Political parties dominated news headlines on Monday amid the Lok Sabha elections — from the AAP insulin row in Tihar jail to outrage over remarks made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Several leading companies including Reliance announced their fourth quarter results while tensions in the Middle East continued to ramp up.
Here are some of the top news headlines:
Reliance Q4 results
Reliance Industries reported an almost flat March quarter net profit amid a recovery in its core oil and petrochemicals business and sustained momentum across the consumer-facing telecom and retail businesses. Data released by the company on Monday afternoon indicate that net profit declined 1.8% YoY to ₹18,951 crore. The company posted a record net profit of ₹69,621 in FY24 crore as compared to ₹66,702 crore in the preceding financial year.
ALSO READ: Reliance Q4 result: Revenue up 11% YoY, PAT comes almost flat; 5 key highlights
AAP insulin row
The ongoing tussle between AAP and the Tihar jail administration took a fresh turn on Monday with the intervention of a Delhi court. Special Judge for CBI and ED cases Kaveri Baweja has directed AIIMS to constitute a medical board to examine Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and determine his insulin requirements. The AAP supremo insists that he was not being administered insulin in jail, leading to “alarming” rise in his blood sugar levels.
According to the AAP, he had also written to the Jail Superintendent over the matter. The jailed politician accused the prison administration of “issuing false statements under political pressure” and claimed that he was asking for insulin on a daily basis.
ALSO READ: Arvind Kejriwal writes to Tihar Jail Superintendent amid insulin row: ‘I am asking daily…’
Congress files 16 EC complaints against BJP
The Congress approached the Election Commission on Monday with 16 complaints against the BJP — including the use of religious symbols during campaign and the uncontested victory of a BJP candidate from Gujarat. A delegation led by Abhishek Manu Singhvi also flagged recent remarks by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that “used religion to ask voters to refrain from voting for the INC”.
Israel-Iran row
Concerns about a wider conflict continued to loom over the Middle East on Monday as Israel continued its Gaza offensive. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the US on Monday amid assertions that its closest ally was mulling sanctions against an IDF battallion. The PM dubbed it “the height of absurdity and a moral low” to sanction the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda battalion over alleged human rights abuses in the West Bank (prior to the war). The country’s military intelligence chief also resigned on Monday after taking responsibility for failures leading to the Hamas attack on October 7.
Meanwhile the European Union has agreed in principle to expand sanctions on Iran.
“We have reached a political agreement in order to enlarge and expand the existing drone (sanctions) regime in order to cover missiles and their potential … transfer to Russia,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Published: 22 Apr 2024, 07:27 PM IST
