LS Speaker recognises breakaway BJD group

Speaker Manohar Joshi has recognised the rebel Biju Janata Dal (BJD) group in the Lok Sabha. Prasanna Acharya, the group’s leader, has ...

Speaker Manohar Joshi has recognised the rebel Biju Janata Dal (BJD) group in the Lok Sabha. Prasanna Acharya, the group’s leader, has been made the leader.

Six of the BJD’s 10 Lok Sabha members had elected Acharya as their leader, replacing Union Water Resources Minister Arjun Charan Sethi, a Patnaik loyalist. On September 17, they had written to the Speaker.

With this, the BJD Parliamentary Party has split formally. Besides Acharya, the rebel group comprises Kumudini Patnaik, Prabhat Samantray, Jagannath Mullick, Bharthruhari Mahtab and Prasanna Patsani. Sethi leads the other group, which has Braja Kishore Tripathy, Trilochan Kanungo and Padmanabha Behera.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat has written to Kumudini Patnaik and the five other rebel MPs conveying the information. The Secretariat letter said Joshi had decided to accede to the rebels MPs’ request for a change of leader and party office-bearers in the LS with effect from October 29. After considering the legalities of the move and facts on record, necessary changes would be made in the party position in Lok Sabha and in other records, the letter said.

NIA chargesheets 3 in Amritsar temple grenade attack case

Cities34 min ago

The NIA has charged three individuals for the grenade attack on a temple in Amritsar, Punjab. The investigation revealed a larger conspiracy involving terror operatives in India and abroad. The NIA is determined to bring justice and prevent future threats to national security by tracing financial networks and apprehending other suspects.

View all shorts

Live Blog