New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Thursday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he returned home from his five-nation visit, saying that now that he is back, he could find time to visit Manipur, review why the Pahalgam terrorists are yet to be brought to justice and reflect on infrastructure collapses in his home state.
The opposition party also said the PM could also, for a change, chair an all-party meeting to firm up the agenda for the forthcoming Monsoon session of Parliament.
Prime Minister Modi returned to India this morning after his visit to five nations -Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Brazil and Namibia. During the trip, Modi also attended the 17th BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "India welcomes back its Super Premium Frequent Flier PM who is expected to be in the country for perhaps three weeks before jetting around again."
"Now that he is here, he could find the time to visit Manipur where the people have been awaiting him for more than two years; review why the Pahalgam terrorists have yet to be brought to justice; reflect on infrastructure collapses in his home state; and sanction assistance to Himachal Pradesh that has been devastated by floods," Ramesh said.
His remarks come a day after at least 13 people, including two siblings, were killed as several vehicles plunged into the Mahisagar river after a portion of a four-decade-old bridge collapsed in Gujarat's Vadodara district.
Ramesh further said the prime minister could also devote his attention to the reform of GST to stimulate mass consumption and also take steps to boost private investment by companies other than a few and favoured big business groups.
"He could also, for a change, chair an all-party meeting to firm up the agenda for the forthcoming Monsoon session of Parliament," Ramesh said.
The Monsoon session of Parliament begins on July 21.
Last week, Modi embarked on the five-nation tour beginning with Ghana. He then travelled to Trinidad and Tobago on a two-day visit from July 3 to 4.
In the third leg of his visit, Modi visited Argentina from July 4 to 5.
In the fourth leg of his visit, Modi travelled to Brazil at the invitation of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The prime minister visited Brazil from July 5 to 8 and attended the 17th BRICS Summit followed by a state visit.
Modi then visited Namibia before his return to India.
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.
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).