LIVE News Updates: We are not in contact with anyone over govt formation, says Ajit Pawar

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar on Saturday said his party was not in contact with anyone over government formation in Maharashtra.

"We have got the mandate to sit in opposition, we are ready for it," he said.

Speculations are rife in the state amidst ongoing tussle between alliance partners BJP and Shiv Sena over chief ministership.

The Shimla Municipal Corporation has sent a proposal to the Himachal Pradesh government wherein it has proposed to levy an environment tax on the vehicles entering Shimla from outside the state. The tax would be levied on the vehicles which are registered outside the state.

The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee on Saturday submitted a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind through the Governor of Karnataka, demanding dismissal of B.S. Yediyurappa government.

It has also demanded dismissal of Home Minister Amit Shah from the Union Council of Ministers "in the interest of democracy".

The memorandum submitted by KPCC states that Yediyurappa and Amit Shah engineered and forced resignations of 15 MLAs to bring down the Congress-JDS coalition government in Karnataka.

The party has also enclosed a video of Yediyurappa at a BJP core committee meeting.

“Nobody knows the type of business this company of Prince Shah of the Shah dynasty, Jai Amit Shah, does. What is this business that increased their income by 15,000%? “

“There is an economic slowdown in the country. Our policy for the present should be such that the market could help our farmers more. In this atmosphere, RECP will prove to be a destructive agreement for the farmers. It will eat up the farmers’ interest and the area for him to sell his product will become limited,” says Priyanka Gandhi

The Congress on Saturday targeted the government over the fall in the Goods and Service Tax (GST) collection, highest unemployment rate in last three years and the slump in core sector, saying all these factors establish economic slowdown in the country.

The Congress on Saturday upped the ante against the Narendra Modi government on recent accusations of public surveillance through WhatsApp questioning which department purchased the Israeli software Pegasus and who gave allowed it to spy on journalists and activists.

"Israeli NSO sold spyware Pegasus only to governments. Before WhatsApp answers, our government must tell us: Which wing of government purchased Pegasus, at what price, who handled its operations, who gave instructions for snooping and which other platforms are compromised," senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal tweeted.

Sibal's remarks came a day after the government, under fire from journalists and the Opposition, demanded a clarification from WhatsApp and questioned why it had kept the information about spying on Indian citizens hidden from the Indian authorities despite recent meetings with the company CEO.

Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena on his meeting with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief, Sharad Pawar says, The kind of situation that is prevailing in Maharashtra, all political parties are talking to each other, except Shiv Sena & BJP.

The Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police has registered an FIR against a Post Office clerk for defrauding public of upto Rs 18 lakh. The clerk has not been arrested as yet but the charges against him are being probed.

Two men were arrested by the Thane police for allegedly possessing firearms, live cartridges, a sword and other lethal weapons, an official said on Saturday.

Acting on a tip-off, the police laid a trap for one of the accused, Suresh alias Surya Ayakutti Thevar (30), near the APMC market in Thane district's Kalyan town and nabbed him in the early hours of Friday, the official said.

West Bengal government will soon implement a social security scheme to provide financial assistance to journalists, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Saturday.

Banerjee also referred to the health insurance scheme floated by her government for accredited journalists.

Uttar Pradesh anti-terrorism squad (ATS) along with its Gujarat counterpart arrested a person from Kanpur for providing the pistol used in the murder of Hindu Samaj Party leader Kamlesh Tiwari.

Israeli aircraft hit a series of targets in the Gaza Strip early Saturday in response to rocket fire that damaged a house in southern Israel.

Dozens of strikes hit the Palestinian enclave in the early hours, targeting bases of the strip's Islamist rulers Hamas and allied groups, a security source in Gaza said.

The Israeli army said they were hitting "terror targets." Three people were injured, at least one seriously, the health ministry in the strip said.