CONGRESS MLAS AUTHORISE KHARGE TO CHOOSE NEXT KARNATAKA CM

A day after Congress swept the Assembly polls in Karnataka, the 135 newly-elected Congress MLAs met in Bengaluru Sunday evening and passed a one-line resolution authorising AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge to choose the leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP).

The resolution came amidst sloganeering by supporters of state party president D K Shivakumar and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah who had gathered outside the hotel where the MLAs were in a meeting to select the CLP leader and thereby the new Chief Minister of Karnataka.

On Saturday, Kharge had said the Congress party “will form the govt under the leadership of Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar” indicating the tenure may be shared.

Siddaramaiah who has been the leader of the Congress in the state legislature during the 15th Assembly is believed to enjoy the support of a larger number of the 135 Congress MLAs elected for the 16th Assembly. Shivakumar, on the other hand, is relying on his loyalty to the Congress high command and work as KPCC chief to stake a claim to become the CLP leader and the next CM of the state.

To bolster his claim as CLP leader, Siddaramaiah had held a meeting with a few of the legislators who backed him. He also met AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge before the latter departed to New Delhi at noon.

Shivakumar also pushed his case. During the day, he visited temples in districts dominated by the Vokkaliga community, and sought support from legislators elected from the community. Vokkaliga seer Nirmalananda Natha Swamiji of Adi Chunchanagiri supported Shivakumar as the CM candidate and asked the Congress leadership to consider him. Vachananda Swami, a Lingayat seer, also said Shivakumar would be an apt candidate.

INDIA ‘HELPED US’, SAYS SRI LANKA MINISTER, & ‘WE ARE RECIPROCATING’

Referring to India as a “Big Brother” for the help it offered Sri Lanka in coping with the financial crisis which hit the island nation last year, the country’s Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation, Nimal Siripala de Silva, said that it must be ensured that India’s security is not threatened by any other country in the region.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 6th Indian Ocean Conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh, de Silva said: “We understand the concerns of India. We have to ensure the security of India is not threatened by anybody else [in the region].”

The Sri Lankan minister’s comments come days after India extended a $1 billion credit line for the cash-strapped island country by one year — till March 2024. This was part of India’s $4 billion emergency assistance package extended to Sri Lanka early last year, which was slated to end in March.

MANIPUR CM MEETS SHAH IN DELHI AMID KUKI DISQUIET IN STATE

Days after clashes erupted across Manipur between the state’s majority Meitei community and the Kuki-Zomi tribes, leading to at least 60 deaths, Chief Minister N Biren Singh arrived in the national capital along with four of his senior-most ministers and met Union Home Minister Amit Shah Sunday evening. Singh and his ministers discussed the law and order situation in Manipur with Shah. With tension still simmering between the two communities in the state, the BJP leadership is said to be treading cautiously in handling the situation. Although the demands for a leadership change are getting louder, especially from the Kuki MLAs and the community, the party leadership has not yet decided on the matter.

The Chief Minister is solidly backed by the Meitei community and any move to disturb him would have serious consequences. At the same time, the central leadership cannot ignore the calls from the Kuki side.

Shah’s meeting with the Chief Minister comes close on the heels of the resurgence of a demand for a separate Kuki administration by all 10 MLAs from the community in the ruling side.     The Kuki tribes say they no longer felt safe in Manipur, and that the state administration failed to protect them.

KARNATAKA DGP SOOD NEXT CBI CHIEF

Karnataka Director General of Police Praveen Sood has been appointed the next Director of the CBI for a two-year term, a govt order said on Sunday.

The 59-year-old, who was picked from a panel of three senior IPS officers, will take charge after incumbent Subodh Kumar Jaiswal completes his tenure on May 25.

Sood is a 1986-batch IPS officer of the Karnataka cadre and the seniormost IPS officer in the country after Jaiswal. His name was cleared on Saturday at a meeting of a high-powered committee comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

Congress leader Chowdhury reportedly gave a dissenting note on the selection of Sood as the next CBI director. However, there is no official word on it.

