Delhi Confidential: Amit Shah’s statement in Parliament today on attack on Owaisi

The occasion is expected to have some fireworks as Owaisi has already said that he is not satisfied with the police action and wants terror charges pressed against the arrested accused.

Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will make a statement in Parliament on Monday on the attack on AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi and the action taken by police. The occasion is expected to have some fireworks as Owaisi has already said that he is not satisfied with the police action and wants terror charges pressed against the arrested accused. In a snub to the government, the Hyderabad MP has rejected the Z category security accorded to him by the Ministry of Home Affairs after the attack. Owaisi’s car was fired at by two assailants while he was returning to Delhi from Meerut after campaigning for the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.

Good Terms

Congress Leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Manish Tewari may have been kept out of the party’s campaign list. But another leader, who is the part of the group of leaders advocating for change in the leadership’s style of functioning, appears to be in coaxed by his state unit leaders. Shashi Tharoor, who is said to be being wooed by another political party, had two important visitors last week at his office in the national capital. Both Kerala state unit president K Sudhakaran and the party’s legislative leader V D Satheesan made sure they spent quality time with Tharoor in discussions during their visit to Delhi. With Sudharakaran, Tharoor said, “We laughed about the media’s habit of distorting our remarks. Our focus is on strengthening the party for the fight ahead.” For Satheesan, he said, “We see eye to eye on most things. Onward & forward!”

The Dilemma

THE Ministry of Education and the National Testing Agency are currently consulting vice-chancellors of central universities to decide the pattern of the common university entrance test (CUET) that will be rolled out this year. The government, it is learned, is worried that the new common entrance test may just end up working in the coaching industry’s favour. The last few meetings with the V-Cs have been centred on this dilemma. Apparently, the government is seriously considering dropping the proposed aptitude test component of CUET. With just subject-focused questions – based on the programme the students want admission – and a respectable weightage to the Class 12 board results, the government thinks that candidates may not feel the pressure to take coaching for the exam.