Vol. 67 No. 213 | THURSDAY | JUNE 6, 2024 | 28 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only Quality at Value www.freepressjournal.in MEMBER: AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATION JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2023 EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Nashik, Konkan, Indore, Bhopal, E-paper THE FP BULLETIN SUNITA FIRST TO PILOT IN SPACE I n a historic achievement, Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams has become the first woman to pilot a new spacecraft on its inaugural test flight to space. A series of technical issues had forced the launch to be aborted twice just minutes before liftoff with Williams and her colleague Butch Wilmore strapped in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which is attempting its maiden space flight with humans. Now, the US space agency is making every effort to ensure a safe flight despite the setbacks. If successful, it will make Starliner the second private spacecraft after SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to transport astronauts to and from the orbiting laboratory. BIDEN TO SUNAK: KUDOS FOR MODI U S President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron were among dozens of world leaders who congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday on the victory of the BJP-led NDA coalition in the general elections and expressed their desire to work closely with him. “Congratulations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the National Democratic Alliance on their victory, and the nearly 650 million voters in this historic election. The friendship between our nations is only growing as we unlock a shared future of unlimited potential,” Biden said in his congratulatory message. NO INTERIM BAIL FOR KEJRIWAL T he Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi has rejected Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea for interim bail on medical grounds and extended his judicial custody till June 19 in the excise policy scam. Kejriwal’s bail plea was dismissed by special judge Kaveri Baweja, and the court has ordered medical tests for the Chief Minister. Kejriwal was produced virtually before the court on June 5. He sought bail citing medical grounds. Kejriwal had surrendered at the Tihar jail on June 2 after his interim bail granted by the Supreme Court ended on June 1. The Supreme Court had in May, granted Kejriwal interim bail in the excise policy-linked money laundering case for campaigning in the Lok Sabha polls. Speaking to the media, Kejriwal had taken a jibe at PM Modi and the BJP , saying that he was raising his voice against “dictatorship”. 9 TREKKERS DIE IN HILLS N ine trekkers, part of a 22member group, died after losing their way due to bad weather and getting trapped while on their way to Sahastra Tal in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi. A joint air-ground search and rescue operation has been launched and 13 trekkers have been rescued so far. Due to bad weather, helicopters, part of the rescue, faced difficulties in the operation. Actor in talks to play Prem in Sooraj Barjatya’s upcoming directorial? EDIT OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR MODI SENSEX, NIFTY REBOUND FROM POLL JITTERS MODI 3.0 ON COURSE Narendra Modi elected NDA leader; expected to stake claim on Friday and is likely to take oath on Saturday; Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar have presented written letters of support with their set of demands GAURAV VIVEK BHATNAGAR NEW DELHI The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has secured letters of support in writing from Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar and the buzz is that caretaker Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be sworn in on Saturday for a historic third consecutive term. A delegation of senior NDA members will now meet President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan to stake claim to power. The delegation is expected to include Telugu Desam Party boss Chandrababu Naidu and Janata Dal leader Nitish Kumar. Naidu’s TDP won 16 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Investors became richer by Rs 13.22L cr with markets making a strong comeback WISH LIST Sabha Speaker’s post, 7 to 8 Cabinet and one MoS berth. These portfolios include Road Transport, Rural Development, Health, Housing & Urban Affairs, Agriculture, Jal Shakti, IT, Education and Finance (MoS). n Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party is pressing for one Cabinet and one state minister’s post. n HAM(S) chief Jitam Ram Manjhi wants a Cabinet post. n JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy is angling for the Agriculture portfolio. Pradesh and Nitish’s JDU picked up 12 seats in Bihar. These 28 seats are needed to keep the BJP’s coalition afloat. Earlier in the day all the , National Democratic Alliance constituents attended a meeting at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official residence where they also presented the BJP and its leadership with their set of demands. At the meeting, all the NDA alliance partners also reposed faith in the leadership of Modi and elected him the alliance leader. CONTD. ON NATION n Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has sought one Cabinet and two MoS berths. The milestone was achieved even as the markets were recouping after they reported their worst session in four years on Tuesday when , vote counting trends revealed that the Bharatiya Janata Party wouldn’t secure the majority to form a government on its