Records galore as Pant breaks bank kottayam l monday l November 25, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Climate talks end with mere $300 bn pledge S V Krishna Chaitanya EXPRESS IN BAKU T he United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku concluded on Sunday amid high drama with the adoption of a controversial agreement to triple climate finance for developing countries to $300 billion annually by 2035 as against the $1.3 trillion sought by developing countries per year until 2030. The process and the amount agreed upon faced strong opposition from India and other developing nations.India, a prominent voice among developing countries, rejected the proposal outright, calling the agreed-upon financial goal inadequate and unfairly distributed. Chandni Raina, adviser to the Department of Economic Affairs and part of India’s negotiating team, described the sum as “abysmally poor” and “a paltry amount”.  CONTINUED ON: P9 Winter session of parliament from today The Centre has listed 16 bills, including the Waqf Amendment Bill, for consideration. The opposition is expected to raise issues like Manipur violence and Gautam Adani’s US indictment Rishabh Pant became the most expensive player on day one of the auction in Jeddah. A look... Big pay day for skippers While Shreyas Iyer was the first to go in the history books when he was signed for I26 crore by Punjab Kings, Pant went past him as Lucknow Super Giants went as high as I27 crore for the keeper-batter. KL Rahul, meanwhile, was signed by Delhi Capitals for I14 crore NOTABLE signings The other key signings were Venkatesh Iyer (I20 cr) for KKR, Arshdeep Singh (I18 cr) for PBKS, Y Chahal (`18 cr) for PBKS, Mohammed Siraj (I12.5 cr) to GT, R Ashwin (I9.75 cr) and Noor Ahmad (I10 cr) to CSK, and Ishan Kishan (I11.25 cr) for SRH 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 ■ ■ Decision on Maharashtra CM choice today, swearing-in likely tomorrow Sources say Fadnavis tipped to lead next Mahayuti govt; home portfolio may go to Shinde camp Soren stakes claim to form govt, oath-taking on Nov 28 R AJ E SH K U M A R THA K U R @ New Delhi amid intense speculation over who will be the next Maharashtra chief minister, the BJP’s top leadership is expected to finalise the name on Monday, it is learnt. Informed sources told this newspaper that the swearing-in ceremony of the Mahayuti government is most likely to take place on Tuesday evening as November 26 is the last day of the current assembly term. If the ceremony gets delayed by even one day then , President’s Rule will kick in, said a senior leader. Senior Shiv Sena leader Deepak Kesarkar said the oath-taking ceremony would be held on Monday, though BJP sources denied it. “The BJP and allies are set to meet on Monday to finalise their decision on the CM pick,” said a senior BJP source. While intense lobbying for the CM post is underway, a source privy to the decision making clamed Devendra Fadnavis is most likely to be named the chief minister of the new government with two deputy CMs. In this scenario, sources said, the Home department may be given to Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance has ShivSena (Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar) as partners. In the recently held election, the BJP emerged as the single largest party. In the previous term of the Mahayuti government, the BJP supported Shinde as chief minister even though it M U K E SH R ANJAN @ Ranchi Devendra Fadnavis was the single largest party. Former CM Fadnavis agreed to become deputy CM on the advice of the top leadership. According to BJP sources, Fadnavis has emerged as a master strategist this time and his prowess to run alliance smoothly will also work in his favour. On November 26, there is joint session of Parliament on the Samvidhan Diwas. Thereafter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior elders are expected to fly to Mumbai to attend the swearing-in ceremony . Sources said the chief minister and the deputy CMs may take oath on Tuesday The swearing-in . of other ministers will take place later after finalising the final list of the ministers for each party. The venue of the swearing-in has not been decided but it could be either the Wankhede Stadium or Shivaji Park, sources told this newspaper. (With inputs from our Mumbai bureau) The new Jharkhand government will be sworn in on Thursday Chief Minister Hemant Soren , said on Sunday after meeting Governor and staking claim to form the next government. “The process of formation of the new government has started. I met the Governor and submitted my resignation and staked claim to form the new government. The Governor has invited us to form the government,” Soren said. Soren will be sworn in as the 14th chief minister of Jharkhand. Earlier in the day, a meeting of the INDIA block’s legislative party was held at the official residence of the chief minister in Ranchi to elect Hemant Soren as the legislative party leader. Soren, who has resigned as Chief Minister, was appointed by the governor as acting CM till Thursday, when the new government will be sworn in. Notably this is the first time a government is , retaining power in Jharkhand, which was formed on November 15, 2000. So far, every election ushered in a new government. Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and former Bihar deputy chief minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav are likely to attend the swearing-in ceremony . In the results declared on November 23, Hemant Soren’s JMM-led INDIA alliance stormed to power for a second consecutive term winning 56 of the 81 Assembly seats. The majority mark in the state assembly is 41 seats. JMM alone has 34 seats. The BJP-led alliance, on the other hand, won only 24 seats. Hemant Soren hands over his resignation to Governor Santosh Gangwar (left) | PTI One minister for five MLAs One ministerial post for every five MLAs is a formula that is being considered by INDIA bloc in Jharkhand. If a consensus is reached on it, JMM will have six ministers, Congress three and RJD one. There may be new faces in the cabinet as four ministers — Mithilesh Thakur, Baidyanath Ram, Baby Devi and Banna Gupta lost their seats Surendran cornered for Palakkad debacle M a n o j V i s w a n at h a n @ Kochi The dismal performance in the Palakkad by-election has dealt a body blow to the state BJP, particularly at a time when the party has been striving hard at the grassroots level to broaden its support base ahead of the assembly elections due in the state in 2026. K Surendran — whose second term as BJP state president is set to end in February — was expecting an extension till the assembly elections, but the poor show in Palakkad has changed the scenario with many leaders questioning his leadership. While most leaders have refused to comment on the Palakkad debacle, all fingers are being pointed at Surendran. Even former Union minister V Muraleedharan, who has been a pillar of support for Surendran, has refused to back him. Responding to questions from the media on Sunday Muraleedharan said it is for the state presi, dent to comment on Palakkad by-election. The criticism within the party over candidate selection and handling of the Sandeep Varier issue are targeted at Surendran, with demands that he own responsibility for ● More on P4 the poll defeat.