Shiv Sena stakes claim for Maharashtra CM’s chair, cites Amit Shah’s ‘approval’
Contesting Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar’s claim that the next Chief Minister would be from the BJP, a Yuva Sena leader has said the post will be rotated between the Shiv Sena and the BJP, an assertion that could become another bone of contention between the saffron allies ahead of the State Assembly polls.
The politically sensitive topic was raised by Mr. Mungantiwar on June 10, when he told reporters that the next CM of Maharashtra will be from his party again. “The next Chief Minister will be from the BJP. There is no discontent in the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance over this. We will even cross the 220 Assembly seat mark in the 288-member House, this time,” Mr. Mungantiwar told reporters in Nashik. He had also said the BJP and ally Shiv Sena would arrive at a seat-sharing agreement soon for the state polls due in September-October.
However, indicating that the Sena would drive a hard bargain before agreeing for an electoral tie-up, Yuva Sena secretary Varun Sardesai has claimed both the parties will share the CM’s post for a duration of two-and-a-half years each.
Mr. Sardesai, a cousin of Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray, tweeted that BJP president Amit Shah had “approved” the decision to have rotational Chief Ministership between the saffron outfits.
“Shivsena Prez Uddhavsaheb and BJP Prez Amitji have decided that Maha CM post will be 2.5 years each. People who weren’t present for negotiations, shouldn’t spoil the alliance for their personal gains (sic),” he tweeted.
Cabinet may consider fresh bill to ban instant triple talaq
The Union Cabinet is likely to take a call on a fresh bill to ban the practice of instant triple talaq in its meeting on June 12, sources said.
Once passed by Parliament, the proposed bill will replace an ordinance issued earlier in 2019.
With the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha in May, the contentious bill lapsed as it was pending in the Rajya Sabha. Bills that are introduced in Rajya Sabha and are pending there do not lapse with the dissolution of Lok Sabha. Bills passed by Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha, however, lapse.
If cleared by the Union Cabinet on June 12, the new bill could be introduced in the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha beginning June 17.
The Opposition had been against provisions of the bill in Rajya Sabha where the government lacked numbers to ensure its passage.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, which made the practice of instant triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat) a penal offence, was opposed by the Opposition parties, which claimed that jail term for the husband for divorcing his wife was legally untenable.
The government had promulgated the ordinance on triple talaq twice.
Under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Ordinance, 2019, divorcing through instant triple talaq will be illegal, void and will attract a jail term of three years for the husband
A bill to convert the earlier ordinance, issued in September 2018, was cleared by the Lok Sabha in December and was pending in the Rajya Sabha.
Since the bill could not get parliamentary approval, a fresh ordinance was issued.
RSS to confer Delhi journalists with Narad Samman awards
RSS joint general secretary Manmohan Vaidya will confer the ‘Narad Samman’ journalism awards on June 29, which is likely to be attended by Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu.
According to the RSS’s communication wing Indraprastha Vishwa Samvad Kendra (IVSK), the awards are constituted in memory of the “first-ever and the most eminent journalist-scholar of the universe, namely Narad Maharishi”.
The IVSK has already invited applications from journalists based in Delhi-NCR for work done in 2018. There are a total nine award categories this year, the Sangh’s communication wing said in a statement.
The categories for which the awards will be given are: reporting on women issues, reporting on rural issues, for a young reporter below 30 years with up to three years experience, for a photo journalist, for digital media and social media, among others.
The last date for submitting applications for the awards is June 15. It will be evaluated by a jury of eminent journalists, including Prabhu Chawla, Ashok Tandon, K.G. Suresh, Umesh Upadhyay, Sachchidanand Joshi, Hitesh Shanker and Parijat Kaul.
Amit Shah chairs meeting on labour reforms
Home Minister Amit Shah chaired an inter-ministerial meeting on labour reforms. The Centre is working towards moving a Bill in the Parliament to reduce 44 archaic labour laws to 4.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah. File
The two-hour meeting was also attended by Union Minister Santosh Gangwar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. — Vijaita Singh
BJP accuses HD Kumaraswamy of openly threatening, abusing scribes
The Karnataka BJP took a dig at Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, accusing him of openly threatening and abusing journalists in the State.
The BJP was reacting to Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s tweet against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the action against scribes in the northern State.
