Daily Bulletin: Amit Shah to hold BJP's Vijay Sankalp rally in Agra, Karnataka govt invites Ola for talks over ban; day's top stories

BJP to hold Vijay Sankalp Sabha rallies across country BJP president Amit Shah will launch the party’s poll campaign after the Lok Sabha elections schedule was announced with a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra on Sunday, and the party’s top leaders will hold rallies in every constituency across the country till Tuesday. Asserting that national security plank will figure high on the party’s ‘Vijay Sankalp’ (Pledge for Victory) rallies planned for Sunday and Tuesday, senior party leader Mulkhtar Abbas Naqvi was quoted by PTI as saying that the BJP will launch “ground strike” against “abusers of security forces”. [caption id=“attachment_6240981” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of BJP president Amit Shah. Reuters[/caption] Top party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have been accusing the Opposition of lowering the morale of armed forces with its comments following the Balakot air strikes by the Indian Air Force. Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal, JP Nadda, Dharmendra Pradhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani and other party leaders are scheduled to address rallies on Sunday and Tuesday, reports said. ‘Rahul Gandhi will be fighting CPM in Kerala, not BJP,’ says Pinarayi Vijayan The Congress in Kerala has suggested party chief Rahul Gandhi’s name for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, which is a party bastion. AICC general secretary Oommen Chandy on Saturday said the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee has requested Rahul to contest from Wayanad, but he has not yet commented on the proposal. Reacting to the proposal by the Kerala unit, ruling CPM and BJP said it was due to “apprehension” of Rahul’s defeat in his Amethi seat in Uttar Pradesh. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan asked the Congress to clarify what message it was sending out by asking Rahul to contest from the state, saying it would mean he would be fighting the “main political force” Left front and not BJP. The Congress earlier this month announced that Rahul will contest from Amethi, and Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli, also in Uttar Pradesh. The move by KPCC comes after similar pleas by party state units in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu asking Rahul to contest from their respective states. Karnataka govt open to talks with Ola over ban The Karnataka government kept the door open on Saturday to talks with local ride-hailing service Ola to avoid a ban that could help rival Uber build market share. Karnataka earlier this week issued a notice to suspend Ola’s licence for six months for violating government rules by running motorcycle taxis which are not allowed for safety reasons. State capital and technology hub Bengaluru is among Ola’s top three markets in India. VP Ikkeri, state commissioner for transport and road safety, told reporters the department seized and issued fines for about 258 motorcycles during a probe after complaints. Ola’s permit, obtained in 2017 and valid to 2021, allows it to run three and four-wheeler taxis in Karnataka. The company, backed by SoftBank Group Corp and Tencent Holdings Ltd, has until Monday to respond to the suspension notice. KKR vs SRH and MI vs DC in IPL 2019 double-header In the first clash of IPL 2019, Chennai Super Kings defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by seven wickets to start the tournament with a win. Today, the tournament heads to Kolkata where the home side Kolkata Knight Riders will lock horns with Sunrisers Hyderabad. In the evening, Mumbai Indians will host Delhi Capitals. India take on South Korea in second match of 2019 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament Five-time champions India will face South Korea in their second league match of the 2019 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup on Sunday after getting their campaign started with a 2-0 win over Japan on Saturday. Goals from Varun Kumar and Simranjeet Singh helped India beat Japan. World No 17 South Korea began their campaign with a stunning 6-3 win over Canada, who are ranked 10th in the world rankings. Next-gen iPhones to support ‘wireless powershare’ says new report Apple accidentally revealed that the next-gen iPhone will have a “wireless powershare” feature which will let the device charge other Qi-compatible devices wirelessly. Sources have claimed that this wireless charging feature could be used for charging Apple Watches, which are wireless charging compatible. More information will be revealed to users about the next iPhones in the coming months.