Left, Right & Centre

Despite a push by some leaders like Mamata Banerjee and Sharad Pawar for the opposition to rethink alliances post Balakot, the Congress runs into rough weather with the AAP and the Samajwadi Party. Is there still time to salvage this?

Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa said the Air Force has not counted the enemy casualties in the air strike in Balakot. "We can't count how many people have died. It depends on how many people were there," the Air Chief said, addressing a press conference. The opposition has now asked how did BJP chief Amit Shah come up with the number of terrorists killed at 250. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a swipe at the opposition that it was questioning the armed forces. Is this rhetoric on Pakistan going to decide India's election outcome?

Author Nazia Erum says fake news and bullying on social media and TV channels after the Pulwama attack and the air strike are to be blamed for rising instances of harassment of young people. She says there are reports of even Muslim children being bullied and called names in some schools. She has appealed to parents to intervene.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today took the battle against the Congress party chief Rahul Gandhi's backyard, Amethi. He accused Rahul Gandhi of lying and failing to deliver on the promise of generating jobs for 1,500 people. The Prime Minister's first visit to the Gandhi family stronghold since coming to power, was meant to announce projects worth Rs 538 crore.

Five days after India announced it had crossed the Line of Control to bomb the main training camp of terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot in Pakistan, the government has yet to release any images of what was hit. What happened at Balakot? Sources have told NDTV's Vishnu Som that satellite images will prove India's case. Satellite images of the strikes, which are being treated as highly confidential by government officials for now, are likely to reveal multiple impact points made by the Israeli bombs used by the Mirage fighters that crossed the line of control. The delay in the release of evidence from satellite imagery is triggering intense speculation of what really transpired. Senior government sources have told NDTV that it was up to the government to decide when and whether to release any satellite images that may be available.

India's hero Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman is back home and today the Prime Minister said that the meaning of 'Abhinandan' will now change. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met the pilot who was released by Pakistan last night in an Armed Forces hospital as sources say Abhinandan was subjected to considerable mental harassment though no physical torture while in captivity. Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has talked of peace and described freeing Abhinandan as a gesture of goodwill. But if anything, the ceasfire violations on the Line of Control have spiked, 60 in just the last week and a mother and her two children, innocent civilians have died in overnight shelling in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch sector. Tonight on Left Right and Centre we ask, is Abhinandan's return enough for de-escalation or is this just a temporary hiatus.

At 3:30 am this morning, for the first time since the 1971 war, the Indian Air Force was used to strike targets in Pakistan. The strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp in Pakistan's Balakot, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, was massive and involved several Mirage 2000 fighters of the IAF going across launching weapons and returning unscathed. No satellite imagery of the attack has been released so far. Pakistan, while admitting that the IAF jets crossed the Line of Control, says we have not caused any significant damage. Sources in the Indian Air Force have told NDTV that the attacks were entirely successful and destroyed this camp. What's more, the Home Ministry believes we have taken out some of the top leaders of the Jaish-e-Mohammed including relatives of Jaish chief Masood Azhar. On this programme, former Army, Air Force Chiefs, former Mirage 2000 pilots and experts look at India's attack and the possibility of a Pakistani retaliation.

At the opening of the National War Memorial, Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened an all-out attack on the Congress and pitched the Gandhi family as the opponents who always shortchanged the armed forces - from bullet-proof jackets to helicopters and now the Rafale fighter jets. "Is it the nation first or the family first," he questioned during his address. With weeks to go for the national elections, the occasion acquired a political turn. Speaking before PM Modi, Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "What we need today is your trust, and trust in the Prime Minister. The welfare of ex-servicemen is always at the top of our priorities."

The Congress has shut the door on an alliance in Delhi for the national election, Arvind Kejriwal stressed today in an interview to NDTV, declaring that his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was preparing to contest alone in the capital in the polls now just weeks away. "They (Congress) have refused to go for a gathbandhan (alliance). It appears they are firm," Arvind Kejriwal said days after he said at a public rally that he was "fed up" of asking the Congress to agree to teaming up. That comment didn't go down well with the Congress and its Delhi chief Sheila Dikshit, who said while her party was accused of being the saboteur, no such talks had taken place.

The government launches its mega farmer income scheme, transferring Rs 2,000 as the first installment into accounts of more than 1 crore farmers. But the target of the government is 12 crore small and marginal farmers and based on initial rejections, and the refusal of opposition governments to be a part of the scheme, there seems to be no way the government will be able to bring so many farmers into the fold. Tonight, on Left, Right and Centre we ask, so what really is this scheme achieving or is this an out an out election handout?