tadepalligudem l wednesday l june 22, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Assam flood situation grim, nearly 50 lakh people hit NDRF rushed to worst-affected areas Incessant rains since last week have inundated 32 out of 36 districts in the north-eastern state, throwing lives in disarray Over 2 lakh people in relief camps Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Tuesday that four units of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were rushed from Bhubaneswar to Silchar to carry out rescue operations as the flood situation in Karimganj and Cachar districts worsened due to the rising waters of Barak and Kushiyara rivers following heavy rains ■ ■ The calamity, which has become an annual feature in Assam, has hit 5,424 villages forcing 2,31,819 to take shelter in 810 camps According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, a total crop area of 1,13,485 hectares and 33,84,326 animals have been affected while 5,232 animals have been swept away 44 people lost their lives in floods and landslides in Assam since June 14 CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Uddhav faces rebellion from within Sena minister Eknath Shinde leads revolt; wants party to go back as junior ally of the BJP 145 53 5 55 44 288 31 Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s government faced it biggest existential crisis on Tuesday with Shiv Sena minister Eknath Shinde revolting along with 3035 party MLAs and Independents and asking the former to form an new government with BJP in the state. To escape disqualification under the antidefection law, Shinde needs the support of 37 party MLAs. Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress are part of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi. Shinde wants the Sena to go back to its former ally and be part of a new government led by former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. The erosion in the party’s ranks put a question mark over Uddhav’s leadership, more so because Shinde was known to be close to him. As things stand, Uddhav loyalists have been reduced to a minority within his party For, . Party positions 10 S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai Total seats  BJP  Shiv Sena  NCP  Cong  Others + Independents Uddhav Thackeray Eknath Shinde Simple majority BJP has support of six Ind Eknath Shinde claims the support of 30-35 MLAs. Needs 37 to escape anti-defection law at a meeting he called in Mumbai, only 18 are learnt to have turned up, though Sena’s Sanjay Raut put the figure at 30. Earlier in the day Shinde and , his supporters checked into the Le Meridian hotel in Surat. BJP is the single largest party with 105 MLAs and support of six Independents. It needs 40 more to reach the half-way mark to return to power (see box). In the Rajya Sabha elections, the BJP got support from 123 and in the subsequent MLC polls, its votes ballooned to 134, apparently through cross-voting. Sources said after Sena’s poor performance in the MLC polls, Uddhav called a meeting of his party’s top leaders, including Shinde. He was said to be upset with Shinde for not managing the show despite being giving weighty portfolios of urban development and PWD, and a free hand in the government and the party Shinde has . since been stripped of his position as the Sena’s group leader HC stays auction of land in Yendada, says govt cannot indulge in realty biz E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The Andhra Pradesh High Court issued an interim order staying the public auction of 22,264 yards land at Sagarika Township in Yendada, Visakhapatnam, on Tuesday. It asked the government to not indulge in real estate business. The bench of Chief Justice Prasant Kumar Mishra and Justice DVSS Somayajulu heard a PIL filed by Visakhapatnam East MLA Velagapudi Ramakrishna, urging the court to suspend the notification issued by the Rajiv Swagruha Corporation Limited to auction the land. Defamatory post: Summons to Amanchi Vijayawada: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has asked ruling YSRC leader and former MLA Amanchi Krishna Mohan to appear before it on Wednesday for questioning in a case related to derogatory social media posts against judiciary and judges of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The summons was issued after Krishna Mohan failed to respond to an earlier one. The CBI registered cases under various sections of IPC, including criminal conspiracy and Section 67 of IT Act, against several people for derogatory posts against the judiciary | P4 NATIONWIDE June 20 June 21 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths 12,781 8,537 18 9,923 7,293 17 Jab-o-meter Take your shot June 20 11,31,327 doses June 21 10,50,571 doses Total doses 1,96,44,19,344 Ramakrishna’s counsel Aswini Kumar argued that the auctioning of the land for construction of houses was nothing but real estate business. Government Special Pleader Chintala Suman, on behalf of the government, informed the court that the decision to auction the land was not new and taken in 2013 itself. Suman explained that since the Corporation went bank- rupt, the government had decided to auction the land. While the government pleader requested the court not to issue any interim order and that the government would file a counter on June 24, the bench, after hearing both the sides, stayed the auction. The court observed that the action of holding a public auction for the sake of construction of houses for middle-class people amounted to real estate business. Noting that 22,264 yards was five acres of land, the bench stated that the government cannot indulge in real estate