Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said his government, which completed nine years in office on May 30, will continue to take decisions to improve the lives of people like it had over the last nine years.

In a tweet, the PM said he was filled with humility and gratitude on the ninth anniversary of his government. He said he would continue to work harder towards the vision of a developed India.

The BJP has planned a special contact campaign across the country. The party said in a statement the country had seen unprecedented growth and development in every sector with the mantra of Nation First over the past nine years. It was due to the efforts of the government that the world was saying the 21st century belongs to India.

Comments on the tweet have not stopped coming in. One user said PM Modi’s vision had made India the fifth largest economy in the world. Many infrastructure projects had been pushed, toilet, gas and water connections were on the priority list of the Modi government. Article 370 had been revoked in Jammu & Kashmir and women had been empowered during the time.

Not to to be outdone, a critic of the government noted the Modi government had gifted India the highest unemployment rate, the highest cost of living and the highest debt. The user said women’s empowerment was hypocrisy as women wrestlers were being treated like criminals for protesting against the wrestling body chief, who continues to enjoy support of the Modi government.

But overall, the mood has been congratulatory with the odd critique here and there. On May 28, Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the new Parliament building while the Opposition boycotted it. He described the new Parliament as a temple of democracy, felicitated some workers involved in its construction.

The real test of the Modi government will come next year when the country will vote in the next Lok Sabha.

The Congress has bought peace for the time being between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and senior leader Sachin Pilot to contest the upcoming elections to state Assembly unitedly. The two leaders had a meeting lasting some four hours with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi late on Monday.

Senior Congress leader KC Venugopal said the two leaders have decided to work together peacefully and have left any decision on the party high command. Reports quoting sources from the Pilot camp said the former Deputy CM had agreed to the high command’s point but none of his three demands — action against former CM Vasundhara Raje over corruption, setting right the Rajasthan Public Service Commission and relief to those affected by the cancellation of recruitment exams due to paper leaks — were met.

Besides, the two leaders were spoken to separately by Kharge and Gandhi and not together. Over the last few years, factionalism within the party’s Rajasthan unit has been at the forefront as the Congress tries to ready itself for the Lok Sabha 2024 challenge. Last year, Ashok Gehlot supporters were willing to defy the leadership when talk did the rounds that Gehlot would contest for the Congress chief’s post, which was eventually won by Kharge.

Sachin Pilot had launched a counter-campaign demanding action against the previous Rajasthan government for the paper leaks during BJP rule. Pilot had put the Congress on notice that if no action was taken by the end of this month, then agitations will take place all over the state.

He further added that he had gone on a fast in Jaipur but since nothing happened, he would decide to continue with the Jan Sangharsh Yatra. This threat, if carried out, would be a big setback for the Congress as the state elections are just months away.       

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday, rejected the bail plea of former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case on the alleged scam in Delhi liquor policy case.

The Court denied bail stating that the allegations against Sisodia are serious.

A single-judge bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said allegations against the former Deputy CM are serious and as he is an influential man the possibility cannot be ruled out that the witness can be influence if he is released on bail.

During the hearing, the CBI opposing Sisodia’s bail plea stated that the AAP leader is closely associated with senior officials, bureaucrats and there are high chances of him influencing the witness if released on bail.

It added saying that the AAP leaders (his party colleagues) are in high positions and are making factually wrong statement to disturb the investigation and claiming Sisodia’s arrest as a part of political vendetta.

Earlier, Rouse Avenue Court, Delhi had extended Sisodia’s judicial custody till June 1 on the basis of a supplementary charge sheet filed by the CBI. The Court had also ordered the jail authorities to consider his request and provide him with a study table and a chair.

Sisodia’s counsel Dayan Krishnan in earlier arguments had stated that the CBI has no evidence showing his involvement in the alleged irregularities in framing and the implementation of the excise policy of the Delhi government.

Manish Sisodia, the former deputy CM of the capital is also the former Excise Minister who was arrested by the CBI on February 26.

It is alleged that Sisodia while he was in charge of the Excise portfolio had given licenses to private liquor vendors in exchange of a bribe that was later allegedly used by the Aam Aadmi Party in Goa elections campaigning.