Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal all but announced his party’s intention of cutting the Congress out and contesting all seven seats of Delhi today, saying it is the decision of the “people of Delhi”. The Aam Aadmi Party has already unilaterally announced that it would contest all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab and named candidates for three seats in Assam.

“People of Delhi have decided to give 7 out of 7 seats to AAP. Strengthen the hands of Bhagwant Mann ji by giving him 13 out of 13 Loksabha seats in Punjab. Then the Central Government and the Governor will not have the courage to stop Punjab’s money,” read a rough translation of his post on X, formerly Twitter.

On Saturday, Mr Kejriwal had expressed confidence that he would win all the seats of Punjab and Chandigarh.

दिल्ली के लोगों ने AAP को 7 की 7 Seats देने की ठान ली है

Punjab की भी 13 की 13 Loksabha seats देकर Bhagwant Mann जी के हाथ मज़बूत कर दो

फिर केंद्र सरकार और Governor की हिम्मत नहीं होगी कि वो Punjab का पैसा और कोई काम रोकें

-Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal pic.twitter.com/AONzDvvvey

— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) February 11, 2024

AAP’s decision would come as yet another blow to the Opposition front INDIA, enhancing the perception that the parties do not stand united on seat sharing. It also adds to the loss of face for the Congress, which was hoping to contest at least a few of Delhi’s seven seats.

The Grand Old Party has already been rebuffed in Punjab and Bengal, where the state powers AAP and Trinamool Congress have declared that they would go solo.

Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said INDIA’s initial strategy, more than seat sharing, was pitching a single candidate against the BJP on each seat and allowing whichever party was dominant to contest. Trinamool, she had added, was the only party competent to beat the BJP in Bengal.

She had has even predicted that the Congress score will slip further to 40 seats, bringing much joy to the BJP camp.

Eight Indian Navy veterans jailed in Qatar over alleged spying charges have been released, the government said early this morning. Seven of them are already back in India after an 18-month jail stay in the Middle-East country.

“The Government of India welcomes the release of eight Indian nationals working for the Dahra Global company who were detained in Qatar. Seven out of the eight of them have returned to India. We appreciate the decision by the Amir of the State of Qatar to enable the release and home-coming of these nationals,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Commander Amit Nagpal, and Sailor Ragesh were arrested in August and had been in jail since.

They were employed by a private firm, Dahra Global, and were in Qatar to assist with the introduction of Italian U212 stealth submarines into the Qatari Emiri Naval Force in their personal roles.

A Qatari court sentenced them to death on October 26, 2023. India had said it was “deeply shocked” by the verdict and that it was exploring all legal options.

The capital punishment was commuted in December following India’s diplomatic intervention.

The Navy veterans, now back in the country, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government for securing their release.

“We are very happy that we are back in India, safely. Definitely, we would like to thank PM Modi as this was only possible because of his personal intervention,” said one of them.

“We waited almost for 18 months to be back in India. We are extremely grateful to the PM. It wouldn’t have been possible without his personal intervention and his equation with Qatar. We are grateful to the Government of India from the bottom of our hearts for every effort that has been made and this day won’t have been possible without those efforts,” said another.

India on Monday announced that the eight veterans of the Indian Navy who were sentenced to death in Qatar have been released. Seven of them have returned to India, the Ministry of External Affairs said in an official statement.

The seven individuals, namely Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Commander Amit Nagpal, and Sailor Ragesh, were working for a private company — Dahra Global company. 

They were in Qatar to assist with the introduction of Italian U212 stealth submarines into the Qatari Emiri Naval Force in their personal roles.

Here is a timeline of the case:

2022

August 30: Eight men were arrested for unknown reasons and placed in solitary confinement. According to reports, they were arrested by Qatar’s intelligence agency for spying. 

October 1: The Indian Ambassador in Doha and Deputy Head of Mission met the navy veterans.

October 3: First Consular access was granted. CEO of Dahra Global also tried to help his officials but ended up getting arrested. He spent two months in solitary confinement and was later released on bail.

2023

March 1: The veterans’ multiple bail pleas were rejected.

March 25: Charges were filed against the eight men.

March 29: The trial, following Qatari law, began.

May 30: Dahra Global closed its operations in Doha, and its former employees, mostly Indians, returned home.

August 4: The arrested men were moved from solitary confinement to a jail ward with their colleagues, with two men in each cell.

October 26: A Qatar court sentenced all eight men to death.

November 9: India said it has filed an appeal with Qatar over the death penalty to eight former Navy personnel. 

November 23: The court accepted India’s appeal against the death penalty.

December 28: India said that the eight ex-Navy personnel will now face commuted punishments. 

2024

February 12: India announced that the eight veterans of the Indian Navy have been released.