business. The matter was posted to July 4 for further hearing. CBI may look into AAP govt’s new liquor policy S h a h i d F a r i d i @ New Delhi to draft a similar policy for Punjab. Sirsa said the meeting Former president of the Del- at Sisodia’s residence was athi Sikh Gurdwara Management tended by Varun Runjan, excise Committee and BJP leader and taxation commissioner, Manjinder Singh Sirsa recently Punjab, Kap Sinha, financial filed a complaint with the CBI c o m m i s s i o n e r, t a x a t i o n , accusing the Delhi state gov- Punjab, Naresh Dubey, Vijay ernment of implementing an Nair, AAP Member of Parliaexcise policy that “extended ment Raghav Chadha and Punwrongful gains and favour to jab excise minister Harpal liquor wholesalers in Delhi… Cheema. Sisodia did not respond to a at the cost of state’s revenue”. detailed questionnaire Sirsa sought a probe against Delhi Deputy Wholesalers sent to him by this get big say newspaper on June 14. Chief Minister ManOn June 20, howevish Sisodia, who was The Kejriwal the head of the Group govt’s new excise er, a response, purportedly to the questionof Ministers that policy in Delhi naire, was received on drafted the new excise withdrew four WhatsApp by this corpolicy, and some govstate govt respondent from Prier nment officials corporations tam Pal Singh, Media “who have customized from liquor and enacted the policy business, puting Communication Advit o r e a p w r o n g f u l the liquor trade sor to Chief Minister of the Government of gains”. in the hands of the National Capital He said “the policy private players Territory Delhi. , has been drafted and and giving The response read implemented with the leverage to as follows: “Aam Aadfollowing persons actwholesalers P7 mi Party’s response — ing as aide: Mr Manoj Rai, Mr Manish Sosodia, Mr K All the allegations leveled Gehlot, Mr Satyendra Jain, Mr herein are completely baseless Arava Gopi Krishna and sev- and politically motivated. Deleral other unknown ministers hi government’s new excise in connivance with one Mr Di- policy increased tax revenue nesh Arora and Mr Vijay Nair, by over `3,000 crore in just one who have been actively in- year. This money was earlier going into the pocket of BJP volved in layering…” the deal. In his complaint on June 7, leaders who were controlling the liquor mafia across Delhi. Sirsa also accused Sisodia of holding a meeting at his Delhi Seeing their illicit income be residence on 30.05.22 with Pun- (sic) stopped, the BJP is mak.” jab excise and taxation officials ing huge hue and cry in the Assembly . BJP sources said Shinde was in touch with its leadership since the last six months. “He supported us in the Rajya Sabha elections and the legislative council polls...We provided logistical support to Shinde upon his revolt. The rooms at Le Meridian were booked by us,” the leader said seeking anonymity . Uddhav tried to reach out to Shinde by sending sent his personal assistant Milind Narvekar to Surat. During the 30-minute meeting Narvekar had with Shinde, the latter spoke to Uddhav and his spouse Rashmi Thackeray over the phone but he did not promise to return back to Sena. Most of the MLAs with Shinde are from rural areas. “They were never entertained by Uddhav and his coterie. Shinde tapped this space to his advantage. He was also apprehensive about the rise of Aditya Thackeray in the party said ,” a person close to Shinde.  P7 Cine workers’ indefinite stir from today E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad The functioning of the Telugu film industry is likely to be hit with more than 20,000 cine workers deciding to go an indefinite strike demanding better wages, from Wednesday . The strike call came at a time when the film industry was picking up after the pandemic. Expressing disappointment over the lack of coordination between the Telugu Film Chamber, Telugu Film Producers’ Council and the Film Industry Employees’ Federation, the workers said they would continue the strike until their demands were met. The strike would affect several under-production films, including Chiranjeevi’s Waltair Veerayya, Bholaa Shankar, Prabhas’s Salaar and RC 15. “We have every right to ask for better wages. On an average, a film worker gets anywhere between `500 to `1,500 per day We know that our deci. sion would affect all film shoots, but if we won’t fight for our rights, who else will,” asked a senior film worker, on condition of anonymity . He also urged the producers to pay workers their wages on time. “A few producers are not clearing the dues even after repeated requests. We want transparency in payments and request them to pay us soon after the shoot is over,” he added. The Telugu Film Chamber, meanwhile, said the workers’ union had not issued a strike notice 15 days in advance. The Chamber might discuss the workers’ demand on Wednesday . Presidential poll Murmu is nda pick R a je s h K u m a r T h a k u r @ New Delhi FORMER Jharkhand governor Draupadi Murmu is all set to become the first tribal woman to hold the highest office of the Republic, as the 64-year-old emerged the consensus Presidential candidate of the BJP-led NDA late on Tuesday evening. This paper was the first to report on June 10 that she was leading the Presidential race in the NDA. Sharing the news after deliberations at the BJP parliamentary board, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union minister Nitin Gadkari and other senior leaders, BJP national president J P Nadda said, “We wanted to take a woman candidate from east India, especially from the tribal community. After consultation with allies and others, we have decided to field Murmu.” Nadda said Murmu’s