Hindustan Times News | 11th March 2022 | 8 AM

HT Daily News Wrap

"2022 has decided 2024" - Prime Minister Narendra Modi summed up the BJP's election win, AAP’s thumping victory in Punjab assembly elections improved its chances of attaining the status of a national party, Congress has ended up on the losing side in nine of the 10 assembly elections and other top news in this bulletin.
“2022 has decided 2024” – Prime Minister Narendra Modi summed up the BJP’s election win on Thursday as the party retained Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Manipur with a clear majority. While the BJP registered a voteshare of 41 per cent in UP, Yogi Adityanath has a new record on his name – the 49-year-old is the first chief minister in the state to return for a second straight term in 37 years. In 1985, Narayan Dutt Tiwari had secured two terms in the state. The ruling party has secured 255 seats on its own while its allies got 18 – ADAL (12) and NINSHAD (6). The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s thumping victory in Punjab assembly elections on Thursday improved its chances of attaining the status of a national party, a stature accorded by the Election Commission of India. At present, the poll body recognises Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Trinamool Congress, CPI(M), CPI, Bahujan Samaj Party and Nationalist Congress Party as national parties. ISIS confirmed on Thursday the death of its leader Abu Ibrahim Al-hashemi Al-Quraishi and its spokesperson Abu Hamza Al-Quraishi, and announced Abu Al-Hassan Al-hashemi Al-Quraishi as its new chief. Quraishi, a religious scholar and soldier in former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s army who led IS from the shadows for a little over two years, died in a U.S. special forces raid in northern Syria in February when he detonated a bomb that killed him and family members, the U.S. administration said. The Congress has ended up on the losing side in nine of the 10 assembly elections held over the past two years — the only exception being Tamil Nadu where it was a junior partner of the DMK-led alliance that won. It has lost at least five key young leaders in the recent past and has been reduced to ruling just two states on its own. Its inability to win elections has stoked defiance and dissent within the party hierarchy. The latest drubbing in the state elections comes just months before the Congress is set to elect a new president. The Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru will be thrown open to a full attendance in the upcoming second Test between India and Sri Lanka, the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) said in a statement on Thursday. It was previously decided to allow the stands to be filled up to the 50 per cent of the stadium’s capacity for the match, which will be a day-night Test played with the pink ball. The OTT medium has been good to both Jaideep Ahlawat and Zeeshan Ayyub. Both actors have been around for well over a decade but it is only recently – due to their exploits in various web series – that they have been termed ‘stars’. Now, the two are coming together in Bloody Brothers, a dark comedy-thriller. That’s all from us for now. We will be back with the evening news bulletin.