After the Bharatiya Janata Party's loss in the Delhi election, the party's top brass believes its leaders should restrain themselves from making controversial remarks as it is gearing up for the Bihar polls, with party chief J P Nadda cautioning Union minister Giriraj Singh against making such statements, sources said on Sunday.

 

Nadda summoned Singh, MP from Bihar, on Saturday and cautioned him against making such remarks after he stoked a controversy by describing Deoband, the seat of Islamic seminary, as the "Gangotri of terrorism".

Few days back, Union home minister Amit Shah, and the force behind the BJP's high-octane campaign in the Delhi assembly polls, attributed controversial remarks made by some party leaders in the run up to the campaign as one of the reasons for the BJP's defeat. 

Speeches like 'Indo-Pak match' should not have been made by BJP leaders during the recent Delhi election campaign and that such remarks may have resulted in the party's defeat, Shah had said while speaking about the party's defeat in Delhi assembly polls.

The sources in the BJP said now the party has set its eye on the Bihar Assembly polls, where it is in alliance with the Janata Dal-United and wants to ensure their victory in the state.

Therefore, the BJP does not want its leaders to switch to provocative rhetoric which brings bad name for the party, the sources said, adding that at the same time such remarks may not go down well with the JD-U, which never hesitates in flaunting its secular credentials.  

The assembly elections in Bihar are expected to be held around October this year and the JDU-BJP alliance government under Nitish Kumar is seeking re-election.  -- PTI

"On the impact of #CoronavirusOutbreak and any disruptions to #MakeinIndia or to Indian export/import @FinMinIndia is scheduled to hold a meeting on Tuesday 18 Feb. Stakeholders welcome. If unable to attend please email your inputs at fmo@nic.in," Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted on Sunday. 

India is one of China's leading trade partners in Asia and has a huge trade deficit with that country. 

The death toll from China's coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic climbed to 1,665 on Saturday after 142 more people died, mostly in the worst-hit Hubei Province, and the confirmed cases jumped to 68,500. 

Coronavirus outbreak in China provides an opportunity for India to expand exports, Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian had said last week. -- PTI  

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday said the cases of divorce are found more in "educated and affluent" families nowadays as education and affluence brings arrogance along, which results in families falling apart.

He also said that there is no alternative to a Hindu society in India.

Bhagwat was addressing RSS workers Ahmedabad, who were present there along with their family members.

"Nowadays the number of divorce cases have increased a lot. People fight over trifle issues. The cases of divorce are more in educated and affluent families, because with education and affluence comes arrogance, as a result of which families fall apart. The society also falls apart because society is also a family," Bhagwat was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the RSS.

"We expect swayamsevaks to tell their family members about their activities in the Sangh, because many times women members of the family have to carry out more painful work than us to ensure that we can do what we do," he said.

He said confining women to homes has resulted in the condition of the society that we see today.

"The condition of the society is because of the customs that have been practising here for the last 2,000 years. Women we have here were confined to homes. This was not the case 2,000 years ago. That was the golden age of our society," Bhagwat said.

"Hindu society should be virtuous and organised, and when we say society, it is not only men. A society is the one which gets its identity due to its sense of belonging," he said.

"I am a Hindu, I respect the places of reverence associated with all faiths. But I am firm regarding my own place of reverence. I have got my sanskar from my family, and it is 'matru shakti' which teaches us so," he was quoted as saying in the statement.

"There is no society without a household, and women, who comprise half of the society, should become more enlightened. But if we do not care about our society, then neitherwe will survive, nor our family," he said.

"India has no option other than a Hindu society and Hindu society has no option but to behave like a family," the RSS chief said. -- PTI 

In further relief to Kerala, a student treated for the novel coronavirus in the state was discharged on Sunday after two consecutive test results returned negative, becoming India's second patient to recover from the infection, health authorities said.

