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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal - who had been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate for the fifth time - will not appear before the probe agency for questioning in the Delhi liquor policy case today.

This comes after Arvind Kejriwal skipped January 19 questioning, saying that the summons issued by the ED were illegal and its only aim is to arrest him.

Kejriwal, also the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief, had refused to appear before the probe agency on three earlier summons for November 2, December 21 and January 3 as well.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday again took a digital tablet wrapped in a traditional 'bahi-khata' style pouch as she headed for Parliament to present the interim Budget 2024-25 in a paperless format just like the previous three years.

She posed for the traditional 'briefcase' picture outside her office, along with her team of officials, before heading to meet the President. She was holding a tablet instead of a briefcase to present the Budget in a digital format.

With the tablet carefully kept inside a red cover with a golden-coloured national emblem embossed on it instead of the briefcase, she went straight to Parliament after meeting President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Since the consecration ceremony of Ram temple on January 22, around 25 lakh devotees have visited the Ram Janmabhoomi in the 11 days, and the worth of offerings and donations has crossed ₹11 crore. According to the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, about ₹8 crore has been deposited in the donation boxes in the last 10 days, and around ₹3.50 crore was received online.

According to Prakash Gupta, office in-charge of the Trust, four big-size donation boxes have been kept near the darshan path in front of the sanctum sanctorum, where the deity is seated, in which the devotees are donating offerings. Besides, people also donate at 10 computerised counters.

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee have slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the Enforcement Directorate's arrest of former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren.

While Stalin said the ruling party is trying to bully the JMM chief in an act that reeks of desperation, Banerjee said the BJP is "jailing everyone" to win the Lok Sabha elections.

In a strongly worded post on X, Stalin said Hemant Soren's arrest is a blatant display of political vendetta by the BJP-led central government.

A strong and stable government would lead to rapid development at the domestic level and could place the country as “Vishwa-Mitra” (friend of the world) during the period of upheaval in the global scenario, President Droupadi Murmu said on Wednesday in her last address to the joint session of Parliament ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

In her almost 90-minute long speech, President Murmu, who listed the achievements of the Narendra Modi-led governments in the last decade, said that January 22, the day the newly constructed Ram temple in Ayodhya was consecrated, was a defining moment.