Today in Politics: Jaishankar likely to make statement on Bangladesh crisis in Parliament; Uddhav in Delhi to meet INDIA bloc leaders

In context: Embattled Bangladesh leader Sheikh Hasina landed at the Hindon airbase on the outskirts of Delhi on Monday, hours after she resigned as the prime minister following weeks of deadly anti-government protests that killed nearly 300 people.

Hasina arrived in India as part of her plan to travel to London, multiple diplomatic sources said shortly after the C130J military transport aircraft of Bangladesh Air Force that carried the Awami League leader touched down at Hindon in Ghaziabad.

But that plan appeared uncertain on Monday night after British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in London that the people of Bangladesh “deserve a full and independent UN-led investigation into the events of the past few weeks”.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, accompanied by senior officials, met Hasina at the Hindon airbase and is understood to have conveyed India’s position on the developments in Bangladesh, sources said.

It is learnt that Hasina has been moved to a safe location after the meeting and it is unlikely that she would leave India on Monday night.

India is yet to make any comment on the developments in Bangladesh. It is expected that Jaishankar will make a statement in Parliament on Tuesday on the situation in the neighbouring country.

Uddhav in Delhi to meet INDIA bloc leaders

Shiv Sena (UBT) head and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray will be on a three-day visit to New Delhi from Tuesday and will meet leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc, party MP Sanjay Raut said on Monday.

This will be Thackeray’s first tour to the national capital after the recent Lok Sabha polls and ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls in Maharashtra later this year. “It is a samvad tour. Leaders of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Samajwadi Party (SP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will meet him. All India Congress Committee in-charge of Maharashtra Ramesh Chennithala will also have discussions with Thackeray. Uddhav ji will also meet the Marathi and national media persons in the capital during his visit,” the Rajya Sabha member said.

Delhi HC to hear plea on Ghazipur drain deaths

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday will hear a plea over the death of a mother-son duo who fell into a waterlogged open drain in Ghazipur, after the DDA said that the portion of the drain where the incident took place fell within the jurisdiction of the MCD.

The petitioner’s counsel said he has now filed an application to make the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) a party to the plea, as at the time of filing the petition, it was “locally” known that the drain was being maintained by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). Now, as per reports, it has transpired that there was some “back and forth” on who owned the drain, the lawyer said.

“If you are unsure, you make both of them as parties.. We will have it tomorrow. Get your impleadment application listed,” a bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said on Monday.

In context: Tanuja (22) and her son Priyansh (3) drowned in a half-open under-construction drain in a waterlogged street in east Delhi’s Ghazipur area as heavy rains lashed Delhi-NCR on July 31 evening. The incident occurred around 8 p.m. near the Khoda Colony area.

When their bodies were brought out of the water, the woman still had her arms wrapped around the toddler, the police had said. They were taken to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital, where doctors declared them dead, a police officer had said.

On Sunday, the DDA – which is headed by the Lieutenant Governor (LG) – said in a statement that the open drain was transferred to MCD on April 13 and falls entirely under its jurisdiction.

The counsel for the DDA submitted in the high court that the drain is divided into two parts, with one part under its jurisdiction and the other with the MCD.

– With PTI inputs