Live news updates: Will launch new party, first unit in J&K, says Azad

Live news updates: Veteran politician Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday said he would launch a new party soon and that its first unit would be set up in Jammu and Kashmir. “I am in no hurry as of now to launch a national party but keeping in mind that elections are likely to be held in Jammu and Kashmir, I have decided to launch a unit there soon,” Azad, who resigned from the Congress earlier in the day, told PTI.

A parliamentary panel Friday questioned top Twitter officials over a whistle-blower’s revelations on its India operations, and gave them a dressing-down as their replies on issue of data security and privacy were “not satisfactory”, sources said. Top Twitter executives including Senior Director (Public Policy) Samiran Gupta, Director (Public Policy) Shagufta Kamran deposed before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology chaired by senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.

Weighing on the ‘freebies’ debate, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said promises made to people by political parties during elections should be met through budgetary provisions, duly passed in the state Assemblies. “If a promise has been made to the people at the time of election because you are looking at quid pro quo, then as a responsible party, after you come to power, make a provision in the budget for it,” the finance minister said at a media event in Mumbai.