Daily Bulletin: Shah, Modi to meet BJP ministers, NDA leaders; Opposition team to knock on EC's doors, day's top stories

BJP ministers to hold meeting with Shah, Modi Following an almost unanimously predicted exit poll edge , Union ministers belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party will meet party president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 4 pm on Tuesday. The meeting is expected to be followed by a dinner for leaders of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. [caption id=“attachment_6654681” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah at the BJP press conference in New Delhi on Friday. PTI[/caption] Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Lok Janshakti Party head Ram Vilas Paswan are likely to attend the meeting, Opposition delegation to meet EC over EVM trouble A delegation of Opposition party leaders will once again take up the issue of EVM tampering with the Election Commission, in a meeting at 3 pm on Tuesday. Among those in the delegation will be Congress’ Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Ahmed Patel, Nationalist Congress Party’s Sharad Pawar and Majeed Memon, Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh, Communist Party of India’s D Raja, Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s Sitaram Yechury, Bahujan Samaj Party’s Satish Mishra, Telugu Desam Party’s Chandrababu Naidu, Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s TKS Elangovan. The leaders, it has been reported, will seek recounting if VVPAT slips and EVM machine tallies do not match. Many parties like DMK, AAP and Congress have already formed vigilance groups and teams to monitor strong rooms, in an effort to ensure that EVMs are untampered until 23 May. Congress general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh (east), Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday sent an audio recording to her party workers, urging them not to believe in the survey and “remain alert in the strong rooms and counting rooms.” Pakistan appoints Moin ul Haque as India High Commissioner Pakistan on Monday announced the name of career diplomat Moin ul Haque as its new High Commissioner to India. “New Delhi, India, is very important…After consultation, I have decided to appoint Moin ul Haque, the current ambassador in France, who will be sent to (New) Delhi, and I hope that he (Haq) will deliver,” Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in a video statement. Haq was appointed after Sohail Mehmood left the High Commissioner’s post to join as Pakistan’s foreign secretary, reported Express Tribune. Qureshi has expressed hope that Haq would perform his “new job with the best of his abilities.” Sushma to attend two-day meet at Bishkek External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will attend a two-day meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), in Kyrgyzstan’s capital of Bishkek, during which several pressing issues including the threat of terrorism are expected to be discussed. She will, in the course of the meet, also come face to face with Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. Facebook pulling user information from smartphones, finds report A new report released by The Interceptor details about a confidential Facebook document which shows that the social media company is pulling information about Facebook members’ devices such as use of Wi-Fi and cellular networks and is then offering this information to carriers and smartphone makers in over 50 countries. The company is also pulling users’ past locations, interests, and even their social groups. L&T buys 73,953 shares of Mindtree, hikes shareholding to 26.53% Infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) on Monday acquired 73,953 shares of Mindtree from the open market, taking its shareholding in the IT services firm to 26.53 percent, according to a regulatory filing. “Larsen and Toubro Ltd has acquired 73,953 equity shares (with a face value of Rs 10 each) of Mindtree Ltd on 20 May 2019,” a Mindtree filing said. After the latest transaction, L&T’s shareholding in Mindtree stands at 26.53 percent. The latest stock purchase was made at Rs 979.99 apiece. Earlier this month, L&T purchased around 20 percent stake of V G Siddhartha and Cafe Coffee Day in Mindtree through a block deal for about RS 3,210 crore, and has since topped that up with share purchases from open market. Maharashtra women’s panel calls Vivek Oberoi’s tweet ‘disrespectful’ Maharashtra State Women’s Commission (MSWC) found Vivek Anand Oberoi’s tweet on exit polls “disrespectful” and plans to take action against the actor, it said on Monday. “We have studied the tweet and it is prima facie found to be objectionable. We shall serve him notice on Tuesday to explain himself,” MSWC chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar told a news agency. Vivek shared a meme that showed a set of three photos, one referring to an “opinion poll” with a picture of Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai, next an “exit poll” depicting himself with the actress and the third showing Aishwarya Rai Bachchan with her husband Abhishek Bachchan and their seven-year-old daughter Aaradhya. The meme was originally shared by someone else on Twitter, but Vivek retweeted it with this comment: “Haha! Creative! No politics here just life!