life has been dedicated to the service of the nation and upliftment of the downWho is trodden, adding that prefDraupadi erence has been given to a Murmu? woman tribal candidate for An arts graduate the first time. “She has rich from Ramadevi administrative experience Women’s College and had an outstanding guin Bhubaneswar, bernatorial tenure. I am she worked as an confident she will be a asst professor in great President of our naSri Aurobindo tion,” he added. Integral Soon after Murmu was Education and named as the BJP-led Research Centre, NDA's presidential candiRairangpur. She date, Prime Minister Modi joined BJP in 1997 said she has devoted her life to serving society and expressed confidence that she will be a “great President”. Born in 1958 in a poor tribal family in Odisha’s Myurbhanja district, Murmu rose to her present stature after struggling through ups and down throughout her life. She was the first governor to complete a five-year term in tribal-dominated Jharkhand (2015-2021). She also served as the minister for commerce and transports in the BJP-Biju Janata Dal coalition government in Odisha from 2000 to 2002. Sinha is Oppn choice for Prez E x p r e ss N e ws Se r v i c e @ New Delhi OPPOSITION leaders on Tuesday decided to field former Union minister Yashwant Sinha as their joint candidate for Presidential polls. Sinha’s name came up after NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah and ex-West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi declined the Opposition’s invite to run for President. “We are happy to announce that we have unanimously chosen Yashwant Sinha as the common candidate of the opposition parties for the presidential election, which will take place on July 18, 2022,” Congress leader Jairam Five regional Ramesh said while reading out a joint statement parties skip after the meeting. meeting “We regret Modi governCongress, NCP, ment made no serious efTMC, CPI, CPI-M, fort to have consensus on SP, NC, AIMIM, a presidential candidate,” RJD and AIUDF said Ramesh. attended the Indicating that his name meet on Tuesday. was finalised with his conFive regional sent, Sinha tweeted, “Now parties — TRS, time has come when for a BJD. AAP, SAD larger national cause I and YSRCP — must step aside from the stayed away from party to work for greater the meeting opposition unity Soon af.” ter that tweet, Sinha technically quit the Trinamool Congress as vicepresident expressing gratefulness to TMC chief Mamata Banerjee. Sinha, who switched over to the TMC from the BJP, was Union finance minister from 1990-1991 under then prime minister Chandra Shekhar. He also served as the external affairs minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government from 2002 to 2004. He quite the BJP in 2018 and joined the TMC after a short gap. express read Schools to reopen on July 5, inter scores today Vijayawada: The Department of Education has postponed the reopening of all government and private schools after summer vacation to July 5 in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the State on July 4, the earlier scheduled day of reopening. The results of Intermediate I and II years for general and vocational course exams will be announced at 12.30 pm on Wednesday | P3 Rallies mark end of campaign in Atmakur Stand at ease Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a mass yoga session to celebrate the 8th International Day of Yoga, at Mysore Palace in Mysuru on Tuesday | Udayashankar S Nellore: The YSRC and BJP held huge rallies and roadshows in Atmakur on Tuesday to show their might and woo voters to mark the end of the by-election campaign. Polling for the Assembly segment is scheduled to be held on June 23 (Thursday). While the ruling YSRC is confident of winning the Atmakur bypoll with a huge majority, the BJP is hopeful of increasing its vote share | P4 Killer mamma bear captured, dies under sedation E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Srikakulam A FEW hours after the forest officials captured the bear, that had killed a farmer and severely injured four others at Kidisingi village in Srikakulam district, the wild animal died while being shifted to the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday . It has been learnt that the sloth bear had been looking for its missing cubs in the village when it attacked the six people on Monday . The post-mortem examina- tion, conducted at the zoo, concluded that the sloth bear, classified as vulnerable, died due to internal hemorrhage. The bear, a sow aged 10-12,had killed a septuagenarian, K Kodandarao, on Sunday, and two cows the next morning. It also attacked six people in a cashew orchard in the village, severely injuring four of them. They were shifted to a private hospital in Vizag. The condition of two people is said to be extremely critical. Forest officials said the bear might have sustained injuries when it attacked the cattle. Elusive tiger kills calf The tiger, on the prowl for 20 days, reportedly entered the Sankavaram mandal in Kakinada district. It killed a calf attacked cattle at Srungadhara village in Prathipadu mandal | P3 On Tuesday, locals saw the bear inside a cement shed, that it had completely damaged, in one of the coconut groves in Kidisingi village and informed the forest officials. They rushed to the spot with experts from the zoo and took up an operation, coded-named Bhalluka (bear in Telugu), to capture the animal. Forest officials cordoned off the premises in a bid to calm down the animal. The bear was then sedated with a tranquilliser dart around 11.45 am. After it fell unconscious, it was shifted into a cage and then P4 to the zoo.