After being denied a party ticket for next month’s assembly polls, Assam BJP minister Nandita Garlosa joined the Congress late on Sunday night and would be contesting as its candidate for the Haflong (ST) constituency.. Nandita Garlosa joined the Congress in the presence of party leaders, including Assam Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Nirmal Langthasa. (HT Photo). The Congress had named Nirmal Langthasa as its candidate from Haflong in its fifth list released on Sunday. Following Garlosa’s induction, the party leadership replaced Langthasa and fielding her instead.. Garlosa joined the Congress in the presence of party leaders, including Assam Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Nirmal Langthasa.. ALSO READ | Assam assembly polls 2026: With a day left for nominations, all eyes on ‘rebels’. “We are very happy to announce that Nandita Garlosa has joined the Congress party….Congress will declare her as our candidate for Haflong seat tomorrow,” said Congress in a statement.. “Garlosa is set to contest the election in congress ticket from the Haflong seat as Sh Langthasa has proactively volunteered to vacate there seat in larger public interest. The formalities for the same will be duly completed shortly,” it added.. The switch happened before the last date for filing of nomination on Monday. Voting for the single phase assembly election to all 126 seats will take place on April 9.. A sitting MLA from Haflong, she was denied a ticket by the BJP, which fielded Rupali Langthasa from the seat after dropping several sitting legislators.. ALSO READ | Congress to fight 100 seats in Assam assembly elections after forging alliance with five other parties. She reacted soon after the BJP announced its candidate list on March 19. Senior leaders, including Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, had reached out to her.. Sarma visited Dima Hasao on Sunday before travelling to Silchar to meet party leaders. BJP leaders in Haflong said Garlosa did not attend the meetings during the visit.. Speaking to reporters in Guwahati late Sunday night, Sarma initially said only a few leaders had left the party and that Garlosa was not quitting the BJP. He later revised his statement after learning of her move.. “I had spoken to her and she seemed satisfied. The Congress had already announced its candidate from Haflong. I don’t know why she is joining that party,” he said.. Garlosa was elected in 2021 and was inducted into the state cabinet. She handled the mines, minerals and tribal faith portfolios.. In Barak Valley, the BJP has dropped three sitting MLAs from its candidate list. One of them, Nihar Ranjan Das, resigned from the party but later said he would not contest independently after meeting the chief minister.. Another former BJP MLA, Amar Chand Jain, has joined the Congress and has been named as its candidate from Katigorah.. In Katigorah, the BJP has fielded former Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha. The chief minister has said he 

 Union minister Piyush Goyal is scheduled to arrive in Chennai on Monday to finalise seat-sharing for the upcoming Tamil Nadu assembly polls, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Nainar Nagenthran said on Sunday.. File photo of union minister Piyush Goyal. (ANI). Addressing a press conference here, Nagendran stated that the party’s election manifesto and alliance specifics would be clarified following high-level discussions with the Union minister. “Union minister Piyush Goyal is coming to Chennai tomorrow (Monday). After his arrival, we will hold talks and announce the seat-sharing details,” Nagenthran said.. The announcement comes amid intensifying verbal volleys between the BJP and the ruling DMK. Reacting to chief minister MK Stalin’s repeated “Delhi” jibes, Nagenthran claimed that the DMK leadership is “trembling with fear” over the BJP’s growing footprint.. “I don’t know why the Chief Minister is so terrified of Delhi. Whether we hold our meetings in Bengaluru or Delhi, the DMK seems to be in a state of panic,” he remarked, dismissing allegations that the AIADMK or other parties were functioning as “slaves” to the national capital.. Defending the Centre’s contribution to the state, the BJP leader highlighted that the Modi government has sanctioned approximately ₹14 lakh crore to Tamil Nadu over the last decade.. He cited major infrastructure projects, including the ₹350-crore Thoothukudi airport expansion and the ₹650-crore Trichy airport project, as evidence of the union government’s commitment to the state’s development.. Nagenthran also launched a scathing attack on the state government over the prevailing law and order situation, specifically citing the “ganja menace.” He pointed to the seizure of 22,000 kg of ganja over the past five years and a recent brutal attack on a schoolgirl in Vilathikulam by a convict out on parole.. “The Chief Minister should focus on stopping the spread of drugs and improving public safety instead of constantly obsessing over Delhi,” he said.. On the emergence of a “fifth front” involving the PMK and Sasikala, the BJP state unit chief downplayed its potential impact, stating that in a democracy, anyone is free to start a party or form a front. “The only impact right now in Tamil Nadu is the impact of the summer heat,” he quipped.. Responding to queries about his own candidacy, the BJP leader expressed confidence in his rapport with the voters of Tirunelveli, noting his history of securing significant mandates across five assembly terms. He maintained that the party would contest based on developmental principles and the strength of the NDA alliance.. Chennai : The ruling DMK has offered five seats to its ally, CPI (M), for the forthcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, the Left party’s State Secretary P Shanmugam said on Sunday.. Seat-sharing talks between the DMK and CPI (M), which have been going on for the last 20 days, saw a new development w 

