Sunday morning remains wrapped in a thick blanket of fog in Delhi and other parts of the country. As many as 22 trains and 150 flights linking the national capital have been delayed. RK Puram recorded the minimum temperature at 7 degrees this morning.

The visibility was found to be zero in the airport area. Delhi airport had issued a fog alert last night itself, urging fliers to contact the airlines for updated flight information.

Airlines too have flagged “weather challenges” in northern India with budget carrier IndiGo saying their flight schedules may experience interruptions due to the bad weather.

SpiceJet alerted that departures/arrivals and their consequential flights may get affected due to poor visibility in Delhi, Amritsar, Jammu, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Patna, Bagdogra and Darbhanga,

In Chennai, where Pongal celebrations begin today, five inbound international flights were diverted to Hyderabad and 18 flights delayed. Chennai airport has suspended landings at least for an hour.

Very dense fog have been reported in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu division, Chandigarh, Assam and south interior Karnataka, while parts of Tripura, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu reported moderate fog.

The air quality has also dipped to the ‘severe’ category in several areas in Delhi. The weather office has issued a red alert in view of the cold and fog conditions and forecast dense fog in Delhi till Tuesday.

Friday saw the season’s first cold wave day with the temperature dipping to 3.9 degrees Celsius. Saturday’s was coldest night as the temperature fell to season’s coldest at 3 degrees in Aya Nagar, the last village of Delhi on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road.

Former Union Minister Milind Deora resigned from the Congress party and is expected to join the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde later today.

“I have tendered my resignation from the primary membership of Congress, ending my family’s 55-year relationship with the party,” he said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

“I am grateful to all leaders, colleagues & karyakartas for their unwavering support over the years,” he added.

Today marks the conclusion of a significant chapter in my political journey. I have tendered my resignation from the primary membership of @INCIndia, ending my family’s 55-year relationship with the party.

I am grateful to all leaders, colleagues & karyakartas for their…

— Milind Deora | मिलिंद देवरा ☮️ (@milinddeora) January 14, 2024

Mr Deora, son of Congress veteran Murli Deora, had won the Mumbai South seat in 2004 and 2009. He ended up as the first runner-up in the subsequent elections in 2014 and 2019 against Shiv Sena (undivided) leader Arvind Sawant.

He had recently expressed displeasure over the Uddhav Thackeray faction winning the Mumbai South seat. The Uddhav Thackeray-led group, Shiv Sena (UBT) is a part of the opposition alliance.

In a video statement issued last Sunday, Mr Deora said that if such statements by an “alliance partner” don’t stop, his party too can announce candidates for seats.

He took the decision to resign from Congress after discussions with his supporters.

Taking a dig at Milind Deora’s exit from the party, Congress general secretary recalled how his father Murli Deora had friends in all political parties but always stood by the party.

“I recall my long years of association with Murli Deora with great fondness. He had close friends in all political parties, but was a stalwart Congressman who always stood by the Congress party — through thick and thin. Tathastu!” he wrote on X.

With its senior leader Milind Deora resigning just before the start of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, the Congress on Sunday alleged that the timing of the announcement of his departure from the party was determined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh told PTI that Mr Deora had spoken with him over phone this Friday and requested that he wanted to speak with Rahul Gandhi over his concerns over the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) laying claim to the South Mumbai Lok Sabha seat. Both Milind Deora and his father Murli Deora had served as MPs from Mumbai South.

“He messaged me on Friday at 8:52 AM and then at 2:47 PM I replied, ‘Are you planning a switch?’. At 2:48 he sent a message, ‘is speaking to you not possible?’ I said I will call you and at 3:40, I spoke to him,” Mr Ramesh said.

“He (Deora) said he is concerned that it is a sitting Shiv Sena seat, he wanted to meet Rahul Gandhi and explain to him about the seat and also wanted me to talk to Mr Gandhi about it,” the Congress general secretary said.

“Obviously all this was a farce and he had made up his mind to leave. The timing of the announcement of his departure was clearly determined by the PM,” Mr Ramesh alleged.

In a post on X, Mr Ramesh recalled his long years of association with seven-time Congress MP Murli Deora with great fondness.

“He (Murli Deora) had close friends in all political parties, but was a stalwart Congressman who ALWAYS stood by the Congress party – through thick and thin. Tathastu!” he said.

Former Union minister Milind Deora today said he had resigned from the primary membership of the party.

In a post on social media platform X, the former South Mumbai Lok Sabha MP said, “Today marks the conclusion of a significant chapter in my political journey. I have tendered my resignation from the primary membership of the Congress, ending my family’s 55 year relationship with the party. I am grateful to all leaders, colleagues and karyakartas for their unwavering support over the years.” 

Mr Deora, who was recently appointed the joint treasurer of the All India Congress Committee, had expressed disapproval at the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) laying claim to the South Mumbai Lok Sabha seat. 
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)