Daily Briefing: Rolling with the laddoos; what’s next in MUDA case for Siddaramaiah

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Temples have been the mainstay of Indian politics for as far as one can remember. This time, our politicians seem to be rolling with the laddoos–ones distributed at Andhra Pradesh’s Tirupati temple. The state’s Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has alleged that animal fat was added to them when his archrival Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy was in power.

It’s ‘tactical’: TDP sources have told The Indian Express that the move is aimed at retaining the party’s Hindu base. In fact, a senior BJP leader believes that this may give fillip to the Hindu Right’s demand to reclaim temples from government control (given that Jagan is a Christian).

Following suit: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has already launched a campaign to free temples across the country from government control, claiming that this would stop corruption and adulteration.

Elsewhere… The BJP’s second ally, Nitish Kumar, has caused a flutter within the party by demanding a direct rail link between Sitamarhi and Ayodhya. A move, some believe, may dent the BJP’s voter base.

Not just laddoos: With cases of food adulteration cropping up in Uttar Pradesh, CM Yogi Adityanath is looking for a hard stop. He has directed that all eateries must display the name and address of operators, proprietors and managers. Earlier, a similar directive was stayed by the Supreme Court, when the police in Uttarakhand and UP asked eateries to display names of owners along the Kanwar Yatra route.

Only in Express

“I’m happy, but not satisfied”

Manu Bhaker is a twin bronze medal-winner in shooting at the Paris Olympics.

“I expected to change the colour of my medal. But that didn’t happen. However, people’s love did not decrease”

Lovlina Borgohain lost out on a medal in Paris but had clinched the bronze medal in boxing at the Tokyo Olympics.

The duo opened up about the highs and lows of sports, their life after medals, and being a woman athlete, at the latest edition of Express Adda.

From the Front Page

Maha Tussle? It seems that all’s not well in the Maharashtra ruling alliance as the state Cabinet has turned down the revenue department’s proposal for “direct allotment” of 5 hectares of land in Nagpur for educational purposes to a public trust headed by State BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule, following strong objections by the finance department headed by Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar.

New Phase, New Beginnings: The second phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls kicked off today where people in 15 constituencies will be exercising their franchise. There are a bunch of high-profile contests in this phase with former J&K chief minister and NC vice-president Omar Abdullah, contesting in his family bastion of Ganderbal, going up against PDP state secretary Bashir Ahmad Mir and jailed cleric and Independent Sarjan Barkati. The Channapura seat will witness a tussle between Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari, NC candidate Mushtaq Guroo, PDP’s Mohammed Iqbal Trumboo, and BJP’s Hilal Ahmad Wani. Follow our Live Blog for latest news and updates.

In a first, the Centre has invited foreign diplomats to take a look at the polling process. A group of diplomats from 16 foreign missions, including the United States, European Union, Russia and Australia, will be in Srinagar to observe the voting.

Must Read

The Karnataka High Court has allowed an investigation into Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the alleged Mysore Urban Development Authority scam. In doing so, it upheld Karnataka Governor Thawarchand Gehlot’s earlier decision to sanction the investigation. What was the case and why did the CM challenge the governor’s sanction? We explain.

In today’s Opinion section, C Raja Mohan writes about how technology was at the centre of discussions during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent trip to the United States. “Modi government’s progress with the US is not the first time Delhi has put technology on the top of its diplomatic and strategic agenda. But today, both domestic and external factors are coming together to facilitate a deepening partnership,” he says.

And Finally…

With ‘Laapataa Ladies’ having made the cut for the Oscars, Kishwar Desai writes about the citation of the Film Federation of India that has sparked a debate online. “While every year the official entry to the Oscars is usually that one film that is unlikely to win, this time it is the citation for ‘Laapataa Ladies’ which may ensure that this chosen film will lose,” she says.

Delhi Confidential: The BSP is living up to its tradition of going into an election, this time in Haryana, without releasing any manifesto or list of promises. As such, its candidate from Dadri Assembly seat is taking help of its ally INLD, reading out six of their promises, including unemployment allowance and free LPG cylinders, while campaigning.

In today’s edition of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we take a deep dive into how no action has been taken in several hate speech cases across Maharashtra, discuss the key highlights from the recently concluded Quad summit, and talk about the alleged assault and sexual abuse case that took place inside a police station in Odisha.

That’s all for today! Until tomorrow,

Sonal Gupta and Rounak Bagchi

Business As Usual by EP Unny