Disciplinary action is likely against chief whip Mahesh Joshi, RTDC chairman Dharmendra Rathore and Shanti Dhariwal, who hosted the parallel meeting of MLAs where they passed a resolution on the next Chief Minister. But what about Gehlot himself? Will he still contest for the post of Congress President? And what about Sachin Pilot, who was favoured to take over as Chief Minister?

A rebellion by more than 90 loyalist MLAs may cost Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot his shot at the Congress chief's post. Though he has apologised for the situation, the Gandhis are reportedly upset with him for "humiliating" the Congress.  And for now, no one is buying the argument that Mr Gehlot didn't know what his MLAs were up to. This has all been a plan to keep Sachin Pilot out of the Chief Minister's chair. We run you through minute-by-minute developments of Sunday night when a simple Congress legislature party meeting in Jaipur ended up in open rebellion and "gross indiscipline".

The Uttarakhand Police said the 19-year-old receptionist of a resort, whose body was fished out of a canal this morning, was being forced by the resort owner to provide "special services" to guests. According to the police, the woman shared messages with friends about how unsafe she felt at the resort. The resort is owner is a senior BJP leader's son. Pulkit Arya, the key accused in the case, is the son of Vinod Arya, a BJP leader from Haridwar.

The National Investigation Agency has raided premises linked to the Popular Front of India, or the PFI, in 15 states, and have arrested several during the raids. The PFI states that this is a political witch-hunt and is baseless, but law enforcement agencies say that the PFI promotes radical Islam and is involved in terror funding and organising training camps. On Left, Right & Centre tonight, we ask - are the raids on PFI a genuine crackdown on terror, or are the central agencies targeting minorities?

With his forces losing thousands of square kilometers of territory in Ukraine, Russian President Putin today took his rhetoric to the next level, and said he "isn't bluffing" when he says that he has the right to use nuclear weapons if the sovereignty of his country is threatened. This comes at a time when he plans to hold a referendum in parts of Ukraine, and has announced a part mobilization of his armed forces. Tonight, on Left, Right & Centre, we debate the severity of Putin's threat at a time when he is losing the war.

Clashes erupted in UK's Leicester after an India-Pakistan cricket match on August 28 ignited tension between the British Hindu and Muslim communities. Videos emerged - both of Hindus flinging glass bottles, and of an unidentified man pulling a flag off of a Hindu temple. The locals say they've never seen a worse situation in the area, and the police and officials have appealed to both communities to restore calm. On Left, Right & Centre, we discuss whether it is religion or community politics to blame for the scuffles in the area.

 

Queen Elizabeth II's coffin was on Monday lowered into the Royal Vault at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle - her final resting place, bringing to an end public mourning for Britain's longest-reigning monarch. The funeral, which was attended by leaders from around the world, brought to an end 11 days of mourning across the UK. On Left, Right & Centre, we look back at the Queen's legacy.

New satellite images sourced by NDTV show that Chinese soldiers have withdrawn 3 kilometres from the position that they occupied across the Line of Actual Control in Gogra in Eastern Ladakh. The withdrawal, part of a mutual process, follows the recent disengagement in the Gogra region of Eastern Ladakh which ended last week. The before and after images available to NDTV focus only on Chinese positions and do not show the extent of the buffer-zone, or no-man's land, created between the Armies of both sides as part of the agreement. No patrolling is permitted in this zone as a confidence building measure. But this is problematic, since civilians in the region say that they are losing their grazing ground to these buffer zones. Is India losing land in buffer zones?