Fiji PM Rabuka begins 3-day visit to India
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister of Fiji, Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka, on Sunday kick-started his three-day visit to India that is aimed at shoring up bilateral ties in areas such as trade and investment.
It is Rabuka's first trip to India in his capacity as the prime minister of the South Pacific nation.
The Fijian leader was welcomed at the airport here by Union minister Sukanta Majumdar.
The Fijian leader is accompanied by a high-level delegation that included health minister Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu and several senior officials.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold wide-ranging talks with Rabuka on Monday. He will also host a lunch in honour of the visiting dignitary.
"The visit will further deepen India-Fiji partnership across diverse sectors," external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on X.
Fiji is an important nation for India in the sphere of maritime security. The two nations have a strong cultural and people-to-people ties.
India's links with Fiji began in 1879 when Indian labourers were taken to Fiji under the indenture system by the British
Rabuka's visit to India comes a year after President Droupadi Murmu travelled to Fiji.
Prime minister Rabuka's visit underscores the longstanding and enduring ties between India and Fiji, an Indian readout said on Thursday.
"It reaffirms the continued commitment of both countries to further strengthen the bilateral relationship across all sectors and deepen our close people-to-people ties," it said.
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BJP's Pravesh Wahi elected MCD mayor
New Delhi (PTI): BJP councillor from Rohini East, Pravesh Wahi, was elected mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Wednesday.
Wahi secured 156 votes, with 14 councillors of the Indraprastha Vikas Party backing him. Congress candidate Hazi Zaraf received nine votes.
BJP councillor from Anand Vihar, Monika Pant, was elected deputy mayor with 156 votes.
Jai Bhagwan Yadav from Begumpur and Manish Chadha from Paharganj were elected to the standing committee from the BJP, while AAP councillor Jalaj Chaudhary from Shalimar Bagh was also elected to the MCD panel.
On being elected mayor, Wahi thanked Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and the BJP leadership, saying, "We will clean Delhi in the coming months. We will work for the development of Delhi."
The electoral college for this year's mayoral election comprised 273 votes, including 249 councillors, 14 MLAs nominated by the Delhi Assembly, seven Lok Sabha MPs and three Rajya Sabha members from Delhi. A candidate required 137 votes to win.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) abstained from the mayoral polls. Earlier, the party's Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj said in a statement that the move would allow the BJP to take charge of the civic body and help AAP "expose" the ruling party on governance.
"Despite having power at all levels, the BJP has failed to bring about any change in Delhi. The BJP does not know how to perform. Only AAP knows how to work," Bharadwaj said.
Earlier, AAP controlled the mayoral post, with Mahesh Kumar Khinchi winning the election in November 2024 by just three votes.
The three civic bodies -- East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) -- were reunified into a single entity on May 22, 2022, as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
