6 other AAP MPs including Raghav Chadha join BJP

At least three people have been killed and five others injured in a shootout between rival ethnic groups, the Nagas and the Kukis, in India’s northeastern state of Manipur.

“In the heavy firing… three persons sustained fatal gunshot injuries,” Manipur Police said in a statement late Friday night.

On 24 April, clashes broke out in Ukhrul district of Manipur. Two of those killed were Kukis, while the third was a Tangkhul Naga, Indian news outlet The Scroll reported.

Tangkhul is the major community of the district.

“Security measures have been beefed up in the area to prevent further escalation of violence,” police said. “The operation is still ongoing.”

The state has been grappling with ethnic conflict between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the predominantly Christian Kuki community for nearly three years, in which more than 250 people have been killed.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, is scheduled to visit Andaman and Nicobar Islands for three days, where he will meet members of the Great Nicobar Tribal Council and highlight concerns about the Indian government’s Great Nicobar Comprehensive Development Project.

Congress in-charge of Andaman and Nicobar Manickam Tagore said during a press conference, “Rahul Gandhi will be on a three-day visit to Andaman and Nicobar (April 26-28)… He will visit the Nicobar Islands on the third day and we are hopeful that the visit will go smoothly.”

This Rs 810 billion (€7.34 billion, $8.6 billion) project is surrounded by controversies.

Conservationists have opposed the project, saying it will cause massive ecological damage and threaten the indigenous Nicobarese and Shompen tribes.

The opposition has also raised the adverse impacts of the project in Parliament.

The BJP-led government promotes the project as a vital “strategic asset” for national security and economic development and to challenge China’s influence in the Indian Ocean.

Prominent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha has resigned from the party and joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with six other MPs.

Chadha’s announcement came three weeks after he was removed from the post of Rajya Sabha deputy leader.

The move dealt a serious blow to the party’s strength in the upper house of the Indian Parliament, with its number of members reduced from 10 to three.

The timing of the announcement is also significant as it comes ahead of the 2027 assembly elections in the northern state of Punjab – an AAP stronghold.

The “merger” of two-thirds of AAP MPs with the BJP would allow Chadha and other MPs who left AAP to avoid challenge under India’s anti-defection law, as the law exempts Rajya Sabha members from anti-defection disqualification if two-thirds of their party’s MLAs agree to the merger with another party.

Good morning! This is Midhat from New Delhi bringing you all the food from India today.

Temperatures have soared in the north, prompting authorities to issue a heat wave warning for the national capital. The maximum temperature in Delhi is expected to remain between 42 and 44 degrees Celsius (107.6 to 111.2 degrees Fahrenheit), while the minimum temperature may hover around 25.2 degrees Celsius.

The announcement of resignation by several Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs has dealt a blow to the party with fears of defection.

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