Sood has an impressive educational background. He is an alumnus of IIT-Delhi, IIM-Bangalore and Syracuse University in New York, the DoPT order said. The Karnataka-cadre IPS officer, who was scheduled to retire in 2024, will now have a fixed two-year tenure as the CBI Director.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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​MILITARY WANTS TO KEEP ME IN JAIL "FOR NEXT 10 YEARS," ALLEGES IMRAN KHAN

Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan claimed on Monday that the country's powerful military establishment has planned to keep him in jail for the next 10 years under sedition charges.

In a series of tweets in the early hours of Monday, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief said: "So now the complete London plan is out. Using pretext of violence while I was inside the jail, they have assumed the role of judge, jury and executioner. The plan now is to humiliate me by putting Bushra begum (Khan's wife) in jail, and using some sedition law to keep me inside for next ten years." The tweets came after Khan held a meeting of PTI leaders at his Lahore residence.

The 70-year-old leader, who has been on bail in more than 100 cases, further said: "To ensure that there is no public reaction, they have done two things -- first deliberate terror is unleashed not just on PTI workers but on common citizens as well. Second, the media is totally controlled and muzzled." He said never has the sanctity of chadar and chaar dewaari been violated the way it is being done by these "criminals".

"This is a deliberate attempt to instill so much fear in people that when they come to arrest me tomorrow, people won't come out," he said.

ERDOGAN AND RIVAL BOTH CLAIM EARLY POLL LEAD

A pair of news outlets in Turkiye provided different partial results from the country’s presidential election Sunday, with the state-run news agency indicating with threequarters of ballot boxes counted that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would squeak out a victory but an opposition-leaning agency saying the contest was headed toward a run-off.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said Erdogan was leading with 51% of the vote, while Kemal Kilicdaroglu, his main challenger, had garnered 43% after 75% of ballot boxes were tallied. The ANKA news agency said that with ballots from 76% of boxes counted, Erdogan had won 48% compared to Kilicdaroglu’s 46%. If no candidate secures more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters will face a run-off on May 28.

Further complicating the picture, the opposition candidate’s party accused Anadolu of manipulating results, insisting that Kilicdaroglu was narrowly leading with 47. 4% to Erdogan’s 46. 8%.

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INDIAN NAVY TEST-FIRES BRAHMOS MISSILE

A BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test-fired from the Indian Navy’s frontline guided missile destroyer INS Mormugao, officials said on Sunday. “INS Mormugao, the latest guided-missile destroyer, successfully hit ‘bulls eye’ during her maiden BrahMos supersonic cruise missile firing,” a Navy official said. “The ship and her potent weapon, both indigenous, mark another shining symbol of ‘AatmaNirbharta’ and Indian Navy’s firepower at sea,” an official added.

BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd, an India-Russian joint venture, produces the supersonic cruise missiles that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land platforms.

SC TO HEAR PLEA OF LAWYERS’ BODY FOR ACTION AGAINST VICE PRESIDENT DHANKHAR, LAW MINISTER

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea of Bombay Lawyers Association (BLA) against Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar over their remarks on judiciary and the collegium system for appointment of judges.

The lawyers’ body has moved the top court challenging the Bombay High Court’s February 9 order dismissing its plea on the ground that it was not a fit case to invoke the writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution.

The Bombay Lawyers Association (BLA) had claimed that Rijiju and Dhankhar showed lack of faith in the Constitution with their remarks and conduct. It had sought orders to restrain Dhankhar from discharging duty as the vice president, and Rijiju as the cabinet minister for the central govt.

In an appeal, the lawyers body said the “frontal attack not just on the judiciary but the Constitution’ by the two executive officials has lowered the prestige of the Supreme Court in public.

Rijiju had said the collegium system of appointing judges was “opaque and not transparent”.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar had questioned the landmark 1973 Kesavananda Bharati judgement that gave the basic structure doctrine. Dhankhar had said the verdict set a bad precedent and, if any authority questions Parliament’s power to amend the Constitution, it would be difficult to say “we are a democratic nation”.

