Left, Right & Centre

The Lettuce won. Yes, indeed. The internet is having a blast with jokes and memes after Liz Truss resigned as Britian's Prime Minister just 45 days in office. She is the shortest serving UK Prime Minister in history. Ms Truss was forced to step down over a series of U-turns on her mini budget which had sent the markets into a tailspin and sent the pound crashing. This is exactly what Mr Sunak had warned about. With Ms Truss gone, is Mr Sunak back in the running for UK Prime Minister's post?

Defending the early release of 11 men convicted of raping Bilkis Bano and killing her family in the 2002 Gujarat riots, the Gujarat government cited "good behaviour" and the Centre's approval. But the "good behaviour" claim has been shredded by FIRs revealed against the convicts, who spent thousands of days on parole even before their premature release. Is the government's good behaviour claim essentially fake?

In a shocking revelation, a paper trail uncovers that the rapists of Bilkis Bano, who were released on Independence Day, were released with the approval of the Centre despite opposition from the CBI and a special court. How could the rapists, involved in one of the most horrific attacks during the Gujarat Riots, get off like this, with the explicit permission of the ruling government?

Some 9,000 Congress leaders voted today to elect a non-Gandhi as the party chief, a first in over 20 years. While Mallikarjun Kharge is seen as the favourite, his opponent Shashi Tharoor said he was "confident" despite the odds. On Left Right and Centre, we debate who is emerging as the frontrunner in this race.

Mamata Banerjee said Sourav Ganguly "has been deprived" of his post as Indian cricket board chairman and appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "compensate him" by sending him to the ICC (International Cricket Council). Sourav Ganguly had been "unfairly left out", the Bengal Chief Minister said, calling it "bad and sad". As politics attack the free spirit of sport, on Left Right and Centre, a discussion on whether sports will ever get free from politics.

Congress's Jairam Ramesh today brushed off speculation that Mallikarjun Kharge was a proxy candidate as the party voted to elect a non-Gandhi chief for the first time in over 20 years. The election -- scheduled three years after Sonia Gandhi agreed to temporarily lead the party when Rahul Gandhi stepped down -- was held after multiple calls for change and hiccups over finding a candidate against Shashi Tharoor.

At the opening of a key meeting of the Chinese Communist Party, President Xi Jinping said that China has achieved comprehensive control over Hong Kong, turning it from chaos to governance, while condemning what he said was interference in Taiwan. Xi Jinping walked onstage to thunderous applause from nearly 2,300 delegates who have gathered at Beijing's Great Hall of the People for the once-in-five-year Communist Party congress that is set to elevate him to a third term.

In a special hearing, the Supreme Court on Saturday rejected former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba's acquittal that was granted by the Bombay High Court. The 55-year-old has been in prison for the last eight years and has applied for bail on medical grounds but there was no respite for him. However, in the Malegaon blast case, Pragya Thakur was granted bail on health conditions. On Left Right and Centre, we debate is the law same for all?  

Two Supreme Court judges have delivered a split verdict on whether Karnataka's ban on the hijab in classrooms should stay or go and called for a larger bench to take it up. While Justice Hemant Gupta backed the hijab ban, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia said he "respectfully disagreed" with him as he considered the education of girls most important. Both judges made very strong remarks as they pronounced their orders. But isn't the real question is of a woman's choice to wear or not to wear hijab?

A week after the World Health Organisation reported that as many as 66 children in Gambia may have died after consuming Indian made cough syrups, major irregularities in manufacture have been found at the facilities of Maiden Phamaceuticals, the Haryana based manufacturer of the syrups. Tonight on Left, Right & Centre we ask - are dangerous cough syrups being sold in India - and if so - where does the buck stop?

The latest in India's language wars. A parliament panel backs Hindi plus regional languages to replace English at centres of higher education. Southern states say this threatens India's linguistic diversity. Supporters say English is a relic of the colonial past. "Projecting Hindi speakers alone as Indian citizens and others as second-class citizens reeks of divide-and-rule," said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin as the parliament's language committee reportedly said centre-run educational institutions should switch away from English to "Hindi or local language." "Don't impose another language war on us," Mr Stalin said, directing his words at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose party BJP, as a stated policy, favours Hindi as a link among all states.

In the biggest escalation since the war started in Ukraine, Russia bombed the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, hitting several civilian areas and killing at least 11. The Russian offensive can be seen as retaliation for the Ukrainian attack on a Crimean bridge. With Russian President Vladmir Putin having threatened to use nuclear weapons, the risk of a nuclear strike remains very high.  

Election Commission's decision to freeze Shiv Sena party name and symbol has sent both the Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde factions in a huddle. Who will finally win the battle for the legacy of Balasaheb Thackeray and the 'real Shiv Sena'?

Under fire for attending a Buddhist conversion ceremony, AAP cabinet minister Rajendra Pal Gautam has resigned. The minister had come under heavy attack from the BJP over the conversion event and the kind of oath that was administered to thousands there. The BJP had called the minister anti-Hindu and had also targeted Arvind Kejriwal over the event in Delhi. Is the minister's resignation guided by AAP's concerns about the controversy's fallout on the upcoming Gujarat polls?

The Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra found a mention in Home Minister Amit Shah's speech in Assam's Guwahati, where he inaugurated the party's new office that will serve as the north-east BJP's regional headquarters. Mr Shah took a swipe at the Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra, saying the Congress has been a silent spectator when Assam was being split apart. Mr Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the one who started the work of "Bharat jodo."