The joy in the INDIA bloc over seat-sharing breakthroughs may prove to be short-lived, with the Trinamool Congress reiterating that it will contest all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal. The party’s snub to the Congress comes after a wild swing in less than 24 hours, with sources in the alliance indicating on Thursday that seat-sharing talks were back on track and Trinamool sources telling NDTV earlier on Friday that the party could not find a third seat for the Congress “even with binoculars”. 

Derek O’Brien, Trinamool’s leader in the Rajya Sabha, said, “A few weeks ago, the TMC chairperson and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee stated that TMC is fighting all the 42 seats in Bengal. We are also in the fray in a few seats in Assam and the Tura Lok Sabha seat in Meghalaya. There is no change in this position.” 

The strong statement will come as a setback to the INDIA alliance as well as the Congress, which has finalised a seat-sharing deal with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and has also reportedly worked out an understanding with the AAP for Delhi, Gujarat, Goa and Haryana in the past few days. 

A pact in West Bengal would not only have been a major morale boost for the opposition bloc, which has seen some major exits of late, but would have also been important electorally because the state sends the third-highest number of MPs to the Lok Sabha. 

The indications on Thursday were that the Congress had scaled down its demand for seats in West Bengal to five and was looking to score a hat-trick with the Trinamool Congress after its successes with the Samajwadi Party and the AAP. To sweeten a potential deal, the Congress was reportedly willing to offer two seats to the Trinamool in Assam and one in Meghalaya. Congress sources had said that the talks were moving in a positive direction.

Come Friday morning, however, clear signals had begun to emerge from the Trinamool camp that the party was unwilling to budge from its initial offer of two seats to the Congress – the number won by the party in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. “Even with binoculars, we are unable to find a third seat for the Congress”, a Trinamool spokesperson had told NDTV.

Siddhu (Vidyut Jammwal) from Mumbai loves doing stunts. He aspires to go to an extreme sports tournament which is held in Europe called Maidaan. His brother Nihal (Ankit Mohan), who attended the same tournament, got killed there but Siddhu doesn’t want to go there for revenge. In his mind, his brother, who was an extreme sports enthusiast, knew the risks associated with the tournament. It’s only when he learns the truth about his brother’s death that he totally cracks and starts hunting those who had wronged him. 

In a setback for the Congress-led government in Karnataka, a bill that mandated a 10 per cent tax on the income of temples that have revenues of more than Rs 1 crore was defeated in the state legislative council late this evening. This comes two days after the bill was passed in the state assembly.

The bill sparked a huge controversy in Karnataka with the opposition BJP accusing the Congress of implementing ‘Anti-Hindu’ policies.

The National Democratic Alliance led by the BJP has more numbers than the ruling government in the legislative council or Upper House in Karnataka. The Congress has 30 MLCs, BJP has 35, eight MLCs are from the JD(S) and there is one independent candidate. One seat is vacant in the council.

The Karnataka government passed ‘Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowment Amendment Bill 2024’ that mandates the state to collect 10 per cent tax from temples that have revenues exceeding Rs 1 crore and 5 pe rcent from those with revenues ranging between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore.

After flak regarding the government’s amendments to the bill, state ministers Ramalinga Reddy and Dinesh Gundu Rao defended the move and criticised the BJP for its opposition to it.

Minister for Transport, Ramalinga Reddy alleging that BJP is “anti-Hindu” claimed that the party which was in power in 2011 had made the amendments to the bill.

“We are not anti-Hindu. Actually, the BJP is anti-Hindu. This Act came into existence in 2003. In 2011, they made some amendments. At that time, up to Rs 5 lakh, there were about 34,000 temples – they did not give any money for Dharmika Parishad. From Rs 5 Lakhs to Rs 10 Lakhs, there are about 193 ‘B grade’ temples – they have to give 5 per cent. More than Rs 10 Lakhs, there are about 205 temples – they have to give 10 per cent. They approved this amendment in 2011 in the Assembly. Who is anti-Hindu? BJP,” he said.

Minister for Health Dinesh Gundu Rao said that the BJP should realise the bill is for the benefit of the temples, alleging that when the government is trying to help smaller temples, the BJP is trying to mislead.

After the bill was cleared in the lower house of the state, former Chief Minister and BJP veteran BS Yediyurappa questioned why only Hindu temples are being scrutinized and not the incomes of other religions.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the allegations regarding the amendments to the bill “appear to be misrepresented”, “aiming only at misleading the public” and “polarizing people along communal lines for political leverage.”