     

The patient from Kasaragod, one of the three positive cases of coronavirus detected in the country on their return from China, would, however, remain under home quarantine for ten days, the state health department said.

    

"Two consecutive results of the patient came negative and was then discharged today morning. The patient will have to remain under home quarantine for ten more days," a senior health official told PTI.

     

More than 2,000 people are still under observation for the novel coronavirus in the state, which had accounted for all three positive cases in the country.

     

Earlier on Thursday, a student from Alappuzha was discharged after his two consecutive samples sent for testing at the National Institute of Virology in Pune turned out to be negative. 

     

India's first coronavirus case, a woman medico from Thrissur, is awaiting test results from Pune NIV after samples screened at the Alappuzha centre of the institute had returned negative last week.

     

"Now, we are waiting for the test result of the student admitted to Thrissur Medical College Hospital. Once the negative result is received, we can proceed to discharge," the official said.

      

Both the discharged students, studying in a university in Wuhan, the epicentre of the deadly virus that has claimed over 1,600 lives in China, had earlier tested positive for the infection and were treated in isolation wards set up in medical college hospitals in Alappuzha and Kasaragod.

     

Of the 2,210 people under surveillance in various districts, as many as 16 were in isolation wards in hospitals and the remaining 2,194 are in home quarantine, Kerala health minister K K Shailaja said in a release on Sunday. 

    

Of the 415 samples sent for testing at the NIV in Pune, a total of 396 turned out to be negative and the results of the remaining were awaited, the release, quoting the minister, said.

     

Earlier, after the three students tested positive, the government had declared the coronavirus as a state calamity, but withdrew it after effective quarantine and no fresh cases were reported. 

The National Conference has decided to participate in the Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir next month but wants "roadblocks" placed in its way to be removed so that it can campaign freely.

 

In a letter to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Electoral Officer Shailendra Kumar, NC central secretary Rattan Lal Gupta said the party is a strong votary of democratic process and wishes to participate in the eight-phase elections starting March 5 in over 11,000 seats. A copy of the letter has been marked to the Chief Election Commissioner.

 

The letter states that it is practically impossible for the party to participate in the election when its top leaders, including its president Farooq Abdullah, vice president Omar Abdullah, general secretary Ali Mohammed Sagar, are in detention under the stringent Public Safety Act.

 

Therefore, the process of selecting candidates and campaigning under the given circumstances is impossible, the letter said.

 

The elections to local bodies, the first democratic exercise after Jammu and Kashmir became a union territory last year, will be contested on party lines unlike the last polls in 2018 when it was contested on non-party lines.

 

The elections would be held for electing 1,011 sarpanch and 11,639 panch across Jammu and Kashmir, excluding some snow-bound areas, for which the schedule would be announced later.

 

Gupta said that his party firmly believed in democratic rights of the people and their mandate to elect representatives at different levels.

 

"However, for a genuine political exercise to happen, it is important that the mainstream political thought, which is a unifying force, is allowed to freely propagate and demonstrate its ideology," he said in the letter and added that a political ecosystem needs to be ensured so that the democratic institutions become genuine and credible reflectors of the people's aspirations.

 

Gupta asked the CEO to advice the party on how these roadblocks that have been placed in the way of its participation can be overcome.

 

"If the aim is to create conditions to exclude all other parties except the BJP, then nothing more needs to be said but if the aim is to create a genuine culture of grassroots democracy, then the process adopted is a deeply flawed one," he wrote. -- PTI

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday alleged that the Centre has handed over probe in the Elgar Parishad case to the National Investigation Agency as the previous Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra wants to "hide something".

Pawar, who earlier demanded constitution of a Special Investigation Team to probe the case in which human rights activists have been arrested for alleged links with Maoists, said the Centre should have taken the Maharashtra government into confidence before handing over the case to NIA.

The former Union minister also asked whether speaking against the government is an "anti-national" activity.

