The leaders are apparently trying to cash in on the Covid-19 situation in a bid to impress chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy through distribution of essential articles​ ahead of a cabinet expansion.

Ramanagara is one of the eight districts in Karnataka that had not seen a single coronavirus case until now, despite being close to the capital city and falling en route the two red zone districts of Bengaluru and Mysure.

Eight constables who tested positive for Covid-19 were posted in West Bengal, while one was stationed in Odisha.

Urging the TMC supremo 'to shun politics and confrontational approach', Jagdeep Dhankhar said her conduct is only compounding the miseries of the people of West Bengal.

In a five-page letter, Dhankhar responded to the CM, who accused him of 'forgetting' that she was the elected head of government in the state and he was merely a 'nominated' one.

Taking a dig at the TRS-led state government, Sanjay asked ministers to make a field visit to know the ground reality and the problems faced by the farmers.

"UP has stopped testing for the past two days and should start testing on a large scale, while adopting transparency in this regard. Hiding data and the truth can prove fatal," Priyanka Gandhi said.

In a letter to Modi, Gandhi also made some suggestions for the revival of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), which is reeling under the adverse impact of the coronavirus lockdown.

The central teams have been visiting hospitals and quarantine centres and meeting officials in Kolkata and Siliguri.

BJP leaders Debasree Chaudhuri and another MP, Sukanta Majumdar, alleged that they were served with quarantine notices by the local administration so that they could not step outside to provide ration and other relief material to the masses.

Be it businesses, offices, education institutes or medical sector, everyone is adapting to changes in the post-coronavirus world, PM Modi said.

The Congress shared the thoughts of various leaders in a video to resolve the current crisis relating to the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown. The leaders are members of a consultative group headed by Singh and formulate the party's views on various matters.

Priyanka Gandhi's remarks came over Agra Mayor Naveen Jain's letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, requesting him to 'save Agra'.

The death toll due to Covid-19 in Uttar Pradesh rose to 27 with two more fatalities, while 177 fresh cases were reported on Saturday taking the total number of cases in the state to 1,793.

The Congress leader demanded that 1 lakh tests should be done from the current 40,000 as the country has testing kits in stock.

BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, Bankura MP Subhas Sarkar, along with other leaders and workers, held placards in hand during the sit-in at their respective residences from 11 am to 1 pm.

Around 4,000-5,000 students hailing from West Bengal are staying in hostels and paying guest accommodations in Kota city, known for its coaching centres especially for engineering and medical aspirants.

The Congress leader highlighted a letter by the Director General medical education in the state stating that faulty personal protective equipment (PPEs) were supplied and the same had got leaked in public domain.

The Congress cited media reports about rapid test kits for Covid-19 being sold at around 150 per cent profits to the government and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fix responsibility for the same.

With Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari yet to give his nod to appoint Thackeray to the Legislative Council, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut targeted the BJP central leadership for the delay.

In a tweet, Gandhi said, "In Parliament I asked a straight question that who are the top 50 bank thieves, the finance minister refused to answer, and now the RBI has given the list of Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, all BJP friends..."

Official sources said top party leadership has found his comments 'highly irresponsible', and its national president J P Nadda 'pulled up' the state brass for not taking quick action.

Rahul Gandhi had attacked the ruling BJP after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a list of 50 wilful defaulters accused of cheating banks.

That Tony Perkins and his ilk get to dictate, influence opinion about Bharat speaks volumes of the deterioration in standards of USCIRF.

While announcing a few relaxations in green zones, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said experts are of the opinion that restrictions should continue in Bengal till the end of May.

Gandhi urged the Ministry of External Affairs to take note of the reports of the White House 'unfollowing PM Modi on Twitter.

Members working for gas tragedy survivors said despite providing the authorities with data of how they were more vulnerable than the general population, the government did nothing.

A two-minute long clip on social media showed parts of the conversation between the two, while the full dialogue will be released at 9am on Thursday.

The former RBI chief also said a prolonged lockdown would not be sustainable for the country’s economy.

As Congress gets restricted to fewer states and a non-player in important states like UP, Bihar and down South, Covid crisis is being used by the party to remain relevant.

The top court had said to 'ensure a level playing field' among the contesting political parties in 2019 Lok Sabha polls and by-election in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, it has directed the poll panel to allot a common free symbol to the group.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan discussed the coronavirus lockdown in India and its economic impact.

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

Congress said while other governments were putting money in people's hand during the crisis caused by coronavirus, the BJP-JJP dispensation was 'taking anti-people decisions' in Haryana.

The Congress also highlighted the plight of the migrants who are stuck in different part of the country and wants to go home. The party urged the government to start plying trains immediately.

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".

Senior party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad rejected Gandhi's charge that the app has been outsourced to a private operator and asserted that it has a robust data security architecture.

Sonia Gandhi said that the Congress party had asked for provision of free rail travel for migrant workers to their home-towns, but their demands had been ignored by the Centre.

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.

Rahul Gandhi has started a series of talk shows to speak about COVID-19 and how the country can come back on track economically. In the conversations he has stressed that India needs more testing

On May 4, the Congress party tweeted a 1.44-minute clip from their conversation and the full interview was released on Wednesday.

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

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.

New or higher taxes are justified only when the economy is booming, the former finance minister said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's remarks come after the central government hiked excise duty and cess on petrol by Rs 10 per litre and on diesel by Rs 13 a litre.

It is clear that Sonia now wants to make COVID-19 the launching plank of sorts of for the Congress. And, in many ways it is the return of Manmohan Singh as the trump card.

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.

Former prime minister and JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda expressed shock over the incident and appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to extend all required assistance to Andhra Pradesh.

The prime minister also chaired a meeting of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to assess the situation.