From The Newsroom: Bengaluru metro services to resume soon, says Karnataka CM Yediyurappa

In your evening news brief, From The Newsroom, B S Yediyurappa says Metro services will be soon restarted; Congress leader Kapil Sibal hits out at a section of party workers for seeking the ouster of Jitin Prasada and Vital health parameters of the two Covid-19 Oxford vaccine volunteers normal.

Here are the top news of today, Thursday: August 27, 2020:

Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Thursday hit out at a section of party workers for seeking the ouster of Jitin Prasada, who was one of the 23 signatories to a letter seeking sweeping changes within the organisation.

“Unfortunate that Jitin Prasada is being officially targeted in UP. Congress needs to target the BJP with surgical strikes instead of wasting its energy by targeting its own,” Sibal said.

Former union minister Manish Tewari, also among the dissenters, concurred with Sibal. “Prescient,” said Tewari, who represents Anandpur Sahib in the Lok Sabha.

The Lakhimpur Kheri district Congress Committee had adopted a resolution seeking action against Prasada and 22 other signatories to the letter seeking a more “visible and active” leadership and a full-time Congress President to steer the Congress party.

The letter to the Congress President was seen as a dissent against the leadership and its authors were slammed by colleagues at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on Monday.

Though the letter writers were slammed by the leaders, Congress President Sonia Gandhi adopted a forgive and forget approach and had asked the party to move ahead.

The CWC also announced that Gandhi, 73, would continue as Congress President till her successor is elected at a session of the AICC. The CWC had also decided to appoint a four-member committee to assist the Congress President in the day-to-day functioning of the party.

The dissenters have stood their ground saying they would wait and watch on how the party responds to their call for changes in the organisation.

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Thursday said Metro services in the city will be restarted soon, as normalcy is being restored in public life step by step.

"Despite Covid-19 pandemic normalcy in public life is being restored step by step. Taking all the necessary precautionary measures, Metro services will be restarted soon," Yediyurappa said.

Speaking to reporters here after naming a flyover in the heart of the city after revolutionary freedom fighter Sangolli Rayanna, he said his government is committed for the all-round development of the state including Bengaluru.

Five months after its operations were halted due to Covid-19 lockdown, the Metro is yet to get clearance from the government for restarting operations.

Officials have said that they are waiting for Unlock 4.0 guidelines (from September 1) from the Centre and hope to get approval for resuming operations in it.

They have also drawn a standard operating procedure (SOP) for restarting the service.

Yediyurappa said improving the basic infrastructure in Bengaluru is the government's goal and in this direction, all the necessary measures are being taken.

Vital health parameters of the two volunteers, who have been administered the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine candidate at a medical college in Pune as part of phase II clinical trial, are normal, a senior official from the medical facility said on Thursday.

Two men, aged 32 and 48, were given the first shot of the 'Covishield' vaccine, being manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), at Bharti Vidyapeeth's Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday. The dose will be repeated after one month, an official said.

"Since yesterday, our medical team is in touch with the two volunteers and both are fine. They do not have any pain, fever, injection-side reaction or systemic illness post-vaccination," the medical college and hospital's deputy medical director Dr Jitendra Oswal said.

After the vaccine was administered on Wednesday, both the volunteers were observed for 30 minutes and later allowed to go home, he said.

"They have been given all the necessary emergency numbers (to contact in case of need) and our medical team is also conducting follow-ups with them," he added.

The vaccine dose will be repeated on both the volunteers after one month, the hospital's medical director Dr Sanjay Lalwani said on Wednesday.

He said in all, 25 candidates will be given the vaccine in the next seven days.

Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli on Thursday announced that he and his wife, actor Anushka Sharma are expecting a child.

Kohli and Anushka made the announcement on their official social media handles with the caption: "And then, we were three! Arriving Jan 2021", with a photo of himself and Anushka Sharma.

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