Daily Bulletin: Narendra Modi to celebrate 69th birthday; SC to hear petitions by 17 disqualified Karnataka MLAs; day's top stories

Narendra Modi to celebrate birthday today by visiting his mother, Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat

Prime Minister Narendra Modi turns 69 on Tuesday and he plans to start his birthday celebration with an early visit to his mother Heeraben, who lives near Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

After meeting with her, Modi will fly from Gandhinagar to Kevadia in Narmada district to review programmes and projects including the Statue of Unity and the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the river Narmada. Speaking to ANI, a priest has said that the prime minister will also be performing pooja at the Narmada river. "We all are very excited about his visit. He will first perform aarti and pooja at Narmada river where he will perform all rituals to pay respect to the sacred river.

"After visiting the dam site at Kevadiya, the prime minister will address a gathering. We are putting up a large dome-like structure to accommodate around 10,000 people who are expected from Narmada, Bharuch and Chhotaudepur districts," a government official said.

File image of Narendra Modi. Reuters

The BJP has also decided to observe Seva Saptah (service week) from 14 to 20 September. The service week started on 14 September with BJP national president Amit Shah and working president JP Nadda, senior leaders Vijay Goel and Vijender Gupta, all cleaning the floors in Delhi's AIIMS.

Along with all this, a rally led by ace biker Raj Luxmi will cover a distance of 1,200 kilometres through four states and is expected to reach Vadnagar, Modi's birthplace, on 20 September.

Supreme Court to hear petitions submitted by 17 disqualified Karnataka MLAs challenging their disqualification

The Supreme Court refused to pass any order on a listing of petitions filed by 17 disqualified MLAs of Karnataka challenging the decision of the then speaker to disqualify them from the Assembly.

"It (petitions) will come up. What is the urgency?," a bench headed by Justice NV Ramana told the counsel appearing for the disqualified MLAs.

The counsel mentioned the matter before the bench and said the pleas were listed for hearing on September 11 but later deleted from the list. The lawyer said the matter is scheduled to be listed for hearing on 17 September. The bench, while refusing to pass any order for the listing of the pleas, said it would come up in the due course. The then Assembly speaker, KR Ramesh Kumar, had disqualified 17 MLAs which eventually led to fall of the JD (S)-Congress coalition government headed by then chief minister HD Kumaraswamy.

Kumaraswamy had resigned as the chief minister after losing the trust vote and paved the way for BJP-led government in the state under BS Yediyurappa. These disqualified MLAs have approached the apex court challenging Kumar's decision to disqualify them.

DK Shivakumar to be produced in court on expiry of ED's custody today

Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody of Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar to end on Tuesday. A Delhi court had extended till 17 September the ED's custody of Shivakumar in connection with a money laundering case.

Opposing the bail plea of Congress leader D K Shivakumar, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) claimed before a Delhi court on Monday that if released he may influence the persons who are in knowledge of his "grave offence" of money laundering and are yet to be examined.

The agency told Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar that the investigation in the money laundering case was at a crucial stage and the release of the politician may lead to destruction of important evidence.

It also said that Shivakumar did not cooperate during questioning and could not offer any plausible explanation during investigation on the source of acquisition of properties worth Rs 800 crore.

The court is likely to hear arguments on the bail application tomorrow, when Shivakumar, arrested on September 3 by the ED, will be produced on expiry of his remand for custodial interrogation.

PV Sindhu sets sights on BWF China Open 2019

World champion PV Sindhu will look to reassert her supremacy when she spearheads the Indian campaign at the China Open World Tour Super 1000 tournament beginning in Changzhou on Tuesday.

World No 5 Sindhu ended India's long wait for a world championship gold at Basel, Switzerland last month.

In the men's doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will face Canadian pair of Jason Anthony Ho-Shue and Nyl Yakura. Satwiksairaj will also team-up with Ashwini Ponnappa in the mixed doubles when the duo face Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti of Indonesia.

Xiaomi to launch a new Mi TV at its Smarter Living 2020 event

Xiaomi will be holding its Smarter Living 2020 launch event today and we expect the company to announce a new smart TV among other things. Xiaomi is currently the industry leader of smart TVs in the Indian market, based on IDC research in 2018, and the company is constantly on the lookout to keep on expanding its portfolio of products. We should also see the launch of the Mi Band 4, which had been earlier launched in China.

Martin Scorsese's The Irishman to be screened at Rome Film Festival

Martin Scorsese's The Irishman will take centre stage at the upcoming Rome Film Festival, with key cast members from the Netflix movie expected to attend the screening.

"The Irishman is the most highly anticipated film of the year and boasts an exceptional cast: the decision to present it in Rome is yet another acknowledgement of how the Fest has grown over the years," artistic director Antonio Monda said.

The film will have its world premiere at the New York Film Festival this month, before landing in Rome on 21 October.

The Oscar hopeful, dubbed an "epic saga of organised crime in post-war America", is expected to play in the US cinemas for a limited period before being made available to Netflix subscribers.