Highlights of the day: Delhi records maximum temperature of 37.2 degrees Celsius

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8:50 PM

Delhi records maximum temperature of 37.2 degrees Celsius

Delhi on Saturday recorded a maximum temperature of 37.2 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year, the India Meteorological Department. The minimum temperature settled at 23.3 degrees Celsius, two notches above the season's average. The humidity level oscillated between 34 per cent and 60 per cent.

7:01 PM

Iraq's PMF force says base was attacked

A huge blast at a military base in Iraq early on Saturday killed a member of an Iraqi security force that includes Iran-backed groups. The force commander said it was an attack while the army said it was investigating and there were no warplanes in the sky at the time. Two security sources had said earlier that an airstrike caused the blast, which killed a member of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and wounded eight others at Kalso military base about 50 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad.

6:32 PM

Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar faces police case for alleged bribery over 'water for votes' video

A police case has been filed against Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar for allegedly breaching the model code during campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections. The case centers around a video featuring the Congress leader, where he purportedly promised Bengaluru voters a water supply from the Cauvery river if they voted for his brother DK Suresh, who is contesting from Bangalore Rural.

 

In a video circulating on social media, DK Shivakumar was reportedly heard telling residents of a housing society in his brother's constituency that he was there for a "business deal," hinting that voting for his brother would ensure Cauvery river water supply to them.

6:32 PM

Vinesh Phogat earns Paris Olympics quota

Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat earns Paris Olympics quota in women's 50kg category by winning three bouts at Asian Olympic Qualifiers

6:26 PM

In earlier govts, SC, ST, & OBC families were made to live in slums, says PM Modi

In earlier governments, SC, ST, and OBC families were made to live in slums, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a public rally in Chikkaballapur, Karnataka.

 

"The biggest beneficiaries of the Modi government are SC, ST, and OBC families. In earlier governments, SC, ST, and OBC families were made to live in slums, they did not have access to electricity and water. They had lost all hope in the government. Your lost faith has been reinstated in the Modi government because of Mod's guarantee. In the last 10 years, 25 crore people have come out of poverty," the PM said.

5:05 PM

Cong against OBC, BJP will not let anyone do away with reservation: Amit Shah

Accusing the Congress of being against the Other Backward Classes, Union Home Minister Amit Shah Saturday said even if the opposition party wants to do away with the reservation given to SC, ST and OBCs, the BJP will not allow that to happen.

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi belongs to the OBC community, he said, adding that it was Modi who implemented schemes for people of small backward classes.

 

Shah was addressing an election rally in support of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, the BJP's candidate and sitting MP from the Kota Lok Sabha seat.

 

"Even if the Congress party wants to remove SC, ST and OBC reservation... we will not allow it. This is Modi's guarantee," he asserted.

 

The Congress is a party which opposes Other Backward Classes (OBC), Shah alleged.

4:03 PM

Modi govt cares only for super rich, posing threat to Constitution: Rahul

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday charged the BJP-RSS combine and a handful of billionaires with posing a threat to democracy and the country's Constitution, to which "Dalits, tribals and the poor owe all that they have".

 

Addressing an election rally at Bhagalpur, his first in Bihar, Gandhi also drew a contrast with the previous UPA government headed by his party, claiming the amount of debt written off under the Narendra Modi regime was 25 times the farmers' loans we had waived.

 

I would like to give you some startling statistics. The country has 22 individuals who own wealth that is equivalent to the holdings of 70 crore people. There are 70 crore people in the country who are surviving on less than Rs 100 a day," claimed Gandhi.

3:54 PM

Rahul Gandhi has been launched as many as 20 times but has failed every time, says Amit Shah

“People have two options in front of them; on one side is Narendra Modi who has experience serving the country for the last 23 years, and on the other side is Rahul Gandhi, who has been launched as many as 20 times, but he has failed every time," said said Union Home Minister Amit Shah while addressing a public rally in Rajasthan’s Kota.

3:31 PM

Cal HC to pronounce judgement on school jobs scam on Monday

The Calcutta High Court will on Monday pronounce its judgement on petitions and appeals relating to alleged irregularities in the selection of candidates in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided secondary and higher secondary schools through a 2016 recruitment process. The CBI, which investigated the case on an order of the high court, arrested former state education minister Partha Chatterjee and some functionaries who held positions in the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) during the occurrence of the alleged scam.

3:30 PM

Congress is an anti-development party, says Amit Shah

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 1 News Live: Addressing the Vijay Sankalp Mahasammelan in Kota, Rajasthan, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, "If you had voted for Congress in 2019, Kota would have become the house of PFI. You voted for PM Modi and he ended PFI and put them behind bars...They say that they will lift the ban on PFI. Congress is an anti-development party. For five years there was Gehlot-government but they did not let the Eastern Rajasthan Canal project move ahead for five years. After the Bhajanlal Sharma government came to power, within three months we signed the agreement for the Eastern Rajasthan Canal project."

3:16 PM

HDFC Bank Q4 results: Profit jumps 37% to Rs 16,512 crore, NII up 24.5%

India's largest private sector lender HDFC Bank on Saturday reported a 37.1 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase in its standalone profit at Rs 16,512 crore in the March quarter.

 

Its net interest income (NII) during the quarter grew by 24.5 per cent to Rs 29,077 crore.

 

While announcing its quarterly numbers, HDFC Bank also declared a dividend of Rs 19.5 per share for FY24.

 

2:55 PM

LS polls 2024: MVA to win over 50% seats in Maharashtra, says Pawar

Nationalist Congress Party (SP) Chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday claimed that the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra will win more than 50 per cent of the Lok Sabha seats in the state.

 

2:37 PM

LS elections 2024: Two Punjab Cong leaders including national secy join BJP

Two Punjab Congress leaders, including its national secretary Tajinder Pal Singh Bittu, joined the BJP here on Saturday as the ruling party at the Centre bolsters its ranks in the state ahead of the Lok Sabha polls there, PTI reported.

2:31 PM

Food delivery firm Zomato gets Rs 11.82 crore GST related tax demand notice

Food delivery firm Zomato has received a tax demand and penalty order of Rs 11.82 crore related to GST on export services provided to its subsidiaries located outside India from July 2017 to March 2021, reported PTI.

 

1:37 PM

Congress a vine, sucks dry those who lend support to it, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked Congress on Saturday and said that it does not have any roots of its own and survives on external support. Like a vine, it sucks power from whoever supports it.