In a significant day across various sectors, especially in the realm of politics, the Reserve Bank of India’s eagerly anticipated monetary policy announcement was made by Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday morning. Amid expectations of a status quo on the benchmark interest rates, the Reserve Bank of India has held the key interest rate (repo) at 6.5 percent since February 2023. Experts believe that the RBI will maintain the status quo on interest rates as inflation remains a concern, though the European Central Bank and Bank of Canada have started reducing their respective key rates. Das announced the decision after deliberations of the RBI’s rate-setting panel — Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) — which started discussions on Wednesday. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi appeared before a special court in Bengaluru in connection with a defamation case filed by the Karnataka BJP for allegedly defamatory advertisements in mainstream newspapers ahead of the assembly polls last year. The advertisement accused the then BJP government in the state of indulging in large-scale corruption during its 2019-2023 rule. Gandhi attended the City Civil Court on Friday, and later held a discussion with the Congress’s newly-elected MPs from the state as well as the defeated candidates. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC President D K Shivakumar were also present. The recently elected members of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) convened on Friday to select Narendra Modi as their leader, facilitating his inauguration for a third term as Prime Minister. The swearing-in ceremony is projected to occur on Sunday. After Modi’s election, senior members of the alliance will join the prime minister for a meeting with President Droupadi Murmu to present her the list of parliamentarians supporting him. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka for New Delhi on Friday to join the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as India’s prime minister for a third consecutive term. Prime Minister Hasina’s speech writer quoted her as saying that she will attend the ceremony and leave for Dhaka at 4pm on Friday. The chief minister of Odisha’s maiden government of the BJP is likely to be selected during its Parliamentary Party meeting in New Delhi on Friday. The BJP trounced the BJD, ruling the state for 24 years in a row, winning 78 seats in the 147-member Odisha Assembly. In response to Delhi’s acute shortage of drinking water, which has become an “existential problem,” the Himachal Pradesh government has been directed to release 137 cusecs of surplus water to the national capital on Friday and Haryana to facilitate its flow. The bench said, “Since Himachal Pradesh has no objection and is ready and willing to release the surplus water available with it, we direct that Himachal Pradesh shall release 137 cusecs of surplus water available with it from the upstream so that the water reaches Hathnikund barrage and reaches Delhi through Wazirabad.”
