Republic Top 10 Headlines: Jitin Prasada joins BJP, Choksi's wife on deportation and more

Congress Leader Jitin Prasada Joins BJP Months Ahead Of UP Polls

In a massive development on Wednesday, senior Congress leader Jitin Prasada joined BJP at the party headquarters in the presence of Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. This assumes significance ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls scheduled to take place early next year. The leader who is perceived as Rahul Gandhi's close aide met Goyal and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the national capital ahead of the switch. His induction into BJP will serve as a huge embarrassment to Congress as he was the AICC in charge for the West Bengal Assembly polls in which his party was wiped out. This brings to an end the speculation regarding Prasada's place in Congress. 

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TMC Turncoat Rajib Banerjee Skips Key BJP Meet

In more trouble for BJP in West Bengal, TMC turncoat Rajib Banerjee on Tuesday openly opposed the saffron party's stance vis-à-vis the Mamata Banerjee-led government. Resigning from TMC on January 29 after quitting as a Minister and MLA, he joined BJP two days later in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. However, he lost to TMC's Kalyan Ghosh from Domjur in the recently concluded Assembly polls with a margin of over 42,000 votes.

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Trump Laments Leniency During Presidency

The former US President Donald Trump, whose Facebook account is suspended for two years over the January 6 insurrection of Capitol Hill, on June 8 said “perhaps I should’ve” banned the social media giant during his four-year tenure. Lamenting his leniency towards social media during his presidency, Trump issued an official statement through his website said that he should have taken action against Facebook but its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg “kept calling” the former US President. Trump also said that Zuckerberg kept telling the ex-US President “how great” he was before hinting at a possible ban in 2014 when he is planning to contest for the presidency again.

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India Sees Slight Rise In COVID-19 Cases

According to the health ministry, India recorded 92,596 new cases of Coronavirus disease on Wednesday, June 9, bringing the total number of cases to 2,90,89,069. According to figures updated at 8 a.m., the country had 2,219 deaths in the previous 24 hours. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, 353,528 persons have died in the country as a result of the virus. According to data from the health ministry, India had 1,231,415 active infections as of Wednesday, accounting for 4.5% of all illnesses registered so far.

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Mehul Choksi's Wife Counters Deportation Claims

As Mehul Choksi's bail hearing approaches in Dominica, his wife Priti Choksi spoke to Republic TV on Wednesday, maintaining that her husband will soon be sent to Antigua and not India. Refuting Choksi's 'friend' Barbara Jabarica's claims that Choksi was headed to Cuba and stopped in Dominica, Priti Choksi said that 'he had no reason to leave Antigua'. Countering  Queen's Counsel and senior advocate Harish Salve's claims of early deportation, she said that the Caribbean nation had a thorough rule of law and would follow due process in the fugitive diamantaire's case too.

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Centre Targets 1 Crore Daily Vaccinations From July-August

In order to vaccinate all its eligible citizens by December 2021, the Centre is targetting 1 crore vaccinations on a daily basis from July-August, revealed Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) director-general Dr. Balaram Bhargava. Addressing a regular press brief on Tuesday, the ICMR chief stated that there was no shortage of vaccines and that by July-August, the Centre will have enough COVID-19 vaccines to innoculate 1 crore people per day. The vaccination currently stands at about 30 lakh doses per day. 

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Sushil Modi Asks Lalu To Follow Mulayam's Example

On Tuesday, BJP MP Sushil Modi urged ex-Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav to follow in the footsteps of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav who got vaccinated recently. According to him, the Mainpuri MP had struck a huge blow to the people who were spreading misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines by giving nonsensical statements. Modi suggested that the RJD supremo should take the first dose of the vaccine on June 11, which is his birthday, along with his wife Rabri Devi.

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Sachin Pilot Downplays 'rebellion' Buzz

Even as rumours swirl around his dissatisfaction with Congress, ex-Rajasthan Deputy CM Sachin Pilot on Tuesday accused BJP of making useless statements. He was reacting to Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore who predicted the possibility of this resentment causing a big upheaval in the Rajasthan unit of Congress. However, the Tonk MLA advised Rathore to focus on his own party's dire condition in the state.

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JP Nadda Summons Kerala BJP Chief K Surendran

BJP national president JP Nadda called in Kerala BJP state president K Surendran on Wednesday after an FIR was filed against the latter for allegedly ‘bribing‘ a rival candidate. K Surendran is expected to meet JP Nadda in Delhi at 10 AM on Wednesday. On Monday, the Kasargod police registered a case against K Surendran for allegedly bribing a rival candidate to withdraw his nomination from the Manjeshwaram constituency in the recently-held Kerala Assembly Elections.

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BJP Denies Any Change Of Leadership In MP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state leader Faggan Singh Kulaste's Tuesday statement put a rest on speculations suggesting leadership change in Madhya Pradesh. Kulaste dismissed rumors suggesting Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's replacement and added that he will continue on his post. The speculations had started spreading after a series of meetings between various party leaders held recently in Bhopal. 

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