Today in Politics: Modi-Sheikh Hasina bilateral talks, Maharashtra Cabinet delegation to meet OBC protesters

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday is scheduled to hold wide-ranging talks with his visiting Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina, who arrived in Delhi on a two-day state visit Friday.

Hasina’s visit is the first by a foreign leader after the formation of the new government. Both sides are likely to firm up a raft of agreements for cooperation in several sectors. Hasina was among seven top leaders from India’s neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean region who attended the swearing-in ceremony of Modi and the Union Council of Ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on June 9. She is also scheduled to call on President Droupadi Murmu and Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Maharashtra Cabinet minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal has said that a group of Cabinet ministers, including him, will visit Jalna on Saturday to persuade OBC activists who are on hunger strike there to oppose any attempt to dilute the OBC quota.

Bhujbal, whose actions and statements are being keenly tracked over any hints of his next course of action, has expressed his opposition to the Maratha demand for quota from the OBC share. His stand and reported unhappiness with the leadership of his party NCP has created some unease within the ruling Mahayuti alliance.

The state government has decided to form a Cabinet sub-committee to deal with OBC issues on the lines of an existing committee for Marathas.

Engineer Rashid’s interim bail hearing

A Delhi court on Saturday is expected to hear further arguments on an application filed by Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid who is seeking interim bail to take oath as an MP. Rashid was arrested in 2019 in connection with a 2016 Jammu and Kashmir terror funding case under UAPA.

Contesting as an Independent, Sheikh Abdul Rashid,