"There seems to be something that the then Fadnavis government wants to hide, hence the investigation has been handed over to NIA. When the Koregaon-Bhima violence took place, Fadnavis government was in power," Pawar told reporters in Jalgaon.

It is the Centre's prerogative to investigate the Elgar Parishad case, but it should have taken the state into confidence, said Pawar, whose party is an alliance partner in the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government.

"Koregaon-Bhima, and Elgar Parishad, held in Pune a day before the violence, are two different issues. Is writing rebellious literature and speaking against the government an an anti-national activity?" he asked.

Every year people gather at Koregaon Bhima (village in Pune), but some people went to nearby villages and "turned them against those who regularly visit the place". Police have taken action against these people, including (right wing leaders) Sambhaji Bhide, Milind Ekbote, Pawar said.

In a change of stand, the Maharashtra government recently said it has no objection to NIA taking over probe into the Elgar Parishad case.

The Centre last month transferred the probe in the case from the Pune Police to NIA, a move then criticised by the state Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government.

The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave, held at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed, triggered violence near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial in the district the next day. 

The Pune Police have claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists.

During the probe, the police arrested Left-leaning activists Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Varavara Rao for alleged Maoist links.

These nine activists, currently in jail, are among 11 people booked by the NIA in the Elgar Parishad case.

While the Pune Police had applied IPC section 124A (sedition) in the case, the NIA FIR does not have this charge.

Similarly, IPC Sections like 121 (waging or attempting to war or abetting waging war against the Government of India), 121-A (conspiracy to commit offences punishable under section 121) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) were missing from the NIA's FIR.

The accused have been charged under IPC sections 153-A (promoting enmity between groups ), 505 (1)(b) (intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public), 117 (abetting commission of offence by the public or by more than ten persons), among others, and certain sections of the anti-terror act UAPA. -- PTI  

As Arvind Kejriwal took oath as chief minister of Delhi for the third time on Sunday, many Aam Aadmi Party supporters said it is time for him to go national and his aim should be to change the country's politics.

 

Now it is the time to move beyond Delhi and work towards changing the country's "toxic" political atmosphere, said Suman Rao, a construction worker from Bhopal and an AAP supporter.  

"The atmosphere in the whole country has turned toxic, now the AAP should work towards changing that. It is very important to clean other parts of the country," he said.

Waving the national flag at Kejriwal's swearing-in ceremony at the Ramlila Maidan here, another AAP supporter Ershan Khan said there is a reason why people are carrying the tricolour and not the party's flags.

"It is because people now want to see Kejriwal as their national leader. The time to go national is now. The time to remove negative nationalism is now and only AAP can do that," Khan said.

Rajshree Singh, a housewife, said the party should now plan to fight in other states and expand their reach so that the ideology of the AAP spreads to other parts of the country.

Now the good politics and the good model of governance developed by the AAP should be spread to other parts of the country too, Rajesh Sharma said.  

The AAP is at present recognised by the Election Commission as a state party. 

It emerged as the principal opposition in Punjab in 2017. 

However, its national ambitions suffered a setback when its campaigns in Goa and in the last two Lok Sabha elections were unsuccessful. 

It won four Lok Sabha seats in Punjab in 2014 and just one in 2019, while Delhi voters rejected the AAP in both the general elections.

Kejriwal also burnt his fingers in 2014 when he contested against Narendra Modi, who was the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, in the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, losing by over three lakh votes.

Many saw a shift in the AAP's strategy after the party's drubbing in the 2017 civic polls in Delhi at the hands of the BJP, as it again focussed on its development pitch in the national capital.

But ever since its recent victory in the assembly polls, AAP is again aiming to go national and has decided to fight all local body elections to strengthen its hold on the ground. -- PTI 

All 406 people, who are housed at an Indo Tibetan Border Police quarantine facility here after being brought back from Wuhan, have tested negative for novel Coronavirus in the latest sample examination and will be discharged in a phased manner beginning Monday, officials said.

