Sonali Guha, once a close aide of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee and a four-time MLA of the party, on Sunday said she will join the BJP, two days after being denied a ticket for the upcoming assembly polls in West Bengal.

Guha told reporters she was requested by BJP national vice president Mukul Roy to join the saffron party at its Hastings office here on Monday.

The Indian rupee slumped 14 paise to 73.16 against the US dollar in opening trade on Monday, as rising crude oil prices and strengthening of the American currency in the overseas market weighed on investor sentiment.

At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 73.13 against the US dollar, then fell further to 73.16 against the American currency, registering a decline of 14 paise over its previous close.

Shares of oil & gas companies were in focus on Monday after Brent crude prices hit their highest level since January, 2020. Besides, amid improved outlook and expectation of higher crude oil prices going forward, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Gail (India) surged up to 7 per cent and hit their respective 52-week highs on the BSE in the intra-day trade.

The oil prices were at their highest levels in more than a year after Yemen's Houthi forces fired drones and missiles at the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry on Sunday, raising concerns about production.

New cases of coronavirus infection in India were recorded above 18,000 for the third consecutive day taking the totaltally of COVID-19 casesto1,12,29,398, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.

The active cases also registered an increase for the sixth consecutive day and the COVID-19 active caseload increased to1,88,747whichnow comprises1.68per cent of the total infections.

After a brief interval, the Lok Sabha is all set to resume the Budget Session of Parliament from Monday with the united Opposition prepared with a strategy to create pandemonium in the House.

The Opposition will be raising various issues targeting the Centre, especially on farm laws and LPG price hike.

In a significant development, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Sunday (March 7) claimed that COVID-19 was nearing an endemic phase in the national capital.

It is to be noted that an infection is said to be endemic when the infection is maintained at a baseline level in a geographic area without external inputs.

Ahead of West Bengal Assembly polls, Dinesh Trivedi, who had resigned as TMC MP in Rajya Sabha in February, joined Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday in presence of party president JP Nadda in New Delhi.

This is the golden moment for me, for which I have been waiting for a long time. Nadda ji and my friends knew I was waiting for this. I never left ideology. The nation was above everything for me. Every person believes that PM Narendra Modi and BJP will keep the nation secure, Trivedi said.

If you are fond of gold jewellery then this is the best time to invest the yellow metal. The price of gold has retreated to a near one-year low. On Friday (March 5), local gold futures fell to Rs 44,217 per 10 grams, a trough since April 7.

The price of one gram of 22-carat gold on Saturday declined to Rs 4,343 from Rs 4,390. The further dip in the prices of precious metal has taken rates to more than 10-month lows.

The first meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) of Congress is likely to be held here on Saturday to finalise the names of candidates for the first two phases of the West Bengal and Assam Assembly polls.

The meeting will be held via video-conferencing. Senior leaders of the party and leaders of Congress's West Bengal and Assam units will also participate in the meeting.

The head of the World Health Organization called Friday for patent rights to be waived until the end of the coronavirus pandemic so that vaccine supplies can be dramatically increased, saying these unprecedented times warrant the move.

At a press briefing, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said countries with their own vaccine capacity should start waiving intellectual property rights as provided in special emergency provisions from the World Trade Organization.

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