LEAD

The fate of several BJP heavyweights, including ministers, will be decided when the battle for Uttar Pradesh begins on Thursday. The polling in the western part of the state is scheduled to take place in 58 assembly seats spread across 11 districts.

Electoral fate of nine ministers in the Yogi Adityanath government will be decided by voters. The ministers are Srikant Sharma from Mathura, Atul Garg from Ghaziabad, Suresh Rana from Thana Bhawan, Kapildev Agarwal from Muzaffarnagar and Sandeep Singh from Atrauli. Other ministers are Laxminarayan Chaudhary from Chhata, Anil Sharma from Shikarpur, G.S. Dharmesh from Agra Cantt. and Dinesh Khatik from Hastinapur.

Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his fusillade against the Congress and India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said he doesn’t need a certificate from anyone for his great grandfather. The Prime Minister, Gandhi said, can “abuse” the Congress and Nehru as much as he wants but he should also “do his job”.

While replying to the debate in Lok Sabha on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address on Monday, the Prime Minister had attacked the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi family. “My great grandfather served this country. He gave his entire life to this country. So, I don’t need anyone’s certificate for my great grandfather,” Gandhi told reporters outside the Parliament on Tuesday.

PM Narendra Modi today blasted Congress over multiple issues, saying that the states that once rejected the party never accepted them back again. PM Modi said that states like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Jharkhand and Bihar never voted the Congress to power after rejecting them once.  

"Nagaland voted for Congress 24 years ago, Odisha voted for you 27 years ago. You won with full majority in Goa 28 years ago," PM Narendra Modi said.  

"In 1988, Tripura voted for Congress. West Benga voted for Congress in 1972. You take credit for creation of Telangana but the public did not accept you," PM Modi added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again topped the ‘Global Leader Approval’ rating list with the highest rating of 72 per cent, beating global leaders such as US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the list released by American research firm Morning Consult.

According to the list, PM Modi topped the list of 13 world leaders and is followed by Mexico President López Obrador at 64 per cent, Italy Prime Minister Mario Draghi at 57 per cent, Fumio Kishida at 47 per cent, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at 42 per cent. US President Joe Biden, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau all scored 41 per cent ratings. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at 37 per cent, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and French President Emmanuel Macron at 35 per cent. Boris Johnson scored the lowest in the list as the British Prime Minister is battling for his political career amid a crisis after report found he and staff held parties during strict coronavirus lockdowns.

India continued to report a gradual rise in Covid-19 fatalities, with 678 deaths reported on Friday, the highest in the third wave, even as fresh cases declined steeply for the second day running.

India reported just over 1. 28 lakh new cases on Friday, with data from one state awaited, the lowest daily tally in over four weeks since January 6. On Thursday, 1. 49 lakh fresh cases were recorded. The highest count so far this week was 1. 73 lakh cases logged on Wednesday, far lower than the previous week’s peak of 2. 87 lakh, as per TOI’s Covid database collated from state government numbers. While cases were falling rapidly across the country, nationwide deaths from the virus were still on the rise. Friday's toll of 678 was marginally more than the previous highest of 676 reported on Wednesday.