   

The final samples of all the people quarantined at the ITBP facility in New Delhi were collected by a team of doctors on Friday.

The final coronavirus test reports of all 406 people have been found negative, an ITBP spokesperson said on Sunday.

 

All 406 persons are going to be discharged in a phased manner from Monday onwards based on the advisory issued by the Ministry of Health with due medical procedures and protocols, he said. -- PTI 

Amidst continuing protests against the amended citizenship law, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said his government stood by the decision despite all pressure.

 

"Be it the decision on Article 370 or the Citizenship Amendment Act, it was necessary in the interest of the country. Despite pressure, we stand by our decision and will remain so," he said.

Modi was addressing a public meeting in his Lok Sabha constituency. -- PTI

The fishermen were arrested from the northern coast of the Alanathivu island on Saturday and their three trawlers were taken under the Navy's charge, a senior Sri Lankan Navy official said. 

"The fishermen and their trawlers would be handed over to the Jaffna, fisheries directorate through the coastal conservation department," the official said.

Navy said that over the months the number of Indian fishing boats poaching in the Sri Lankan waters have reduced due to continuous surveillance. -- PTI

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres arrived in Pakistan on Sunday on a four-day visit during which he will attend the international conference on Afghan refugees, hold parleys with the top Pakistani leadership and visit the  Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur.

The UN Secretary-General was received by Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Munir Akram and senior officials of the Foreign Office and the United Nations in Pakistan on his arrival at the Nur Khan Airbase, Radio Pakistan reported.

According to the foreign office, Guterres will hold talks with President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

During these meetings, Pakistan will share its perspective on the Kashmir issue, it said.

His other engagements include interactions with parliamentarians and the youth.

He will deliver special talks on themes of sustainable development, climate change and peacekeeping. He will also visit Lahore.

He will also visit the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, in Kartarpur.

Guru Nanak Dev spent the last 18 years of his life at Kartarpur Sahib, which has now become the world's largest Sikh Gurdwara.

He will speak at the international conference on '40 Years of Hosting Afghan Refugees in Pakistan', which is being organised by Pakistan and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

The two-day conference starting from Monday will be inaugurated by Prime Khan. -- PTI 

Hundreds of women protesting against the citizenship law at Shaheen Bagh have stopped their march to Union home minister Amit Shah's house midway after being assured of a proper appointment with him. 

The women had started the march around 2 pm, hoping for a dialogue with Shah on the citizenship law. 

They did not have an appointment or the permission for a protest march from the police.

The police said they stopped the march and went back to their sit-in protest after they were told that their application for a meeting has been sent to the home minister. 

Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protesters at Shaheen Bagh have begun a march towards Union home minister Amit Shah's residence on Sunday.

The police, however, have not given permission for the march and a team, dressed in riot gear, is expected to stop the protesters.

"They (Shaheen Bagh protesters) told us that they wanted to take out a march (to meet the HM). But we told them they cannot as they do not have appointment call from the Union home minister. We are talking to them and we hope that they will understand," RP Meena, DCP South East told ANI.

 

The protesters, mainly women, have been staging a sit-in against the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens and the National Population Register for the past two months.

Bharatiya Janata Party national president J P Nadda on Sunday dubbed the Maharashtra government led by Uddhav Thackeray as "unnatural and unrealistic".

Addressing the state BJP convention in a Navi Mumbai township, Nadda said the party needs to be ready to go solo in future elections. 

"The Maharashtra government is unnatural and unrealistic...we should be prepared to go alone in the forthcoming elections," he said.

The BJP emerged as the single largest party in the state after the Assembly polls in October last year.

However, it failed to form government after the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena snapped ties with it over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.

The Shiv Sena later forged an alliance with the ideologically different NCP and Congress to form the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government in the state. -- PTI 

Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday said the Delhi assembly poll results indicate that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah are not invincible.

In his weekly column in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', its executive editor Raut criticised BJP's "religion-centric" political strategy while lauding the developmental works of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government.

