Left, Right & Centre

Ex-BJP Leader who joined the Congress recently after being denied a ticket spoke exclusively to NDTV and said that BJP Leader BJP Santhosh is the reason he was denied the ticket.

The Centre again opposed the Supreme Court hearing of requests seeking legal sanction to same-sex marriages, stating that only the Parliament can decide on the creation of a new social relationship. In a significant observation, the Chief Justice of India said, "There is no absolute concept of a man or an absolute concept of a woman at all. When the Special Marriage Act says man and woman, the very notion of a man and a woman is not an absolute based on their genitals.''

It's the turn of the UK to look closely at the prospect of restricting end-to-end encryption - the technology that ensures that your WhatsApp or Signal communications cannot be seen by anyone other than you and the person that you are communicating with. We have had this debate in India as well - It's basically about the right to privacy vs the need to ensure safety. The UK online safety bill is meant to force internet companies to remove illegal content such as child sexual abuse or terrorism. Several companies from WhatsApp to Signal, Session and the Wire have now all signed a letter telling the government they just must rethink this.

Former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar joined Congress today in the presence of party president Mallikarjun Kharge. The Congress took a swipe at the BJP over former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar crossing over to it ahead of the May 10 Assembly elections, claiming the ruling party is "falling like a house of cards". Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai however said the former Karnataka chief minister would be used and later thrown out by Congress.

A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court led by the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, and Justices SK Kaul, Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli, and PS Narasimha, is set to hear a clutch of petitions seeking legal recognition for same-sex marriages on Tuesday. Calling marriage an "exclusively heterogenous institution", the Centre today again opposed granting legal sanction to same-sex marriage, and said the question of considering it equal to the existing concept of marriage "seriously affects the interests of every citizen".

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was questioned for over nine hours by the CBI as a witness in the Delhi liquor policy case. Tonight on Left, Right & Centre, we ask - is this a fair probe or intimidation of the opposition?

 

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been summoned by the CBI for questioning over alleged corruption in the capital's now-scrapped alcohol sales policy that led to the arrest of his deputy Manish Sisodia in February, sources have told NDTV

Ex-MP and convict Atiq Ahmed's son Asad, wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case, was gunned down by Uttar Pradesh police in an encounter in Jhansi today. Asad had a reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head. Asad Ahmed had been captured by a CCTV camera during the attack on Pal and was on the run since. The encounter killings took place on a day Atiq Ahmed was produced in court in the same murder case and sent to judicial custody for 14 days. After the encounter, while UP CM Adityanath congratulated the UP police team, many opposition leaders like Akhilesh Yadav and Asaduddin Owaisi said the encounter was fake. The UP Police, however, maintains the encounter wasn't fake and said they were ready for any enquiry.

The Karnataka government's decision to scrap a four per cent quota for Muslims in government jobs and education, and divvy it among the two dominant Hindu communities just ahead of elections was criticised by the Supreme Court on Thursday, which said the move appeared to be on a "highly shaky ground" and "flawed". Is this a huge setback for the BJP ahead of elections? Watch Left Right and Centre.

Ahead of next month's Karnataka elections, the BJP is reeling under rebellion by several leaders. On Left, Right and Centre, we take on the politics, predictions and the gameplan building up to the assembly polls.