Rush Hour: Six Uddhav Sena MPs switch sides, 14 students die in Lucknow fire and more

Six Lok Sabha MPs of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) switched to the rival faction led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The defections have reduced the Uddhav Sena’s strength in the Lok Sabha to three MPs and increased the Shinde faction’s tally to 13.

The MPs who have switched sides are Hingoli MP Nagesh Patil Ashtikar, Omprakash Nimbalkar from Osmanabad, Mumbai North-East MP Sanjay Dina Patil, Sanjay Deshmukh from Yavatmal-Washim, Sanjay Jadhav from Parbhani and Bhausaheb Wakchaure from Shirdi.

Before they formally joined the Shinde Sena, Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting with leaders of his faction in Mumbai to discuss “upcoming political developments, organisational matters and the legislature’s strategy”. Read on.

Fourteen students died after a fire broke out in a three-story building from which a coaching centre operates in the Aliganj area of Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow. Four others were injured and admitted to hospital, he added.

Videos shared on social media showed persons jumping from the first floor of the building to escape the blaze. Read on.

Odisha Assembly Speaker Surama Padhy has dismissed the Biju Janata Dal’s petition seeking the disqualification of eight of its MLAs for allegedly cross-voting during the Rajya Sabha elections in March. The petition was “cryptic, vague, unsubstantiated” and did not fulfil the statutory requirements...

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