He said the BJP, which appeared invincible during the Lok Sabha polls, fell like a "house of cards" in Delhi.

"No country is without religion, but religion does not mean patriotism...a follower of Lord Hanuman, Kejriwal brought 'Ram Rajya' in Delhi though the BJP almost fielded Lord Ram in this election," Raut said in sarcastic comments.

"The picture of Delhi was of Kejriwal as devotee of Hanuman and people of Delhi became Ram...Ram strongly stood behind Hanuman," he said, adding that there are lessons to be learnt from this election.

BJP leaders earlier said those who don't vote for the saffron party would be traitors, so is the entire Delhi going to get that stamp? Raut asked.

"The Delhi verdict indicates that Modi-Shah are not invincible any longer. It also points out that voters are not dishonest. Religious whirlwinds were stoked for political gains, but voters did not get carried away," he said.

People should get over the "myth" that only Modi and Shah can win elections, the Rajya Sabha member said.

Sharing an experience from a recent international visit, Raut said while he was at the Tashkent airport, two Indians living there for years told him that the "BJP bubble has started to burst now".

"Even Lord Ram is not helping the party to win polls. They (those two Indians) shared their views on the day of vote counting (for Delhi polls)," the Sena leader said.

The common factor between Prime Minister Modi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is that "both are self-centered", but Modi also has "huge arrogance and pomposity", Raut alleged.

He said Kejriwal also once wanted to "conquer the entire country", but after facing defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, he soon realised his limitations and built his party and its network in Delhi.

"The BJP has ridiculed Kejriwal's freebies, like free electricity and water. BJP's definition of patriotism comprises waging war against Pakistan, abrogation of Article 370, strong steps against infiltrators and random sloganeering of 'Vande Mataram' and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'," he said.

But, "the better form of patriotism" (referring to Kejriwal) is offering better education, health services and providing electricity, water and shelter to the needy, the Sena leader pointed out.

"Will you (BJP) call it patriotism when two crore people lost jobs in last two years?" Raut wondered.

He said before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP promised that Rs 15 lakh will be deposited in every citizen's bank account, but not even Rs 15 got deposited.

The BJP also pushed the Delhi poll narrative towards issues like Ram temple, (abrogation of) Article 370, Jammu and Kashmir, surgical strike and 'Hindutva', but people instead chose Kejriwal, who provided them essential services, he said. -- PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated a 63-feet tall statue of former Bhartiya Jana Sangh leader Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya in Varanasi.

The 'Pancha Loha' statue is the tallest statue of the leader in the country. 

Over 200 artisans have worked for almost a year in order to complete the structure. 

He also inaugurated the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Memorial Centre.

The memorial centre has the engravings of the life and times of Deendayal Upadhyaya. 

About 30 Odisha craftsmen and artists have worked on the project during the last year.

The prime minister, who arrived in his parliamentary constituency on Sunday morning, is scheduled to inaugurate over 30 projects, including a 430-bed super speciality government hospital and a 74-bed psychiatry hospital at Benaras Hindu University, and an exhibition 'Kashi Ek Roop Anek', besides flagging off IRCTC's Maha Kaal Express through video link. 

The train will connect the three Jyotirling pilgrim centres of Varanasi, Ujjain and Omkareshwar. -- ANI

Anti-CAA protesters at Shaheen Bagh, who have called for a march till Union home minister Amit Shah's residence on Sunday, have not yet received permission from the Delhi Police.

 

In a letter to the protesters, the New Delhi district police said the march will pass through two more districts and request for it has been sent to the police headquarters for further appropriate actions.

Police said they had asked the protesters at Shaheen Bagh to give the details of the delegation for its meeting with the Union home minister.

In a written response to police, they said 4,000 to 5,000 demonstrators would be marching towards Shah's residence.

