Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, a bitter critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi regime, on Saturday joined Trinamool Congress days ahead of the high- octane West Bengal assembly polls.

Sinha, who served in the cabinet of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had quit the saffron party in 2018 after having serious differences with the party leadership.

The Health Ministry said on Saturday that more than 20 lakh vaccine doses against the coronavirus were administered across the country the previous day, the highest single-day count so far

As many as 16,39,663 beneficiaries were vaccinated for the first dose -- healthcare workers (HCWs) and frontline workers (FLWs) -- and 4,13,874 such people received the second shot.

No-frills carrier SpiceJet on Saturday said it will add 66 new flights, including additional services on certain routes, in its domestic network from March 28.

These new flights, which will be operated with Boeing 737s and regional jet Bombardier Q400s, are aimed at augmenting connectivity between metro and non-metro cities as part of its enhanced network.

In a shocking incident, five people belonging to the same family committed suicide in the Supaul district of Bihar. There has been a stir in the area after the case came to light. The police is investigating why five people of the same family took their own lives together.

According to police, on Saturday, a man committed suicide by hanging himself along with his wife and three children in Gaddi village of Raghopur police station area in Supaul.

Public sector lender Indian Bank has put on sale two immovable properties of Saravana Stores (Gold Palace) at T Nagar in Chennai.

The bank has issued a notice of sale to recover Rs 288 crore from the jewellery represented by its partners, guarantors and title holders.

A Trinamool Congress (TMC) delegation met the Election Commission (EC) on Friday and demanded a high-level probe into an alleged attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram and claimed it was not an “unfortunate incident”, but a conspiracy.

Hours later, a BJP delegation, comprising Union Minister Piyush Goyal and party general secretary Bhupender Yadav, also met Election Commission officials and demanded an independent inquiry into the incident.

As coronavirus cases across the country continue to rise, the Karnataka government on Friday took action to control the spread and banned large gatherings at weddings and public functions across the state.

Gathering of people will be restricted to 200 from 500 earlier in halls or closed places for social and cultural events like weddings, state health secretary Jawaid Akhtar said in a circular.

US President Joe Biden spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the first summit of the Quad or Quadrilateral coalition on Friday. It was the first time Modi and Biden came face-to-face after the American leader took charge in Washington in January.

Prime Minister Modi... it's great to see you, President Biden, greeted PM Modi as he welcomed him to speak.

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait will be in Kolkata today. The farmer leader said on Wednesday that he will go to Kolkata to urge farmers to defeat the BJP in the West Bengal Assembly elections.

However, he has claimed that he is not supporting any political party in the Assembly elections. Tikait further stated that farmers are distressed, and election will be discussed with them, adding that he is not going to West Bengal to seek votes.

With the rising number of coronavirus cases, concerns have been raised. After Maharashtra and Kerala, Punjab is the state where the maximum number of cases are being reported. This has forced the Punjab government into action and it has decided to impose night curfew in four more districts and close all schools from Friday.

Officials said that night curfew has been imposed in Ludhiana, Patiala, Mohali, Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar, Nawanshahar, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur.

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