Seven-term Rajya Sabha MP Mahendra Prasad passes away
New Delhi(PTI): Rajya Sabha MP from the Janata Dal(United) and industrialist Mahendra Prasad died here after a long spell of illness, his party said on Monday.
Prasad was a seven-term Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar and was also elected to the Lok Sabha once.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed condolences at the death of the 81-year-old Prasad, founder of Aristo Pharmaceuticals, and said his demise is a big loss to the society and politics besides industry.
Prasad was first elected to the Lok Sabha on a Congress ticket in 1980. He remained associated with the party for a long time and shifted his loyalties later as its fortunes declined in the state.
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Hamas accepts cease-fire proposal for Gaza, but Israel's stance still uncertain
Jerusalem, May 6: Hamas announced Monday it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but there was no immediate word from Israel, leaving it uncertain whether a deal had been sealed to bring a halt to the seven-month-long war in Gaza.
It was the first glimmer of hope that a deal might avert further bloodshed. Hours earlier, Israel ordered some 100,000 Palestinians to begin evacuating the southern Gaza town of Rafah, signalling that an attack was imminent. The United States and other key allies of Israel oppose an offensive on Rafah, where around 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza's population, are sheltering.
An official familiar with Israeli thinking said Israeli officials were examining the proposal, but the plan approved by Hamas was not the framework Israel proposed.
An American official also said the US was still waiting to learn more about the Hamas position and whether it reflected an agreement to what had already been signed off on by Israel and international negotiators or something else. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as a stance was still being formulated.
Details of the proposal have not been released. Touring the region last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had pressed Hamas to take the deal, and Egyptian officials said it called for a cease-fire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and some Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a “permanent calm” that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal, they said.
