Daily Bulletin: Congress-AAP alliance decision for Lok Sabha elections today; BJP, CPM slam Rahul Gandhi over Wayanad bid; day's top stories

Apart from Amethi, Rahul Gandhi to contest Lok Sabha election from Kerala’s Wayanad  Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s decision to contest from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala besides his traditional stronghold of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh evoked sharp reactions from both the Left and Right of the political spectrum. Veteran Congress leader from Kerala and former defence minister AK Antony made this announcement at a press conference on Sunday, saying Rahul had agreed to fight from Wayanad following requests from the party’s state unit. Reacting to the development, CPM Politbureau member Prakash Karat said that the decision of the Congress to field Rahul from Wayanad shows that the party wants to take on the Left in Kerala. “Their priority now is to fight against the Left in Kerala. It goes against Congress’ national commitment to fight the BJP, as in Kerala it is the LDF which is the main force fighting the BJP there,” he told reporters. The CPM ex-general secretary said his party will work to ensure Rahul’s defeat in Wayanad. BJP chief Amit Shah also took a sharp dig at Rahul contesting from two seats at a rally in Uttar Pradesh. “Congress’ vote bank politics has worked on playing with the security of the country. It is the result of this that Rahul Gandhi has left Amethi and run away to Kerala because he knows that voters will seek account from him in Amethi this time,” Shah said. [caption id=“attachment_6328231” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. PTI[/caption] The decision is seen as an attempt by the Congress to consolidate its electoral base in south India, especially Kerala which has 20 Lok Sabha seats. Tamil Nadu has 39 Lok Sabha seats and Karnataka has 28. “This is a message to the southern states that they are deeply valued and respected. Congress president Rahul Gandhi has said he will represent Amethi but will also represent southern states as they are an important part of India’s way of life,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said. He said Gandhi has said Amethi is his ‘karmabhoomi’ and he will never leave it. Supreme Court to hear Opposition’s petition regarding VVPAT slips today The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the petition by at least 20 Opposition leaders seeking random count of the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips on Monday. They demanded that at least 50 percent of the EVMs be counted in each Assembly constituency before the declaration of the Lok Sabha election results. “The court had on Friday sought the Election Commission’s response on the plea led by Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu. A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna had listed the petition for 25 March and asked the EC to depute an officer to assist the court,” The Times of India reported. Congress decision on alliance with AAP likely today As speculation continued over Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s decision on an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the Lok Sabha election, Delhi Congress unit chief Sheila Dikshit on Sunday said that the official announcement of the final decision was likely “in one or two days”. “In some time the things will be clear. You will get to know about it in a matter of a few hours, by this evening or by tomorrow. There will be an official announcement,” she said while replying to question about the alliance. On being asked about the declaration of name of candidates, she said, “The party (Congress) has been working on it. Today is a holiday, they will make announcements sometime tomorrow.” According to party sources, Congress is ready for both the situation of forging an alliance or going alone and has begun the process of finalising the candidates for all seven parliamentary constituencies of Delhi. On Saturday night, a meeting was held at =Dikshit’s residence regarding the alliance in which Delhi in-charge PC Chacko and organisation general secretary KC Venugopal also participated, sources said. Earlier on 26 March, amid the possibility of an alliance between Congress and AAP, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had hit out at the former Dikshit-led Congress government and said he would not have had to launch a new party if she had run the government well. AAP has already announced its candidates for seven parliamentary seats in Delhi. Narendra Modi to address rallies in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address rallies in Maharashtra’s Wardha, Rajamundry in Andhra Pradesh, and Secunderabad in Telangana on Monday. The prime minister is also scheduled to hold a public rally in the drought-hit Vidarbha region in Maharastra this week, starting with Gondia on 3 April, reports said. Most of the candidates fielded by the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra will be present at Monday’s rally, including Union minister Nitin Gadkari who is the candidate from Nagpur. On Sundya, the prime minister held rallies in Arunachal Pradesh — which will vote for the state’s Assembly simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections — and Assam. In Assam, Modi said that Assam and the rest of the Northeast were suffering from infiltration due to the policies of the Congress and asserted that he, as the ‘chowkidar’, was committed to resolve the issue. Modi is also scheduled to campaign in Odisha twice in the first week of April, PTI reported. Additionally, BJP president Amit Shah will be addressing rallies in Chhattisgarh on Monday. ISRO PSLV-C45 launch of EMISAT and 28 other satellites at 9.30 am today ISRO has begun its countdown for the PSLV-C45 mission to launch the Indian EMISAT intelligence satellite and 28 other, small satellites to orbit. A new variant of the PSLV rocket will be tested on this mission, and an experiment will be run on the used fourth stage of the rocket after it releases all the satellites in their respective orbits. The launch will be almost 3 hours after the rocket lifts off from Sriharikota, which is scheduled for 9.30 am on 1 April 2019. Deadline for linking PAN with Aadhaar extended till 30 September The government on 31 March extended the deadline for linking PAN with biometric ID Aadhaar by 6 months till 30 September, an official statement said. This is the sixth time the government has extended the deadline for individuals to link their Permanent Account Number (PAN) to Aadhaar. In June last year, the government had said that PAN has to be linked with the biometric ID by 31 March. “….now the cut-off date for intimating the Aadhaar number and linking PAN with Aadhaar is 30 September, 2019, unless specifically exempted,” the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement. However, quoting of Aadhaar will be mandatory while filing income tax returns (ITRs) with effect from 1 April, 2019. The CBDT said there were reports that those PANs which are not linked with Aadhaar number by 31 March may be invalidated, following which the matter was considered by the government and the date extended till 30 September. New accounting standard on leases to be effective from 1 April The government has notified a new accounting standard Ind AS 116 that will bring in more transparency in recognition and disclosures about leases in companies’ balance sheets, a senior official said on 31 March. The Indian Accounting Standard (Ind AS) 116 is expected to have a significant impact on various industries, including aviation where airlines mostly operate planes on lease. Ind AS 116 — to be effective from 1 April — sets out the principles for recognition, presentation and disclosure of leases. It has been notified by the corporate affairs ministry. Kings XI Punjab batsmen gear up to counter Kagiso Rabada’s yorkers After clinching a tight Super Over against Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Capitals, set to face Kings XI Punjab on Monday in Mohali. R Ashwin-led Kings XI Punjab, too, will be riding high on confidence after securing an eight-wicket win against Mumbai Indians on Saturday.