 

The protesters, mainly women, have been staging a sit-in against the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens and the National Population Register for the past two months. -- PTI

Arvind Kejriwal, who took oath as Delhi chief minister for the third successive time on Sunday, said he is everyone's leader, irrespective of their party affiliation.

"In elections, some voted for the AAP, while some for the BJP and the Congress.... but today when I took oath as chief minister of Delhi, I am chief minister for all. I am AAP's chief minister, BJP's chief minister and Congress chief minister and other parties as well," said Kejriwal here at Ramlila Maidan.

"Party affiliation never stopped me from working for everyone," he said.

Kejriwal said he wants to work in coordination with the Centre and also sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's blessings for smooth governance of the national capital. 

 

Kejriwal said as the elections are over, the politics is also over and he has "forgiven" his opponents for the remarks they made during the poll campaign. 

Referring himself as Delhi's "son", he said this is not his victory but of every single Delhiite. 

"We want to seek Prime Minister Narendra Modi's blessing for smooth governance of Delhi," Kejriwal said in his address at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi after taking oath.

In his earlier tenure, the AAP supremo had several run-ins with the Centre. 

"Your son has taken oath for the third time as the Delhi chief minister. This is not my victory but yours," Kejriwal.

Kejriwal said he did not give step-motherly treatment to anyone and has worked for all in the last five years. -- ANI, PTI 

Five Bajrang Dal activists have been arrested for allegedly indulging in vandalism in Hyderabad on ValentinesDay, police said.

     

They said about 10 to 15 activists on two wheelers vandalised a shop in Kattupalli area on February 14.

     

They held aloft flags and raised slogans against celebration of Valentines Day and "created havoc" at different malls, a police press release said.      

On receiving information, police rushed to a mall, but the Bajrang Dal activists escaped from the spot.

     

Five of them were later identified with the help of CCTV footage and arrested, police said.

    

The others too have been identifed and efforts were on to nab them, police said.

     

Two cases have been registered against them under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code on a complaint from shop owners, the release said. -- PTI 

In a repeat of last edition's final, defending champions Mumbai Indians and runners-up Chennai Super Kings will open the 13th Indian Premier League at the Wankhede Stadium on March 29.

   

The franchise-based event will start 11 days after India's home ODI series against South Africa ends on March 18 in Kolkata.

 

The Indian Premier League will release the schedule for the knockouts later, but the final is scheduled for May 24.

 

The organisers have done away with the Saturday double-headers, resulting in an extra week in the league phase.

 

The BCCI sent out the final fixture to the franchises on Saturday, stating that six double-headers will take place only on Sundays.

 

The last league game is scheduled for May 17, between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai in Bengaluru.

 

Except Rajasthan Royals, all the other seven franchises have retained their original home bases. -- PTI 

Just hours before his swearing-in ceremony as chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal invited the people of Delhi again for the mega event at Ramlila Maidan on Sunday.

Referring himself as "son of Delhi", the AAP convener early on Sunday morning tweeted stating, "Delhiites, your son is going to take oath as Delhi chief minister for the third time. You must come to bless your son".

The AAP national convener will be sworn-in as the chief minister of Delhi for the third time in a row. 

Kejriwal is scheduled to take oath along with other ministers at a grand ceremony at the Ramlila Maidan.

On Saturday, Kejriwal, through a tweet, has said that autorickshaw drivers, students, teachers, doctors, labourers etc will be the "chief guests".

The guest list put out by the AAP includes 'Delhi ke Nirmata'-- people who contributed to the development of the city during the last five years.

These include Sumit Nagal, a Delhi government school student and an international Tennis player, Laxman Chaudhry an auto driver, Manu Gulati a teacher and "one of the many architects of Delhi Governance Model", Dalbir Singh a farmer, Ratan Jamshed Batliboi, the architect of the famous Signature Bridge among others. -- ANI

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal had invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seven Lok Sabha MPs from Delhi and eight newly elected BJP MLAs to his swearing-in ceremony on Sunday for his third term as Delhi's Chief Minister. 

