SOREN CALLS ON SONIA GANDHI AHEAD OF HIS SWEARING-IN

NEWDELHI: Jharkhandchiefminister-designate Hemant Soren called on Congress president SoniaGandhiatherresidencein DelhionWednesdaytoinviteher to his swearing-in ceremony in Ranchi on December 29 after a three-party coalition led by his JharkhandMuktiMorcha(JMM) swept to power in the eastern state this week. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was also present at the meeting.

Soren,whoreturnedtoRanchi in the night, will in the next few days hold discussions with the Congress leadership on governmentformationanddistribution of portfolios. The alliance of JMM, Congress and the RashtriyaJanataDal(RJD)oustedthe BJP from power in a five-phase election whose outcome was declared on Monday, together winning 47 seats in the 81-member assembly. Chief minister Raghubar Das lost election from the Jamshedpur East constituency, where he was defeated by BJP rebel Saryu Rai. Under the rules, Jharkhand can have 12 ministers and the Congress is likely to demand five berths.

NEWDELHI: Aparliamentarypanel may seek key changes in the OccupationalSafety,Healthand WorkingConditionsCodeafterit wasfloodedwithdemandsbyvariousorganisationsandtradebodies to be more flexible over rules for small and medium enterprises and to allow themto work longer hours, and have shared facilities such as crèches .

Theparliamentarycommittee on labour is reviewing the OSH code, one of the four codes aimed at overhauling India’s archaic labour sectorlawstomakethem more industry- and workerfriendly. Out of the four codes, the wage code has already been clearedbyParliament.Another, the code on industrial relations, has been cleared by the Union

PUNE: Former leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)andtheCongress,whohad defectedtotheBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of elections, shared the dais with NCP chief SharadPawarandMaharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray at a function of the Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI) in Pune.

Thereisspeculationthatsome legislators who defected to the BJPmayreturntotheCongressNCPastheirpoliticsdependedon the co-operative sector.