Daily Bulletin: Karnataka Congress MLAs to meet ahead of upcoming Assembly session; yellow alert issued in Odisha; day's top stories and more

Congress to hold meet in Bengaluru today ahead of Karnataka Assembly session  Congress in Karnataka would hold its legislature party meeting on Wednesday to strategise its action-plan for the upcoming legislative session, even as the race to the post of Leader of Opposition in the state assembly intensified from within. At a meeting called by the leader of the Congress Legislature Party Siddaramaiah, legislators are likely to discuss the damage caused by floods and relief measures undertaken by the government, cut in the allocation of funds to constituencies represented by party MLAs, and also drought in the state, among others, sources said. The session is scheduled for three days from 10 to 12 October at ‘Vidhana Soudha’, the state secretariat in Bengaluru. However, there is no clarity on whether there would be any discussion about the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, at the meeting on Wednesday, and whether there would be any decision taken on who would occupy the post ahead of the session from 10 October. The race to the post has gained momentum, as factions have emerged within the party both in favour and opposing Siddaramaiah, who is seen as a key contender. A party functionary said senior leader Madhusudan Mistry, who was sent by the party high command to solicit opinion of local leaders regarding the post of the Leader of the opposition and a few other key posts, was believed to have submitted the report to the leadership in Delhi and there was a possibility of a decision ahead of the session. Formal announcement of Xi Jinping’s visit to India expected to be made today Ending days of suspense over the proposed second India-China informal summit, Beijing is expected to formally announce today that Chinese president’s Xi Jinping will visit India on 11 and 12 October. An official announcement will be made by both sides on Wednesday, The Indian Express reported. This announcement is expected to be made a day after Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan arrived in Beijing Tuesday for talks with Xi Jinping ahead of the Chinese President’s important visit to India. China said the Kashmir issue should be resolved between New Delhi and Islamabad, significantly omitting its recent references to the UN and UN Security Council resolutions. [caption id=“attachment_7182141” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Chinese president XI Jinping. Reuters[/caption] Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang during his media briefing on Tuesday did not make any official announcement about Xi’s visit to India. However, Chinese officials informally said an announcement would be made simultaneously in Beijing and New Delhi on Wednesday. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has also called for a special media briefing on Wednesday on “Chinese leader’s outbound visit”. “India and China have a tradition of high-level exchanges. Both sides have a communication exchange over high-level Visit. Any new information will be released soon,” Geng said in response to questions on Xi’s visit to India. Both India and China are major developing countries of the world and major emerging markets, he said. IMD predicts moderate to heavy rain in nineteen districts of Odisha today, issues yellow warning The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted moderate to heavy rain in most parts of Odisha on Wednesday in view of the cyclonic circulation over northern parts of West Bengal and neighbourhood. The IMD in its bulletin issued on Tuesday said that the cyclonic circulation over Odisha and neighbourhood lies over the south coast of the state and neighbourhood which extends up to 4.5 kilometres above mean sea level. The cyclonic circulation over interior Odisha and the neighbourhood has merged with the cyclonic circulation over south coastal Odisha and neighbourhood, it said. Meanwhile, light to moderate rainfall has occurred at many places over the districts of northern Odisha and at a few places over the districts of South Odisha with heavy rainfall at one or two places over the districts of Keonjhar and Sundargarh. BS-VI fuel, compliant vehicles to be available from 1 April next year Union minister Prakash Javadekat Tuesday said that the Bharat Stage (BS) VI fuel will be made available in the country from 1 April next year. “The BS-VI fuel will be made available from April 1 in the country. The BS-VI compliant vehicles will also be made available from next year. This initiative will reduce pollution in the air by 80-90 percent,” Javadekar said while speaking to media. Javadekar was in Jaipur to participate in a tree plantation event at the Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT) here on the occasion of Vijayadashami. The minister further informed that in a bid to reduce pollution under the National Clean Air Campaign, the government had chalked out plans for about 122 cities. Mars Curiosity Rover may have stumbled upon an ancient oasis Curiosity Rover is still strolling around the Martian surface collecting samples in the search of anything interesting. In its latest trek over the Gale Crater, it has discovered some evidence that there could have been an oasis at the base of the 150 km-wide craters. The observation was published in a study by Curiosity scientists earlier this week. Nick Jonas joins The Voice as coach Nick Jonas is set to join The Voice for its upcoming spring season to fill in for Adam Levine, who left the NBC singing competition series in May after a 16-year stint. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the singer made the announcement on Monday on The Ellen DeGeneres Show while promoting Jonas Brothers’ album and new single Only Human. “I’m so excited to be a part of ‘The Voice’ family. It’s such an awesome group of individuals, and I can’t wait to help these artistes really build and hone in to find their unique voices,” Jonas said. With inputs from agencies