BJP PRESIDENT Nitin Nabin is scheduled to move into his officially allotted residence on 1 Motilal Nehru Marg on Wednesday following the end of the “Adhik Maas” period, considered favourable only for non-material pursuits as per Hindu traditions. According to party insiders, an elaborate Griha Pravesh ceremony will take place at the Rajya Sabha MP’s new home where the entire senior leadership of the party and the RSS among other political bigwigs are likely to be in attendance.

In Solidarity

THE ULTIMATE test of a friendship is enduring hardship together. And that is what is happening within the INDIA bloc during the time of crisis for the TMC. The Mamata Banerjee-led party is undergoing a crisis as its MPs have made it clear that they are set to break away. In between all this and Abhishek Banerjee being questioned on consecutive days by agencies, several top leaders of the INDIA bloc have stayed in touch with Mamata and other senior leaders of the party over the past couple of days. Sources said that Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Uddhav Thackeray and at least 10 other leaders from different parties have been in touch with Mamata and others, extending their solidarity and support to the party.

Lodging Protest

AFTER THE Centre lodged what it described as a “strong protest” with Washington over the killing of three Indian seafarers in US military action last week, the Sangh Parivar too has joined the chorus — albeit in much sharper terms. The RSS-affiliated Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM) has written to the US Ambassador in New Delhi expressing “deep pain and anguish” over what it called the “tragic unpro­voked killing” of unarmed Indians, and accused the US administration of adding “insult to injury” through its response. It described the incident as a “serious violation” of international law, and warned India could raise the issue at global forums.