 Supreme Court judge justice Ujjal Bhuyan on Sunday said that incarceration of citizens for dissent, and continuing atrocities against Dalits “cannot be a model of Viksit Bharat”.. Justice Bhuyan was speaking at the Supreme Court Bar Association’s (SCBA) conference in Bengaluru on the judiciary’s role in Viksit Bharat on Sunday.. Speaking at the Supreme Court Bar Association’s (SCBA) conference in Bengaluru on the judiciary’s role in Viksit Bharat, Justice Bhuyan said, “While the government’s vision of Viksit Bharat, or, a developed India by 2047 is laudable and achievable, economic growth cannot come at the cost of civil liberties and dignity.”. “In Viksit Bharat, there should be more space for dissent and debate. Dissent cannot be criminalised,” he said, warning against the growing tendency to invoke criminal law in response to protests, student movements, and even social media expression.. He said the past few years have seen a pattern of “reckless registration” of criminal cases by the State, often in trivial matters. FIRs routinely filed for public demonstrations or online content, pushing individuals into prolonged investigations and incarceration, he said.. “The judiciary is not directing the State to register these cases. For trivial matters such as public demonstrations and agitations, even by students, sometimes even for memes and social media posts, FIRs are registered, investigation goes on, the matters come up to the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court has to constitute special investigation teams,” justice Bhuyan said.. He, however, acknowledged that courts have not always acted as an effective check and said, “Many within the judiciary also suffer from the more loyal than the king syndrome. As a result, people continue to languish in jails for months and months together without bail and without facing trial.”. Justice Bhuyan also invoked the long-standing principle articulated by justice VR Krishna Iyer that “bail is the norm and jail the exception.” He said this doctrine has steadily eroded in practice and several cases under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act were prime examples.. Citing data placed by the ministry of home affairs (MHA) before Parliament, justice Bhuyan noted that arrest rates under UAPA remain high while conviction rates are abysmally low, hovering between “1 to 6%” between 2019 and 2023. “This indicates overuse of the law,” he said, adding that when the likelihood of acquittal is overwhelmingly high, continued incarceration for five to six years raises serious constitutional concerns.. On atrocities against Dalits and caste-based discrimination, justice Bhuyan said a developed India cannot tolerate entrenched social hierarchies. “In Viksit Bharat, we cannot have parents saying their children will not eat food prepared by Dalits. We cannot have Dalit men being made to stand in corridors and have other men urinate on them. Respect for the individual 

 At least 40 people fell ill, with four in critical condition, after allegedly consuming adulterated toddy laced with sedative pills in the Gundadam area of Tiruppur district, police said on Sunday.. While the sale of unfermented ‘Neera’ is permitted under specific regulations in the state, the sale of fermented toddy remains illegal in Tamil Nadu. (HT Photo/Representational Image). The victims, mostly local farm labourers, complained of severe vomiting, dizziness, and fainting shortly after consuming the fermented palm wine from an illegal vending point near a coconut grove on Saturday evening.. According to preliminary investigations, the toddy was allegedly spiked with a cocktail of sedative tablets, often used in psychiatric treatments, to increase its intoxicating effect.. “Four individuals who were found unconscious were rushed to the Dharapuram Government Hospital and later shifted to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) for specialised treatment. Their condition is stated to be stable but they remain under observation,” a senior police official said.. Also read: Ghaziabad: 42-yr-old man jumps to death from 13th floor, mother found dead inside home. The local administration has launched a massive crackdown on illegal toddy tapping and vending in the Gundadam and Dharapuram belts. The Prohibition Enforcement Wing (PEW) has reportedly sealed several sites and seized samples of the contaminated beverage for forensic analysis.. Also read: Ropeway trolley returning from temple falls in Chhattisgarh; 1 dead, 6 injured. While the sale of unfermented ‘Neera’ is permitted under specific regulations in the state, the sale of fermented toddy remains illegal in Tamil Nadu. This has often led to the rise of illicit “shacks” where vendors use harmful additives like alprazolam or chloral hydrate to mimic the strength of high-quality toddy.. Further investigation is underway. 

 The government decided on a range of measures on Sunday to ensure food, fuel and fertiliser security amid disruptions due to the conflict in West Asia, as a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled immediate and long-term steps to ensure the availability of fuel and diversification of imports of fertilisers and other essential needs.. Modi convened a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) as the conflict sparked by Israel and the US’s attacks on Iran entered its fourth week (@narendramodi X). Modi convened a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) as the conflict sparked by Israel and the US’s attacks on Iran entered its fourth week, with oil prices rising above $100 a barrel, concerns growing about shortfalls in gas supplies, and countries around the globe bracing for a spike in living costs.. The meeting reviewed “mitigating measures” in the wake of the conflict in West Asia, Modi said on social media. “We had extensive discussions on short-, medium- and long-term measures, including ensuring continued availability of fertilisers for farmers, diversifying import sources for key sectors, promoting exports to new destinations and more,” he said.. The meeting focused on the expected impact of the conflict on sectors such as agriculture, fertilisers, food security, petroleum, power, MSMEs, exporters, shipping, trade, finance and supply chains, and the measures being taken to address the fallout, an official readout said. Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan made a presentation on the global situation and mitigating measures initiated by all ministries and departments.. With the conflict in West Asia set to have “significant” short-, medium- and long-term impacts on the global economy, the meeting assessed its effect on India and discussed immediate and long-term countermeasures, as well as the overall macroeconomic scenario in the country.. The meeting also made a detailed assessment of the availability of critical needs of the people, including food, energy and fuel security. “Short-term, medium-term and long-term measures to ensure continued availability of essential needs were discussed in detail,” the readout said.. Besides assessing the impact on farmers and their requirement of fertilisers for the Kharif season, the meeting discussed alternative sources to ensure continued availability. “The measures taken in the last few years to maintain adequate stocks of fertilisers will ensure timely availability and food security,” the readout said.. Almost half of global imports of urea and sulphur, a crucial component for fertilisers, come from West Asian countries, and the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz has already disrupted the supply of critical raw materials for the fertiliser sector, such as ammonia, LNG, diammonium phosphate (DAP), and potash.. The meeting decided to maintain adequate coal stocks at all power plants to “ensure no shortage of electricity” across the country. It also