Vol. 67 No. 216 | MONDAY | JUNE 10, 2024 | 24 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 KANGANA RANAUT SLAP CONTROVERSY Actor Hrithik Roshan condemns the incident EDIT FOCUS ON INFRA, ECONOMIC GROWTH ‘INDIA SET TO BECOME GLOBAL ELECTRONICS MFG DESTINATION’ MODI DOES A NEHRU $300 bn electronics production by FY26, will trigger demand for chips worth $90-$100 billion 71 ministers take oath; most NDA constituents accommodated in Union Cabinet Shinde-led Shiv Sena gets Cabinet berth, Ajit Pawar-led NCP misses out GAURAV VIVEK BHATNAGAR NEW DELHI Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday equalled the record of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru when he was administered oath of office and secrecy by the President for the third consecutive term in a glittering swearing-in ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhawan. Besides Modi, 71 ministers took oath and these included 30 Cabinet ministers, five Ministers of State with Independent Charge and 36 Ministers of State. However, in order to accommodate its new allies, the BJP which had won only 240 , Lok Sabha seats, dropped several of its leaders, including Smriti Irani, Anurag Thakur, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, R.K. Singh and Narayan Rane. The portfolios are likely to be announced on Monday . Modi has retained his core team of Cabinet ministers while also inducting nine new faces. After him Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Nitin Gadkari took oath. Then it was the turn of BJP president J.P Nadda, whose . extended term as party chief comes to an end later this month, to take oath as a Cabinet minister. He was also the health minister in Modi’s first Cabinet. Nadda was followed by former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who found a place in the Cabinet along with former Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar. Two of Modi’s trusted ministers, Nirmala Sitharaman and S. Jaishankar, took the oath between CONTD. ON NATION them. NCP’S PRAFUL PATEL HICCUP FPJ NEWS SERVICE / MUMBAI The Ajit Pawar constituent of Mahayuti alliance is cut up since its request for a Cabinet berth in the new Modi government was not conceded. The NCP was instead offered the post of a Minister of State with independent charge, which party leader Praful Patel said was a “demotion”. "...Last night we were informed that our party will get a Minister of State with independent charge...I was earlier a Cabinet Minister in the Union Government, so this will be a demotion for me. We have informed the BJP leadership and they have told us to wait for a few days, they will take remedial measures...."Patel said. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, the Mahayuti trouble-shooter, on Sunday , said, "When a coalition government is formed, some criteria has to be there, because several parties have come together. Because of one party , the criteria cannot be changed,” he added. Meanwhile, Ajit Pawar, who, despite the hiccup, attended the oathtaking ceremony said that the , party was ready to wait for a few days for the cabinet minister’s post. CONTD. ON NATION Big Brother BJP’s balancing act Raksha Khadse’s induction a signal to Fadnavis & Girish Mahajan to patch up with Khadses; however, Rane misses the boat despite victory from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg FPJ POLITICAL BUREAU / MUMBAI Big Brother BJP has got four of its MPs, including Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Raksha Khadse and Muralidhar Mohol, inducted in the Modi 3.0 council of ministers. Gadkari and Goyal have been sworn in as cabinet ministers; Prataprao Jadhav has been also inducted in Cabinet and is MoS independent charge; Raksha, Mohol and Athawale are ministers of state. However, Narayan Rane, who was elected from the Ratnagiri Sindhudurg district, failed to get a berth despite his name doing the rounds ahead of the state assembly elections. Rane’s exclusion has surprised many in the party as he , had won the seat in his maiden foray in the Lok Sabha elections, defeating his arch rival, the Shiv Sena UBT nominee and two-term MP Vinayak Raut. For many in the party , Rane’s induction was a foregone conclusion, considering his clout in the Konkan region – where the Shiv Sena UBT has been completely wiped out. However, the party has not given any berth to the Ajit Pawar-led NCP . Similarly Dr Bhagwat , Karad, the minister of state for finance in the Modi 2.0 cabinet, has not been given another chance. This is despite BJP’s and the Mahayuti’s dismal performance in Marathwada. BJP minister Raosaheb Danve and former state minister Pankaja Munde lost from the Jalna and Beed constituencies. The induction of Raksha Khadse, winner of a third successive term from Raver constituency in Jalgaon district, has surprised many However, . party insiders claimed it was a calculated move to lure the Leva Patil community in , the run-up to the assembly elections. CONTD. ON NATION In a terror attack, which was perhaps timed to draw attention away from the swearing in ceremony ten pilgrims , were killed and 33 injured when suspected terrorists fired upon a bus in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district. The 53-seater bus, which was returning from Shiv Khori temple in Reasi to Katra, rolled down a gorge following the attack. The incident took place at around 6.15 pm near Teryath village in Poni area. The police had evacuated all the passengers by 8.10 pm with the help of local villagers. The injured were rushed to different hospitals. The bus was allegedly attacked multiple times and several empty rounds of bullets were found at the spot. A temporary joint security hub of the army police and , CRPF has been set up at the site and a multidimensional operation launched to hunt down the attackers. