Hello all, here are top stories for you to read on March 19 afternoon.

PM Modi’s fresh attack on INDIA bloc over ‘Shakti’ row

Referring to Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Shakti’ remark, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said INDIA bloc allies Congress and DMK have the propensity to insult the Hindu religion. He said they never speak against other religions. “INDI alliance deliberately insult Hindu Dharma and every statement against Hindu Dharma is well thought of. Congress-DMK INDI alliance never speak against other religions. But they do not take a second to insult Hindu Dharma,” he said at a rally in Tamil Nadu’s Salem. Full Story

SC seeks Centre’s response on plea against CAA rules

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the Narendra Modi government’s response to a bunch of petitions seeking a stay on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rules, fixing April 9 as the next date of hearing. In the meantime, there is no stay on the grant of citizenship even as some of the petitioners pressed for it. Full Story

Hemant Soren’s sister-in-law Sita joins BJP

Sita Soren, JMM legislator and sister-in-law of former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday. Sita Soren resigned as the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) hours before joining the BJP, claiming that she was being neglected and isolated in the state’s ruling party. Sita Soren joined the BJP in the presence of its national general secretary Vinod Tawde and Jharkhand poll in-charge Laxmikant Bajpai at its headquarters in New Delhi. Full Story

Eoin Morgan speaks on MS Dhoni’s ‘effect’ on Ben Stokes

Among the big names missing from the 2024 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) would be Ben Stokes. The England Test captain had announced even before the auction late last year that he will be sitting out the T20 league in a bid to manage his workload. Stokes played sporadically last season for CSK who had bought him for ₹16.25 crore. Former England captain Eoin Morgan, under whom Stokes had won the 2019 World Cup, said that the latter and the rest of the England players who played under Dhoni had nothing but praise for the talismanic CSK captain. Full Story

Rajamouli introduces Mahesh Babu to fans in Japan

Director SS Rajamouli has introduced actor Mahesh Babu to his fans in Japan and also spoken about his next project, SSMB 29. In a video shared by Gulte.com, Rajamouli said that the film is in “the pre-production process”. The director also promised that during the release of the film, he would bring Mahesh Babu to Japan and introduce him to fans there in person. Rajamouli recently attended a special screening of his blockbuster film RRR in Japan. Full Story