Left, Right & Centre

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury met with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Delhi on Wednesday. After the meeting, Mr Yechury told NDTV that opposition unity is heading towards a positive direction. "It is absolutely required for Indian politics today," he said. On the issue of prime ministerial ambitions, Mr Yechury said it is not a concern as it would be clear after the election, as has been the case in past coalitions. "Meeting Nitish felt like a homecoming," Mr Yechury said, recollecting the Bihar Chief Minister, who used to visit the CPI(M) office in Delhi in the past, had stopped coming for a while.

Those sitting in the back of a car and not wearing a seat belt will be fined soon, announced Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday, two days after Cyrus Mistry died in a car crash near Mumbai. It appears that Mr Mistry, former Tata Sons Chairman, wasn't wearing a seat belt and must have been thrown in front at great velocity once the speeding car crashed into a divider in the Palghar district of Maharashtra on Sunday.

"Already, it's mandatory to wear seat belt at the rear seat but people are not following it. There will be a siren if the people at the rear seat don't wear belts like for the front seats. And if they don't wear belts, there will be a fine," said Mr Gadkari, stressing that "at any lost, lives have to be saved".

Maharashtra MP Supriya Sule today said she would remember her family friend Cyrus Mistry, the former Tata Sons chairman, as "a dedicated father and husband... who hated anything flashy". The NCP leader, daughter of former union minister Sharad Pawar, spoke of family ties going back several decades with Cyrus Mistry and the Shapoorji Pallonji business family. "Even when he had the huge job (as Tata chairperson), he and (his wife) Rohiqa wanted as low a profile as possible. They would be having dinners with prime ministers... be meeting Presidents, but won't want attention," she told NDTV. 

The horrific death of Cyrus Mistry and a co-passenger - both seated in the rear seat of a Mercedes SUV - is another stark reminder of how dangerous our roads can be. Particularly if you are not belted even in the rear seat. Think about it ​1.55 lakh lives were lost in road crashes last year in India - and yet, how often do we talk about this. On the show, a reality check on the impact of road accidents on India - not just on the lives of families - but on the foundations of our economic growth.

 

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi is set to undertake a "Bharat Jodo Yatra" from Kanyakumari to Kashmir valley, amid the backdrop of an increasingly divided Congress marked by high-profile exits. On Left, Right & Centre, we ask - can a divided Congress unite India?

Cyrus Mistry, the former chairman of Tata Sons, died in a car accident near Mumbai today. Along with Cyrus Mistry, Jehangir Pandole, Anahita Pandole and Darius Pandole were present in the car. Jehangir Pandole, brother of Darius Pandole, is the other person who died in the accident. This is the latest blow for the Mistry family whose patriarch, Pallonji Mistry - Cyrus Mistry's father - died in June at 93.

Seven days after allegations that he sexually abused two teenagers in a hostel, a part of his mutt, Shivkumar Sharanaru - the influential spiritual leader in Karnataka - continues to remain free. He alleges there was a conspiracy but what remains shocking is that there has still been no arrest despite serious charges under POCSO. Are political parties in Karnataka soft-peddling on the issue with all sides trying to woo the Lingayat community ahead of polls?

From a now-suspended BJP leader allegedly torturing and trapping her maid in Jharkhand, a Gurgaon man slapping a liftman who rescued him to the scary Noida lawyer who flipped out at the security guard in a colony. Entitlement and Power - How our privileged treat the poor.

A BJP leader Seema Patra, now suspended by the party, has been accused of torturing her domestic help by keeping her imprisoned for eight years. The matter came to light after a man informed the police and the police raided her home and rescued her from her misery. She was allegedly forced to lick the floor with her tongue and was hit with a hot iron wok leaving scars on her body. Her teeth were broken due to repeated beating.

There's hectic political drama in Jharkhand with several MLAs being flown to Raipur on a chartered aircraft to prevent them from being poached. Is the governor fueling political uncertainty by not deciding on Chief Minister Hemant Soren's fate?