From leadership crisis to confused ideology, the Congress is currently grappling with every possible problem a political party can ever face. As focus has shifted from the Covid-19 pandemic to politics, the infighting in several state units is back to haunt the high command of the grand old party. 

The Congress seems to be staring at an imminent revolt in Punjab, where cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu is not ready to relent charge against own party’s Chief Minister Captain Amarindar Singh. Apart from Sidhu, Rajya Sabha MP Pratap Singh Bajwa, party MLA Pargat Singh and many others are miffed with Captain on various issues ranging from style of working to lack of action against former CM Parkash Singh Badal and his family in the sacrilege case. 

The 3-member panel, chaired by Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, formed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to douse the flames, has not yielded fruitful results as daggers are still out amongst party leaders. Taking things in own hands, Rahul Gandhi is now meeting Punjab leaders to mitigate differences amongst various camps. 

The Rajasthan Congress unit too is badly divided and now cracks are coming to fore in this arid land too. Recently, Sachin Pilot camped for four days in the national capital, after sharing his displeasure with English daily as “nothing was done to resolve his issues”.

As per the Pilot camp, when he was about to desert the Congress, he and his loyal MLAs were promised “respectable position” within the party but nothing materialised. 

Pilot camp had told The Daily Guardian that the young leader was hopeful that the party would address his grievances and the matter would be resolved soon. 

All is not well in Maharashtra Pradesh Congress committee too, where the party is sharing power with the NCP and the Shiv Sena. The state leadership is almost split over support to the Uddhav Thackeray government, wherein leaders, part of cabinet such as Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut are in favour of running the government, while leaders like Nana Patole and Sanjay Nirupam keep to leave the alliance. The party high command is yet to clarify its position on the matter. 

The newest entrant into problematical states is Karnataka, where senior leader D.K. Shivkumar recently met state in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala and Rahul Gandhi. As per sources, Kumar lodged his protest over the party giving prominence to former CM Siddaramaiah in party matters.

If sources are to be believed, Kumar wants the Congress to project him as the next CM candidate for the next elections, while the party is insisting on Siddaramaiah.

After a Supreme Court panel report said that the Delhi government exaggerated the city’s oxygen requirement at the peak of the Covid-19 crisis, a fresh war of words has begun between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The panel, led by AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria, included Delhi government Principal Home Secretary Bhupinder Bhalla, Max Healthcare Director Dr Sandeep Buddhiraja and Union Jal Shakti Ministry Joint Secretary Subodh Yadav.

“The Delhi government exaggerated the oxygen requirement for the city by more than four times during the April 25-May 10 period, at the peak of the second COVID wave,” the report said, adding that supply of excess oxygen to Delhi could have triggered a crisis in its supply to 12 states with the high caseload.

“There was a gross discrepancy (about four times) in the actual oxygen consumption claimed by the Delhi government (1,140MT) as it was about four times higher than the calculated consumption as per the formula based on bed capacity (289 MT),” said an interim report of the oxygen audit panel appointed by the Supreme Court.

Responding to the panel report, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted saying, “My fault was that I fought for the breath of 2 crore people. When you were [Prime Minister Narendra Modi] busy campaigning for election, I was burning the midnight oil to arrange oxygen. People have lost their relatives due to oxygen shortage. Please don’t lie, they are feeling bad.”

The BJP soon jumped into the issue and targeted the AAP-led Delhi government. Party spokesperson Sambit Patra cited the report to note that Delhi’s requirement was 351 MT of medical oxygen even if the panel went by the Delhi government’s formula, while it was 289 MT according to the Central government’s estimate. He further said that only 209 MT was utilised while Kejriwal projected a requirement of 1,140 MT.

Reacting to allegations levelled by the BJP, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia denied the existence of any report by the Supreme Court-appointed Oxygen Audit Committee. “There is no such report. We have spoken to the members of the Oxygen Audit Committee formed by the Supreme Court. They said they have not signed or approved any such report,” he said in a press conference on Friday

Coming to the panel report, it said that the average consumption of oxygen in Delhi was between 284 to 372 MT, and added that “the excess supply of oxygen affected other states in need of oxygen”. It further stated that four Delhi hospitals claimed high consumption of oxygen with fewer beds.

Making a number of recommendations in its 163-page report submitted to the top court, the interim report also said that certain hospitals projected extremely high demand but recorded negative consumption. It noted that four hospitals—Singhal Hospital, Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital, ESIC Model Hospital and Liferay Hospital—had “claimed extremely high oxygen consumption with a very few beds and the claims appeared to be erroneous, leading to extremely skewed information and significantly higher oxygen requirement of the entire state of Delhi”.

The interim report said that tankers in Delhi were not able to offload oxygen and were lying idle as oxygen tanks in various hospitals were completely filled. “In this regard, a complaint has been received from M/S Goel Gases that their tanker has been parked at LNJP hospital and could not offload oxygen for many hours, leading to breakdown in supply chain. Similar instances have been observed at New Delhi,” it added.

As many as 50 cases of Delta Plus variant of Covid-19 have been recorded across 11 states in India, government sources said on Friday.

The Union Health Ministry, during a press conference earlier in the day, had informed that as many as 48 Delta Plus cases have been reported in the country, while the government sources told ANI that 50 cases of Delta Plus have been reported. The sources further said that deaths of two Covid-19 patients positive for the Delta Plus variant have been reported in Madhya Pradesh so far, both of whom had not taken vaccines.

