A group of 20 Trinamool Congress MPs wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, declaring their support for the ruling National Democratic Alliance. Led by party leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, the group held a meeting at the home of Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party’s West Bengal observer Bhupendra Yadav in New Delhi.

Bardhaman Purba MP Sharmila Sarkar, who was part of the group, later said that the MPs “want to sit separately”. She said that the new bloc “will help in the development of Bengal”, adding that “we need to support [the] NDA for Bengal’s development”.

This came days after 58 of the 80 MLAs of the TMC rebelled against the party and elected now-expelled party leader Ritabrata Banerjee as leader of the Opposition. Read on.

TMC leader Sukhendu Sekhar Ray resigned as Rajya Sabha MP and quit the party. He said that he has accepted the mandate delivered by voters in the recent West Bengal Assembly elections.

Ray said that the voters had “given huge mandate” to the Bharatiya Janata Party “to put an end to 15-year anarchical rule” by the TMC. The new government had taken steps for the “overall development and reconstruction” of the state, he added. Read on.

TMC leader and the party’s candidate from the Falta Assembly constituency, Jahangir Khan, was arrested by the police near India’s border with Nepal in northern Bengal. Khan was allegedly attempting to flee the country amid allegations of electoral malpractices during the second phase of polling.

After the BJP defeated the TMC in the state, several residents in Falta had accused Khan of land grab and extortion. The police have yet to disclose all the charges against the Trinamool candidate. Read on.

The Opposition INDIA bloc demanded the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The alliance alleged that Pradhan had presided over the “betrayal of lakhs of youth” who appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for medical seats and the Central Board of Secondary Education exam.

Speaking at a press conference after a meeting of the bloc, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said that the Opposition will also approach the chief justice of India on the special intensive revision of electoral rolls underway across the country, “vote loot” and the “stealing of elections”.

Member parties of the bloc also announced that they had agreed to meet every two months and that they will continue to coordinate in Parliament. Read on.

The Indian embassy in Iran advised Indian citizens to leave the country “by available means” amid fresh strikes by Israel. The Indian embassy in Tel Aviv advised citizens to avoid non-essential travel within Israel.

The statements by the Indian diplomatic missions came amid a second round of strikes in Iran. The Mehrabad airport in Tehran and the Kermanshah airport cancelled all flights “until further notice”.

Hours later, United States President Donald Trump said that Israel and Iran “must immediately stop ‘shooting’”. He later said that both sides were “looking to do an immediate ceasefire”. Read on.

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