Congress in talks with JD(S) ahead of counting in Karnataka
New Delhi, May 14: As the exit polls after the Karnataka Assembly election predicted a hung assembly in the state, with six surveys showing BJP emerging as the single largest party and three showing Congress in the lead, the Congress party has started talks with H.D. Kumaraswamy-led Janata Dal(S) to forge a post-poll alliance.
The Congress has already sent two senior leaders of the party, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ashok Gehlot, to Karnataka and they are in talks with the JD(S) leaders, said a party source.
However, former Chief Minister and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) state President H.D. Kumaraswamy had left for Singapore on Sunday morning and was expected to be back late on Monday.
A Congress leader said the party will win close to 130 seats. "Our senior leaders are in talks with even those who have gone to Singapore," said a party source.
A day after a record 72.13 per cent of 5.06 crore electorate voted on a hot weekend, leaders of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday claimed their party would be winning hands down, while the JD-S vowed to decide who will form the next government, if it does not get majority.
Polling was held in 222 segments of the 224-member Assembly, as election to Bengaluru's Rajarajeshwari (RR) Nagar had been postponed to May 28 following recovery of voter cards from a flat, while it was countermanded in Jayanagar segment due to the death of BJP contestant B.N. Vijaya Kumar on May 4.
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77-year-old cake slice of Queen Elizabeth’s wedding auctioned for Rs 2.40 lakh
Colchester: A 77-year-old slice of wedding cake from the royal wedding of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip has fetched approximately Rs 2.40 lakh, according to auction house Reeman Dansie.
Described as a "very rare slice," the piece of cake, which is no longer fit for consumption, has survived for nearly eight decades since the couple's wedding on November 20, 1947.
According to CNN, the slice is neatly packaged in a small box with the silver insignia of the then-Princess Elizabeth stamped on it and an elaborate doily inside. The original recipient of this specific slice was Marion Polson, a housekeeper at Holyrood House in Edinburgh, Scotland, who received it as a gift from the royal couple.
Alongside the cake, Polson received a letter from Elizabeth thanking her for the wedding gift. “We are both enchanted with the dessert service; the different flowers and the beautiful colouring will, I know, be greatly admired by all who see it. This is a present which we shall use constantly, and whenever we do we shall think of the kindness and good wishes for our happiness which it represents,” reads the typewritten note, signed by Elizabeth.
Elizabeth and Philip’s wedding cake was an extravagant, nine-foot tall (2.7 meters) creation, which weighed 500 pounds, the report added.
It was adorned with both families’ coats of arms and sugar-iced figures of the couple’s favourite hobbies. It provided 2,000 slices for wedding guests, with additional portions sent to charitable organisations and other institutions. One of its tiers was also preserved for the christening of Prince Charles.
