Cong urges ACB to curb horse-trading CONG APPOINTS 5 OBSERVERS FOR 3 STATES AS RS POLL CONTEST HOTS UP
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The southwest monsoon is making slow progress over Kerala after arriving three days ahead of its scheduled date, weather bureau data show.
Rainfall in the southern state, the first port of call for the monsoon, has been deficient by over 50% compared with the average in the first few days of onset, the regional meteorological department in Thiruvananthapuram said on Sunday.
Some areas in Thiruvananthapuram recorded a high of 32 degrees Celsius on Saturday, which was quite unusual in the early days of monsoon.
Many areas in Kerala usually receive average 6-8 cm of rain in the first few days after the monsoon arrives, but this time the highest rainfall was recorded at 5 cm in Mancopmpu of Alappuzha district on Friday.
Rainfall have been l ow because there was no active weather system that boosts monsoon activity. “The monsoon has not reached its active mode yet. There hasn’t been any active weather system and no strong winds, because of which we are only seeing light rain in the state,” said an official of the Met department.
This is expected to continue, according to Mahesh Palawat, vice-president of meteorology and climate change at Skymet Weather Services, a private forecaster. “At least for the next one week, there is no forecast of heavy showers,” he said. “In parts of interior Karnataka, we might see some good spells.”
Considered the lifeline of the country, the southwest monsoon usually sets over Kerala on June 1 and surges towards north and the northeast and drenches the whole country by July 15. The influence of a cyclonic circulation over Sri Lanka and a westerly wind from the Arabian Sea can trigger widespread rains in next couple of days, weathermen said. Moderate to heavy rainfall is be expected in Kerala between June 7 and 10, Skymet said.
2 western disturbances lowered heatwave in May
Two western disturbances and a severe thunderstorm lowered heatwave conditions over northwest and central India in May compared to April, the IMD said.
In May, six western disturbances moved across the western Himalayan region and adjoining plains of northwest India, the weather bureau said. Of these, two were active — May 1-5 and May 22-25.
The second active western disturbance induced a low pressure area over northwest Rajasthan and neighbouring areas May 23 that caused rains over western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana on May 22-24, the Met department said. A severe squall over northwest India, which caused high winds of 100kmph in parts of Delhi, also lowered temperatures significantly.
“All these factors primarily kept the heatwave conditions under control, as compared to what we saw in April,” the Met department said.
JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Congress on Sunday filed a complaint with the state’s anti-corruption bureau (ACB), asking it to prevent any attempt of horse-trading of legislators ahead of the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections.
“There is a possibility of horsetrading and so I have submitted a written complaint with the ACB to remain alert and to make such attempts unsuccessful,” Mahesh Joshi, Congress chief whip in the state assembly, told reporters after submitting a complaint with ACB director general of police BL Soni. “The government will lodge complaint with the Election Commission also, if needed.”
The Congress has not named any individual or party in the complaint, he said.
“We have not named any particular person in the complaint but it has been done so that ACB remains alert... We will not tolerate any kind of corruption and horse-trading,” said Joshi.
The elections to 57 seats in the Upper House of Parliament, spread across 15 states and Union territories, will be held on June 10. Four of these seats are from Congress-ruled Rajasthan.
The Congress has fielded three candidates — Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Singh Surjewala, and Pramod Tiwari. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has named former state minister Ghanshyam Tiwari as its candidate and decided to support businessman Subhash Chandra’s candidature as an independent. The Congress, with 108 MLAS in the assembly, is set to win two seats outright, and the BJP is set to win one.
The Congress will then have 26 surplus votes, but 15 short of the required 41 to win the third seat.
The BJP, which has 71 MLAS, will be left with 30 surplus votes after securing its seat. There are 13 independents in the assembly.
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said the complaint has been filed as the independent candidate supported by the BJP is an industrialist. “As an independent candidate, how will he get the votes...,” Gehlot said.
Meanwhile, the six Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislators, who had joined the Congress, on Sunday reached Udaipur — where Congress MLAS have been lodged in Taj Aravali hotel, where the party held its Chintan Shivir last month — after holding an hourlong meeting with CM Gehlot on Saturday night, said MLA Sanyam Lodha, CM’S advisor.
“The MLAS… had stood by the Congress during the political crisis in 2020, then how could the BJP or the candidate supported by them expect that they will support them,” Gehlot told reporters in Udaipur. The BJP said horse-trading and hoarding MLAS are practices that the Congress follows.
“It is they who are hoarding MLAS and doing pressure politics, but levelling baseless charges on the BJP. All such practices of horse-trading and hoarding are practices of the Congress and not the BJP,” said Vasudev Devnani, senior BJP leader.
NEW DELHI: As the Rajya Sabha elections in three states are set to go down to the wire, the Congress on Sunday appointed five observers for Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Haryana, where the party nominees are facing a stiff contest.
According to party insiders, the appointment of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) observers underlines the keenness of the Congress to win seats in the June 10 biennial polls after it has been reduced to just 29 members in the Upper House.
Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, was appointed as the observer for Maharashtra, where Imran Pratapgarhi is contesting for the Congress. The party chose AICC treasurer Pawan Bansal and Chhattisgarh minister TS Singh Deo as observers for Rajasthan while Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and party leader Rajiv Shukla were appointed for Haryana.
“Kharge has been sent to Maharashtra as he will need to talk to top Shiv Sena and NCP leaders,” said a Congress leader.
In Rajasthan, while Mukul Wasnik and Randeep Singh Surjewala are set to win, third Congress candidate Pramod Tiwari faces the challenge from Subhash Chandra, an independent candidate backed by the BJP.
In Haryana, Congress fielded Ajay Maken while the BJP named Kishan Lal Panwar and extended support to independent Kartikeya Sharma, making Maken’s contest tough.