own. The market surge came after constituents of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance pledged support to form a government for the third term. With that, benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty made a strong comeback, spiking over 3 per cent each. Bouncing back from Tuesday’s debacle, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 2,303.19 points or 3.20 per cent to settle at 74,382.24 on value buying in banking, auto and oil shares. The NSE Nifty climbed 735.85 points or 3.36 per cent to touch 22,620.35. CONTD. ON NATION FROM OUR BUREAU / NEW DELHI The Opposition INDIA bloc has reconciled to the view that they will sit in the opposition for now, even though PM Modi and the BJP are “subverting the will of the people,” Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said on Wednesday . But there was a rider. “The INDIA bloc will continue to resist the fascist rule... We will take appropriate steps at the appropriate time to realise the people’s desire not to be ruled by the BJP he added. ,” The statement came even as the Opposition leaders began crucial deliberations, exploring the possibilities of government formation, the alliance’s future strategy and whether to reach out to former allies Nitish Kumar and N Chandrababu Naidu. The leaders met at Kharge’s residence, a day after Lok Sabha election results were declared. Earlier in the evening, both Nitish and Naidu had attend- We will take appropriate steps at the appropriate time to realise the people’s desire not to be ruled by the BJP,” Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said. ed an NDA meeting at PM Modi’s residence and endorsed Modi as the NDA head. The two erstwhile allies also handed over formal letters of support, pouring cold water on the Opposition’s hopes. ‘Do Ladke’ derail ‘Double Engine’ BISWAJEET BANERJEE LUCKNOW The ‘Do Ladke’ — Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav — derailed the much vaunted double-engine drive of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh, thus marking a significant shift in the political landscape of India’s most populous state. The BJP faced significant setbacks, while the SP bagged a substantial number of seats, making it the party’s most successful performance in its electoral history . The strategy of the SP-Congress alliance to consolidate the Dalit, Other Backward Class (OBC) and Muslim votes effectively countered the BJP’s Hindutva-driven campaign in Uttar Pradesh. Prime Minister Modi had overseen the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, a move that was said to be aimed at tightening the BJP’s hold on the Hindu vote, cutting across backward classes and even Scheduled Castes and Tribes. The opposition seemed fragmented, and the “double engine” narrative of Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, referring to BJP governments at both the Centre and the state, dominated the political landscape. However, this perception of saffron dominance began to wane after the SP and Congress sealed their alliance in late February By mid-March, . the enthusiasm surrounding the consecration for the Ram Temple had dissipated and it ‘Take me out to the ball game’ They are all going to the ‘ball game’ as the Americans do: Father taking the son and daughter, with the moms taking a breather. But for the chants of ‘India Indiaa’, the Tricolour adorning many shoulders and a lot of cricket nostalgia, it would well seem like the crowds were going to a baseball game in town. This is America, until recently , alien to cricket but thanks to the surging Indian diaspora from New Jersey , Maryland, New York and other nearby states, there is a buzz all around the sprawling, well-manicured lawns of the Eisenhower Park, which houses According to sources, the Congress leaders were seemingly slow in sounding Nitish and Naidu, preferring to wait for them to respond to informal feelers. CONTD. ON NATION NEVER FACED PRESSURE: CJI PTI / OXFORD LAST WORD MEENAKSHI RAO SPECIAL FROM NEW YORK Sunrise : 06:01 am Sunset : 07:14 pm n Nitish wants 4 Cabinet posts, including Railways, Rural and Water portfolios. Handles 1,971 cr transactions in a day The National Stock Exchange on Wednesday has crossed a significant milestone: It has handled the highest number of transactions ever recorded in a single trading day a testi, mony to the growing participation of investors and traders in India’s financial markets, as well as the NSE’s capability to handle such high volumes of activity seamlessly The NSE’s Man. aging Director and Chief Executive Officer, Ashishkumar Chauhan, announced the achievement on social media platform X. In a trading session that lasted 6 hours and 15 minutes, from 9:15 am to 3:30 pm, the NSE processed an unprecedented 1971 crore (19.71 billion) orders. The total number of trades executed during the day reached 28.55 crore (280.55 million). 