From the Newsroom: Akhilesh rules out alliance with Congress, BSP in UP Assembly polls

In your evening news brief, From The Newsroom, Akhilesh rules out alliance with Congress, BSP in the next Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls; Mehbooba Mufti asks India and Pakistan to initiate dialogue; Prime Minister Narendra Modi terms expansionism “mental disorder”; Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa says his government will try to get additional funds from the Centre for the state’s flood-hit districts, and Armenia says over two thousand fighters were killed in six weeks of clashes with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Here are the top news of November 14, 2020:

Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday categorically ruled out an alliance with the Congress or the BSP in the next assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, which are due in a little over a year's time.

Speaking to reporters in his home town of Etawah, Akhilesh said that his party, however, could consider aligning with smaller outfits in the elections.

''We will, under no circumstances, ally with bigger parties but there may be an alliance with smaller outfits...we are in talks with some such outfits,'' he said.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday asked India and Pakistan to rise above their political compulsions and initiate dialogue, saying it was sad to see mounting casualties on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC).

Mufti's remarks came after the two countries traded heavy fire on the LoC following ceasefire violations by Pakistan on Friday. The firing resulted in loss of lives on the both sides.

The former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister said restoring the ceasefire that was agreed upon and implemented by former prime minister A B Vajpayee and ex-Pakistan president General Pervez Musharaf is a good place to start.

Addressing soldiers along the India-Pakistan border in Longewala in Rajasthan, the Prime Minister on Saturday lashed out at “expansionist forces”, an apparent reference to China, and termed the idea as a “mental disorder”.

Amid a standoff with China and Pakistan, PM Modi also sent out a clear message that India believed in the policy of understanding and explaining, but anyone testing its resolve will get an equally fierce response.

“Today, the entire world is troubled due to expansionist forces. Expansionism is, in a way, reflective of 18th-century thinking. India is becoming a voice against such thinking,” Modi said addressing Indian Army and Border Security Force forces.

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday said his government would try to get additional funds from the Centre for the flood-hit districts of the state.

The statement comes a day after the central government approved Rs 577.84 crore as financial assistance to the state, from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).

Armenia on Saturday said that more than two thousand fighters were killed in six weeks of clashes with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

"To date, our forensic service has examined the corpses of 2,317 dead servicemen, including unidentified ones," Armenian health ministry spokeswoman Alina Nikoghosyan wrote on Facebook.

The updated death toll from the Armenian side pushes its fatalities up by nearly 1,000 compared to the last confirmed toll among Armenian fighters.

Nearly two months of fierce clashes between the ex-Soviet rivals ended this week with a Russian-brokered peace accord that sees Armenia cede swathes of territory captured by Azerbaijan's forces.

Source: DHNS/ PTI/ AFP