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Reasi Mohita Sharma said the bus veered out of control and fell into the gorge under the hail of bullets. Close shave at Mumbai airport Monsoon ahead Plane lands within moments of another taking off from the same runway FPJ NEWS SERVICE / MUMBAI I shita Manek and Lisha Chheda set up Rubaroo to provide healing and advocacy for survivors of child sexual abuse. Turn to Mumbai page to read about their work. Hundreds of passengers had a close shave at Mumbai airport on Saturday when an IndiGo aircraft touched down just as an Air India jet was taking off from the same runway . Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation responded with alacrity by announcing a probe and derostering an Air Traffic Control (ATC) official. In a video that has gone viral, both the planes are seen on the same runway . Moments after the Air India jet takes off, the IndiGo plane is seen landing. While the IndiGo plane was arriving from Indore, the Air India aircraft was bound for Thiruvananthapuram. IndiGo has said in a state- ment that the pilot of the Indore-Mumbai flight had followed the ATC's instructions. "On June 8, IndiGo flight 6E 6053 from Indore was given landing clearance by ATC at Mumbai Airport. The Pilot in Command continued the approach and followed ATC instructions.’’ Air India also said the ATC had cleared its plane for take-off. “ AI657 from Mumbai to Trivandrum was instructed by the Air Traffic Control to enter the runway and subsequently cleared for take-off. The Air India aircraft continued with the take-off movement in accordance with the laid down procedures. An investigation has been initiated by the authorities to find out more about the clearance given to the two airlines,” it said. CONTD. ON NATION of schedule FPJ DESK MUMBAI / For the last few days, the ‘kuhu-kuhu’ of the cuckoo has been ringing out with a note of certainty, indicating that the monsoon is imminent and on Sunday, the India Meteorological Department issued a confirmation. Not only has the southwest monsoon touched Mumbai’s shores but it is two whole days ahead of schedule, in view of the favourable conditions prevailing along the Maharashtra coast. The anticipated date of the arrival of the monsoon is June 11; however, last year, it showed up as late as June 24, because of the ‘Biparjoy’ cyclone over the Arabian Sea, according to an IMD official. Pre-monsoon showers had already been making their presence felt in parts of the city last week. Mumbai and its neighbouring areas received heavy rain in the last 24 hours, causing the mercury to drop and bringing much-needed relief. In the 24-hour period ending at 8.30am on Sunday, Mumbai received more than 60mm of rainfall. CONTD. ON NATION ‘Super Bowl on steroids’ THOSE WHO HAVE MISSED THE BUS B JP leaders and former Union Ministers Smriti Irani, Anurag Thakur, and Narayan Rane are not a part of the Modi 3.0 cabinet. Nor is Rajeev Chandrashekhar who lost to Shahshi Tharoor. Irani lost the Lok Sabha election from Amethi by over 1.6 lakh votes to Con- MEENAKSHI RAO / NEW YORK Rain attempted to play spoiler at the very outset of the IndiaPakistan match but neither that nor the cloudy conditions could dampen the spirits of the Indian and Pakistani fans who trooped into the cricket venue which is perched deep in the picturesque Eisenhower Park in New York, on Sunday . Bhangra and American pop beats struck up an unusual background score, causing the Americans to declare in stunned amazement: “It’s crazy man, so much noise, so much drama! Indeed, it’s the Super Bowl on steroids.” As it continued to rain well into the 11am slot, the fans, more Indians than Pakistanis, busied themselves by going to the bar together, evoking the ‘ man ki Asha’ spirit. A But of course, the fan following, comprising mainly of students, techies, doctors and other engineers far removed from the subcontinental flashpoints, have always been friends in an alien country; so even cricket match rivalry is suffused with bonhomie, sharing gress loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma. She was the Women and Child Development Minister in the second term of the Modi government. She had defeated Rahul Gandhi in his family bastion five years ago. Thakur, who is the son of former Himachal Pradesh CM Prem Kumar Dhumal and won the election from Hamirpur in HP held the sports, and , information and broadcasting portfolios. However, his fifth consecutive win from Hamirpur this time was not enough to secure a Cabinet berth