KARNATAKA DY CM SHOULD BE MUSLIM, DEMANDS WAQF BOARD CHIEF

Muslim leaders from the Sunni Ulma Board on Sunday said that Karnataka’s deputy chief minister’s post should be allotted to one of the winning candidates from their community. They have also demanded that five Muslim MLAs must be made ministers with good portfolios like Home, Revenue, Health and other departments.

“We already said before the elections that the deputy chief minister should be a Muslim and that 30 seats be given to us... We got 15, and nine Muslim candidates have won. In about 72 constituencies, the Congress won purely because of the Muslims. We, as a community, have given a lot to the Congress. Now it's time we get something in return. We want a Muslim deputy chief minister and five ministers with good portfolios like Home, Revenue, and Education. It's the responsibility of the Congress to thank us with this. We held an emergency meeting in the Sunni Ulma board office to ensure all these are implemented," Waqf Board chairman Shafi Sadi said.

The leaders reaffirmed that they had made this demand before the elections.

NCB REVISES ITS ESTIMATE OF RECENTLY SEIZED DRUGS – NOW IS RS. 25000 CRORE

A day after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Navy seized 2,525 kg of “high-purity methamphetamine” off the coast of Kochi, sources in the NCB said on Sunday that the drugs were worth more than initially estimated and that the Pakistan-based Haji Salim drug cartel was behind the consignment.

The NCB had earlier said that the seized methamphetamine – a highly addictive recreational drug – was worth Rs 12,000 crore in the illegal market. On Sunday, NCB sources said, “As the seized methamphetamine is of superior grade, we have revised its estimated market value to Rs 25,000 crore. In terms of the market value, this is the biggest drug seizure made by any agency in the country.”

TIHAR JAIL SP GETS NOTICE FOR MOVING 3 INMATES TO DELHI EX-MINISTER’S CELL

The jail administration has issued a show-case notice to the superintendent of Tihar jail no. 7 for moving three men to the cell of former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain on the latter’s request.

Lodged in the jail since last year following his arrest in a corruption case, Jain had submitted an application on May 11, requesting to change his cell, citing depression and doctor’s advice for more social interactions.

“Jain in his application said he is feeling depressed and low because of loneliness. A psychiatrist suggested him for more social interactions and he requested to lodge him with at least two more persons. He also provided two persons’ names,” an officer said, citing the application. On May 12, seven inmates were transferred, three of them to Jain’s cell by the superintendent of jail no. 7.

The departmental action was taken after the prison headquarter came to know about the transfer of inmates.

GOVT PUSHES ONDC AS E-COM’S UPI EQUIVALENT, BUT INDUSTRY NOT SURE

A mixed messaging by the Centre directing e-commerce companies and food delivery players to join its digital commerce network has left the industry perplexed. Some players like Flipkart and Zomato are trying to set up step down subsidiaries to join the govt-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), but some other big ones such as Amazon and Swiggy have chosen to stay away so far.

The looming question, and one which both the govt and the industry do not necessarily share the same views, is whether ONDC can be a success without the participation of the very entities whose hold over the e-commerce market it is vying to challenge. And, industry players say there is a concerted attempt to onboard all competitors that ONDC set out to beat in the first place.

Backers of ONDC, registered as a Section 8 not-for-profit company with many financial institutions as stakeholders, have hailed the move as the ‘UPI-moment’ of e-commerce, but some analysts and industry executives have raised doubts if the govt-backed entity can match efficiencies of a streamlined e-commerce operation with a service interface that has multiple moving parts – from order to delivering goods, and from handling returns to grievances.

Further complicating the issue is the govt’s own statements on how it wants to roll out ONDC. In March, the Commerce Ministry said that ONDC will help small retailers from the “onslaught” of big tech companies. And just a month later, everyone – “big and small, global or national” – was invited to “hitch on to the ONDC bandwagon”.  Then there was a statement that existing e-commerce platforms joining the network using ONDC-specific apps should refrain from doing so, and instead join with their main platforms and existing operations.

