Daily News Dose: ED should probe foreign trips of CM, daughter, says PC George | July 3, 2022

Hello, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. I'm your host, Vishnu, and these are the major news stories of the day:

1. BJP legislator Rahul Narwekar elected as Maharashtra Speaker

2. Akhilesh Yadav dissolves all Samajwadi Party units after bypoll defeat

3. ED should probe into foreign trips of Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter, says PC George

4. India logs 16,103 new COVID cases, 31 deaths

5. Kerala may witness heavy rainfall for 5 days

Let's get into the details:

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1. First-time BJP legislator Rahul Narwekar was elected as the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker in a special two-day session of the Assembly which began on Sunday.

Narwekar secured 164 votes in the Speaker polls. Sena MLA and Uddhav Thackeray loyalist Rajan Salvi was the candidate of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine. He secured 107 votes.

The election was done with a head count and the supporters of the new government were seen wearing saffron turbans.

Rebel Shiv Sena MLAs who support Chief Minister Eknath Shinde returned to Mumbai from Goa on Saturday evening for the special session as well as the floor test of the new government. 

The post of Assembly Speaker has been lying vacant since Nana Patole of Congress resigned in February 2021 to become his party's state unit president. Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal was officiating as acting Speaker in the meantime.

Meanwhile, the decision to allocate portfolios under the Shinde government will be taken once the two-day Assembly session is over. 

Shinde took oath as the chief minister on Thursday with BJP's Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy following the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government on Wednesday.

Shinde's government will take a floor test on Monday.

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2. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday dissolved the national, state and district executive bodies of all its organisations, including the youth and the women's wing, with immediate effect.

Though no official reason has been given, the move is seen as an attempt to revamp the SP after the Lok Sabha bypoll debacle in the party's bastions Rampur and Azamgarh.

The party's Uttar Pradesh president Naresh Uttam will, however, continue to remain in his position, the party said.

A senior party leader said the Samajwadi Party was gearing up for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the focus was on strengthening the organisation to take on the BJP with full force.

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3. Former legislator P C George has raised serious allegations against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter Veena Vijayan. He alleged they are hand in glove with a shady real estate magnate named Faris Aboobacker and that the father-daughter duo plays a major role in a racket. 

Demanding the Enforcement Directorate to investigate the foreign trips of the CM and his daughter, George alleged that Veena visits the same places where the CM had been, soon after or before the latter's foreign trips.

Asked whether he had any evidence to substantiate his allegations, George said the ED has to probe and bring out the evidence. He said, whatever evidence he has, has been handed over to the ED. He said, he would also be taking the issue up with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

George made the disclosures soon after he was let out on bail on Saturday evening after he was arrested on charges of sexual harassment. He said there was an attempt to bring a false witness in the molestation complaint against him by the solar case accused.

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Before we move on, here's a quick reminder to checkout Onmanorama's other podcasts, Wacky News and News Brake. Wacky News is a collection of the weirdest and strangest news from across the globe and News Brake is a clutter-free explainer of the major news story of the week. Both programmes are available on all podcast platforms. 

Now, back to Daily News Dose.

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4. India logged 16,103 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,35,02,429, while the active cases increased to 1,11,711, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday. The death toll so far climbed to 5,25,199 with 31 new fatalities. An increase of 2,143 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.27 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was 3.81 per cent. The 31 new fatalities include 14 from Kerala, five from Maharashtra, three from West Bengal, two each from Delhi, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh and one each from Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram. The ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

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5. The India Meteorological Department has predicted heavy rainfall in Kerala over the next five days. On Sunday, all districts, except Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta, were under Yellow alert. Heavy rainfall is very likely to occur in isolated areas in Kerala till Wednesday due to the strengthening of Western winds. Fishermen have been asked not to venture out into the sea till July 4 since there is every likelihood of inclement weather, and winds at 50 km per hour along the coast of Kerala, Lakshadweep and Karnataka. Monsoon set over Kerala on May 29, three days ahead of the normal date of June 1.

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That brings us to the end of this episode. Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.