FEATURE STORY
Former Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MPs Sushmita Dev, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Prakash Chik Baraik joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kolkata on Thursday.
The Congress party in Punjab has familiar faces from almost all castes, making it a strong challenger in the 2027 Assembly polls in Punjab. The expectation of coming back to power with a majority has led several leaders into lobbying mode to be better placed today so that they will have leverage to demand a greater role after victory. This has led to intense factionalism in the state.
In Men’s Cricket, England defeated India by 125 runs in the 3rd T20 International at Trent Bridge in Nottingham last night.
In a major political development that completely alters Bihar’s electoral landscape, Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor announced on Sunday, July 5, 2026, that he will make his personal electoral debut by contesting the upcoming assembly by-election from Patna’s high-profile Bankipur constituency. Addressing a packed press conference, the 48-year-old former poll strategist explicitly framed the upcoming democratic contest as a direct, clear “referendum” on the popularity and performance of the two-month-old, BJP-led state government headed by Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary—who assumed office following Nitish Kumar’s elevation to the Rajya Sabha. The urban Bankipur seat, widely considered an ironclad BJP bastion since the 1990s, fell vacant after sitting legislator and BJP national president Nitin Nabin resigned upon being elected to the Upper House. Launching an aggressive campaign pitch, Kishor appealed to Bankipur’s highly educated electorate to vote purely on merit rather than traditional caste math, claiming that even as a lone representative of his newly formed party, his legislative impact would decisively outweigh the entire treasury bench. As the Election Commission of India (ECI) officially sets the voting date for July 30, 2026, with counting scheduled for August 3, the grand opposition alliance of the RJD and Congress is yet to reveal its strategy, while expelled RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav’s independent faction has already complicated the field by fielding social activist Veena Manvi.
Staging a resilient, highly selective turnaround after suffering their deepest single-day correction in two months, Indian equity benchmarks climbed back into positive territory on Thursday, July 9, 2026. The NSE Nifty 50 advanced 80.75 points, or 0.34 percent, to recapture the crucial baseline at 23,962.80, while the BSE Sensex gained 238.22 points to finish at 76,741.82. The highly volatile trading session saw aggressive morning momentum hit an intraday peak of 24,134 before intense afternoon profit booking briefly pulled indices back to their opening floors. Dalal Street’s defensive stabilization was anchored by Brent crude prices easing to ~$77.5 a barrel alongside proactive, tactical dollar-selling intervention by the Reserve Bank of India to shield the rupee at 95.38. This macro-cushion arrived at a critical juncture, as market volatility had spiked 30% earlier in the week following U.S. President Donald Trump’s hardline declaration that the West Asia peace memorandum was officially “over.” Industrial sentiment was further reinforced by heavy-duty infrastructure commitments, with JSW Infrastructure greenlighting a ₹2,100-crore jetty layout in Odisha and HFCL allocating ₹950 crore to capture a 10% global share in optical fiber production. Minutes after the closing bell, the focus completely shifted to tech desks as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) reported its Q1 FY27 results, delivering a solid 14% year-on-year revenue surge to ₹72,275 crore and a 5% net profit rise to ₹13,349 crore—powered by a spectacular $800 million AI-led transformation deal with SKF that elevated its annualized AI run rate to $2.6 billion.
Bristol, India continued their dismal run, suffering yet another defeat in the ongoing tour of England, going down by nine wickets in the fourth T20I to concede the five-match series here on Thursday.
Opting to bat, India were 48 for 3 in the seventh over but skipper Shreyas Iyer struck an unbeaten 80 off 49 balls to steer India to 158 for seven.
He smashed four boundaries and five sixes during his unbeaten knock.
For England, Jofra Archer (2/20), Josh Tongue (2/36), Will Jacks (1/28) and Adil Rashid (1/49) were among wickets.
In reply, Harry Brooks (79 not out) and Phil Salt (59 not out) smashed blistering fifties as England overhauled the target in just 13.5 overs to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.