The Delta Plus Covid-19 positive cases reported are from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Rajasthan, Jammu and Karnataka.

“Wherever you find a cluster, you have to contain it,” said Director-General of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Dr Balram Bhargava.

The government, however, said that at this time the spread is still ‘very localised’.

The virus strain has been isolated and is being cultured by the ICMR – NIV and tests to check its resistance to existing COVID vaccines were ongoing, the govt added. The government has also said ‘Delta Plus’ variant cases had been reported from 12 other countries, including the US and UK.

Meanwhile, India registered as many as 51,667 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, informed the Union Health Ministry. At 2.98 per cent, the daily positivity rate in the country remained below 5 per cent for the 18 days on the trot. The tally of daily recoveries outnumbered the count of daily new cases for straight 43 days. Also, the country saw a total of 64,527 recoveries in the last 24 hours, pushing its overall count to 2,91,28,267.

The country witnessed 1,329 Covid-related fatalities in the last 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 3,93,310. Seeing a slight dip, India now has an active caseload of 6,12,868. A total of 39,95,68,448 samples tested up to June 24. Of which 17,35,781 samples were tested yesterday,” informed Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)

WITH ANI INPUTS

Dr Anthony Fauci opposed the Trump administration demands to withdraw a research grant to a foundation associated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, as per a new book. Fauci

later “reluctantly agreed” after it was indicated that his career would be risked. 

‘Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration’s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History’, an upcoming book by Washington Post reporters Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta, talks about Fauci’s discussion with other top officials over how to handle the request. 

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director and his colleagues grappled with how to respond to the request in April 2020 to withhold the remaining $369,819 balance for nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance’s project studying coronaviruses.

“On the afternoon of 24 April, National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins and Fauci received notice that Trump wanted to formally announce in a 5:00 pm press conference that the grant had been terminated,” the authors, wrote.

Following reports linked the research to the Wuhan facility at the centre of the “lab leak theory,” which claims the pandemic began with a lab accident, the White House pressured the National Institutes of Health to stop funding for a study researching how coronaviruses transfer from infected bats to humans.

To develop global media properties from Goa, iTV Network and Kaydence Media Ventures (KMV) have entered into a strategic partnership. Through this synergistic tie-up, KMV brands GoaChronicle and Incubees will get a major expansion across the print, digital, and TV platforms of iTV Network. iTV Network and KMV will also be launching a Goa-based news channel and a newspaper focusing on the Konkan region.

Talking about it, Kartikeya Sharma, founder, iTV Network, elaborated, “We believe in entering into strategic media partnerships with media companies who have created a global niche with their brand of journalism. As a media group, we also want to expand our footprint in the Konkan region. Thus, the decision to launch a news channel with KMV. We believe the Konkan region is growing rapidly. The people living in the Konkan region needs a national and international platform to voice their news, views, and concerns locally, nationally, and internationally.” 

Savio Rodrigues, founder and CEO, KMV Pvt. Ltd. exclaimed, “We are happy to partner with iTV Network as it gives our brand of journalism wings to grow nationally and internationally in a progressive manner.” 

Varun Kohli, CEO, iTV Network, expressed, “Our regional ventures are aimed at fostering local identity while encouraging debate and participation. Our association with KMV reiterates our position as a valuable source of news and information and is set to further highlight the personality and distinctive culture of Goa.” 

Meenakshi Singh, President — Government and Retail, iTV Network, revealed, “We believe that under the leadership of its founder Savio, it has created a definite niche for its brand of journalism not only in India but globally too. The strategic partnership with KMV is in keeping with a continued focus to partner and invest into good ideas within the media space in India and globally.”

Rishabh Gulati, Managing Editor, NewsX, said, “The team of Goa Chronicle lead by the brilliant Savio have proved the value of effective, research-driven journalism. As a part of iTV they will have access to a larger audience on more platforms and we, in turn, will benefit from their quality and depth.”

With Incubees, iTV Network and KMV have decided to launch a show focused on the Indian startup sector. 

NEW YORK: Expressing concern at the potential for renewed violence in East Jerusalem, India on Thursday reaffirmed its strong commitment to the establishment of an independent, viable, and democratic state of Palestine.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Secretary (West) Vikas Swarup, while addressing a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) session, underscored the importance of immediate resumption of the Middle East peace process and direct negotiations between Israel and Palestine. “India supports all diplomatic efforts including by the Quartet, which is aimed at strengthening the collective commitment of the international community to resume these negotiations and facilitate the peace process,” he said.

“After a period of brief calm, tensions are rising again in Gaza. The launch of incendiary balloons from Gaza targeting civilians in Israel and the retaliatory strikes into Gaza threatens to restart the cycle of violence, which caused immense suffering and resulted in deaths recently,” added Swarup.

He also urged all parties to honour the ceasefire arrangement to ensure that the situation does not spiral out of control.

“We are concerned at the potential for renewed violence in East Jerusalem and other parts of West Bank over the legal process that could lead to possible evictions in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem. Incitement and inflammatory rhetoric, as witnessed during the recent escalation, only drives and fuels violence,” the MEA Secretary added.

Swarup further said that any attempt to unilaterally change the status-quo that undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution should also be avoided. He also mentioned that the focus of the international community should not be diverted from the immediate needs of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian civilian population, particularly in Gaza.

“Let me conclude by reaffirming India’s unwavering commitment to the establishment of an independent, viable, democratic State of Palestine. There is no alternative to a two-state solution for ensuring meaningful and enduring peace,” Swarup said in his concluding remarks.