Left, Right & Centre

A prominent seer in Karnataka booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) claims he is the victim of a conspiracy. But the charges against the chief pontiff of the Murugha Mutt, Dr Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru are serious. The FIR alleges that the pontiff and four others sexually abused two high school girls who stayed at one of the hostels run by the mutt. The statements of the girls have also been recorded in front of the Child Welfare Committee. The abuse happened for two years between 2019 and 2022. Is it conspiracy against the seer or is the state going slow on the pontiff?

The Supertech twin towers in Noida were brought down today in a massive explosion. The blast, lasting about nine seconds, caps a nine-year legal battle between residents of Supertech Emerald Court in Sector 93A and the realtor over the two towers. NDTV's Vishnu Som discusses on Left Right & Centre.

"If there is no issue, then why are MLAs being paraded at the CM's residence day in and day out? This did not happen before. There is total chaos in Congress at the national level. In Jharkhand as well, it is the same story. That is the reason why Congress MLAs are being kept together at one place," says former Jharkhand CM and BJP leader Raghubar Das.

Facing the threat of disqualification from the assembly, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and his ally Congress on Saturday rounded up their MLAs - the standard tactic of dodging attempts at poaching lawmakers and bringing down governments.

 

Chief Minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren's political future seems uncertain - he has been accused of allotting plots of land to himself, signaling a possible office for profit case. The Election Commission has also stepped in, sending a sealed letter to the Governor. The JMM cries foul, blaming an unfolding Operation Lotus, while the BJP bays for his blood, pushing for his disqualification. On Left, Right & Centre tonight, we ask: is this the end of the political road for Hemant Soren?

On the day of the Nitish-Tejashwi trust vote, CBI raided multiple senior RJD leaders in Bihar in connection with the land for jobs' scam. While Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi easily Yadav won the vote, tonight on Left, Right and Centre we discuss the timing of the entry of central agencies in the state juxtaposed with the BJP's removal from the ruling alliance.

The former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa kicks off the Savarkar Rath Yatra in Mysore - against the backdrop of communal tension & clashes over posters of VD Savarkar being put up in the state. The Congress says invoking the name of Savarkar, the Hindutva mascot, is to keep the communal pot boiling, while some in the BJP would argue that a Hindu rashtra is inevitable.

After Delhi and Punjab, the Aam Admi Party has its sights trained on Gujarat with Arvind Kejriwal making a key visit to the state along with Manish Sisodia, who finds himself in the middle of the liquor scam and at the centre of CBI investigation. But on the election trail in Gujarat, Sisodia came out with a sensational disclosure - he has been approached by someone who told him quit AAP, join the BJP and the charges will all be forgotten. Sisodia apparently has an audio recording of this conversation as well. On the program - two key debates - one on the allegations and counter allegations on Sisodia and secondly, the AAP's prospects in Gujarat. Are they realistic?

More bad news for the Congress as it grapples with the process of who their new President is going to be. Another senior leader Anand Sharma resigned as the Chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Steering Committee just months ahead of state elections.  As far as Rahul Gandhi is concerned, some Congress leaders suggest that he has pulled out of the Presidential race. The big question, who can steer the Congress out of the crisis that it finds itself in?

Manish Sisodia, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, was raided by the CBI on Friday. The Aam Aadmi Party claims that the raids are rooted in BJP's recognition that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is the only challenger to PM Narendra Modi for the 2024 general elections. Is it really going to be Modi vs Kejriwal for 2024? We discuss that in this debate.