Congress demands all-party meeting on NRC
New Delhi, July 30 : The Congress on Monday said the central government should convene an all-party meeting at the earliest to apprise political parties of the situation arising from publication of the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam.
Talking to mediapersons here, Congress leader Anand Sharma said the issue has inter and intra-state dimensions, and can also have external dimensions.
"The government must convene a meeting of all parties to inform them of the situation, the steps it proposes to take until the disposal of the matter," he said.
Sharma said the issue has implications not only for Assam but also for the states of West Bengal, Tripura, Odisha and Meghalaya.
He said the way the NRC exercise has been carried out raises questions on the government's credibility.
"As we have been told, indigenous people have been affected, tea plantation workers have been affected. The government had given a list of 16 documents and any one of them was sufficient. We have been informed an overwhelming number of people had several documents," he said.
Sharma said the issue should not be politicised and the solution can be found in the ambit of the Assam Accord.
The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 between the central and Assam governments on one side, and the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and the now defunct All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP), which spearheaded the movement, on the other, in the presence of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Sharma said jury was out if the central government had presented the case properly in the Supreme Court.
He claimed that Home Minister Rajnath Singh had admitted in his remarks in the Lok Sabha that there were some shortcomings in the process of preparing the NRC.
Singh had said the final draft of NRC that was published on Monday was not the final list and urged the Opposition not to politicise it.
"Whatever work is going on in the NRC, is happening under the supervision of the Supreme Court. To say that the government has done it, and it is inhuman and brutal... such allegations are baseless. It is not the right thing to say," the Home Minister said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
IPL first phase schedule announced amid travel concerns caused by war in West Asia
New Delhi (PTI): Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2026 opener in Bengaluru on March 28 as the BCCI announced the first phase of the tournament schedule amid concerns around players' travel arrangements due to the ongoing West Asia conflict.
All matches scheduled at the Chinnaswamy Stadium remain subject to clearance from the Karnataka government appointed expert committee, which is scheduled to meet on March 13 to assess venue preparedness in the wake of the deadly stampede at the stadium last season.
The BCCI announced the schedule of the first 20 games on Wednesday and will unveil the full schedule once the dates of elections in three states -- Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal -- are announced.
Besides the state elections, the escalating conflict in West Asia will also be at the forefront of BCCI officials' minds. The war has wreaked havoc to international travel with operations of major airports like Doha and Dubai being heavily restricted.
As a result of that, some of the squad members of South Africa and West Indies are yet to reach home a week after the completion of their T20 World Cup campaign.
It remains to be seen if IPL bound players of those two nations report to their respective teams in time.
"There was a substantial delay in departure of West Indies and South Africa players. It would be a tough task to get them back to India on time. Plus the airfares have gone up substantially due to the war in West Asia," a team official told PTI.
Additionally, hotels across India are facing cooking gas shortage due to the raging conflict and on Tuesday, the central government invoked Essential Commodities Act to ensure uninterrupted supply of domestic cooking gas.
Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanthan told PTI that he is expecting his players from the West Indies and South Africa -- Akeal Hossein and Dewald Brevis, to join the team well before their IPL opener.
"We are expecting no delays from their end," he said.
The second game of the opening weekend will see Mumbai Indians host Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium and the opening weekend will not feature any double-headers.
A total of 20 matches will be played across 10 venues: Bengaluru, Mumbai, Guwahati, New Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
"During the season, Royal Challengers Bengaluru will play five home matches in Bengaluru and two in Raipur. Punjab Kings will play four home matches in New Chandigarh and three in Dharamshala, while Rajasthan Royals will play three home matches in Guwahati and four in Jaipur," said the BCCI in a statement.
"During this period (the first 16 days), the tournament will feature four double-headers, with the afternoon matches beginning at 03:30 PM IST and the evening matches commencing at 07:30 PM IST.
"Following the opening encounter on Saturday, Mumbai Indians will take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
"The matches scheduled in Bengaluru are subject to clearance from the Expert Committee constituted by the Government of Karnataka," the BCCI added.
