Telangana cabinet meets amid talk of early polls
Hyderabad, Sep 2 : A crucial meeting of the Telangana cabinet was underway on Sunday amid talks that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was planning to dissolve the state Assembly to go for early polls.
The meeting began at 1 p.m. at the Pragati Bhavan, official residence of the Chief Minister.
According to Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leaders, the cabinet will take some key decisions and the same will be announced by the party chief later in the day at a public meeting titled 'Pragathi Nivedana Sabha', being held on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
Rao has already dropped strong hints that he wants to go for early polls. However, it is not clear if the decision will be taken on Sunday or later this week.
Cabinet Minister T. Nageswara Rao said while he had no idea as to what the cabinet will decide on Sunday, it was certain that Assembly elections will be held this year.
TRS sources hinted that the cabinet may decide major sops for various sections of people and Rao may announce the same at the rally, being billed as the "mother of all rallies".
TRS claims that 25 lakh people will attend the meeting in Kongara Kalan in Ranga Reddy district. Rao will present a progress report, highlighting the achievements of his government during the last four years.
The term of the Telangana Assembly is ending in May 2019 but the TRS is keen to go for early polls to delink them from the Lok Sabha elections.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
