Vol. 67 No. 248 | THURSDAY | JULY 18, 2024 | 26 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL www.freepressjournal.in NATION No need for 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas', we will support those who support us: Suvendu fp Briefs Leader’s son rams his SUV A speeding SUV crashed into a tempo-truck in Pune, injuring two people. The car was being driven allegedly by the son of former corporator and Sharad Pawar party leader Bandu Gaikwad, reports India Today’s news portal. Bandu Gaikwad's son, Saurabh, was driving under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident, as per sources. The accident took place at around 5 am on Tuesday. A video of the incident shows a poultry-carrying tempo-truck on an empty road. An SUV is seen coming from the opposite direction and colliding with the tempo-truck. Shivaji’s wagh nakh returns The 'wagh nakh' or tiger claw-shaped weapon used by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shivaji to kill Bijapur Sultanate's general Afzal Khan has arrived in Mumbai; it was lying in the London museum. It will now be taken to Satara and put on display from Friday. The State government has rejected the claim that they have spent several crores to bring the weapon from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The London museum has agreed to give the weapon for display in the state for three years, he said. Tawde U-turn on Metro line BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde on Wednesday claimed on social media that Mumbai's first underground Metro rail corridor, known as Metro Line 3, would start operations from July 24. However, the former Maharashtra minister deleted the post later. Influencer in fatal fall A 26-year-old Instagram influencer died after falling into a gorge at Kumbhe waterfall near Raigad, reports NDTV. Aanvi Kamdar, a resident of Mumbai, fell into the 300-foot gorge while shooting a video. She had embarked on a trip with seven friends to the waterfall on July 16. A rescue team was able to access the spot where Aanvi had fallen. However, it took six hours to bring her safely out of the gorge on a vertical pulley. She succumbed to her injuries at the hospital where she was taken. EDITIONS: MUMBAI INDORE PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK KONKAN E-paper GAMES Cinema Shruti Seth reflects on her journey in showbiz IOA releases list for Paris, Neeraj Chopra to lead charge at the Paris Games Edit Avoid standoff over funds for education ROLLBACK | Bites more than it can chew on job reservation bill; gets flak from both industry and within, puts legislation on back-burner Karnataka gets cold feet Rajashekara S BENGALURU The Karnataka government has backed off from tabling a draft bill on job reservations in the private sector for Kannadigas following a barrage of intense criticism from the industry as well as from within the party. The move is now on hold indefinitely. On July 15, the Cabinet had approved the draft of the bill which proposed 50 per cent reservation for Kannadigas in management jobs and 75 per cent in non-management jobs. The bill was to be tabled in the Legislature on Thursday by Labour Minister Santosh Lad. The plan, however, was shelved following strong criticism from the Information Technology and Bio-Technology (IT & BT) sectors. There were also reservations among Ministers on tabling such a Bill that could jeopardise the State's growth and take away investments from Karnataka. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah himself clarified on `X' platform that the Bill, which was approved by the Cabinet, has been ``temporarily withheld.’’ A decision will be taken in the coming days ‘‘after revising the same.'' Though primacy for Kannadigas in the private sector was recommended by Saro- jini Mahishi report in the mid 1980s it has remained only on paper. A few years ago, there was an attempt to implement this for group C and D category jobs like security, attendants, peon etc. A senior Minister who didn't want to be named told FPJ that ‘‘the Bill will be detrimental to the State's progress. It is also impractical.’’ The Minister added that following strong reservations from Cabinet col- Urvi Mahajani Expressing displeasure at non-consenting members of a housing society, who are in minority, refusing to vacate the premises, the High Court has said that such conduct puts the entire redevelopment plan at risk, which prejudices the remaining members. This has a huge financial impact on devel- leagues the bill has been put on hold. The Minister also clarified that there had been no interministerial consultations on the bill, a procedure followed before tabling any legislation that could impact other departments. Another senior Minister told FPJ that the Bill was “unnecessary and we don't know who was behind this. The Labour Minister himself is a businessman and a business friendly person. It is hard to say how Lad came out with such a Bill that could take away investments from Karnataka.'' 