0 n TDP looking at Lok NSE CREATES A OPP SLOW IN SOUNDING WORLD RECORD OUT NAIDU AND NITISH FPJ DESK / NEW DELHI 0 30 c. 28 c. the picturesque and, hold your breath, a foldable cricket stadium. There’s also a golf course, fitness trails, walking areas, museums and safety centres all around this boulevard, more famous for its aquatic centre sitting pretty on the edge of the greens. Ask about the Nassau County Cricket Stadium and locals draw a blank; ditto for taxi services and the diners along the park. It does not even come up on Uber ride addresses and high school kids who are in their football summer season ask you with consternation, “When you say cricket in India, do you mean baseball?” as Josanne’s 13-year-old daughter Jerena asks you. And ironically she is from , Trinidad, traditionally a cricketing nation in the Caribbean but Americanisation has limited her to the Super Bowl, baseball, basketball and tennis on the periphery With the ICC’s . newly minted expansion plans to bring the fast and furious version of cricket to the biggest sports market in the world, there is some activity on the horizon and the T20 version comes in handy in the crowded space of shorttime sports. Other questions follow. Did cricket come out of baseball? Well, you need to tell them it is the other way round and cricket came to the Americas through Brit plantation owners in the 1800s, a game played in whites as a relief from hectic work.CONTD. ON NATION became evident that the elections, like many before in Uttar Pradesh, would be fought along caste lines. In the end, the SP won 38 seats, while the ruling BJP won 33, with the alliance partners ensuring that votes were transferred smoothly to each other. CONTD. ON NATION Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud has stated that he has never faced a "sense of political pressure from the powers that be" in his 24 years as a judge. He was addressing the Oxford Union Society here on Tuesday on the ‘humanising role adjudicators can play,’ when he was asked about political and societal pressures he may have faced while handing down judgments. “We live lives which are relatively isolated from the political arm of the government . But obviously judges have to be conversant with the impact of their decisions on the polity at large. That's not political pressure but an understanding by the court of the likely impact of a decision," he said. Answering another question he said, "Elections lie at the core of constitutional democracy Judges . are not elected in India and for a reason; judges reflect a sense of continuity of conditions, a continuity of constitutional values." CONTD. ON P17 Fadnavis says he is quitting It is not clear to whom the Deputy Chief Minister sent his resignation letter as rumours swirl that UBT leader Uddhav Thackeray is being wooed by the BJP S BALAKRISHNAN/MUMBAI Within 24 hours of the Lok Sabha election results being declared there were first signs of commotion in Maharashtra politics. On Wednesday visibly upset over the , poor performance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) , deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced his resignation from government. “I have requested my top bosses to relieve me from government responsibilities and permit me to work exclusively for the party organisation.” he revealed at a presser in the state party headquarters at Nariman Point. Interestingly it is not clear to whom , he has sent in his papers. Certainly not to the governor. In another ‘development’ that raised eyebrows, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray stayed put in Mumbai and skipped the crucial meeting of the INDIA alliance in Delhi. Instead he dispatched a three-member PIC: VIJAY GOHI KARTIK AARYAN’S NEXT delegation led by his close aide Sanjay Raut. This resulted in massive speculation in political circles that Uddhav, who has nine MPs under his belt, is being assiduously wooed by the BJP in a bid to strengthen the NDA government in New Delhi. According to sources, the BJP which , is in a desperate situation now, may even offer the CM’s post to Uddhav If he accepts . the offer, then he will be the CM only for a few months, as Assembly elections are round the corner. CONTD. ON NATION Step by step, Pune will house world’s largest stepwell The last such structure was built in Telangana, 500 years ago DHAIRYA GAJARA / MUMBAI Henceforth, World Environment Day 2024 in Pune will be remembered as the precursor to another historic day when , the foundation stone for the construction of the world’s largest stepwell was laid, the first such water conservation effort in the last 500 years, in India’s first sustainable township. While people especially visit the stepwells of Gujarat and Rajasthan to get firsthand experience of ancient water conservation techniques and architectural beauty Pune will soon have , its own stepwell, the largest in the whole world. Sandeep Sonigra, a builder known for his eco-friendly projects, including India’s first five-star rated green project, will build the world’s largest stepwell in EvoGreen City coming up in , Dehu, Pune. EvoGreen City will be the country’s first sustainable township to be built on approximately 45 acres of land in Dehu. CONTD. ON NATION TAILPIECE / SUCH SIGNBOARDS NOT PROPER: HC ‘DEKHTE HI GOLI MAAR DI JAYEGI’ ONLINE REPORT / ALLAHABAD The Allahabad High Court recently observed that messages like ‘dekhte hi goli maar di jayegi’ and ‘trespassers will be shot’ on signboards outside military installations were not appropriate and that “light words” should be used by the armed forces instead to convey such warnings, reports Bar and Bench. The court made the observation while granting bail to a Nepali citizen who had illegally entered an Air Force station in an intoxicated state in February this year. Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav opined that words like ‘dekhte hi goli maar di jayegi’ have a bad impact on passersby particularly children. , Such messages can instead be written in other ways like ‘strict action would be taken’, the judge suggested. “It is true that trespassers are not allowed to enter into premises of armed forces for the purpose of security but , the language mentioned as ‘dekhte hi goli maar di jayegi’, in my opinion, is not proper, CONTD. ON NATION