A look at the headlines today:
1. Supreme Court to hear pleas of rebel Karnataka MLAs against disqualification
The Supreme Court will today hear the pleas of the rebel Karnataka MLAs against disqualification by the then Karnataka speaker. If the SC does not rule against the disqualification, the rebel MLAs cannot contest the upcoming bypolls in November. The Karnataka assembly speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar had disqualified 17 MLAs from the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, owing to which the coalition lost the trust vote in the floor of the house. Narayana Gowda who represents KR Pet, K. Gopalaiah who represents Mahalakshmi Layout and A.H. Vishwanath from Hunsur were among those disqualified from the JD(S). K. Sudhakar from Chikaballapur, M.T.B. Nagaraj from Hoskote, Srimanth Patil from Kagwad, Roshan Baig from Shivajinagar, Anand Singh from Vijayanagara, S.T. Somasekhar from Yeshwanthpur, Shivram Hebbar from Yellappur, Pratap Gowda Patil from Maski, Byrati Basavraj from KR Puram, Munirathna from RR Nagar, Ramesh Jarkiholi from Gokak and Mahesh Kumtahalli from Athani were those disqualified from the Congress side. Independent MLA R. Shankar, who had merged his party KPJP with the Congress before becoming an MLA, also came under the axe.
2. HC to pronounce order on Congress leader Shivakumar's bail plea
The Delhi High Court is likely to pronounce today its order on the bail plea of Karnataka Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar in a money laundering case. Justice Suresh Kait had reserved the order on October 17 on the leader's bail plea in which he claimed that the case was a result of political rivalry and there was not enough evidence against him. Shivakumar, 57, was arrested by the ED on September 3 in the money laundering case. He is lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody. He has challenged the trial court's order denying him bail in the case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had opposed his bail plea saying he was an influential person and, if released, he could tamper with evidence and influence witnesses.
3. Kamlesh Tiwari's alleged killers in 14-day judicial custody starting today
A local court late on Tuesday night remanded to 14-day judicial custody three men who were allegedly conspirators in the killing of Hindu outfit leader Kamlesh Tiwari. The UP ATS produced the accused, Maulana Sheikh, Faizan and Rashid Pathan, at the residence of in-charge Chief Judicial Magistrate Sudesh Kumar at his residence. They were arrested from Surat and flown to Lucknow on transit remand. The chief judicial magistrate initially remanded them to 14-day judicial custody and later, on the plea of the investigators, also remanded them to four-day police custody for interrogation. The judicial custody is inclusive of the police custody and the police custody will begin on Wednesday morning.
4. Indo-Pak pact on Kartarpur corridor likely to be inked today
India and Pakistan could signing an agreement to operationalise the Kartarpur corridor today. A joint secretary-level officer in the Union Home Ministry will meet Pakistan officials at zero point near the site of Kartarpur corridor and sign the MoU on India's behalf. The corridor will connect the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India's Punjab with the gurdwara at Kartarpur, just about four km from the international border, located at Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab province. India is going ahead in signing the pact though it was strongly opposed to Pakistan's decision to levy a service charge of USD 20 on each pilgrim. India and Pakistan had planned to open the corridor in early November before the year-long celebrations to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism who spent more than 18 years at the Kartarpur gurdwara.
5. Sourav Ganguly to take charge of BCCI; SC asks CoA members to demit office
One of India's most decorated captains Sourav Ganguly will take over as the 39th president of the BCCI today at its AGM, ending a tumultuous 33-month reign of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA). Ganguly is the unanimous nomination for the post of BCCI president along with Union Home Minister Amit Shah's son Jay as the secretary. Mahim Verma of Uttarakhand is the new vice-president. Former BCCI president and current MoS finance Anurag Thakur's younger brother, Arun Dhumal, is the treasurer, while Kerala's Jayesh George is the joint secretary. However, Ganguly will have a curtailed tenure of around nine months, as he would need to demit office by the end of July as per the provisions of new constitutions. Easily one of the most high profile names to assume office, Ganguly will make use of his experience gained as the secretary and later president of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).
6. Russia, Turkey to share control of NE Syria
Russian and Turkish leaders have made a deal to share control of Syria's northeast that requires Kurdish fighters to clear the entire length of the Syria-Turkey border. The deal allows Turkey to maintain control of areas it pushed into launching its offensive into Syria earlier this month. The agreement allows Russian and Syrian troops to control the rest of theborder. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also agreed that their troops will conduct joint patrols of the border area. The agreement gives Kurdish fighters another 150 hours beginning Wednesday afternoon to clear all remaining areas alongside the 440-kilometer Turkey-Syria border. Earlier Tuesday, Kurdish forces said they completed their pullout from a zone along the Syrian border as required under a U.S.-brokered cease-fire deal hours before it was set to expire Tuesday.
7. ISL: Goa will face Chennaiyin FC today
Most of their key players of last season retained for this year, FC Goa will begin their Indian Super League campaign against former champions Chennaiyin FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium today. The Gaurs will look to start the new season on a winning note against a club that finished rock-bottom last season. However, after a summer of rebuilding, Chennaiyin will be eager to prove that the last season was just an aberration. Interestingly, both managers—Sergio Lobera and John Gregory—are into their third seasons with FC Goa and Chennaiyin. Last season runners-up FC Goa have a sense of stability in the team as they have retained most of their key players, international and domestic. The likes of Ferran Corominas, Hugo Boumous, Ahmed Jahouh and Edu Bedia are all into their third season too with the Gaurs. Mandar Rao Dessai, Seriton Fernandes, Lenny Rodrigues and Jackichand Singh are all familiar with Lobera's methods.
8. Subhankar upsets Sugiarto in French Open
India's Subhankar Dey notched up an upset win over Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia to advance to the men's singles second round in the French Open badminton tournament on Tuesday. The world number 42 Indian rallied to beat his world number 17 opponent 15-21 21-14 21-17 in a one hour 18 minutes first round match in the BWF Super 750 tournament. This was Subhankar's second win over the Indonesian, a former world number 3, this year as the Indian had won 14-21 22-20 21-11 in the India Open in March. Shubhankar had lost to Sugiarto in the New Zealand Open last year.
-Inputs from PTI