'We have to act,' : Biden on gun restriction after 18 killed in Texas school shooting

HT Daily News Wrap

'We have to act,' : Biden on gun restriction after 18 killed in Texas school shooting, poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu included in Congress’s Task Force-2024, Bengaluru school’s email to its alumni over Gyanvapi stirs row and other top news in this bulletin.

President Joe Biden struck a sombre and serious tone, calling for new gun restrictions, in an address to the nation after 18 children were killed in a shooting at a Texas elementary school. “When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God’s name do we do what we all know needs to be done?” Biden asked. Biden, whose lost both a son and a daughter, was joined by first lady Dr. Jill Biden at the White House on Tuesday night. “Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God’s name is our backbone?” Biden said, adding later, “It’s time to act.” At least 18 children and three adults were killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday morning. Uvalde is about 85 miles west of San Antonio. The 18-year-old gunman is dead. It’s unclear if the number includes the shooter. Biden called on the nation to pray for the parents and siblings of those dead. “To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away,” he said.

Sunil Kanugolu, a reclusive and media-shy poll strategist who joined the Congress in early April was on Tuesday was named a member of Task Force 2024 which the party constituted to implement the Nav Sankalp (New Resolution) declaration adopted in Udaipur recently. A highly sought-after pollster, Kanugolu founded the Association of Brilliant Minds (ABM), the BJP’s campaign body for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections. He was part of ace poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s team when the latter was shaping Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s poll campaign in 2014. According to a senior party leader who asked not to be named, Kanugolu is likely to spearhead the Congress’s election management in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. HT first reported Kanugolu’s move to join the Congress in early April. Back then, it was believed that he would be in charge of the party’s election strategy for Karnataka — but back then, the Congress and Kishor were in the midst of their long flirtation — which ended on April 26, when Kishor declined the Congress’ offer to join the party. The houses of Andhra Pradesh minister Pinipe Vishwaroop and MLA Ponnada Satish were set on fire as protests against the change of Konaseema district’s name turned violent on Tuesday, local reports indicate. The arson broke out in Amalapuram town when police resorted to a lathi-charge at people who sought to stage a protest near the district collector’s office opposing the proposed renaming of the newly created Konaseema district as BR Ambedkar Konaseema district. On April 4, the new Konaseema district was carved out of the erstwhile East Godavari. Trouble started when the police allegedly prevented leaders of the Konaseema Sadhana Samiti from going into the district Collector’s office for submitting a memorandum against renaming the district and resorted to a lathi-charge. The Samiti was opposed to the proposed renaming of the newly-created Konaseema district as B R Ambedkar Konaseema district. As police tried to chase the Samiti leaders and workers away, stone pelting ensued. As trouble broke out, shops in the town downed their shutters even as the protestors allegedly went berserk and first set a school bus on fire. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday came under fire of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for meeting Britain’s Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in London. The BJP hit out at the Congress MP for allegedly endorsing the UK MP’s “anti-India” views on foreign soil. The remarks took social media by storm when BJP leader and Union law minister Kiren Rijiju shared a picture of Gandhi’s meeting with Corbyn and attacked the former Congress president for going against his own country. “Again.. Rahul Gandhi meets UK MP and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who is known for his hatred and dislike for India, advocates Kashmir’s secession. Or how long and how much one can go on against one’s own country,” Rijiju tweeted. Similar sentiments were shared by BJP leader Kapil Mishra and IT cell head Amit Malviya who called Gandhi Corbyn’s “overseas collaborator” for sharing dislike for India. “Jeremy is known for his visceral dislike for India, advocates Kashmir’s secession and is unequivocally anti-Hindu. Gandhi has finally found his overseas collaborator, who denigrates India with the same impunity as him,” Malviya said. A purported e-mail sent by New Horizon Public School (NHPS) in Bengaluru asking its alumni to change the name of Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque to ‘Gyanvapi temple’ on Google Maps has sparked a controversy in Karnataka, with the institute issuing a clarification that it was sent “without proper screening procedures, that is required of all our e-mail communications”. On Friday evening, an e-mail titled ‘Gyanvapi temple instead of Gyanvapi mosque’, was sent from the school’s official e-mail address to the school’s alumni. The e-mail contained a list of directions the alumni were asked to follow to change the name of the Gyanvapi mosque on Google Maps. The mail comes at a time when there is a heated controversy and an ongoing court case surrounding the mosque. “We are an institution that embraces diversity and fosters a safe and inclusive environment for our students. That said, reports of the e-mail sent out about disrespecting certain religious sentiments have come to our notice. The issue is being handled with the highest priority,” the statement issued on the school’s official Twitter account on Tuesday read.