The two women were freed for “compelling humanitarian” reasons following mediation by Qatar and Egypt, the Hamas’ military wing said.They were taken to the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, days after two American women, Judith Tai Raanan and her daughter Natalie Shoshana Raanan, were freed.According to several media reports, Hamas might release another 50 hostages. Red Cross representatives are allegedly on their way to Gaza to take out the hostages with dual nationalities, they claimed.Tel Aviv on Monday increased the number of hostages it has confirmed to 222 people. Israel’s army said it was preparing for “unrelenting attacks” to dismantle Hamas even as former US President Barack Obama warned that “any Israeli military strategy that ignores human costs could ultimately backfire”.Israel won’t delay a possible ground invasion of Gaza over the hostages, Energy Minister Israel Katz told German tabloid newspaper Bild, adding that everything would be done to bring the hostages home. “But that cannot hinder our actions including the ground offensive, if we decide on it,” he was quoted as saying.Hamas has killed 1,400 people in the worst-ever attack in the nation’s 75-year history, Israel said.Gaza’s health ministry said the death count in the Strip has surged to over 5,000 with the Israel military saying on Monday that it had conducted over 300 new strikes in 24 hours. The death count includes over 2,000 children, the ministry said.The European Union is considering a call for a humanitarian pause to the Israel-Hamas war, with the US warning that a Gaza ceasefire would benefit Hamas, reported news agency AFP.A ceasefire would “give Hamas the ability to rest, to refit, and to get ready to continue launching terrorist attacks against Israel”, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.President Joe Biden said that any discussions about a Gaza ceasefire could only take place if Hamas frees all hostages seized from Israel in its October 7 attack. “We should have those hostages released and then we can talk,” Biden said at a White House event when asked if he would support a “hostages-for-ceasefire” deal, AFP reported.

Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh on Monday asserted his party colleague Kamal Nath wanted to have an alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP) for the next month’s Madhya Pradesh assembly polls “with full honesty”, but maintained he does not know how the talks for a tie-up between the two INDIA bloc members got derailed.

Digvijaya Singh praised SP president Akhilesh Yadav for his leadership qualities, but disagreed with Mr Nath, the Madhya Pradesh Congress head, over his choice of words while dismissing his (Yadav’s) criticism for not leaving any seat in MP for the Uttar Pradesh-based party for the November 17 polls.

The former CM said he had suggested Mr Nath to leave four assembly seats for the SP, which wanted to field nominees in half a dozen segments.

Talking to reporters at his residence in Bhopal, he sought to downplay the war of wards between the Congress and the SP that erupted after the national outfit did not allocate any assembly seat to the Yadav-led party despite the two being constituents of the INDIA alliance.

“It is okay… friendly fights do take place between alliance partners, but I know the SP and Akhilesh will never go with the BJP,” said the Rajya Sabha member.

After the SP president slammed the Congress leadership last week for not having an alliance in Madhya Pradesh, Mr Nath, while replying to questions from media persons on the tie-up issue, had reportedly said, “Chhodiye Akhilesh Vakhilesh” (just leave Akhilesh).

Digvijaya Singh disapproved of Kamal Nath’s dismissal of Mr Yadav’s criticism.

“I don’t know how he (Nath) said so. One should avoid such reactions about a leader of the (INDIA) alliance,” he said.

The Rajya Sabha member maintained there a discussion within the Congress over having a tie-up with the SP for the polls to the 230-member assembly.

The SP has released its own lists of candidates for more than two dozen seats.

Digvijaya Singh said “Nath had sent Congress leader Ashok Singh to me for a discussion with SP leaders led by Deep Narayan Yadav. We had a discussion in this room (of his residence in Bhopal). They (SP) had won one seat Bijawar (in Bundelkhand region in 2018 polls) and were second in two others. The SP wanted six seats, but I suggested Nath to leave four seats for the SP.

“Later, the matter went to the Congress Working Committee and the party’s central leadership, but they left the issue of (tie-up with SP) to the state leadership.” Digvijaya Singh said the INDIA grouping will contest the next Lok Sabha polls unitedly, but maintained issues related to state elections are different.

“I don’t know where this talk (of alliance in MP) got derailed. But as far as Nath is concerned, I can say he wanted to have an alliance with the SP with full honesty (Kamal Nath ji poori imandar is samjhouta karna chahta the),” he said.

The Congress veteran recalled his strong bonding with SP patriarch and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister the late Mulayam Singh Yadav.

When pointed out that posters of Akhilesh Yadav as future Prime Minister were displayed in Lucknow, Mr Singh feigned ignorance about the matter.

Answering a question over the Congress fielding sitting MLA from Pichhore KP Singh from Shivpuri, part of the home turf of Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Rajya Sabha MP said his party colleague was a popular leader and also his relative.

Asked whether this was done to prevent Scindia from contesting from Shivpuri on a BJP ticket, Digvijaya Singh said, “Definitely. He (Scindia) ran away as he was scared (to face KP Singh).” Sitting BJP MLA from Shivpuri and state minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia, an aunt of Jyotiraditya Scindia, has opted out of contesting elections due to her ill health.

Earlier, Digvijaya Singh had publicly disapproved of Mr Nath’s “tear clothes” remarks made in context of distribution of poll tickets, during an event organised to release the Congress manifesto last week.

A video of Mr Nath, where he is asking party men to “tear clothes” of his colleague Singh over denial of ticket to a leader from Shivpuri, fuelled talks of a rift in the party over selection of nominees.

In the viral video, Mr Nath is heard telling a group of people, said to be supporters of party leader Virendra Raghuvanshi, that he had left the issue of (selection of Raghuvanshi’s seat) to Digvijaya Singh and his MLA-son Jaivardhan Singh.

The state Congress president is then heard telling the group to “tear clothes” of Digvijaya Singh (over the ticket denial issue).

Mr Raghuvanshi, a former BJP legislator, joined the Congress earlier this month. He had sought a Congress ticket from the Shivpuri assembly seat, but the party fielded KP Singh, a six-time MLA from Pichhore, from there.

Wagh Bakri Tea Group executive director Parag Desai today died at 49, the company announced on social media. He suffered a brain hemorrhage after a fall last week, and died in hospital on Sunday.

“With profound grief, we regret to inform the sad demise of our beloved Parag Desai,” the company said in an Instagram post.

Several media reports claimed Desai fell after he was chased by stray dogs. “It was stated that the patient fell down after being chased by dogs but apparently, there were no dog bite marks on his body,” said the hospital.

“A CT scan revealed acute subdural hematoma with bilateral frontal contusion,” the statement said.

Shaktisinh Gohil, Rajya Sabha MP and Gujarat Congress chief, offered his condolences and wrote, “Very sad news coming in. Parag Desai, Director and owner Wagh Bakri Tea passed away. He had a brain hemorrhage following a fall. May his soul rest in peace. My condolences to the entire Wagh Bakri family across India.”

Tech Mahindra also paid his tributes to Desai and called it an “untimely loss”. “Very sad to hear about Parag Desai’s death. A terribly untimely loss indeed,” he said in a post on X.

Parag Desai was one of the two executive directors on the board of Wagh Bakri Tea Group, who led their transformation into tea lounges and e-commerce.

He was spearhead the group’s sales, marketing and export departments. He was also an expert tea taster and evaluator.

Wagh Bakri Tea Group was founded in 1892 by Narandas Desai. Today, it has a turnover of Rs 2,000 crore.

The group has presence in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Western Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, and recently forayed into Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha.

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