A fire broke out in a four-storey building in Delhi’s Seelampur area early on Tuesday.
However, no casualty has been reported.
According to an official of the Delhi Fire Services, the department received a call at 2.32 am, informing about fire in a building in Chauhan Banger. The authorities rushed seven fire tenders to the spot.
“The building had a jeans showroom on the ground floor and rest floors were residential. The fire was controlled by 8.05 am,” the officer said.
Just days before Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s scheduled visit to Bihar, a major political jolt has hit the party with 17 prominent leaders from Katihar district deserting the Congress and joining the BJP.
The political shift comes with serious allegations against senior Congress leader and six-time MP Tariq Anwar, further deepening the rift within the party and raising questions over Congress’s strength in the state.
The dramatic defection was led by Vikas Singh, president of the Congress-affiliated labour organisation INTUC, who accused Tariq Anwar of fostering an “anti-upper caste mentality” in both his actions and rhetoric.
“This is just the beginning. Hundreds and thousands of workers are ready to join the BJP in the coming days,” declared Mr Singh while joining the BJP in the presence of Bihar’s PHED Minister Neeraj Kumar Singh Bablu at a function held in Patna.
According to Mr Singh, the decision of 17 influential upper-caste Congress leaders to switch sides stems from growing resentment against Mr Anwar’s alleged bias and attitude.
The merger of former Union Minister RCP Singh’s party with Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party has stirred the political pot in Bihar, with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav claiming a hidden agenda behind the move.
The development comes ahead of the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, with political realignments gaining pace.
RCP Singh, a former close aide of CM Nitish Kumar and ex-National President of Janata Dal (United), had floated his party after parting ways with JD(U).
However, on Sunday, he merged his party with Jan Suraaj, founded by political strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor.
Reacting to this new alliance, Tejashwi didn’t take names but dropped strong hints that the BJP could be “orchestrating” the development behind the scenes.
“Both of them were in JD(U), one a national vice president, the other a national president. Who is getting all this done and how it is happening, people of Bihar know everything,” Tejashwi said while interacting with the media persons in Patna.
Tejashwi added, “If two rebels of JD(U) have come together, then everyone understands whose game this is. We don’t need to say much. People are watching everything.”
Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor was on Sunday stopped by the administration from entering Kalyan Bigha, the ancestral village of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, where he wanted to interact with locals during his visit to Nalanda district.
Mr Kishor, who wanted to launch his party’s signature campaign demanding answers on “unfulfilled” government promises from the ancestral village of the CM, was stopped by the district administration and security personnel from entering the village. Mr Kishor and his party workers wanted a face-to-face interaction with the residents of Kalyan Bigha.
Officials maintained that the Jan Suraaj Party did not seek prior permission to hold such a gathering at Kalyan Bigha.
“The Jan Suraaj Party had sought permission to hold a public meeting in Bihar Sharif (district headquarters of Nalanda) on May 18…the district administration had given them permission. The party had not sought permission for holding such an event at Kalyan Bigha…that was the reason they were not allowed to enter the village,” Nalanda District Magistrate, Shashank Shubhankar, told PTI.
“Holding public meetings at a particular place requires a lot of preparations by the district administration, including police. That is the reason prior permission is mandatory for such gatherings. Since they had been given permission to hold the public meeting on May 18 in Bihar Sharif only,… They were asked to go to the place in Bihar Sharif for which the permission had been granted,” said the DM.
Interacting with media persons, where he was stopped, Mr Kishor said he wanted to interact with locals but was stopped.
“I wanted to interact with locals to see the situation in Kalyan Bigha, the ancestral village of the CM. But I am not being allowed. This is the government of Nitish Kumar. Earlier, they stopped Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from holding an interaction programme with students in Darbhanga. Now, they are doing it with me.”
In a verbal exchange with officials of the district administration, Mr Kishor was heard saying, “Will you stop me from entering the village ? Do I need permission to visit the village ? I want you to give it in writing, and then I will return. We are law-abiding people…”
The SDM was heard saying, “You need permission as there might be a law-and-order situation. People have filed a complaint.”
Later, Prashant Kishor went to Bihar Sharif and addressed the gathering and also launched the signature campaign. The party launched a signature campaign demanding answers on “unfulfilled” government promises.
Union minister Chirag Paswan on Wednesday asserted that he has “family relations” with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav but a political alignment was not possible because of “extreme ideological differences”.
