1. BSP Tie-up With SP Over for Now
The grand alliance between regional rivals-turned-friends Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was suspended on Tuesday, 4 June but both sides left the door open for a future tie-up in a move that all but ended a coalition once considered the biggest electoral hurdle for a second National Democratic Alliance (NDA) term but failed to live up to its gamechanger billing in the 2019 general election.
At a press conference in Delhi, Mayawati said her party will fight 11 upcoming assembly bypolls on its own, blaming the SP for poor vote transfer and cadre indiscipline and saying it was not politically expedient to continue the alliance.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. Shah Takes Stock of J-K Amid BJP Push for Delimitation Exercise in State
Home Minister Amit Shah was on Tuesday, 4 June given a detailed presentation on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, where the BJP has been pushing for carrying out a delimitation exercise for getting more seats for Jammu region in the state assembly.
Meanwhile the Election Commission announced on Tuesday that it would announce schedule for Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections after Amarnath Yatra, which will begin on 1 July, ends.
The home minister was briefed about the ground situation in the sensitive state, which has been hit by militancy for the last three decades and security arrangements being in place there, officials said.
(Source: The Tribune)
3. EC to Announce J&K Assembly Election Schedule After Amarnath Yatra
The Election Commission on Tuesday, 4 June said it will announce the schedule for assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir after the Amarnath Yatra, which begins next month.
In a statement, the poll panel said it has unanimously decided that "holding of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir shall be considered later in this year".
The Commission said it will keep monitoring the situation in the state regularly based on inputs from all necessary quarters and will announce the election schedule after the conclusion of the Amarnath Yatra.
The yatra usually runs from 2 July - 15 August.
(Source: DNA)
4.Kerala Youth Tests Nipah Positive, Over 300 Placed Under Quarantine
A year after Kerala contained an outbreak of Nipah in the northern district of Kozhikode, the government sounded the alarm across the state after a fresh case of the virus was confirmed in central Ernakulam on Tuesday, 4 June.
The state of high alert, particularly in the districts of Ernakulam, Thrissur and Idukki, was declared after the state government received confirmation of the virus in fluid samples of a suspected case sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune.
The patient is a 23-year-old man from Vadakkekara panchayat in Ernakulam district, who had moved to Thrissur last month for a job training programme after completing a technical course in Idukki’s Thodupuzha, where he was staying in a rented house with four classmates. A medical bulletin described his condition as “clinically stable”.
(Source: The Indian Express)
5. Major Victory: TRS Wins 80 percent Seats in Local Polls
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti swept almost 80 percent of the seats in the local bodies polls and is in a position to capture all the 32 zilla parishads in the state when elections are held on 8 June.
The winners of the zilla parishad territorial committees (ZPTC) elect the zilla parishad chairpersons. The mandal parishad territorial committee (MPTC) members will elect the mandal praja parisad (MPP) presidents on 7 June. The TRS is also confident of winning 90 percent the MPPs.
(Source: Deccan Chronicle)
6. Tokyo Seeks ‘2+2’ Meeting with Foreign, Defence Ministers
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his Japanese counterpart, Taro Kono, held a telephone conversation on Tuesday, 4 June and discussed maritime security in the Asia-Pacific region. This was the first consultation between the two since Mr. Jaishankar took charge on 1 June.
“Foreign Minister Kono expressed his view that toward the realisation of a free and open Indo-Pacific, the role and responsibility of India as a global power is extremely huge. Foreign Minister Kono also stated that it is Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe’s turn to visit India this year,” a release from the Embassy of Japan said.
The discussion on the freedom of navigation in the Asia-Pacific region is significant as it comes against the backdrop of the continued multilateral consultations, in which both India and Japan are participants. Both India and Japan are parties to the ‘Quad’ dialogue process that includes Australia and the US.
(Source: The Hindu)
7. Satellites, Spy Planes, Ground Force Part of Massive Search Operation to Trace AN-32
A massive search operation involving a large fleet of planes, choppers and ground force was underway on Tuesday and satellite imagery being used to trace an AN-32 transport plane of the Indian Air Force, a day after it went missing near the thickly-forested Menchuka in Arunachal Pradesh.
Aircraft equipped with advanced sensors including C-130J, AN-32 and Indian Navy's long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft P8I were deployed besides Mi-17 and ALH helicopters of the Army to locate the missing plane, officials said.
The Russian-origin transport aircraft, with 13 people on board, went missing Monday afternoon around 33 minutes after taking off from Jorhat in Assam for Menchuka near the border with China.
(Source: DNA)
8. Mumbai T20: Player Says Approached to Underperform
A Mumbai Ranji Trophy player has informed his cricket association that he was approached by a rival team’s owner to underperform ahead of the T20 Mumbai League semifinals last month, The Indian Express has learnt.
Sources said the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) will soon pass on the information to the BCCI’s anti-corruption unit.
The second edition of the T20 Mumbai League, which is a BCCI-approved tournament conducted by the MCA, was held from May 14 to May 26 — all the matches were played at the Wankhede Stadium and telecast live on Star Sports.
Of the eight teams that participated this time, North Mumbai Panthers, Arcs Andheri, Sobo Supersonics and Aakash Tigers MWS made it to the semifinals.
(Source: The Indian Express)
9. Desertion, Discord Rattle Congress Ahead of Revamp
As the Congress and its chief Rahul Gandhi take their time to carry out an “overhaul” of the organisation after the debacle in the Lok Sabha election, cracks within the party have begun to surface.
On Tuesday, 4 June, former Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly and party veteran Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil resigned from the Congress amid rumours that he could be following his son, Sujay Vikhe Patil, to the BJP.
The Congress in Rajasthan is in a churn after Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, in a TV interview, reportedly asked his deputy, Sachin Pilot, to shoulder responsibility for the party’s defeat in Jodhpur.
(Source: The Hindu)
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