for him as the BJP this time has to accommodate its ally partners in larger numbers. Narayan Rane was the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Minister in Modi 2.0. He won the Lok Sabha election from Maharashtra's Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg. His omission suggests he will be increasingly deployed for Maharashtra Assembly elections, which are due sometime in winter. EX-IT MINISTER RAJIV CHANDRASHEKHAR LEFT OUT EVEN AS SURESH GOPI IS ACCOMMODATED Kerala gets 1st minister in Modi cabinet SHANKAR RAJ / THIRUVANANTHAPURAM rides, eats and moments. Take Shirin and Alina, NYU graduates who are here are besties, one sporting an Indian jersey the other in , Pakistan colours. “We want cricket to win,” says Shirin who has been giving cricket tutorials to her all-American boyfriend Brendan who, by the way is “blown away” by , the loudness and bigness of the event. “I know there is a silly point in all this fervour and passion,” he says with a laugh, even as Alina holds on to the Pakistani flag in one hand and hugs her friend with the other. Rahul C Ganti, one of the 1,500 doctors of Indian origin who have descended on New York for the match and some propitiously timed preceding conferences, avidly discusses how the rain will “do stuff to the outfield as there are no super soppers to soak the wetness”. But he and his friends paid $2,000 for a ticket and are cursing the rain for its “monumental mistiming”. CONTD. ON NATION Kerala will now be represented by a minister from the Lok Sabha for the first time in the Modi 3.0 cabinet that took oath in Delhi on Sunday Actor-turned-politician . Suresh Gopi, who won the Thrissur seat with a thumping majority was a sure , shot for a minister’s post. However, George Kurian, who did not contest the Lok Sabha polls, was a surprise choice for a ministerial berth. Former IT minister Rajeev Chandrashekar did not find a place and created a flutter by first announcing his retirement from public life and then saying that he would continue to be an active karyakarta in Karnataka. Former minister of state for external affairs V Mu- George Kurian raleedharan also was not included in the list of ministers. Though all eyes are on Gopi, who finally broke Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) jinx in Lok Sabha polls from Thrissur, there is unease too in the Ker- 0 Sunrise : 06:01 am Sunset : 07:15 pm 10 pilgrims dead as bus falls into gorge under hail of bullets FPJ NEWS SERVICE SRINAGAR, REASI n 11 ally ministers out of 71 n BJP retains 60 berths n 30 Cabinet Ministers n 36 Ministers of State n 5 MoS with independent charge n 27 OBC, 10 SC, 5 ST, 5 Minorities 0 31 c. 29 c. ala unit of the party as he is known for his maverick ways of functioning. Gopi can be unpredictable, just like the nonconformist police officers and bureaucrats he portrays in movies. Gopi had earlier created a flutter by saying he did not want to be a minister and that his focus was on completing his roles in the five movies that re in the pipeline. The BJP leader does not attend any local meeting of the party and claims he has the support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior leader Amit Shah. Gopi did not cross swords with the state leadership, but stayed away from organisational affairs since he joined the party in 2016. CONTD. ON NATION “The identity of the deceased is not clear yet but preliminary reports suggest that they all belong to Uttar Pradesh,” she said. The Shiv Khori shrine was secured and area domination has been done, the SSP said. Visuals from the site showed some bodies scattered along a hillside and the damaged bus. Eyewitnesses shared harrowing accounts of the attack, with one survivor describing how the bus came under a hail of bullets before it plunged down the gorge. Another witness said he saw a masked assailant in a red muffler firing on the bus. “We were supposed to leave at 4 pm but the bus left around 5.30 pm and suddenly came under fire,” an injured pilgrim admitted at Teryath hospital said. Reasi district has been relatively untouched by terrorist activities, compared to Poonch and Rajouri. The Congress took to its official X account and expressed its condolences to the grief-stricken families. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi expressed his deepest condolences to all the bereaved families and hoped for the speedy recovery of the injured. CONTD. ON NATION STATEWISE PICKINGS GUJARAT ■ AMIT SHAH (BJP) ■ S Jaishankar (BJP) ■ Mansukh Mandaviya (BJP) ■ CR Paatil (BJP) ■ Nimuben Bambhania (BJP) ODISHA ■ Ashwini Vaishnaw (BJP) ■ Dharmendra Pradhan (BJP) ■ Jual Oram (BJP) KARNATAKA ■ Nirmala Sitharaman (BJP) ■ HD Kumaraswamy (JDS) ■ Pralhad Joshi (BJP) ■ Shobha Karandlaje (BJP) ■ V Somanna (BJP) MAHARASHTRA ■ Piyush Goyal (BJP) ■ Nitin Gadkari (BJP) ■ Pratap Rao Jadhav (Shiv Sena) ■ Raksha Khadse (BJP) ■ Ram Das Athawale (RPI) GOA ■ Shripad Naik (BJP) J&K ■ Jitendra Singh (BJP) HIMACHAL ■ JP Nadda (BJP) MADHYA PRADESH ■ Shivraj Singh Chouhan (BJP) ■ Jyotiraditya Scindia (BJP) ■ Savitri Thakur (BJP) ■ Virendra Kumar (BJP) UTTAR PRADESH ■ Hardeep Singh Puri (BJP) ■ Rajnath Singh (BJP) ■ Jayant Choudhary (RLD)