Daily Bulletin: Kumaraswamy to present Karnataka budget amid coalition discord; CBI to quiz Rajeev Kumar tomorrow; day's top stories

Kumaraswamy set to present Karnataka budget amid coalition discord After blocking proceedings in Karnataka Assembly for two days, the BJP is expected to continue its protest in the House on Friday, too, while Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, who holds the finance portfolio, will present his coalition government’s second budget. Nine MLAs from the ruling side failed to show up on Thursday. Though a couple of legislators had given prior intimation about inability to attend, the absence of those allegedly in touch with the BJP to switch sides, continued to be a cause of worry for the Congress-JD(S) coalition leaders. Anxiety-gripped Congress has convened a legislature party (CLP) meeting on Friday ahead of budget presentation and warned its MLAs that absence would invite action under the Anti-Defection Law. [caption id=“attachment_5237261” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy. AP[/caption] CBI to question Rajeev Kumar in Shillong on Saturday The CBI will question Kolkata Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar on Saturday in Shillong in connection with Saradha scam, in the backdrop of 3 February’s dramatic raid on Kumar’s residence by the agency that triggered a slugfest between the Centre and the state government. The agency has also called former Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh to Shillong on 10 February. The CBI wants to question Kumar, a 1989-batch IPS officer, as he was heading the SIT formed by West Bengal government to probe Saradha and other ponzi scheme cases, they said. Rahul Gandhi to address farmers rally in Bhopal Congress president Rahul Gandhi will address a farmers rally at the Jamboree Maidan in Bhopal on Friday. Top Congress leaders from Madhya Pradesh, including Chief Minister Kamal Nath, MP and senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and former chief minister Digvijay Singh, are expected to participate in the rally. More than two lakh farmers from the state are likely to participate in the rally. Modi to address third rally in a week in Bengal Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address yet another public rally in West Bengal on Friday, giving a fresh thrust to the BJP’s campaign blitzkrieg ahead of the Lok Sabha polls amid escalating tensions with TMC chief and chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Sources told PTI that Modi will use the platform in Jalpaiguri district, close to Bangladesh border, to give a “befitting” reply to Banerjee’s accusations while trying to galvanise the party cadre for the elections. He will visit also lay the foundation stone for the four-laning of the Falakata-Salsalabari section of National Highway-31 D. India Women bat first in the second T20I against New Zealand Women New Zealand skipper Amy Satterthwaite won the toss and opted to bowl first in the second T20I at Eden Park. It’s a must-win match for India in the three-match series after they lost the first match by 23 runs at Wellington. India have made one change for the match with Mansi Joshi coming in for Anuja Patil. The visitors have decided against playing Mithali Raj once again.  Follow LIVE updates on the match on our blog here . Gadkari to lay foundation stones for 5 national highway projects in Ayodhya Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday will lay the foundation stones for five national highway projects worth Rs 7,195 crore in Ayodhya, that includes sections of Ram Vangaman Marg and Kosi Parikrama Marg. The projects will establish direct connectivity from Ayodhya to Chitrakoot and Ambedkarnagar. Accusing without formal complaint is not authentic: Kailash Kher on #MeToo Singer Kailash Kher, who has been accused by multiple women of sexual harassment, has said that in his view, if a person is not making a formal complaint and ‘continues to accuse’, it is not authentic. Kher was interacting with the media at the music launch of Marathi film Dokyala Shotalong with Riteish Deshmukh and Abhijit Panse in Mumbai. A few months ago, singer Sona Mahapatra had shared her alleged unsavoury experience with Kailash, and after that at least four other women raised allegations against the singer. Kailash said: “Everyone has their own thinking. If I accuse someone only by taking that individual’s name over and over again then, nothing will come out of it. If you will take legal recourse against that person, then it becomes another matter altogether. If I tell you that I will not make a complaint against that individual, but still I will accuse him of doing certain criminal activity, then I feel it’s not an authentic complaint.” ED likely to grill Vadra again Businessman Robert Vadra, who was questioned for the second consecutive day on Thursday by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case, is expected to be questioned again on either Friday or Saturday. On Thursday, Vadra was questioned for nine hours, while he was grilled for five-and-a-half hours for the first time in the case on Wednesday.   Rohit Sharma-led India face upbeat New Zealand in do-or-die clash at Auckland After getting hammered by 80 runs at Wellington, the Indian team face an uphill task against New Zealand when the two sides face off in the second T20I at Auckland on Friday. India were outplayed by the Black Caps at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium on Wednesday, crashing to their worst defeat in T20Is in terms of runs, and will hope to bounce back at the Eden Park in order to maintain their chances of winning another series in their tour of Australia and New Zealand.   Facebook to finally do a better job at explaining the ads you see Facebook has been taking a number of steps towards improving the ad experience on its platform, a move the company’s been forced to enact on, given how scrutinized the company work has been in recent months. The social media giant is now preparing to roll out a new feature at the end of February, which will give users more information about how they are being targeted by ads. Ad agencies and marketing tech developers will also have to specify who they were buying promotions “on behalf of,” so users know who uploaded their information for ad targeting.