Republic top 10 headlines: India protests against POK polls; Blinken's meet & more

Antony Blinken's Farm Laws Chat In India Visit Raises Heckles, RS MP Questions 'meddling'

In the jam-packed schedule, listed with meeting with top Ministers of India, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, United States' Secretary Antony Blinken squeezed in a roundtable with members of civil society on Wednesday. If it would have been a general meet and greet, things would have still been fine, but a few participants revealed that during the meeting, Blinken addressed internal issues of India, like the farmers' protest over the contentious Central laws.

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India lodges protest against 'cosmetic' PoK elections, calls Pak out on illegal occupation

Days after the so-called 'general elections' were held in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) that declared the Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) as victorious, India hit out at its neighbour calling it a 'cosmetic exercise' rejected by the local people. Addressing the media on Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs’ spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the sham elections in PoK were an attempt to camouflage Pakistan's illegal occupation. 

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'No Khela in 2024': Ramdas Athawale warns Mamata Banerjee defeating PM Modi is beyond her

Amid the possibility of an anti-Modi alliance helmed by Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale on Thursday said it is beyond Mamata Banerjee's capacity to face PM Narendra Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

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Oppn walks out of Kerala Assembly; demands minister V Sivankutty quit over 2015 vandalism

The Opposition staged a walkout on Thursday from the Kerala Assembly and boycotted the session after demanding the resignation of Education Minister V Sivankutty. This latest development comes after the Supreme Court (SC) earlier dismissed the state government's plea to withdraw cases against Sivankutty and other CPI(M) leaders in the 2015 Kerala Assembly Vandalism case. The top court had also said that all the accused MLAs including the state Education Minister must face trials. 

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Andhra Pradesh Congress chief slams YSR govt, calls Jagan Reddy's regime 'jungle raj'

Condemning the attack on the TDP (Telugu Desam Party) leader Devineni Rao, the senior Congress leader of Andhra Pradesh, N Tulasi Reddy slammed the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government regime and called it ‘jungle raj’ rule. Bringing up several issues Andhra Pradesh Congress leader attacked CM Jagan Mohan’s government, terming the incumbent rule as incapable of holding up the law and order situation and providing protection to the citizens of the state. He added that he had warned that this will be the fate of the state if YSRCP (Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party) comes to power.

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Congress parliamentary groups of both Houses hold meeting over farm laws, pegasus issue

A joint meeting of Congress parliamentary party groups in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha was held today, on July 29. This meeting was held while ongoing protests have been progressing in both the Houses, by Congress and other Opposition parties. The protests have been going on over demands including probing into alleged surveillance via Pegasus software and the repealing of the controversial farm laws.

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Border row: Assam Police sends team to grill Mizoram MP who threatened to 'kill them all'

Throwing caution to the wind, Member of Parliament from Rajya Sabha K Vanlalvena issued an open challenge to the Assam police, whom he accused of entering Mizoram, and pushing back its police force. The MP who belongs to the Mizo National Front party, that is part of the National Democratic Alliance, has alleged that the Assam police gave firing orders first, in reaction to which the Mizoram police fired, and added that the former were 'lucky' that they were not killed. He, however, added that they (Assam police) would 'all be killed' if they tried to re-enter the Mizoram territory. This comes in the backdrop of unprecedented violence that broke out between the police forces of the two states over a 150-year-old border dispute.   

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Sherlyn Chopra denied anticipatory bail in Raj Kundra Porn racket by Mumbai sessions court

The Mumbai Sessions Court on Thursday refused to grant anticipatory bail to Sherlyn Chopra in the Raj Kundra porn racket. This development comes after the Bombay High Court on Tuesday accepted Sherlyn Chopra and another actor Poonam Pandey's anticipatory bail applications in the case. Both were summoned by the Mumbai Crime Branch in connection with the alleged porn film racket. The Crime Branch had summoned Sherlyn Chopra to record her statement at 11 AM on Tuesday after she was named as one of the accused in the case.

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Indians tell Mary Kom she's a legend despite Tokyo Olympics exit, Kiren Rijiju agrees

In a heartbreaking development for Mary Kom fans, the boxing icon on Thursday was knocked out of the Tokyo Olympics after a loss in the women’s 51kg round of 16 matches. MC Mary Kom's pursuit of a second Olympic medal ended in the pre-quarterfinals of the Tokyo Games as she went down to 2016 Rio Olympics bronze-medallist Ingrit Valencia in a fiercely-fought showdown. This was Mary Kom's last Olympics. After losing to Ingrit Valencia, Mary Kom broke into tears, however, she also congratulated her counterpart on her thrilling victory.

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Tokyo Olympics: Atanu Das through to men's archery pre-Q/F with hard-fought 6-5 victory

Atanu Das has qualified for the pre-quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics 2020 men's individual archery event with a close 6-5 win over South Korea's Oh Jin-Hyek in their Round of 16 clash on Thursday. Atanu Das was made to fight hard for his win and when it mattered the most, he held his nerves and landed a knockout blow to his South Korean rival in the final set.

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