SYSTEM TO TRACK LOST PHONE FROM THIS WEEK

People will be able to block and track their lost or stolen mobile phones across India with the rollout of a tracking system by the govt this week, a senior govt official said.

Technology development body Centre for Department of Telematics (CDoT) has been running the pilot of Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) system in some of the telecom circles, including Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and North-East region, and the system is now ready for pan-India deployment, a DoT official said.

The govt has made it mandatory to disclose IMEI — a 15-digit unique numeric identifier — of mobile devices before their sale in India.

The mobile networks will have access to the list of approved IMEI numbers which will check the entry of any unauthorised mobile phones on their network.

Telecom operators and CEIR system will have visibility into IMEI number of the device and mobile number linked to it.

BSNL STUMBLES IN FIXED LINE SEGMENT TOO, AS JIO, AIRTEL EXPAND FOOTPRINT

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) which was once the leader in the home broadband and wireline segments has now been struggling to retain its market share as both Jio and Airtel are aggressively expanding their footprints.

Expressing concern on the falling market share, BSNL CMD PK Purwar in a meeting with circle heads last month, asked them to find out the reasons behind growing number of disconnections in the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) segment.

In the FTTH segment, the company currently has 3.54 million subscribers as of February end, compared to Jio and Airtel at 8.02 million and 5.98 million, respectively. BSNL lost its top position in the segment to Jio in November 2021, just within two years of commercial launch of JioFiber.

In the wireline segment under which internet services are provided with a landline connection, BSNL’s subscriber base was at 7.06 million as of February end. For Jio and Airtel, the wireline subscriber base was at 8.8 million and 7 million, respectively. Analysts believe that Airtel in a month or two, would surpass BSNL to become the second largest player in the wireline segment.

IPL MATCH 60: RR SUFFER 59-ALL OUT DEFEAT TO RCB

Rajasthan Royals dished out one of the most inexplicable batting performances of the IPL as they were dismissed for just 59, suffering a massive 112-run defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore in Jaipur on Sunday.

Chasing 172 for a win, the Royals suffered a stunning batting collapse to be bundled out in just 10.3 over for the third lowest total in IPL history with only Shimron Hetmyer (35 off 19 balls) and Joe Root (10 off 15 balls) scoring in double-digit figures.

RCB are on 12 points from 12 matches, with 2 matches to go, against SRH and GT.

RR are on 12 points from 13 matches, with just one match to go, against PBKS

IPL MATCH 61: KKR DOWN CSK TO KEEP PLAYOFF HOPES ALIVE

Skipper Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh slammed fifties apiece enroute to a 99-run match-winning stand to guide Kolkata Knight Riders to a comfortable six-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings, in Chennai on Sunday.

Rana remained unbeaten on 57 off 44 balls while Rinku made 54 off 43 deliveries to set up KKR's chase of 145 runs after they lost their first three wickets for 33 runs inside the fifth over. KKR finished at 147 for four in 18.3 overs with Rana leading from the front after making the most of a dropped chance.

KKR's cause was helped to a large extent by a superb bowling effort earlier by spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, who did superbly and picked up two wickets each.

The defeat also puts on hold CSK's chances of sealing a play-off berth as the home side is in second spot with 15 points. (7 wins and a 'No Result' from13 matches). They have just one match to go, against DC.

KKR have moved to 12 points (6 wins from 13 matches) with a match to play, against LSG.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Nothing is as real as a dream. The world can change around you, but your dream will not. Responsibilities need not erase it. Duties need not obscure it. Because the dream is within you, no one can take it away. – Tom Clancy

OFF TRACK

A woman called up the fire department and said, "Look, I've just had a new garden laid and I've just planted some new roses, and.."

The fireman said, "Where's the fire?"

But she continued, "I've just spent a lot of money having my lawn mowed and my hedges clipped. Some of my new plants are very expensive..."

”Madam, do you know this is the fire department!!!!!”

The woman answered, "Yes, I do. And the house next door is on fire, and I don't want you clumsy fireman stomping all over my garden when you come over."