The big news: Nitish Kumar severs ties with BJP for second time, and nine other top stories
Other headlines: Nine ministers each from the BJP and Shiv Sena’s Shinde faction were sworn in, and Serena Williams announced she will retire from tennis.
A look at the top headlines of the day:
- Nitish Kumar rejoins Grand Alliance in Bihar after quitting NDA for the second time: He will take oath as the Bihar chief minister on Wednesday at 2 pm. Meanwhile, the Opposition said Nitish Kumar quitting NDA is a strong indictment of BJP’s politics of intimidation.
- 18 MLAs take oath as ministers 40 days after Eknath Shinde became Maharashtra CM: Nine leaders of the Shiv Sena and nine of the BJP were added to the Cabinet which so far only consisted of Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis.
- Serena Williams announces retirement plans, says ‘countdown has begun’: Williams won the last of her 23 Slams at the 2017 Australian Open when she was already pregnant with daughter, Olympia.
- Granting permanent bail to Varavara Rao may impact country’s security, NIA tells Supreme Court: The probe in the Bhima Koregaon case has revealed that the activist was pursuing the agenda of the CPI(M) to topple the democratic government, the NIA alleged.
- Mumbai court grants bail to realty group promoters citing Supreme Court guidelines on PMLA: The judge said that proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act cannot continue against them in the absence of a scheduled offence.
- Shrikant Tyagi arrested for assaulting woman in Noida residential complex: Tyagi, who claims to be a BJP leader, had been on the run since the police booked him on Friday after videos of him abusing and pushing the woman went viral.
- Taiwan launches live-fire drills, claims China is readying to invade island nation: On August 3, China started military exercises around Taiwan in retaliation for the United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit.
- Manish Sisodia is a ‘desperate man to save his own skin’, says former Delhi LG on excise policy row: On August 6, the Delhi deputy chief minister had accused Anil Baijal of corruption after his decision to stall the revamped excise policy.
- BJP did not discuss matters of national importance, says Congress on early end of Monsoon Session: The party’s Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi says the BJP has no answer to give on the rising inflation in the country.
- Heavy rainfall predicted in central and west India for next 3-4 days, says IMD: A red alert, warning of heavy to extremely heavy rainfall, has been issued in some districts of Maharashtra.