AAP no longer part of INDIA bloc: Party MP Sanjay Singh
New Delhi, Jul 18 (PTI): The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) distanced itself from the INDIA bloc on Friday, saying it is not part of the opposition alliance anymore and questioning the Congress party's role in leading it.
The remarks made by Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh came ahead of an online meeting of the leaders of the INDIA bloc parties scheduled to be held on Saturday evening to discuss the prevailing political situation in the country.
The meeting comes right before the Monsoon session of Parliament, which starts on Monday. It will be held after a long gap since the constituents of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) last deliberated on the country's political situation jointly.
"The AAP has cleared its stand. The INDIA bloc was for the (2024) Lok Sabha polls. We fought the Delhi and Haryana Assembly polls on our own. We are going to fight the Bihar election solo. We fought the bypolls in Punjab and Gujarat all by ourselves. The AAP is not part of the INDIA. We will strongly raise issues in the Lok Sabha. We have always played the role of a strong opposition," Singh told PTI Videos.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led party contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Delhi and Haryana in an alliance with the Congress.
Slamming the Congress, Singh questioned its role in leading the opposition bloc.
"It is not child's play. Did they hold any meeting after the Lok Sabha polls? Was there any initiative to expand the INDIA bloc? Sometimes they criticise Akhilesh Yadav, sometimes Uddhav Thackeray and sometimes Mamata Banerjee. The INDIA should have been united. The Congress is the biggest party of the bloc. But did it play a role (in ensuring opposition unity)?" he asked.
On the AAP's role in opposing the government, Singh said the party has always been strongly opposing the ruling dispensation.
"We will do it with full strength. The INDIA can do whatever it wants," he added.
After winning the Visavadar Assembly bypoll in Gujarat, Kejriwal had alleged that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had sent the Congress to defeat his party by cutting its votes.
"When the Congress failed, the BJP even reprimanded it. The INDIA bloc was only for the Lok Sabha polls. Now, there is no alliance from our side," Kejriwal said earlier this month.
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FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
