Daily Briefing: PM Modi urges Russia, Ukraine to hold direct talks; BJP likely to return to power in 4 states, exit polls say

Prime Minister Narendra Modi dialled Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and sought their support for their safe and quick evacuation, sources said. Modi’s conversation with Putin, the third since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, lasted 50 minutes. He urged the Russian President to hold direct talks with Zelenskyy in addition to the ongoing negotiations between their teams, sources said.

They have managed to escape the war and return to India. But with no end in sight to the conflict and no indication of its outcome, Indian students pursuing medical degrees in Ukraine are caught between despair and hope. The big question: What next?

Meanwhile, the financial markets went into turmoil with the stock markets plunging 2.74 per cent and the rupee falling to a record level of 77.01 against the dollar as the price of Brent crude oil rocketed to $139.1 per barrel, its highest level since 2008, before falling to $125.5 per barrel. Markets were unnerved over the possibility of disruptions in international oil supplies and potential sanctions on Russian oil and gas exports.

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Rising crude prices have raised fears of stagflation, a rare combination of stagnant growth and high inflation. We look at what causes this, and the concerns for the Indian economy if the spike persists.

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Barring Punjab, the BJP is likely to return to power in four states, at least according to most of the exit poll predictions. But there is a possibility of hung Houses in Goa and Uttarakhand as the exit polls differed sharply, with some even predicting that Congress would emerge as the single largest party. The headline, however, is from UP and Punjab, where Yogi Adityanath is expected to return to power, bucking a trend of nearly four decades, where no party was voted back into power since 1985. In Punjab, most pollsters gave the AAP numbers much ahead of the ruling Congress and the Akali Dal-BSP combine.

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With just days to go before the results of the Assembly elections, the Congress party has changed its stance in Goa. The AICC state in-charge has said that the party was open to joining forces with “anti-BJP parties”, including AAP and TMC.

In Uttar Pradesh, Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and BJP chief minister Yogi Adityanath were the busiest campaigners for their parties during the seven-phase elections, clocking 209 and 203 rallies/roadshows, respectively. Meanwhile, BSP chief Mayawati addressed only 18 public meetings.

The proposed changes in the rules for deputing IAS and IPS officers to the Centre has met with pushback from chief ministers like Mamata Banerjee and MK Stalin. Liz Mathew looks at similar efforts made by opposition CMs several decades ago — their target then was Indira Gandhi’s Congress government at the Centre.

Kumbakonam, which was recently upgraded to a corporation, in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur district has got its first mayor: K Saravanan, a 42-year-old autorickshaw driver. Seeking to highlight that he is still one among the people, Saravanan arrived for the oath-taking ceremony riding his autorickshaw.

And Finally…

Almost four months into his captainship, skipper Rohit Sharma has laid out his vision after his first Test match: Developing the team’s bench strength across all formats. Keeping those on the bench motivated and ready to perform when the opportunity comes.

Delhi Confidential: A video emerged on social media in which students returning from Ukraine are seen purportedly ignoring Tourism and Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy’s efforts to welcome them with a flower each. This is one such instance in a series of snubs felt by ministers, which, it is learnt, have left many of them not very pleased.

In today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we talk about rising crude prices, why states have been withdrawing consent to CBI, and why the BJP failed to win a single municipality in the recent West Bengal civic poll.

Until tomorrow

Leela Prasad and Sonal Gupta

Business As Usual by EP Unny