The PM, however, is scheduled to visit his constituency Varanasi today to inaugurate various projects and is likely to not attend the swearing-in.

Kejriwal's third oath ceremony after a landslide victory in Delhi will feature no chief minister or political leaders from other states, the AAP said on Thursday.

The 51-year-old will be sworn in at Ramlila Maidan in the heart of Delhi, three days after AAP's sweep in the Delhi election with 62 of 70 assembly seats.

AAP has invited "everyone in Delhi" to the ceremony, Kejriwal's number two in the party, Manish Sisodia, had said yesterday.

'Baby Mufflerman' Aavyan Tomar, who stole the hearts when he dressed up as Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal, is at the swearing-in ceremony at the historic Ramlila Ground in New Delhi on February 16.

Earlier, an AAP functionary said Tomar had been invited for the oath-taking ceremony.

Tomar, who is little more than a year old, hogged the headlines after he was spotted at the party office dressed like Kejriwal -- with spectacles, party cap, a sweater and muffler.

The child even sported a moustache like the AAP chief.

Aavyan lives at Mayur Vihar in east Delhi. His father, Rahul Tomar, is an AAP supporter.

After Aavyan's photos went viral, he was dubbed as 'Baby Kejriwal', 'Baby Mufflerman' and 'Chhota Kejriwal'.

AAP's founding member and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's trusted lieutenant Manish Sisodia is set to be part of the state government again.

Sisodia, who held several key portfolios including finance and education in the last government, is credited with transforming the government-run schools in the city in the last five years by building better infrastructure and introducing new subjects such as IT and financial markets into the syllabus and also in bringing transparency in the admission process in private schools. As Delhi's finance minister, he doubled the budgetary allocation to education and also gave special emphasis on health services.

The AAP leader also brought out a book -- 'Shiksha: My Experiments as an Education Minister' -- tracing their story of changing the face of government schools in Delhi.

However, it was not an easy electoral victory for Sisodia this time around.

While his party marched sure-footed towards a landslide victory in the Assembly polls as per the early trends on the counting day on February 11, uncertainty loomed for several hours over the fate of Sisodia following a nail-biting contest in his Patparganj constituency.

Sisodia, who was seeking re-election from Patparganj for the third time, trailed by about thousand votes behind BJP's Ravinder Singh Negi, a political greenhorn, for several rounds. The Delhi Deputy chief minister finally won the seat, though by a relatively narrow margin of just around 3,000-odd votes.

A close confidant of Kejriwal, Sisodia will again take oath as a minister today at Ramlila Maidan here.

A journalist before entering public life, Sisodia came into limelight during Anna Hazare's Lokpal movement in 2011.

One of the founding members of AAP, Sisodia played a crucial role in building the narrative in favour of his party that ultimately ensured its third stint in power.

While he served as the deputy chief minister, along with holding several key portfolios including that of education, finance and planning, waits to be seen if he will get to retain the same or CM Kejriwal will entrust him with some new responsibilities. 

As Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal takes oath as the chief minister of Delhi for the third time, not a single woman MLA will swear in as the cabinet minister. On the eve of swearing-in ceremony, Delhi CM designate had hosted a dinner party for other cabinet members where women MLAs were conspicuously missing.

Atishi Marlena, the first time MLA who had also contested 2019 Lok Sabha elections from AAP ticket and lost to BJPs Gautam Gambhir, will also not be part of the cabinet ministers swearing in today.

Netizens took to Twitter to question the newly elected chief minister about his doublespeak on women safety and women empowerment.

Protesters at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi have announced they will march to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's residence on Sunday with a charter of demands. They said their primary demand is to revoke the Citizenship Amendment Act.

However, sources in the home ministry said that they haven't received any such request for meeting so far.

The march to Amit Shah's residence is expected to start at 2 pm.

