A satsang by a local preacher in Hathras on Tuesday turned into a tragedy as 121 people, mostly women, were killed in a stampede at its site. The event in Phulrai village was addressed by self-styled godman Narayan Sakar Hari, also known as Bhole Baba.

Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai said, “Our leader Rahul Gandhi will visit Hathras on Friday. He will meet the family members of the victims of the incident.” Earlier in the day, Rai blamed the BJP-led state government for the incident.

Engineer Rashid, Amritpal to take oath as MPs

Jailed radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh and Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid are set to take oath as the Lok Sabha members on Friday, subject to some conditions in their parole orders.

While Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, has been incarcerated in Delhi’s Tihar jail in a terror funding case registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Amritpal has been lodged in a prison in Assam’s Dibrugarh district for offences under the National Security Act (NSA).

Amritpal, 31, and Rashid, 56, won the recent Lok Sabha elections from Khadoor Sahib in Punjab and Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir, respectively, as Independents while being incarcerated.

They could not take oath as members of the 18th Lok Sabha in its recently-concluded first session along with the other winning candidates.

Imprisoned in Tihar since 2019 in an alleged money laundering case related to terror funding, Rashid won from Baramulla defeating two heavyweights –

National Conference leader and former chief minister Omar Abdullah and People’s Conference’s leader Sajad Gani Lone. He finished two lakh votes ahead of Omar.

His Awami Ittehad Party is now gearing up for the J&K Assembly elections — the first since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 — which are scheduled for later this year.

Amritpal is being brought by the Punjab police to Delhi on parole to enable him to take oath as the MP. His parole conditions stipulate that he will be allowed to meet his family but will not be permitted to leave the “territorial jurisdiction” of New Delhi.

In April 2023, Amritpal, who is the head of Khalistani organisation “Waris Punjab De”, was arrested in the Moga’s district Rode village after a month-long manhunt.

The Punjab police had launched a crackdown against Amritpal and his outfit after he and his supporters stormed the Ajnala police station near Amritsar to secure the release of an arrested colleague. Amritpal was booked under the stringent NSA and faces over half-a-dozen charges such as attempt to murder, abduction and extortion.

Naidu to meet Sitharaman

After his meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Union Ministers on Thursday, Andhra Pradesh CM and TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu is expected to meet Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday.

“In his meeting with Sitharaman, he (Naidu) will present a report on the Polavaram irrigation project, development of the capital city of Amaravati and the financial situation of the state,” a top TDP source told The Indian Express.

Naidu, a key NDA ally, has flagged the debt crisis gripping his state during these meetings on Thursday, Nikhila Henry reported. He has sought central financial assistance on several fronts including “handholding of state finances in the short term” and “comprehensive financial support” for the capital city of Amaravati.

The CM was also learnt to have sought the Union government’s support in commissioning Polavaram national irrigation project besides “special incentives” for the state’s industrial development.

As per the latest figures, the total debt of Andhra Pradesh, under the previous Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP government, was Rs 4,42,442 crore as on March 31, 2023. The state’s gross fiscal deficit, estimated at Rs 55,817.50 crore as on March 31, 2024, had seen a 57% increase from Rs 35,441 crore in the 2018-’19 period.

— With PTI inputs