Day 2: India reach 219/7 at stumps, trail England by 134 runs
Ranchi (PTI): India reached 219 for seven at stumps against England on the second day of the fourth Test, trailing the visitors by 134 runs here on Saturday.
England were all out for 353 in their first innings earlier in day, having resumed from their overnight score of 302 for seven.
In-form young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal top-scored in the home team's first innings with a 73 off 117 balls.
Dhruv Jurel (30) and Kuldeep Yadav (17) were unbeaten at stumps, having helped India recover from 177 for seven.
Among England bowlers, off-spinner Shoaib Bashir shone the most and ended the day with figures of 4/84.
For England, Joe Root remained not out on 122 after breaking his lean run with the bat, and Ollie Robinson contributed a useful 58.
Ravindra Jadeja picked up 4/67, and pacer Akash Deep grabbed 3/83 in an impressive debut.
Brief scores:
India 1st innings: 353 all out in 104.5 overs (Joe Root 122, Ollie Robinson 58, Ben Foakes 47; Ravindra Jadeja 4/67, Akash Deep 3/83)
England 1st innings: 219/7 in 73 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 73; Shoaib Bashir 4/84).
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'Absolute Lie': Cong slams Rijiju's govt 'did not ask for names for delegations' remark
New Delhi, May 19 (PTI): The Congress on Monday dismissed as an "absolute lie" Union Minister Kiren Rijiju's reported assertion that that the government did not ask for names for the all-party diplomatic delegations going abroad, and said it was "cheap politics" to not get the names it selected cleared with the opposition party.
Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the same PM who had abused the Congress publicly in countries such as Australia, the US, Qatar, South Korea and China, is taking the help of the opposition party in these delegations.
"Why didn't the prime minister pick up the phone and speak to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi? Why didn't he have the courtesy to do that? The fact is that our narrative has been punctured and continues to get punctured because of the politics of polarisation in the country," Ramesh told PTI here.
On Saturday, the Congress said it was asked by the government to submit the names of four leaders for the all-party delegations to be sent abroad to explain India's stance on Pakistan-backed terrorism. It nominated Anand Sharma, Gaurav Gogoi, Syed Naseer Hussain, and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring.
Of the four, only Sharma has been included in the seven delegations that will be visiting various countries.
Four Congress leaders -- Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Amar Singh and Salman Khurshid -- who were not part of the list forwarded by the Congress have been included in the delegations by the government.
Asked about Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rijiju's reported remarks that the government never asked the Congress to give names, Ramesh said, "That is a lie -- LIE -- absolute lie. He had a conversation in the morning of May 16 with the Congress president and Mr Rahul Gandhi and in pursuance of that conversation the latter wrote to Mr Rijiju suggesting four names."
"At no point of time, the Modi government did the Congress the courtesy of saying that, 'look these are the four names we have selected', what do you have to say about them'," the Congress leader said.
Ramesh accused the BJP and the prime minister of having played "cheap politics" on the issue.
"His (Modi's) image has taken a beating, he is desperate in changing the narrative once again. Our damand is that a Prime Minister-chaired all-party meeting be held and a special session be called to reiterate the resolution of February 1994 and give it fresh meaning, as well as take the nation into confidence," Ramesh said.
He claimed that while India made gains through 'Operation Sindoor', diplomatically it had been hurt as the narrative had changed.
"We have to change the momentum for India. The Congress has always said unity and solidarity is very important. 'Ek desh, Ek sandesh' is very important to deal with terrorism," he said.
Taking a swipe at the BJP, he said, however, it is not "Ek desh, Ek sandesh' for "polarisation and the poison-filled nationalism that the BJP propagates".
On Rijiju's reported remarks that the government did not go by the Congress' internal dynamics in picking members for the delegations, Ramesh said, "No question of internal dynamics. In 2008, Dr Manmohan Singh and his advisors consulted all political parties, that is how the delegations were sent. In the case of Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the 1990s, he was the leader of BJP and P V Narasimha Rao was the PM, so they talked to each other."
Accusing the BJP of spreading hate and bigotry, Ramesh said, "We cannot have one narrative outside and another inside. What is the narrative going out of India? -- Nationalism based on prejudice, nationalism based on bigotry and nationalism based on hate, poison and communal tensions. Is this the message we want to sent to the world?"
On the TMC's criticism of the selection of MPs by the government for the delegations to be sent abroad, Ramesh said he would not comment on other parties but the Congress' intention was to participate in these delegations.
"Out of the four names we had suggested, the government selected only one, a Congress leader who has had extensive experience in foreign affairs and then they added four other names which they had not cleared with the Congress party. That was unfair on the part of the BJP and was cheap politics," Ramesh said.
"They should have cleared the names with the Congress," he said.
The four leaders selected by the government are all experienced and one of them is a former external affairs minister, and they are very articulate and they are participating in the delegations.
"These are a damage control delegations. After 2008 delegations were sent abroad but at that time, everybody had condemned Pakistan's cross border terrorism but today we are back to being hyphenated with Pakistan...The whole narrative has changed. The vishwaguru image has taken a huge beating," he said.
Accusing the government of politicisation of Operation Sindoor, Ramesh pointed to the meeting of only NDA chief ministers has been called.
The seven delegations led by Baijayant Panda, Ravi Shankar Prasad (both BJP), Sanjay Kumar Jha (JDU), Shrikant Shinde (Shiv Sena), Shashi Tharoor (Congress), Kanimozhi (DMK) and Supriya Sule (NCP-SP) will visit a total of 32 countries and the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Each delegation comprises seven or eight political leaders and is assisted by former diplomats.