Speaking to mediapersons in Shaheen Bagh, the protesters said they have decided to go to Amit Shah's residence because he recently announced that anyone who has a problem with CAA can meet him and discuss the problem.

"Amit Shah ji ne yeh kaha tha ki kisi ko is kanoon se pareshani hai toh mera paas aayen. Shaheen Bagh ko is kanoon se takleef hai. Is liye Shaheen Baagh ke sab log kal Amit Shah ji ke paas jayega (Amit Shah had said if anyone has any problem with the CAA, then he/she can meet him and discuss the problem. Shaheen Bagh has problem with CAA and that's why tomorrow everyone in Shaheen Bagh will march to Amit Shah's residence)," one of the protesters said.

The protesters said they will not be sending any delegation to meet the home minister, but rather "every person will be part of the delegation".

Since December 15, Shaheen bagh has become the epicentre of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in the national capital. The protesters, mostly women, have staged a continuous sit-in and have been demanding withdrawal of the CAA.

The death toll from China's coronavirus epidemic has climbed to 1,665 after 142 more people died, mostly in the worst-hit Hubei Province, and the confirmed cases jumped to 68,500, officials said on Sunday, as top WHO experts scramble to assist Beijing contain the virus spread.

China'sNational Health Commission confirmed 2,009 new cases across the country.

Hubei and its provincial capital Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in December, reported 1,843 of the new cases. The latest report brought the total confirmed cases in Hubei to 56,249 cases.

Of the new deaths, 139 were in Hubei, two in Sichuan, and one in Hunan, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The number of new cases, however, appears to have started dropping and a top Chinese health official has said efforts to control the outbreak have reached the most crucial stage".

The report said 9,419 infected patients had been discharged from hospital after recovery so far.

The coronavirus has posed a severe threat to the medical staff as more than 1,700 Chinese health officials have been infected by the virus while treating the patients and six of them have died.

Experts from the World Health Organisation are expected in Beijing on Sunday to join Chinese health authorities in containing the virus, which has spread to several other countries forcing them to temporarily stop tourist arrivals from China.

The health commission said a joint mission with WHO experts will pay field visits to China's three provincial-level regions to learn the effectiveness of the epidemic control measures.

Arvind Kejriwal, who spearheaded the Aam Aadmi Party to another resounding victory in the assembly elections of Delhi by winning 62 seats out of 70 against the BJP led juggernaut, will take oath as the chief minister of city-state today.

Kejriwal will be sworn-in as the chief minister of Delhi for the third time in a row. Kejriwal is scheduled to take oath along with other ministers at 10 am at a grand ceremony at the Ramlila Maidan. Big banners with messages like 'Dhanyawad Dilli' along with the image of Kejriwal have been put along the route of Ramlila Maidan.

The 51-year-old bureaucrat-turned-politician will be administered the oath of office and secrecy by Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal at Ramlila Maidan, which has been all decked for the momentous moment.

Referring to himself as "son of Delhi", Kejriwal extended an invitation to Delhiites for his oath ceremony and tweeted, "Am so glad that such large no of people are joining the new politics - kaam ki raajniti."

On Saturday, Kejriwal, through a tweet, has said that autorickshaw drivers, students, teachers, doctors, labourers etc will be the "chief guests".

The Directorate of Education Board in Delhi has requested all the heads of all Delhi government schools to attend the ceremony, along with Vice-Principals, Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum Coordinators, Happiness Coordinators, and Teacher Development Coordinators are also requested to attend the ceremony.

The venue also served as the battleground for Kejriwal during the India Against Corruption movement in 2011.

By winning 62 seats by cashing in on the plank of development, his party nearly repeated its 2015 performance, sweeping the Assembly polls in the face of a high-voltage campaign by the BJP, which had fielded a battery of Union Ministers and Chief Ministers in its electioneering, spearheaded by Home Minister Amit Shah.

The BJP marginally improved its tally, managing just eight seats from its 2015's tally of three seats. The Congress failed to open its account in the second successive election.