News18.com Daybreak | HDK's Swearing-in, Tuticorin Violence, AB de Villiers' Retirement and Stories You May Have Missed

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At least one more person was killed and five more were injured in fresh police firing in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin town on Wednesday, taking the death toll since Tuesday’s violent anti-Sterlite protests to 12. Enraged over Tuesday's allegedly indiscriminate police firing that led to 11 deaths, protesters took to streets and showered stones and brickbats at police, prompting security personnel to open fire at Anna Nagar on Wednesday.

The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday ordered suspension of internet services in Tuticorin and adjoining districts of Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari for five days to prevent spread of rumours through social media and help bring public tranquility. The government said that provocative messages circulated over social media led to 20,000 people taking to the streets on Tuesday which ultimately led to police shooting, allegedly to disperse the uncontrollable crowd. However, many have speculated that the police firing could have been pre-meditated after videos surfaced out of TN, depicting police personnel shooting at the protesters on a fatal day, allegedly with an intent to kill and not to disperse the crowd.

In response to the violence, the TN government transferred Tuticorin District Collector and Superintendent of Police. even as fresh violence rocked the port city for the second consecutive day. It also instituted a one-person committee to probe into the matter.

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court stayed the contentious expansion of the Vedanta's copper smelter plant in Tuticorin amid the continuing agitation against the plant.

Initially perceived as the ‘kingmaker’, Janata Dal(Secular)’s HD Kumaraswamy has emerged as the king of the 2018 Karnataka elections. HDK was sworn in as the 23rd Chief Minister of Karnataka on Wednesday at a grand ceremony attended by a galaxy of top leaders and regional satraps. The rare public show of unity is being perceived as a possible harbinger of a broad-based anti-BJP alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls next year.

Leaders of different Indian political parties raise their hands during the swearing-in ceremony of Janata Dal (Secular) leader H. D. Kumaraswamy and Congress party leader G. Parameshwara as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of the state in Bangalore. (Image: AP)

After his swearing in, HDK said the JD(S) will fight the 2019 Lok Sabha election with the Congress and expressed confidence that the coalition government formed by the two parties will last the full five years in Karnataka.

Shrugging off the ‘political pariah’ tag, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal also made an appearance in HDK’s oath ceremony. But the minister raised eyebrows with his aloof behaviour. The AAP leader avoided the centre-stage, and even stayed out of ‘money-shot’ photos starring other VIP guests like Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati.

Two people suspected to be infected with the brain-damaging Nipah virus are under treatment in Karnataka, a health official said on Wednesday, after an outbreak of the rare virus in neighbouring Kerala killed 10.

Former South African captain and one of modern day cricket's best batsman AB de Villiers retired from all forms of international cricket with immediate effect. The middle order batsman announced his retirement on Twitter.

The Mandsaur administration has brought its 19-point condition list for Rahul Gandhi's public meeting down to six after receiving flak from the Congress party. Earlier, ahead of Rahul's arrival in the Madhya Pradesh city to commemorate the anniversary of Mandsaur firing on farmers, the administration had come up with the long list of conditions to be met ahead and during the public meeting.

The Election Commission of India has said that an alternative to 'One Nation, One Poll' is combining all elections within a period, say a year, to one specific time. The Law Commission, as part of its 20-point question, had asked the poll body if an "alternative to conducting elections due in a year at a specified and fixed time in the year is more viable than totally overhauling the existing system". The present laws permit the body to conduct elections at a chosen time, six months before the end of a legislative assembly or Parliament.

In HDK’s oath ceremony, attended the who’s who of Indian politics, it was a trio of women politicians who stole the show. Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi, Bahujan Samajwadi Party supremo Mayawati and Trinamool Chief Mamata Banerjee took centre stage in a rare moment of political amity, sharing the limelight, cheering and hugging. The moment could mark an important chapter in Indian politics, which continues to predominantly be a male preserve. Only 3 percent of the newly elected legislators in Karnataka are women.

Over 100 mass organisations on Wednesday held a march in Delhi to protest against alleged anti-people policies being pursued by the central government. With the slogan 'Pol Khol, Halla Bol', the Jan Ekta Jan Adhikar Andolan (JEJAA), an umbrella organisation consisting of trade unions, peasant organisations, state and central government employees, Dalits, Adivasis, environmentalists, among others, took to the streets of the capital against the BJP government which completes four years in the office later this week.

The Dalit face of the Congress in Karnataka and its state unit chief G Parameshwara has finally made it to the deputy chief minister's post, for which he has been a contender for too long. The longest-serving state party president since October 2010, Parameshwara has remained a hardcore loyalist of the party ever since his political debut through the Congress.

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Some good sense has prevailed in the Congress, a party known to dump losing chief ministers. It has chosen Siddaramaiah as the leader of the Congress legislative party. After resigning in the wake of the election verdict, he could have exited quietly. But he will now stay on. Read to find out how Siddaramaiah continues to be of importance to the Congress party despite losing the Karnataka elections.