First round of ballots to be cast in UK PM race as Rishi Sunak holds on to lead
London(PTI): The first round of ballots will be cast on Wednesday in the race to elect a new Conservative Party leader who will succeed Boris Johnson as UK Prime Minister, with British Indian former finance minister Rishi Sunak holding on to his lead.
A shortlist of eight candidates on the first ballot paper includes Attorney General Suella Braverman, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt, former Cabinet ministers Kemi Badenoch and Jeremy Hunt and Tory backbencher Tom Tugendhat.
Each of the eight went head-to-head in the first closed-door hustings before fellow Conservative Party MPs to pitch for their support in speeches of 12 minutes each on Tuesday evening after nominations for the race closed.
The 358 Tory members of Parliament will cast the first set of votes for their favourites and the shortlisted candidates will progress to the next round only if they receive the backing of at least 30 of their colleagues. If all eight hit that figure, the candidate with the least votes will be eliminated from the second round of secret ballots scheduled for Thursday.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph', Sunak said tackling inflation is his "number one economic priority", and claimed former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, an icon on the right of the Tory party, would have backed his approach.
I do believe I'm best placed to restore trust, rebuild the economy and reunite the country. I believe I can appeal in the broadest range of places, said the former Chancellor, whose Ready4Rishi campaign theme is made up of 3 Rs Restore Trust; Rebuild the Economy; Reunite the country.
I was brought up to believe that hard work was everything and it's core to who I am. It's what makes me a Conservative that I believe in the nobility of work, he said.
Even in the initial stages, the leadership race has become mired in allegations of dirty tricks with a so-called stop Rishi group of Johnson loyalists throwing their weight behind Liz Truss and accusing the Sunak camp of trying to fix the process.
Team Rishi want the candidate they know they can definitely beat in the final two and that is Jeremy Hunt, tweeted Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, who is backing Truss.
The issue of tax for the low-tax favouring Tories has also been dominating the headlines, with another Johnson loyalist branding Sunak as a tax-hiking Chancellor.
"I think as a Chancellor he made decisions that were of the left rather than of the right. He was a tax-increasing Chancellor and I didn't support the decisions he made, said Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, another Tory heavyweight backing Truss.
While Sunak and Truss seem the current frontrunners, Penny Mordaunt has strong support among the Conservative Party grassroots. The race will narrow down quickly after successive ballots knock out the candidates with the least support by next week.
Under the timetable set by the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, the deadline to whittle down the shortlist to just two remaining candidates is July 21. The process will then be taken over by the Conservative Party headquarters to organise a series of hustings in different parts of the UK for the contenders to pitch their campaign pledges to the estimated 200,000 Conservative Party membership.
The candidate who receives the most votes will be elected the new Conservative Party leader and go on to take charge as the British Prime Minister.
It is expected that the new Tory leader will be announced on September 5 and go on to address his or her first Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons on September 7.
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SC hails Harish Rana's parents for selfless love, devotion towards son
New Delhi (PTI): To love someone is to care for them not just in times of joy, but in their saddest and darkest hours, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said while hailing the parents and siblings of Harish Rana, who is in coma for more than 13 years, for their unwavering support to him.
In its first-ever order allowing passive euthanasia, the top court permitted the withdrawal of artificial life support to 32-year-old Rana noting that prospects of his recovery are negligible.
Passive euthanasia is the intentional act of letting a patient die by withholding or withdrawing life support or the treatment necessary to keep him alive.
Rana, who was a student of Panjab University, suffered head injuries after falling from the fourth floor of his paying guest accommodation in 2013 and has been in a coma since.
A bench of justices J B Pardiwala and K V Viswanathan, which allowed the plea filed by Rana through his father Ashok Rana, said throughout the adjudication of this matter, it has been gripped by profound sadness.
"The issues in this matter have once again brought to the fore the fragility and transient nature of the life we live, and how swiftly the tide can turn for the worse. For the past thirteen years, the applicant has lived a life defined by pain and suffering. A suffering made all the more cruel by the fact that, unlike most of us, he was stripped of the ability to even give voice to his anguish.
"However, while this case highlights how unforgiving life can be, it is easy to lose sight of another vital fact. We note with immense respect that the applicant's parents and siblings have stood as unyielding pillars of support. They have exhausted every effort to care for him and continue to do so with unwavering dedication. We can only place on record our deepest appreciation for their boundless love, endurance, and kindness in the face of such adversity," the bench said.
The top court said among the manifold truths about human existence that this case reveals, the most enduring is the resilience of love.
"In our considered opinion, the greatest tragedy in life is not death, but abandonment. Despite the catastrophic tragedy that struck the applicant, his family never left his side. He has been cared for, protected, and cherished at every moment. To us, this unwavering vigil is a testament to the true meaning of love.
"To love someone is to care for them not just in times of joy, but in their saddest and darkest hours. It is to care for them even when the horizon is devoid of hope. It is to stand by them as they prepare to cross the threshold into the beyond. Ultimately, to love is nothing but to care deeply, softly, and endlessly," the bench said.
Observing that its decision does not neatly fit "within logic and reason" but between "love, loss, medicine and mercy", the bench said its order is not about choosing death, but is rather one of not artificially prolonging life.
"It is the decision to withdraw life sustaining treatment when that treatment no longer heals, restores, or meaningfully improves life. It is allowing nature to take its course when medicine can only delay the inevitable because survival is not always the same as living.
"To Harish's family, we want to acknowledge the deep emotional weight this decision carries. This decision can feel like an act of surrender, but we believe it is, in truth, an act of profound compassion and courage. You are not giving up on your son. You are allowing him to leave with dignity. It reflects the depth of your selfless love and devotion towards him," the bench said.
