Daily Briefing: The Thackerays reunite

November 20: The Supreme Court accepts the 100-m definition.

The CEC, constituted by the SC for matters related to the environment, has also stated that the views attributed to the committee in the Environment Ministry’s affidavit to the apex court are of only one member. Read Jay Mazoomdaar’s report.

🎧 For more on the Aravalli Hills row, tune in to today’s ‘3 Things’ podcast episode.

On that note, let’s get to the rest of the edition👇

🚨 Big Story

The upcoming high-stakes corporation elections in Maharashtra, including Asia’s richest civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, have sparked a reconfiguration of alliances. Formerly estranged cousins, Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), will formally announce their alliance today.

The two Thackerays are coming together sixteen years after the undivided Shiv Sena parted ways with MNS. Per sources, the parties are in the final stages of formalising the seat-sharing formula. Notably, the Sena-MNS bonhomie bloomed as they united against the government’s now-scrapped three-language formula in primary schools.

What this means for BJP: The alliance is likely to disrupt the poll math (read our analysis), given the Thackerays’ appeal among Marathi-speaking populations, and could force the BJP to rely more on its ally, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. Though Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has downplayed the impact of the MNS-Sena alliance, BJP insiders say that the party is working on “counter” strategies.

What this means for Mumbai: The BMC fight is crucial for Sena, which hopes to retain its 30-year hold over the civic body. The BJP, however, is looking to replicate its strong performance in the recent local body elections. Will Mumbai care about the MNS-Sena tie-up? Zeeshan Shaikh decodes.

Meanwhile, with the BJP refusing to align with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP for the polls in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, the estranged Pawar family could reunite.

⚡Only in Express

Goa was once the last station on the hippie trail. Travellers from Europe would arrive in camper vans in North Goa, impressed by its quiet beaches and welcomed by the villagers. But over the years, Goa has turned into a party hub, with unbridled tourism and commercialisation replacing its serenity. The December 6 fire at a nightclub in Arpora has put a spotlight on the mushrooming of party joints all over the coastal beach belt. Pavneet Singh Chadda writes how unchecked tourism and a haze of regulations may have ruined Goa’s beach party.

📰 From the Front Page

Neighbours: Tensions have escalated in Bangladesh after the killing of a student leader, while protests broke out in India over the lynching of a Hindu youth across the border. In tit-for-tat moves, Dhaka and Delhi summoned each other’s envoys to express concern over the situation.

📌 Must Read

Bumpy road: The Centre’s new rural jobs guarantee scheme, the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) — or VB-G RAM G Act — has a provision to pause the scheme for 60 days. Its implementation, however, may face hurdles given its fund-sharing pattern with states and the “normative allocation” clause, which introduces a top-down approach for budgeting. We decode.

Peek into history: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Rashtra Prerna Sthal, a memorial for BJP icons, in Lucknow tomorrow. Spread across 65 acres, the complex is shaped like a lotus, the BJP’s election symbol, and features three towering bronze statues of Vajpayee, Mookerjee and Upadhyay. Here’s what visitors can expect to see.

Digital crumbs: Last month, the police caught Ravindra Soni, a con artist, who ran a company, ‘BlueChip Group’ in Dubai, to defraud investors. The scale of fraud is estimated to be as high as Rs 1,000 crore. Soni’s arrest showcases how law enforcement is increasingly turning to digital residue of everyday life — one-time passwords, food-delivery logs, e-commerce histories — to trace elusive suspects and dismantle sophisticated criminal networks. Read.

⏳ And Finally…

The BCCI’s diktat requiring international stars to sharpen their skills in domestic cricket has transformed otherwise forgettable fixtures into must-watch events. Case in point: the Sikkim vs Mumbai Vijay Hazare Trophy match in Jaipur today is drawing an expected crowd of up to 3,000, purely on the back of Rohit Sharma’s presence. Likewise, Virat Kohli is set to feature in the Delhi vs Andhra game in Bengaluru. But while Kohli turns out, fans won’t. Chinnaswamy Stadium remains barred from hosting spectators following the stampede during RCB’s celebrations, forcing the match to be played behind closed doors at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence.

That’s all for today, folks! Until tomorrow,
Sonal Gupta

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