Republic Top 10 Headlines: Ludhiana Court Blast; PM Modi Takes Dig At SP & More

Ludhiana Court Blast: Sidhu Links Incident To Sacrileges; Says 'Punjabiyat Under Attack'

In the wake of the explosion at a Ludhiana court, Punjab state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday, called it a 'planned conspiracy' to destabilise the state. Addressing the media, Sidhu linked the recent sacrilege cases to the blast, asking 'Why is one community being targetted?'. He added that no attempts to polarise Punjabis will succeed. 

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AAP, Cong, SP Demand HC-monitored Probe Into Ram Mandir Land Scam; Slam Yogi Govt

A day after the Ram Mandir land scam expose, Opposition leaders - AAP's Sanjay Singh, Congress' Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and SP's Anurag Bhaduariya on Thursday, demanded a court-monitored probe into it. Claiming an insult to faith, the Opposition have questioned how UP govt officials involved in the scam could probe it. CM Yogi Adityanath has ordered a probe after an investigative report found that govt officials and their relatives have purchased land around Ram Mandir construction site post-Ayodhya judgment. 

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Ludhiana: Explosion In District Court's Women's Washroom Killing 2; CM To Visit Site

In a shocking incident, an explosion has occurred at a Ludhiana court on Thursday at around 12:25 PM, killing two. Multiple police teams, forensic teams, and fire tenders have reached the spot. As per sources, the blast occurred in a women's washroom inside the court premises. The nature of the explosion is yet to be ascertained.  More details are awaited.

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Madhya Pradesh Passes Bill To Recover Damages From Protesters; 3rd State After UP, Haryana

In a significant development, the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Thursday passed a bill that provides for recovery of losses from the people and organisations responsible for damaging public and private properties during protests. The Madhya Pradesh Damage to Public and Property Recovery Bill, 2021 was tabled in the House by State Home and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra on Wednesday. The bill was passed without discussion as the Opposition MPs staged a walkout in protest of other issues.

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PM Modi Takes Dig At SP In Varanasi, Says Thoughts Made Up Of 'mafiawaad', 'pariwarwaad'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday made a scathing attack at the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, stating that the party's syllabus and dictionary only have the words 'mafia', 'family politics' and 'land grabbing'. 

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Ludhiana Court Blast: AAP Says 'attempts Being Made To Destabilize Punjab Ahead Of Polls'

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday expressed concern over the Ludhiana court blast stating that attempts were being made to 'destabilize' Punjab ahead of the state elections. Taking to Twitter, Delhi Chief Minister, and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal condemned the blasts and asserted that the 3 crore citizens of Punjab will not allow the disruption of peace in the state. 

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CM Arvind Kejriwal Claims Delhi Can Handle 1 Lakh Daily Cases Amid Omicron Scare

After chairing a meeting to discuss the rise in cases of COVID and its variant Omicron in the national capital, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday announced that his government has created a capacity to conduct 3 lakh COVID-19 tests daily by which, even as many as one lakh daily cases can be handled. 

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Uttarakhand Congress Chief Reveals He 'feels' Same As Harish Rawat; 'for Quite Some Time'

A day after former Congress Chief Minister and Congress campaign head Harish Rawat accused the party of not cooperating with him, Uttarakhand Congress president Ganesh Godiyal on Thursday said that he said that he shares Rawat's feeling but the discontent is an organizational matter which will be cleared in a day or two in consultation with party top leadership.

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Neeraj Chopra's Gold, Historic Win In Australia: India's Top Sporting Moments Of 2021

The year 2021 was full of historic moments in terms of sports in India, as Neeraj Chopra won a historic gold medal for India in the Tokyo Olympics 2020, while both the Indian Olympics and Paralympics contingent with exceptional results to their credit. The India cricket team also scripted history by defeating Australia in a Test series in Australia. At the same time, Badminton stars like PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, and Lakshya Sen also displayed stellar efforts while representing India in the Olympics and the BWF World Championships.

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US NSA Jake Sullivan Travels To Israel, West Bank; Discusses Iran & Other Strategic Issues

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan travelled to Israel and the West Bank from December 21-22 to discuss Iran and other strategic issues, according to a White House press release. Sullivan was accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides, Deputy Assistant to the President and the Middle East and North Africa Coordinator Brett McGurk, and the State Department’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Yael Lempert. 

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