Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also demanded that in these difficult times of the pandemic, the Centre must give the state governments their dues.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that only two days ago, a "tughlaqi farmaan" was issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs "which is very quaint and funny".

A Govt of "Misplaced Priorities" & "ill-conceived Goals," tweeted Randeep Surjewala, chief spokesperson of the party.

TMC leader and MP Saugato Roy said he was wondering whether the Centre was serious to revive the economy and provide financial package to states to combat adversity due to the pandemic.

The rebuttal came after the governor shot off two letters to the chief minister last week amid the clash between the Raj Bhavan and Nabanna, the state secretariat, in the wake of West Bengal's response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Gandhi said when the public is anguished and there is scarcity of food, water and cash, "the authorities are taking Rs 100 from everyone for the PM CARES Fund and thus it would be appropriate to have an audit of the same".

While the two ruling alliance partners alleged that it was an attempt to lessen Mumbai's stature, the state BJP claimed that Congress-led governments did nothing to get IFSC in Mumbai when they ruled in Maharashtra earlier.

I expect the Prime Ministers Office to take a rational and judicious decision, keeping aside the state politics, said NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav questioned the significance of showering flowers from aeroplanes when there are reports of mismanagement in various quarantine centres.

Singhvi said India needed both the extreme left and right views on economic issues. However, it may create a controversy as the Congress is opposed to both the extreme ideologies.

Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee said taxpayers' money was being used to renovate "Lutyens' Delhi", adding for the same amount at Rs 30 per meal, they could have fed two meals a day to 1.85 crore Indians for the next six months..

Sources also say that senior Congress leaders like Bhupinder Hooda, Kumari Selja, Ashok Gehlot among other have been asked to mobilise funds for the mission.

The Congress insisted that mismanagement of the migrant workers and treatment meted out to them, shows and reflects the approach of this government to the poorest segments that too during the pandemic.

The CM said Students' fares were being paid directly by his government to the railways, while migrant workers will be reimbursed the entire expenses they incurred on the journey once they have completed their 21-day quarantine after reaching Bihar.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, slammed the Delhi government's decision to open liquor shops, claiming it can increase coronavirus positive cases by up to 10 per cent.

Abdullah was released in March after the J&K government revoked his detention orders under Public Safety Act (PSA), more than seven months after he was detained.

In many of the shops, people who gathered outside the outlets did not follow social distancing norms, forcing the police to use mild force to disperse the unruly crowd.

The state can provide free treatment to the underprivileged without burdening its exchequer if it signs up for the Centre's Ayushman Bharat Yojana, Ghosh noted.

The Congress on Monday had said its state units will bear the cost of rail travel of needy migrant workers stranded at their workplaces due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

An Army Colonel and a Major were among five security personnel killed in an encounter with terrorists at a village in north Kashmir's Handwara area two days back.

As per figures released by the state excise department, on the very first day of the opening of shops, people bought liquor worth about 225 crore, setting a new record.

While tackling the virus, think in terms of zones. While reopening the economy, think in terms of supply chains, Rahul said on Twitter.

Mufti was initially detained on August 5 last year when the Centre abrogated the special status of the erstwhile state and bifurcated it into two union territories -- Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

Venugopal said it was due to protests by a large number of expatriates and their relatives as well as the general public over the past few days that the central government took the decision to bring back Indian citizens from abroad.

Omar Abdullah was reacting to the Jammu and Kashmir authorities' decision to extend the detention of the former chief minister by another three months.

Son of Congress legend and four times Kerala Chief Minister K.Karunakaran -- Muraleedharan told the media that the state has to bear with Vijayan for a year only.

Former J&K CM Omar Abdullah said Hizbul Mujahideen commander Reyaz Naikoo's destiny was decided the moment he picked up the gun and adopted the path of violence and terror.

Chief ministers of Congress-ruled states said they would urge the PM to provide an assistance package to cope with the pandemic as well as the economic situation.

N Chandrababu Naidu urged the Centre to immediately send medical experts to the district as it may not have the required expertise to treat people affected with styrene gas.

This comes in view of demands from various members of Parliament (MP) for holding such meetings through video conference amid the COVID-19-induced lockdown.

BJP-nominated Rajya Sabha member Sambhaji Raje had earlier asked Fadnavis to apologise for "hurting the sentiments" of the followers of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj through his tweet.

While Singhvi has never have been a grassroots leader, he enjoys complete trust of the Gandhis, in all critical cases has stood by the party like a rock, and in court ensured a fighting chance for the Congress.

Studies show that the fear of contagion leads individuals to become more conservative and less accepting of experimentation. They prefer quietly falling in line, however long, rather than taking on eccentricity.

Gopichand Padalkar, who joined the party on the eve of last year's Lok Sabha polls, also figures in the list.

The former UP chief minister had gone to the Hospital for routine checkup, but the doctors admitted him for monitoring his health over some stomach and urine-related issues.

Sixteen migrant workers sleeping on rail tracks while returning to Madhya Pradesh were crushed to death by a goods train in Aurangabad district on Friday.

The Chief Minister noted that Punjab was successfully moving in the service of the nation towards meeting its target of wheat procurement, notwithstanding the challenges imposed by the lockdown.

After a cabinet meeting on Friday, MP minister for Home and Health Narottam Mishra said no work was done when Nath was in power and "whatever funds were received were diverted to Chhindwara (the CM’s home town)".

Workers are being treated as slaves, said the letter signed by CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja, CPI (ML)'s Dipankar Bhattarcharya and RJD MP Manoj Jha among others.

Union home minister Amit Shah said not allowing trains to reach West Bengal is 'injustice' to the migrant workers from the state.

The BJP leaders waged a social media war against the Bengal government by accusing the state of hiding Covid-19 figures and also complaining the Centre that TMC-led government in Bengal has completely failed in handling the coronavirus crisis.

Echoing similar sentiments put forth by several eminent economists, the senior Congress leader appealed to the central government to shed its reservations and borrow more in 2020-21.

Government should tell the people clearly about the exact state of the pandemic to enable them to prepare accordingly, said Congress senior spokesperson Ajay Maken.

The newspaper, Saamana, however, did not make it clear whether it blamed the BJP-led Centre or the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government for the tragedy.

Her marriage has made an impact on her career, says Samantha Akkineni, admitting that she isn't being offered as many film roles as she used to be when she was single.

Tamil Nadu is now facing one of the worst droughts in over a hundred years, and Balachander saw this coming and worsening nearly four decades ago.

House Owner is poignant and remarkably restrained with a superb performance by Sriranjani, who portrays tremendous fortitude when dealing with a very cantankerous partner.

Samantha Akkineni, who has worked with Arjun Reddy star Vijay Deverakonda in Mahanati, commented on Sandeep Reddy Vanga's statement normalising violence in the name of love in Kabir Singh.

Telugu actor Vijay Deverakonda and Kannada star Yash recently had a rendezvous in Bengaluru and fans are going ga-ga over their twinning in black photo on Instagram.

A case has been registered in Hyderabad against four organisers of the reality show, after a journalist complained that they had misbehaved with her and asked her to satisfy their boss for final selection in the show.