The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) president responded to queries from journalists about his visit to Nawada district in Bihar last week where he happened to cross paths with Mr Yadav, triggering speculations in a section of the media.
“We have family relations that began with our fathers. So, we may interact socially but we do have extreme ideological differences which make a political alignment impossible. Had it been possible, we would have joined hands in the 2020 assembly polls which I chose to contest without being part of any coalition,” Mr Paswan said.
He added, referring to the birth of Mr Yadav’s son a day ago, “I am happy that my nephew is born. If it occasions a meeting, you should not look too much into it. And the last time we ran into each other could not even be called a proper meeting.”
Notably, both Mr Paswan and Mr Yadav had gone to Nawada to meet bereaved family members of Army jawan Manish Kumar who recently died during a military operation in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a security move prompted by escalating tensions with Pakistan, Indian Railways has decided to halt night-time train operations in the border areas of Jammu and Punjab.
The decision affects regions close to the International Border and the Line of Control (LoC), including Amritsar, Bathinda, Firozpur, and Jammu.
According to official sources, trains that were earlier scheduled to pass through these areas at night will now be rescheduled to operate during daylight hours.
Additionally, certain short-distance trains operating in these sensitive zones will be cancelled until further notice.
This precautionary measure comes in the wake of increased military activity along the border.
The government has said that the Pakistan military has been mobilising troops into forward positions, raising concerns of further escalation. In response, Indian armed forces have heightened their operational readiness.
The sweet aroma of freshly baked goods and the crunch of a toasted croissant reach new heights with the richness of creamy butter. But what if you add the goodness of almonds to your recipe? Masaba Gupta recently indulged in a culinary adventure that got everyone talking. The fashionista shared her latest kitchen experiment on Instagram, where she whipped up a batch of delicious homemade almond butter that left her followers drooling. The image featured a close-up of almond butter in a small bowl. In the caption, she wrote, “Made almond butter this morning for my daughter, and I’m never eating the crap we’re served out of a bottle again! So simple and delicious.”
Boiled eggs are a breakfast staple. Be it a soft, melt-in-the-mouth egg or a hard-boiled one, they go effortlessly with toasted breads, salads, or sometimes with just a sprinkle of salt and pepper. But when you are served boiled eggs at a restaurant, your first thought probably is, “Am I going to make a mess?” Well, you are not alone. The shell is indeed one of the biggest challenges to deal with before you relish the eggs. Often, they refuse to peel smoothly, leaving the bits and pieces stuck to the white inside. If this is stopping you from having boiled eggs in public, then television actress and presenter Caterina Valentino has a solution for you.
She posted a video on Instagram demonstrating the correct etiquette for eating a boiled egg at a restaurant. The clip begins with Caterina trying to remove the shell in the typical way — hitting it on the table and peeling it off. Next, she places the boiled egg in an egg cup and scrapes the top part with a knife. Both methods are wrong.
We have all been there: standing in the kitchen, teary-eyed, squeezing out onion juice like some homegrown beauty expert, hoping it’ll fix that stubborn and perpetual hair fall. After all, it’s one of the most popular remedies recommended by moms, dadis, nanis and every other DIY video on the internet. But here’s the thing, if you’ve been applying freshly squeezed onion juice directly to your scalp and still seeing hair everywhere around the house but on your head, you’re not alone. It’s not that onion juice doesn’t work, it actually does! The problem is, that most of us are missing one crucial (and very simple) step that actually makes the juice effective for hair growth. Wondering what that is? Let’s find out what an expert suggests you to do.As per nutritionist Ravneet Bhartwal, onion juice has long been touted as an effective remedy for hair fall. Here’s how onion juice helps your hair:
We have all been there: standing in the kitchen, teary-eyed, squeezing out onion juice like some homegrown beauty expert, hoping it’ll fix that stubborn and perpetual hair fall. After all, it’s one of the most popular remedies recommended by moms, dadis, nanis and every other DIY video on the internet. But here’s the thing, if you’ve been applying freshly squeezed onion juice directly to your scalp and still seeing hair everywhere around the house but on your head, you’re not alone. It’s not that onion juice doesn’t work, it actually does! The problem is, that most of us are missing one crucial (and very simple) step that actually makes the juice effective for hair growth. Wondering what that is? Let’s find out what an expert suggests you to do.As per nutritionist Ravneet Bhartwal, onion juice has long been touted as an effective remedy for hair fall. Here’s how onion juice helps your hair: