New Delhi, Jan 18: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha (LoP), Rahul Gandhi will visit Patna, Bihar on Saturday to participate in the ‘Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan’ and attend a Congress workers’ meeting.

This marks his first visit to Bihar after assuming the LoP role in the Lok Sabha.

The Congress party has made extensive preparations for the visit, with the Sadaqat Ashram, the party’s state headquarters, being beautifully decorated to welcome the Congress leader.

Bihar Congress President Akhilesh Prasad Singh expressed that party workers are excited about the former party chief’s arrival, and the atmosphere is charged with enthusiasm.

A meeting on Thursday, attended by prominent party leaders, including AICC in-charge Mohan Prakash and state President Akhilesh Prasad Singh, finalised the plans for the visit.

Congress MLA Shakeel Ahmad Khan confirmed that party workers from across Bihar would converge in Patna for the event, including the workers’ conference and the ‘Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan’.

The event, to be held at Bapu Sabhagar, is part of a series of nationwide conclaves Rahul Gandhi has been leading, aimed at emphasising the need to protect the Constitution and targeting the ruling BJP.

During his visit, the Congress MP will also interact with party workers and leaders, as well as engage with social organisations, a continuation of his focus on connecting with grassroots movements, seen during his ‘Jodo Nyay Yatra’.

Additionally, he is expected to meet with representatives of BPSC candidates who have been protesting against the recent question paper leak and demanding the cancellation of the examination.

Rahul Gandhi’s visit will also include the inauguration of the newly constructed staff quarters and a refurbished auditorium at the Congress state headquarters in Sadaqat Ashram.

BJP leader and Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey responded to Rahul Gandhi’s visit with a sarcastic remark, claiming that the public and even his own party take little notice of his travels, hinting at internal factionalism within the Congress.

New Delhi, Jan 17: In a bid to control air pollution in the national capital, the Supreme Court on Friday extended the effect of the orders passed by the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments imposing a complete ban on firecrackers in the areas falling under the NCR region.

A bench, headed by Justice Abhay S. Oka, said that the ban imposed by the states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, which was effective till January 17, is extended till further orders.

Posting the matter for hearing on Match 24, the Justice Oka-led Bench also agreed to hear on the next date of listing the intervention application filed by the Federation of Fireworks Traders.

“Why should we hear you? You will have to satisfy us that burning firecrackers do not create pollution. You can sell firecrackers in other parts of India where there is no ban. We will hear you on the next date,” it said.

In an earlier hearing, the Justice Oka-led Bench had said that the ban already imposed by the Delhi and Rajasthan governments would turn effective only when the remaining states impose similar measures.

The apex court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) relating to the control of pollution in Delhi and NCR region.

In the course of the hearing, it was told that while Haryana had permitted the use of green crackers, Rajasthan had imposed a complete ban on firecrackers in the NCR region.

The Supreme Court had asked the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments to impose a ban on firecrackers in the same terms as imposed in Delhi.

Before this, the top court had asked the state governments of Delhi and adjoining states to take a call on a permanent ban on the use of firecrackers.

Asking the state governments to place their stand on record, it had indicated issuing necessary guidelines, including on the manufacture, storage, sale and distribution of firecrackers.

“The ban on firecrackers will be helpful not only to curb the air pollution but the noise pollution as well. We will consider issuing necessary directions to the state governments on the issue of ban on use of firecrackers,” it had said.

In November 2024, after Diwali, the Supreme Court had remarked that the ban on firecrackers was hardly implemented in the national capital and pulled up the Delhi government for not implementing it. It had called for an affidavit from the Delhi government and Police Commissioner detailing the steps taken to enforce the ban. The apex court had suggested that the premises of sellers of firecrackers should be sealed, apart from enforcing a ban on importing firecrackers from neighbouring states.

New Delhi, Jan 17: Awadh Ojha, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from Delhi’s Patparganj Assembly constituency filed his nomination on Friday, the day when filing of nomination papers came to a close for the 70-member Assembly elections.

Ojha, eager and excited about his first electoral contest, sounded confident and ready to take on the BJP’s powerful campaign machinery with AAP’s developmental pitch.

He also gave a strong counter to the ‘AAPda’ jibe and said that it was rather ‘Sampada and not aapda’ as claimed by the BJP.

Sampada is a Hindi word which means resource. The term ‘AAPda’, first coined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a recent public event, is being increasingly used by the BJP’s Delhi unit to punch holes in AAP’s ‘hollow’ Delhi model.

Ojha, a civil services tutor turned politician, slammed the BJP’s ‘abusive and hateful’ discourse on Delhi elections and said that the AAP government has brought in a new governance with its positive politics.

“AAP is not ‘AAPda’ but it is Sampada. Under Arvind Kejriwal, many people’s welfare policies have been launched and all of them have proved to be Sampada for city residents,” he said.

“All welfare policies like free electricity and free power, Mohalla clinics, government schools are Sampadas. No resident would want to lose its sampada,” he added.

When questioned on AAP’s support at the grassroots level, he said that the people of Delhi are happy with Arvind Kejriwal, and they will vote him back to power.

He also countered the BJP’s charges about the AAP supremo insulting the Poorvanchalis, commanding a good vote share in the capital and said that the AAP chief has treated every resident with the utmost respect.

“Those making false allegations are doing so with malicious intent,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Avadh Ojha along with his wife visited a temple and paid obeisance to God before heading to the nomination filing centre.

Avadh Ojha joined Kejriwal-led AAP last month and was fielded from Patparganj Assembly, a constituency represented by AAP supremo’s closest aide and former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia.