This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.

It’s the 19th of March and here are today's headlines.

Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras resigned today, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of doing “injustice”. He made this allegation against the Saffron party as his Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party was not included in the seat-sharing deal with allies for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Bihar. His announcement came at a press conference a day after the BJP-led NDA announced its seat-sharing pact and gave five seats to the Chirag Paswan-led LJP (Ram Vilas). He did not elaborate his future plans.

Speaking in a public rally in Tamil Nadu’s Salem, PM Modi today said that the public support BJP is getting in Tamil Nadu is being watched and discussed all over India. He further criticised the DMK & Congress and said that they are two sides of the same coin. He said, quote" DMK & Congress means- Big corruption & one family rule. When the country got rid of Congress, the country reached 5G technology. But in Tamil Nadu DMK is running its own 5G- one family's fifth generation to have control over Tamil Nadu.” Unquote.

According to a report released by Swiss air quality monitoring body, IQAir, India was declared as the third-most polluted country in 2023, after Bangladesh and Pakistan. Moreover, in the report’s list of the top 50 most polluted cities in the world, 42 cities were in India. Begusarai was the most polluted metropolitan area of 2023, followed by Guwahati and then Delhi.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s MLA Sita Soren, the daughter-in-law of party president Shibu Soren, resigned from the party today. She said that her family has been the victim of “continuous neglect” and that she has been “isolated by the party and family members”. Hours after, Sita joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit the Middle East this week, aiming to reach a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, and secure the release of hostages held by the Palestinian militant group. During a visit to the Philippines, Blinken said his trip to meet senior leaders in Saudi Arabia and Egypt would aim to “discuss the right architecture for lasting regional peace”.

This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.