5 min readJun 27, 2022 08:33 AM IST
First published on: Jun 27, 2022 at 08:33 AM IST
Good morning,
The Big Story
As the Maharashtra crisis enters its second week, the battle has moved to the Supreme Court with the rebel camp challenging the decision by Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal to recognise Ajay Choudhary as leader of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party (SSLP) in place of party rebel Eknath Shinde, and the disqualification notices served against him and 15 other rebel MLAs. The Shinde camp has claimed it has 39 of the Sena’s 55 MLAs, more than two-thirds (37) of the Sena legislature party. Several Independent MLAs too are with Shinde. “We are 50-plus in all,” Shinde said.
🔴 With the Maha Vikas Aghadi government on shaky ground, NCP president Sharad Pawar convened a meeting of all three coalition partners at his Mumbai residence and reassured senior leaders that they could collectively weather the storm.
🔴 Meanwhile, at least 15 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs got Y-plus security cover comprising central forces after Maharashtra Governor B S Koshyari flagged reports of their houses and offices being targeted in the state.
Only in The Express
Despite former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s frequent jibes at billionaire businessmen Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani — he recently referred to the two as the “double A variant” spreading in the Indian economy — the conglomerates managed by them had committed to invest over Rs 1.68 lakh crore in Congress-governed Rajasthan, according to information obtained by The Indian Express under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
From the front page
In a rude wake-up call for the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab, SAD (A) chief Simranjit Singh Mann won the Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll. The seat was vacated by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. The loss meant that AAP has no member in the Lok Sabha.
🔴 However, there was some cheer for the AAP in Delhi, where its candidate Durgesh Pathak won the Rajinder Nagar Assembly seats by over 11,000 votes, defeating BJP’s Rajesh Bhatia.
🔴 In Uttar Pradesh, BJP wrested Azamgarh and Rampur — both strongholds of the Samajwadi Party. The two seats were vacated by party chief Akhilesh Yadav and senior leader Azam Khan.
🔴 In Tripura, Chief Minister Manik Saha won the Bardowali seat. The ruling YSRCP won the Atmakur seat in Andhra Pradesh, while the Congress won the Mandar (ST) reserved seat in Jharkhand.
A six-member Special Investigation Team will probe retired DGP R B Sreekumar, Mumbai-based activist Teesta Setalvad and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt for criminal conspiracy and forgery, and other charges, “as per directions of the Supreme Court”, a top official told The Indian Express. An FIR was lodged against the three in Gujarat after the apex court upheld the clean chit given to the then chief minister Narendra Modi, his council of ministers and bureaucrats on their role in the 2002 riots.
Must Read
Following a complaint from the Union government, YouTube has removed a new song by deceased Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, from its platform in India. The song, SYL, is available in other countries, and raises multiple issues, including — as its name suggests — the under-construction Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal that has been a bone of contention between Punjab and Haryana for the past four decade.
At an Idea Exchange, Chess legend Vishwanathan Anand speaks about keeping together as a chess player, his upcoming tournaments and how he quietly hit back at Anatoly Karpov’s casual snide of the Indian being too nice to win – by winning. A lot.
Since February 23, the day before Russia invaded Ukraine, the European Union’s Council has adopted six rounds of sanctions to “impose clear economic and political costs” on the government of President Vladimir Putin, and to “cripple the Kremlin’s ability to finance the war”. We take a look at how the sanctions have fared since then and the role India and China played.
And Finally…
“A generation…of time has gone by and Madhya Pradesh has won the Ranji Trophy for the first time now. It is the moment of a lifetime for me,” the state team captain Aditya Shrivastava said at the post-match presentation of the Ranji Trophy final. He also poke about the dedication of his unit during preparation and the personal “sacrifices” they had made under the coach, who is known as a hard taskmaster.
Delhi Confidential: Yashwant Sinha, the joint opposition candidate for the Presidential elections, will file his nomination papers on Monday. Sinha is planning to visit as many state capitals as possible as part of his campaign tour. Incidentally, Sinha is said to have reached out to BJP veteran L K Advani for a meeting with him to seek his blessings.
In this episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we discuss the arrest of activist Teesta Setalvad and her involvement in the Gujarat riots case. We also talk about a son of a daily wage labourer from Karnataka winning a gold medal in wrestling, and Nord VPN removing its servers from India.
Until tomorrow,
Leela Prasad and Sonal Gupta
Business As Usual by EP Unny
Top news on June 26, 2022. 
Business As Usual by EP Unny
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