It listed out incidents of police action against some journalists in the State and also accused Gandhi of “hypocrisy”. - PTI
Union Minister Smriti Irani meets Assam CM
Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani met Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to deliberate on solutions related to malnutrition among women and children.
“Met CM @sarbanandsonwal ji in Guwahati to discuss progress of POSHAN Abhiyan in Assam and deliberated on solutions to make Assam a leading state in the fight against malnutrition among children and women,” she wrote on Twitter.
Ms. Irani had on June 9 met Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to discuss the progress of ‘Poshan Abhiyaan’ in the State.
She met Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das on June 10 and reviewed various ongoing projects of the Ministry in the State. — PTI
Rajasthan Congress leader sees “internal conspiracy” for the poll debacle
Differences in the Rajasthan Congress once again came to the fore on Tuesday with the party’s Lok Sabha candidate from the Jaipur (Urban) segment claiming that an “internal conspiracy” led to her defeat in the recently-held elections.
Former Jaipur mayor Jyoti Khandelwal blamed the party’s State vice-president Archana Sharma for her defeat. She claimed that Ms. Sharma, who was the Congress candidate from Malviya Nagar in the 2018 assembly elections, and her husband “conspired” for her defeat.
“I have submitted a report to the state Congress president to prob the reasons of the defeat by taking the Malviya Nagar assembly segment as a pilot project,” Ms. Khandelwal told PTI.
Claiming that some “leaders decided to make the BJP victorious”, Ms. Khandelwal added, “I have a footage of the conversation of Archana Sharma’s husband. There was no party worker to man the booths in the Malviya Nagar assembly segment.”
The Congress leader rejected that there was a Modi wave.
“There was no ‘Modi Tsunami’ on the Jaipur (Urban) parliamentary seat. The Congress got more votes this time and the winning margin of the BJP candidate reduced,” she said, adding that the party’s vote share went up from 23 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections to 33 per cent this time.
Ms. Sharma refused to comment on the issue. - PTI
Mamata’s speeches fuelled Sandeshkhali clashes, claims BJP
BJP leader Mukul Roy Tuesday blamed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the violence in Sandeshkhali that claimed three lives , saying her speeches “fuelled” the attacks on supporters of the saffron party.
The BJP leader, who visited Bhangipara village and met the families of Pradip Mondal and Sukanta Mondal killed in the clashes, said he would appeal to party president Amit Shah to do whatever was required for the assistance of the victims’ kin.
“If anybody is to be blamed for the incident, it is Mamata Banerjee,” Mr. Roy said, alleging that it was on her directives that no one has been arrested so far in connection with the killings.
“Pradip and Sukanta were sleeping in their homes in the afternoon. They were dragged out and killed by TMC workers,” he claimed.
Mr. Roy also alleged that the police have not done anything to prevent the clashes and no arrests have been made yet.
The BJP leader had on Monday said that Mamata Banerjee should give up the ‘home’ portfolio. - PTI
U.P. CM behaving foolishly: Rahul on arrest of journalists
Congress president Rahul Gandhi criticised the arrest of scribe Prashant Kanojia and the editor and the head of a Noida-based TV channel, saying Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is behaving “foolishly” and he should release the journalists.
Mr. Gandhi also claimed that if every journalist who files a false report or peddles fake, vicious RSS/BJP sponsored propaganda about him is put in jail, most newspapers or news channels would face a severe staff shortage.
“The UP CM is behaving foolishly and needs to release the arrested journalists,” the Congress president tweeted.
Patnaik meets PM Modi
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He met the PM days after being sworn in as the Chief Minister of the State for the fifth consecutive term.
The Prime Minister’s Office tweeted a picture of the two leaders meeting here.
The Biju Janata Dal, which secured 112 seats in the 147-member Odisha Assembly in the recently concluded elections, has been in power in the state since 2000 and Patnaik elected as CM in all the terms. - PTI
Karnataka, Arunachal governors meet PM
Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala has called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Prime Minister’s Office tweeted a picture of the meeting.
The ruling JD(S)-Congress alliance in Karnataka has been under strain for the past few moths. A cabinet expansion is on the cards as rebel legislators are using defection as a bargaining chip to procure ministerial berths.
Arunachal Pradesh Governor Brigadier B.D. Mishra (retd) also called on the PM, the PMO said.
(With inputs from agencies)
