chennai l wednesday l june 22, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l late 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 its 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. Shinde first shepherded his flock to Surat in Gujarat from where the buzz was they would be airlifted to Assam. 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 put a question mark over Uddhav’s leadership, too, more so because Shinde was known to be close to him. 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 As things stand, Uddhav loyalists have been reduced to a minority within his party For, . 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 was upset with Shinde for not delivering 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 Illegal for cops to do domestic work, HC directs govt to end orderly system EXPRE SS NEWS S ERVICE @ Chennai Coming down heavily on officials who misuse their position to employ police personnel as orderlies for domestic work at their residences, the Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Tamil Nadu government to put an end to the system. Justice SM Subramaniam passed the directions, observing that the orderly system would demoralise the force. It is illegal to use personnel from the uniformed services for domestic work, and amounts to misconduct, he said, stressing that erring officers must be booked. “Are they trained for carrying out domestic work?” the judge asked, and told the government to immediately remove all orderlies from officials’ residences. Additional Advocate General P Kumaresan submitted that the TN Home Secretary has instructed the DGP to address certain issues including the employment of orderlies. The other issues discussed at a recent meeting of t o p p o l i c e o f f i c i a l s, chaired by the CM, were the need to take action against pasting of black tinting film on windows of official vehicles, and displaying of the names of government departments on personal vehicles, he added. The judge appreciated the government for its action, and said officers may use their monthly allowance to employ household helps instead of using policemen as orderlies. A trained policeman may be paid `45,000 a month, but is misused for domestic work, he added, and said official vehicles should not be used for personal purposes. The directions were made during the hearing of a petition regarding an assistant commissioner of police staying at his official quarters despite being served an order in 2014 to vacate the premises. The matter has been posted to July 25. CBI may look into AAP govt’s new liquor policy 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. at the cost of state’s revenue”. Sisodia did not respond to a Sirsa sought a probe detailed questionnaire against Delhi Deputy Wholesalers sent to him by this get big say Chief Minister Mannewspaper on June 14. ish Sisodia, who was On June 20, howevThe Kejriwal the head of the Group govt’s new excise er, a response, purportof Ministers that edly to the questionpolicy in Delhi drafted the new excise naire, was received on withdrew four policy, and some govWhatsApp by this corstate govt er nment officials respondent from Pricorporations “who have customized tam Pal Singh, Media 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 gains”. of the Government of in the hands of He said “the policy the National Capital private players has been drafted and Territory Delhi. , and giving implemented with the The response read leverage to following persons act- wholesalers | P9 as follows: “Aam Aading as aide: Mr Manoj mi Party’s response — 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 volved in layering…” the deal. going into the pocket of BJP In his complaint on June 7, leaders who were controlling Sirsa also accused Sisodia of the liquor mafia across Delhi. holding a meeting at his Delhi Seeing their illicit income be residence on 30.05.22 with Pun- (sic) stopped, the BJP is makjab excise and taxation officials ing huge hue and cry .” S h a h i d F a r i d i @ New Delhi Rains in TN to go on till Sat With Chennai and its neighbouring districts receiving heavy showers for a couple of days, the meteorological office on Tuesday said the intensity of rains is likely to reduce from Wednesday, and light to moderate showers are likely at isolated places in Tamil Nadu till June 25. It added that the sky will be partly cloudy and temperatures are expected to be between 26 and 35 degrees Celsius | P3 8cm rainfall received at Red Hills in the 24 hours till 8.30 am on Tuesday — highest in TN NATIONWIDE June 20 June 21 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths 12,781 8,537 18 9,923 7,293 17 tamil nadu June 20 June 21 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths 686 257 0 737 322 0 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 group leader 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 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.  P10 TN man killed by father who raped his wife E x p r e ss N e ws S e r v i c e @ Thoothukudi A 60-year-old man was arrested for murdering his son in broad daylight near the Thoothukudi combined court campus on Tuesday. Police identified the deceased as T Kasirajan (36) of Sundaralingamnagar near Kavarnagiri. According to the police, the accused, K Tamilalagan, of Kavarnagiri, came to attend the trial at a Mahila court in a case registered against him for allegedly raping his daughter-inlaw Mahalakshmi, the wife of Kasirajan. Tamilalagan came to the court in a car accompanied by his other son Kadalraja and nephew Kasidurai. Kasirajan, who was waiting near the court campus, attacked his father with a sickle. However, Tamilalagan and his two accomplices, who also suffered injuries to their heads and limbs in the attack, managed to snatch the weapon from Kasirajan, and Tamilalagan hacked his son to death, police said. The Thoothukudi South police admitted Tamilalagan, Kadalraja and Kasidurai to the Thoothukudi medical college hospital for treatment, and sent Kasirajan’s body for a postmortem examination. They also booked Tamilalagan for murder. According to police, Kasirajan had earlier made a failed bid to kill his father by staging a vehicle accident when Tamilalagan came out of jail after his remand term in the rape case. Mahalakshmi died by suicide on April 10. Presidential poll Murmu is nda pick R a j e s h K u m a r T h a k u r @ New Delhi FORMER Jharkhand governor Droupadi 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 prefDroupadi 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 S e 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 quit the BJP in 2018 and joined the TMC after a short gap. express read CWMA meeting postponed to July 6 Chennai: The 16th meeting of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) has been postponed by two weeks to July 6 following a request from a member of the authority from Tamil Nadu. A missive from the CWMA said the meeting would not be deferred any further as it has now been deferred twice following requests from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu | P4 Three service chiefs brief PM on Agnipath 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 New Delhi: Army chief General Manoj Pande, Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari and Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar separately met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and briefed him about the progress on Agnipath. It is learnt the three service chiefs apprised Modi of the overall induction process and the steps being taken for the successful rollout of the scheme | P9 Team OPS shrinks; police cover granted for meet T M u r u ga n a n d h a m @ Chennai Support for Edappadi K Palaniswami to become the sole leader of the AIADMK grew manifold on Tuesday while party coordinator O Panneerselvam, who has a smaller backing in the general council (GC), went all-out to stall the June 23 meeting of the council. He filed a representation to the Avadi Police Commissioner not to allow the meeting. Sources said the Panneerselvam camp may n e x t m ove t h e E l e c t i o n Commission. Meanwhile, the Madras High Court directed the police to provide proper protection for the meeting. Disposing of a petition filed by AIADMK Tiruvallur central district secretary P Benjamin, the court clearly indicated that the meeting can be held. “On perusal of records and submissions from both sides, it is clear that the Executive Council and General Council Meeting is fixed on 23.06.2022, whereas one fraction of the same party is not in favour of such a meeting. This court is of the view that mere calling of the meeting cannot be stalled by another fraction. Ultimately, only the General Council will make a decision,” the court said. State Public Prosecutor Hassan Mohammed Jinnah said the AIADMK had not submitted the schedule of the meeting or responded to 31 queries raised by the police. He said Panneer- selvam could approach the police if he apprehended any problems during the event. PH Arvindh Pandian, counsel for Panneerselvam, contended the petition was not maintainable because neither the party nor its coordinator or joint coordinator, who had powers to convene the meet, had filed it. Meanwhile, the fourth assistant city civil court judge S Priya adjourned the hearing of a petition filed by Suriyamoorthy from Dindigul seeking advance of his petition for staying the GC meeting, to Wednesday . Continued on: P4