Daily Bulletin: Congress may decide on next chief at CWC meet today; rains continue to batter Kerala, Maharashtra and Karnataka; day's top stories

Eyes on CWC meet today as suspense over next Congress chief grows All eyes on the Congress Working Committee meeting on Saturday as suspense grows over the next party president, who will be appointed within the next few days after consultations with the state leaders of the party. The meeting is scheduled at 11 am. The names of senior Congress leaders Mukul Wasnik and Mallikarjun Kharge and some younger leaders are doing the rounds for the top post. Meanwhile, Mumbai Congress chief Milind Deora in a tweet reiterated his support for Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia to succeed Rahul Gandhi. [caption id=“attachment_6575451” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Rahul Gandhi. Twitter/@RahulGandhi[/caption] “To my mind, two young leaders have the administrative, organisational and electoral credentials to become Congress President,” said Deora, adding “They have pan-India appeal and either one can reinvigorate the party.” The top Congress leadership held a meeting with its state unit chiefs and leaders of its state legislature parties, along with its general secretaries and in-charges, where they were told by Rahul that there was nothing to worry as regards the selection of the new party chief. Rahul also told the leaders that he was happy to note that the party was under pressure to select its new chief and drew an analogy with a tiger, which maintained its ferocity under pressure. “I am happy that the Congress is under pressure and this will jolt the Congress into action,” the former party chief is learnt to have told the party leaders. According to sources, the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chiefs, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leaders and departmental heads present at the meeting were told to hold back till Saturday for consultations on the selection of the new party chief. Rain and flood fury continues in Kerala, Maharashtra and Karnataka Heavy rains have continued to batter several states, including Kerala, Maharashtra and Karnataka on Friday with floods and landslides wreaking havoc amid rising deaths. Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan over the weekend. Rescue and relief operations by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indian Army, Navy, Coast Guard and other government agencies are underway as thousands of people still remain untraceable, while many have been have been shifted to safer locations. Toll rises to 28 in Kerala floods; at least 40 feared trapped in major landslides in Wayanad and Malappuram Thiruvananthapuram: Torrential rains continued to lash most parts of Kerala on Friday with the toll in the last three days rising to 28 in monsoon-related incidents, including two massive landslides, and over 64,000 people being shifted to relief camps. “At least 40 people are feared trapped under debris in major landslides that shook the badly affected districts of Wayanad and Malappuram,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said. Heavy rains triggered landslides while overflowing rivers caused flooding in several parts with the worst affected being hilly Wayanad, Malappuram, Kannur and Idukki in north and central Kerala. A year after Kerala was devastated by the deadliest monsoon that led to the worst deluge in a century, the southern state was again at the receiving end of the rain god’s fury, prompting the government to seek the help of the Army and the Air Force. More than 2 lakh people displaced by floods in western Maharashtra as toll reaches 29  Over 2.85 lakh people have been evacuated due to the devastating floods in Western Maharashtra’s five districts including the worst-hit Kolhapur and Sangli, with the toll reaching 29 on Friday. The region is being pummeled by rain over the last few days, and major rivers including the Krishna and Panchaganga are in spate. Divisional commissioner Dr Deepak Mhaisekar said flood waters had begun to recede in Kolhapur and Sangli. “In Kolhapur, the water level has decreased by two feet and in Sangli it has decreased by 3 inches,” he said. Two helicopters started dropping relief material in flood-hit regions on Friday, he said. “Still, connectivity is a major concern. We are hopeful that by tomorrow evening there will be connectivity in the region. It depends on the rainfall,” he added. A total of 28 villages in Sangli and 18 villages in Kolhapur are completely surrounded by water and the only mode of reaching them is by boats, he said. Toll climbs to 19 as flood situation worsens in Karnataka The flood situation worsened in Karnataka on Friday, where the toll went up to 12, with thousands of people being affected as the authorities battled to reach out to the needy in the state. More rains are forecast in the state, already reeling under the floods and heavy downpour in North, coastal and Malnad regions continuing to pile up misery on the people with the situation still remaining grim. “So far 12 persons have died (in flood related incidents),” Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, who has camped in flood-ravaged north Karnataka, told reporters in Bagalkote. The Chief Minister also announced a compensation of Rs five lakh each to the families of those killed due to flood and rain related incidents in the state. Arun Jaitley admitted in ICU, AIIMS says his condition is ‘haemodynamically’ stable Former finance minister Arun Jaitley was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit  (ICU) of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi on Friday after he complained of breathlessness and restlessness but doctors said he is “haemodynamically stable”. “A multidisciplinary team of doctors is supervising Jaitley’s treatment,” AIIMS said. He was admitted to the hospital Friday morning and “at present, he is haemodynamically stable,” it said in a statement. A hemodynamically stable patient has a stable heart pump and good blood circulation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, MoS for Health Ashwini Choubey, BJP working president JP Nadda and Loktantrik Janata Dal chief Sharad Yadav visited the hospital to enquire about Jaitley’s health. BJP leaders Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Sudhanshu Trivedi, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and yoga proponent Ramdev also visited the former Union minister at AIIMS. Amazon investigating reports of teenagers working overtime in China Amazon is currently investigating reports about its teenage workers in China being made to do overtime and night shifts. The company’s hardware supplier Foxconn that produces Echo and Kindle devices in China had acknowledged earlier there were such instances of lax oversight by the local management team. Amazon has sent a team of specialists to start weekly audits to take the investigation further.