FBI OPPOSES MOVE TO RELEASE RUSSIA MEMO
WASHINGTON:
US president Donald Trump on Wednesday found himself at odds with FBI director, Christopher Wray, who publicly opposed his move to release a secret memo regarding the probe into alleged Russian interference in 2016 presidential polls that has dogged his presidency from its start. Trump wants to make the memo, prepared by the House intelligence committee Republicans, public as it raises questions on the manner in which the FBI and the department of justice, under the Obama administration, obtained permission to spy on a member of a Trump campaign in 2016.
The Congress snatched two Lok Sabha and one assembly seat from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in high-stakes bypolls in Rajasthan on Thursday, delivering a jolt to chief minister Vasundhara Raje ahead of state elections later this year.
The Congress won the Alwar and Ajmer Lok Sabha seats by 196,496 and 84,414 votes respectively. In the Mandalgarh assembly seat, the Congress won by almost 13,000 votes. Despite a high-voltage campaign led by the CM, the BJP could not lead in any of the 17 assembly segments.
“Well done Rajasthan Congress! Proud of each and every one of you. This is a rejection of the BJP by the people of Rajasthan,” Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted.
“Our efforts shall continue and we will keep the welfare of the people of Rajasthan at the forefront,” Raje wrote on Twitter.
The defeats will raise more questions about the leadership of Raje, who is battling rising cow vigilante attacks, protests by farmers, doctors strike and resentment over low hikes in government salaries.
Sources said organisation changes are expected as the party will try to stem the rising resentment. State BJP president Ashok Parnami told journalists on Thursday that the party would try and remove shortcomings.
The results will buoy the Congress, which won just 21 seats in the last assembly elections and drew a blank in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
“The bypoll result clearly shows the undercurrent…what people think… In this bypoll not just rural, urban and farmers supported the party, but the youth, which was misguided by BJP, came with Congress,” said Congress state chief Sachin Pilot, who led the campaign.
JAIPUR: