BJP announces 2 Rajasthan poll panels, Vasundhara Raje missing from both
Jaipur, Aug 17: The BJP on Thursday announced two key election committees for the Congress-run Rajasthan, with former chief minister Vasundhara Raje not being made a member of any one of them.
The 21-member election management committee is headed by former MP Narayan Panchariya. Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will lead the election manifesto panel, called the Pradesh Sankalp Patra (manifesto) committee.
The party is expected to announce a third committee an election campaign committee for the state in the coming weeks, before the year-end assembly polls.
When asked about Raje's non-inclusion in the poll panels, BJP state in-charge Arun Singh said she will campaign in the election.
"She is the national vice president of the party. She has a big role to play. She has been the chief minister of the state twice. She will campaign in the election. We all respect her," he told reporters.
BJP's state election in-charge and Union minister Pralhad Joshi said both state and central leaders of the party will campaign for the crucial polls.
"Our strategy is ready. I have full confidence that people will give the mandate to the BJP, and we will get a historic victory," he said.
The election committees were formed by the party's national president J P Nadda.
The 21-member election management committee is headed by former MP Narayan Panchariya, while Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will lead the Pradesh Sankalp Patra (manifesto) committee.
The announcement was made by BJP state president C P Joshi and Arun Singh at the party office here.
Joshi said Union minister Meghwal will be the convenor of the party's 'Pradesh Sankalp Patra Samiti'.
Rajya Sabha members Ghanshyam Tiwari and Kirori Lal Meena, national secretary Alka Singh Gurjar, former Assembly deputy speaker Rao Rajendra Singh, former Union minister Subhash Maharia, former state vice president Prabhu Lal Saini and Rakhi Rathore have been made co-convenors in the 25-member manifesto committee.
In the election management committee headed by former MP Narayan Panchariya, former state general secretary Onkar Singh Lakhawat, party's national spokesperson and MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, state general secretaries Bhajan Lal and Damodar Agarwal, former information commissioner C M Meena and Kanhaiya Lal Bairwal will be the co-convenors.
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Rupee hits record low of 96.14/USD, settles at fresh closing low of 95.86/USD
Mumbai (PTI): The Indian rupee crashed below the 96/USD mark on Friday before closing at an all-time low of 95.86 (provisional) against the US dollar as elevated crude oil prices and inflation concerns added to the downside pressure on the rupee.
Rupee has registered over 6 per cent losses so far this year, and in the past six trading sessions, it has depreciated nearly 2 per cent as Iran war risk escalation pushed crude oil prices higher. The dollar index moved northwards after strong US retail sales and stable labour market data reduced expectations of aggressive Federal Reserve rate cuts.
Forex traders said global uncertainties, relatively high valuations, and the lack of AI-led investment opportunities have weighed on capital flows.
Moreover, weak net FDI inflows are likely to exert pressure on the balance of payments, while rising crude oil prices stoke inflation worries.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 95.86, then slumped to a record low of 96.14 in intraday trade, registering a fall of 50 paise from its previous close.
The USD/INR pair finally settled at 95.86 (provisional) against the US dollar, registering a fall of 22 paise from its previous close, helped by likely RBI intervention.
On Thursday, the rupee weakened to a fresh record low of 95.96 before closing with a marginal gain of 2 paise at 95.64 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 99.15, higher by 0.34 per cent.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading up 3.14 per cent at USD 109.04 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex fell 160.73 points to settle at 75,237.99, while Nifty declined 46.10 points to 23,643.50.
Foreign Institutional Investors turned net buyers, purchasing equities worth Rs 187.46 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, the country's exports in April rose by 13.78 per cent to USD 43.56 billion despite global challenges, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Friday.
Imports grew 10 per cent year-on-year to USD 71.94 billion in April. The trade deficit during the month stood at USD 28.38 billion.
"We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias on elevated crude oil prices and inflation concerns. Strong dollar and FII outflows may also weigh on the rupee. However, any intervention by the RBI and hiking of import duty on gold and silver may support the rupee at lower levels. USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of 95.60 to 96.20," said Anuj Choudhary, Research analyst at Mirae Asset ShareKhan.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump on Friday hailed their talks as "historic" and "landmark", as the American leader wrapped up his three-day visit on a high note, but no deals on any contentious issues were announced.
Both Presidents, who held several rounds of talks covering a range of global issues, including the Iran war and bilateral trade frictions, concluded their discussions with a private meeting at Zhongnanhai, the well-guarded compound in Beijing where top leaders reside.
