photos: pti 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 ■ ■ visakhapatnam l thursday l june 04, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Rebels wrest Didi’s Trinamool Speaker endorses ‘election’ of Ritabrata by 58 dissident TMC legislators as the new LoP S U B H E N D U M AITI @ Kolkata IN a massive shake-up that appeared to snatch the Trinamool Congress from its founder, Mamata Banerjee, the West Bengal Assembly Speaker on Wednesday recognised a 58MLA rebel bloc as the “real Trinamool” and appointed expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of the Opposition. Speaker Rathindranath Bose accepted a letter signed by the rebel MLAs and formally recognised Banerjee, a first-timer from Uluberia Purba, as leader of the legislative party, and former minister Akhruzzaman government when it is wrong as chief whip. The rebel camp and support it when it does also unveiled a new leadership good for the people,” Banerjee structure for the legislature told reporters. The group party Veteran legislators Javed claimed its strength would soon . Ahmed Khan, Sandeepan Saha, reach 60. Sabina Yasmin and Shiuli Saha The rebellion lays bare the would serve as deputy fallout of Trinamool’s rout in leaders. The assembly the recent Bengal elections, secretary symbolically where it won just 80 of 294 handed over the keys to seats. With two MLAs althe LoP’s chamber to ready expelled, the legisBanerjee within hours. lature party strength “We have begun stands at 78, of our journey as a rewhich 58, represponsible opposisenting more tion today. We than tworitabrata Banerjee will oppose the thirds, have backed the rebel camp led by Ritabrata. That two-thirds threshold is critical as it is the legal firewall against the anti-defection law. However, the rebels did not challenge Mamata’s primacy. In their letter to the Speaker, they recognised her as TMC chairperson but noy the authority of her nephew and party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. Abhishek had separately proposed a loyalist candidate as LoP but that letter was rejected , amid a signature-forgery scandal now being probed. US proposes 12.5% more tariff on India over forced labour concerns Pus h p i ta D e y @ New Delhi express read APCNF wins Food Planet Prize 2026 Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) has won the prestigious Food Planet Prize 2026. The prize was presented at Båstad, Sweden, on June 2 by Curt Bergfors Foundation | P3 The US Trade Representative (USTR) on Wednesday proposed an additional 12.5% tariff on 54 countries, including India, for failing to enforce a forced labour import prohibition under Section 301. The section is designed to address unfair foreign acts affecting US commerce. “The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable. This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field,” said Jamieson Greer, US trade representative in a statement. Pak, EU, Canada, 3 others in 10% bunch The proposed tariffs are not final. Stakeholders can seek to participate in public hearings by June 22, and written comments by July 6. As against 12.5% tariff on India and 53 other economies, USTR proposed 10% levy on imports from Canada, Ecuador, EU, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan On March 12, the USTR initiated investigations into the failure of 60 nations to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the import of goods pro- duced using forced labour. The current action is based on that investigation. The USTR report alleged that India failed to impose and effectively enforce a ban on imports linked to forced labour, calling the practice unreasonable and making it actionable under Section 301(b) of the Trade Act. In its pushback, India said it remains engaged with the US on the matter as part of the Section 301 proceedings. The commerce ministry said that India is also parallelly engaged with the US to finalise a framework agreement as was announced on February 2, 2026 and in accordance with a joint statement released on February 7.  P10 1 Fire at the Flourish Stay B&B (above) in Malviya Nagar started around 8.30 am and spread through the five-floor building. It had only one entry-exit point 2 A family of foreign nationals (left) hangs from the B&B window as fire engulfs the building 3 It housed a restaurant on the ground floor while the basement and upper floors were being used as the hotel 11 foreigners among 21 killed in delhi blaze E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ New Delhi A fire that ripped through an illegally expanded hotel in south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar on Wednesday morning killed at least 21 people — including 11 foreign nationals — in one of the capital’s deadliest blazes in recent years. It did not have a no-objection certificate from the fire department. The Flourish Stay B&B in Hauz Rani had a licence for just six rooms but was running 25. Its windows were permanently sealed. It had a single entry-exit point with a sensor-operated main door. When fire broke out around 8.30 am, the five-floor narrow building turned into a furnace with a tiny exit. Visuals from the area — with narrow lanes, overhanging wires and cramped buildings haphazardly sharing space — showed high flames rising in the air and wires twisted in the heat hanging precariously Horrified eyewitnesses watched peo. ple jump from upper floors and a woman clutching an infant leap onto mattresses spread below. “As far as a fire NOC is concerned, we had not received any reference from either building authorities or licensing agency Deputy Chief Fire Officer A K Malik said. ,” Most foreign victims were from Central Asian and African countries, staying nearby to care for relatives admitted to Max Hospital across the road. At least 58 people were rescued; several remain critical. The toll is likely to go up. The blaze also killed eight members of a Gurugram family who had travelled to Delhi to visit an ailing relative. The victims, including a CA, his wife and two daughters, were staying on the first floor when the fire broke out. Attempts to stoke regional hatred won’t succeed: Naidu S V i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada Chief Minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday said attempts to revive regional animosity between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana would not succeed as people of the sibling States are mature enough to recognise who has contributed to development and public welfare. Responding to remarks of some Telangana leaders against Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan, Naidu said such statements were unnecessary. “It has been 12 years since the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. We have moved forward as two separate States. At this stage, attempts of certain leaders to provoke regional sentiments and create divisions would not succeed. People know who has worked for their welfare and development,” he said. Addressing a press conference at the Secretariat, he pointed out that political leaders often campaign beyond their home States in a democratic country like India. “For instance, I have campaigned in Tamil Nadu elections. Leaders from various States have campaigned in different regions. Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar has also participated in election campaign. Such democratic participation is common and should not be viewed through a regional P4 lens,” Naidu observed.