4Contd on | nation UP crisis lands at 12 Maoists slain in Gadchiroli Shah’s doorstep Somendra Sharma MUMBAI Need to strategise for 10 by-polls takes priority over internal strife CM Yogi called on Governor Anandiben Patel on Wednesday and briefed her about political developments Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar & Biswajeet Banerjee NEW DELHI & LUCKNOW The political storm brewing in the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh, owing to the simmering differences between Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya over the party's poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections, made a landfall in Delhi on Wednesday. As State unit chief Bhupendra Chaudhary and Union Home Minister Amit Shah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the situation during the day, speculation was rife of how the crisis is going to be managed. Chaudhary told the Prime Minister he takes moral responsibility for the party’s performance and offered to step down from the post. The meeting with Modi follows separate meetings on Tuesday between Chaudhary, Maurya, and BJP national president J.P. Nadda, to address the dissonance that comes ahead of the 10 by-polls that are imminent. In Lucknow, Chief Minister Adityanath convened a meeting with ministers to strategize for the upcoming by-elections. Both Deputy Chief Ministers, Maurya and Brijesh Pathak, remained absent 4Contd on | nation Twelve Maoists were killed by the Gadchiroli police near Chhattisgarh border in a fierce gun battle on Wednesday. The police have recovered a cache of sophisticated firearms from the spot, including AK-47 rifles, carbines and SLRs. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio, has declared a cash re- ward of Rs 51 lakhs for the 200 C60 commandos (led by Deputy SP Operations Vishal Nagargoje) and the Gadchiroli Police for the successful operation. According to the police, seven parties of C60 commandos led by the Deputy Superintendent of Police (Operations) were dispatched to a site near Wandoli village on Chhattisgarh Border; the police had received intelligence tip-off about 12 to 15 Naxals who were camp- ing near the village. A heavy exchange of fire ensued in afternoon and continued intermittently till late evening for more than 6 hours. Eventually, after the shooting subsided, an area search led to the retrieval of bodies of the 12 slain Maoists. Seven weapons, including 3 AK-47, 2 INSAS, 1 carbine and 1 SLR have been recovered till now," said a Gadchiroli police officer. 4Contd on | nation Pawar frowns at Cong ahead of seat-sharing Rakes up cross-voting in MLC polls to put MVA ally on the defensive Rohit Chandavarkar PUNE NCP founder Sharad Pawar criticised the Mahayuti government, and especially Cabinet Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, on Wednesday alleging that the government did not take any assistance from the opposition in the initial stages of the Maratha agitation and now, is suddenly holding the opposition responsible for the tension in various parts of the state. Sharad Pawar was speaking to the media in Pune and also openly targeted the Congress party, explaining how there was cross-voting in the recent MLC polls and how his party was disappointed to see Congress votes getting split. This is the first time Sharad Pawar has openly spoken about his disappointment with his alliance partners post-Lok Sabha polls and observers feel this was done so to put the state Congress leadership on the defensive ahead of seat-sharing talks for the assembly polls. Pawar had some observations to make about the recent Maharashtra Legislative Council polls, where Jayant Patil, the Bizman jumps from Sea Link Ankit Salvi MUMBAI 4Contd on | nation Sops for voters ahead of assembly polls; after ‘Ladki Bahin Yojana’, now it’s ‘Ladka Bhau Yojana’; package of essential food items through PDS for Ganpati festivals MUMBAI Pointedly ignoring the barrage of negative comments on his ‘Mukhya Mantri Ladki Bahin Yojana’, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced a stipend for students on the occasion of Ashadhi Ekadashi on Wednesday, called ‘Ladka Bhau Yojana’, worth Rs 5,500 crore. There is no income ceiling for this scheme. It comes together with another announcement, where approximately 1.7 crore families falling under ‘Antyodaya’ and orange and yellow ration card holders will get ‘Anandacha Shidha’ for a month, from August 15 to September 15, through the public distribution scheme (PDS). MUMBAI mated that around 50 candidates are from two cities -Lucknow and Prayagraj. According to the aspirants, around 32% of selected candidates took the exam in the same centre and had consecutive roll numbers. Further, 81 candidates were selected from only 3 centres, that is, Prayagraj, Lucknow and Delhi. The UPSC APFC exam was embroiled in allegations of The much-awaited state cabinet expansion may happen soon, going by the statement of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in Pandharpur. Answering media queries, CM Shinde said, “Very soon, cabinet expansion will be done. Don’t worry about it. The state government will do no injustice to anyone.” Political experts say that after the setback in the recent Lok Sabha elections, many MLAs of NCP Ajit Pawar and Shiv Sena might return to their original parties. To keep the flock together, the ploy of cabinet expansion will be used, it is being said. Such tactics are routinely used by top leaders elsewhere in the country. So, it should be interesting to see what the Mahayuti does in the next two or three months. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MLA and spokesperson Sanjay Shirsat told a news channel that many MLAs could become disappointed should cabinet expansion not take place. “What is the problem with cabinet expansion? It should be done or else many MLAs will be disappointed. I am sure it will happen soon,” said Shirsat. 4Contd on | nation 4Contd on | nation Eight capsized Indians rescued 9 crew members out of 16, who went missing after an oil tanker capsized off the coast of Oman, have been rescued. Out of the nine members, eight are Indians and one is from Sri Lanka, reports NDTV. The MT Falcon Prestige oil tanker was headed for the Yemeni port city of Aden. The capsized tanker transmitted a distress call around 10 pm on July 15. The student stipend scheme, previously announced as the ‘Mukhya Mantri Yuva Karya Prashikshan Yojna’, will henceforth be known as the ‘Ladka Bhau Yojana’. Under the scheme, students who have passed Class 12, will receive a monthly stipend of Rs 6,000, while diploma students and graduates will receive Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000 monthly respectively, for six-month internships. All three schemes are expected to rake in huge electoral dividends, considering that the upcoming state assembly polls are scheduled for October-November later this year. The ‘Ladki Bahin Yojana’ will cost approximately Rs 46,000 crore. 4Contd on | nation off-grid opers, as they have to start making payments to the cooperating members who have vacated their premises, the court noted. Justice Arif Doctor has said that if the 11 non-consenting members of this society fail to vacate the premises within two weeks, then they will have to pay Rs 5 lakh each, to be distributed between the developer and the housing society. Imposes costs of Rs 5L each, on 11 non-consenting members of housing society if they fail to vacate within two weeks Highlighting that courts are flooded with such frivolous petitions, the HC remarked: “The docket of this 4Contd on | nation Kalpesh Mhamunkar On Wednesday evening, 56year-old Bhavesh Seth, a businessman, allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the Bandra-Worli Sea Link; he left behind a suicide note which said, “Sorry beta, take care of family”. According to police, Seth, a resident of Ghatkopar west, had a ball bearing business; he had accumulated significant debts and was facing mental turmoil that may have led to the desperate step. Abhi toh party shuru hui hai! Another leak? FJP Political Bureau candidate he had supported lost the contest because of cross-voting by Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) members. It has now transpired that as many as seven votes of the Congress party may have gone to the ruling Mahayuti. “We had expected that some Congress votes would go to Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Milind Narvekar and some would come to Jayant Patil of the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP), whom we had supported. But the Congress could not ensure this vote transfer to Patil. We are disappointed. They must find out what happened,” Pawar said. Bigger state cabinet to keep flock intact? Naysayers put redevelopment plan at risk: HC MUMBAI Member: Audit Bureau of Circulation (Jan to Dec 2023) court continues to be flooded with several such matters where minority members continue to attempt to stymie redevelopment on grounds which are ex facie frivolous, untenable and contrary to the well-settled position in law.” The HC was hearing a petition by M/s. Dem Homes LLP, which was appointed to redevelop Taruvel Co-operative Housing Society in Andheri. The building was declared as dilapidated by the VJTI in October 2023. Although the society signed a development agreement with the developer in September 2023, some members refused to vacate the premises. The society had agreed to get the building redeveloped through M/s. Dem Homes in its general body meeting in August 2021. 4Contd on | nation 32% selected at one centre had consecutive roll numbers Sunidhi Vijay MUMBAI The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) released the results for the post of Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner at the Employee's Provident Fund Organisation under the Ministry of Labour and Employment on July 16 and recommended 159 candidates for the job. Out of the 159 recommended candidates, it is esti- Tailpiece I divorce you: Dubai Princess to husband E ven the best of friends have to part. Dubai princess Shaikha Mahra Mohammed Rashed Al Maktoum has divorced her husband Sheikh Mana bin Mohammed bin Rashid bin Mana Al Maktoum on Instagram, two months after the couple welcomed their first child. The Dubai princess, in an Instagram post on July 16, announced the divorce as she accused her husband of infidelity. “Dear Husband, as you are occupied with other companions, I hereby declare our divorce. I divorce you, I divorce you, and I divorce you. Take care. Your ex-wife,” the post reads. 4Contd on | nation