06062024-TTC-01.qxd 6/6/2024 12:52 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 144 NO. 156 | 14 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 GOVT MUST RELEASE ENGINEER RASHID, SAYS MEHBOOBA J&K SUNITA WILLIAMS FLIES TO SPACE ON BOEING STARLINER WORLD /thetribunechd MARKET REBOUNDS CJI: NEVER FACED ANY FROM POLL JITTERS, POLITICAL PRESSURE IN JUMPS 3% BUSINESS 24 YEARS BACK PAGE thursday | 6 june 2024 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Modi set for historic 3rd term, Next step at right time, says but allies drive hard bargain Kharge after INDIA meet Shubhadeep Choudhury Tribune News Service NDA elects PM its leader | TDP eyes Speaker’s post, 5 berths, JD(U) 3 Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 5 Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set for a historic third term in office after the National Democratic Alliance partners unanimously backed him for the top post, hailing India’s strides under his decade-long leadership. In a meeting convened this evening, kingmakers Telugu Desam Party’s N Chandrababu Naidu and Janata Dal-United’s Nitish Kumar joined 16 bloc leaders in passing a unanimous resolution electing Modi as their leader. Sources said Modi could take oath as early as Saturday, with a meeting of the BJP and NDA MPs scheduled for June 7. Global top guns, including US President Joe Biden, British premier Rishi Sunak and Russian President Vladimir Putin, also congratulated the PM for the historic win, cementing his claim to a third term in office, which would put him in the league of the late Jawaharlal Nehru. The ruling BJP which fell , short of a majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha election result, moved quickly on Wednesday to secure written assurances of support from NDA leaders amid signals that the Congress-led opposition INDIA bloc was also keen on engaging Naidu and Nitish. A formal endorsement from continued on page 8 PM Narendra Modi with TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar in New Delhi. PTI ❝ Met our valued NDA partners. Ours is an alliance that will further national progress and fulfil regional aspirations. We will serve the 140 crore people of India and work towards building a Viksit Bharat. — Narendra Modi, PM Biden,Putin,Sunak congratulate PM WASHINGTON/LONDON: US President Joe Biden, Russian President Vladimir Putin, British PM Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron were among dozens of world leaders who congratulated PM Modi on the victory of the NDA coalition and expressed their desire to work closely with him. “The friendship between our nations is only growing as we unlock a shared future of unlimited potential,” Biden said. In a phone call, President Putin “warmly congratulated” the PM on the success of his party. BACK PAGE FINAL LS TALLY NDA INDIA BLOC 293 234 NDA: BJP 240, TDP 16, JDU 12, Shiv Sena Shinde 7, LJP (Ram Vilas) 5; JD-S 2, Jana Sena 2, RLD 2, UPPL 1, AGP 1, HAM 1, NCP 1, SKM 1, All Jharkhand Students Union 1, Apna Dal Soneylal 1 INDIA:Congress 99, SP 37, TMC 29, DMK 22, Shiv Sena Uddhav 9, NCP Sharadchandra Pawar 8, CPM 4, RJD 4, CPI 2, IUML 3, CPIML 2, VCK 2, JMM 3, JKNC 2, Kerala Cong 1, RLP 1, Bharat Adivasi Party 1, MDMK 1, AAP 3, RSP 1 4 Ind MPs back INDIA bloc: Pappu Yadav, Chandrashekhar Azad, Vishal Patil from Sangli in Maharashtra and Ladakh MP Knives out as AAP weighs up losses in Punjab, heads to roll Poll strategist Pathak to chair meetings of MLAs tomorrow Ruchika M Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 5 With the ruling Aam Aadmi Party of Punjab suffering defeat in 60 of the 92 Assembly segments represented by its MLAs, the knives are out. Even as Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann confined himself to his residence here since yesterday, AAP MLAs and ministers remained engaged in informal discussions on the drubbing faced by the party in the LS elections wherein it won just three of the 13 Lok Sabha seats. Incidentally, the party campaign had centred around CM Mann. According to information CM MANN TO MEET 3 WINNERS TODAY To evaluate the party’s poor poll performance, CM Mann has called a meeting of three winning candidates Malvinder Singh Kang (Anandpur Sahib), Raj Kumar Chabbewal (Hoshiarpur) and Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer (Sangrur) at his residence on Thursday morning available with The Tribune, a number of party leaders had sensed on the polling day itself that the party would not do well. Many of the leaders had even rushed to Delhi to meet AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal before he surrendered himself on June 2. Though they could not talk to him and express their anguish at the poor show expected, some of them managed to convey their concern to Sandeep Pathak, the party’s chief poll strategist and Rajya Sabha MP sources , said, adding that Kejriwal relies heavily on Pathak, who is now accepted as AAP’s tallest leader in Delhi. continued on page 8 Modi likely to stake claim tomorrow NEW DELHI: Caretaker PM Modi is likely to stake claim to form the government on Friday and may take oath on Saturday. The Bhutan King, Sri Lankan President and PMs of Nepal, Bangladesh and Mauritius are being invited for the oath-taking, said sources. The media division of Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office said Modi had invited him. Modi also had a phone talk with Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina and invited her for the event. The sources said formal invitations for the ceremony were to be sent on Thursday. — TNS/PTI New Delhi, June 5 Hinting that it has not given up on the plan to form a government at the Centre, the INDIA bloc on Wednesday said it will “take appropriate step at the appropriate time to fulfil people’s desire not to be ruled by the BJP government”. Briefing reporters after a meeting of INDIA bloc constituents here, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the participants discussed the political situation in the country and made a number of suggestions. Reading out a statement issued jointly by the allies after the meeting, Kharge said, “The constituents of the INDIA bloc thank the people of India for their overwhelming support. The people’s mandate has given a befitting reply to the BJP and their politics of hate, corruption and deprivation. This is a political and moral defeat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.” “This is a mandate in defence of the Constitution and against price rise, unemployment and crony capitalism of the Modi government,” the statement read. “The bloc will continue to fight against the fascist rule Court rejects bail to Kejri, extends custody till June 19 Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 5 A Delhi court on Wednesday denied interim bail to CM Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam. Special judge Kaveri Baweja of Rouse Avenue Courts rejected Kejriwal’s request for a seven-day interim bail on medical grounds. The court sent him to judicial custody till June 19, when he will appear before the vacation judge virtually from Tihar jail at 2 pm. His plea for a regular bail will come up for hearing on June 7. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the ED, opposed the continued on page 8 Poor bypoll show, BJP may rework strategy In HP, unlikely to field Ind ex-MLAs as ticket to 6 Cong turncoats proves costly Pratibha Chauhan Tribune News Service Shimla, June 5 Having burnt its fingers in the recently held Assembly elections by fielding all six Congress turncoats, the BJP may have to exercise caution while finalising nominees for another three Assembly bypolls to be held in Nalagarh, Dehra and Hamirpur constituencies within the next six months. With the BJP winning only two of the six bypolls — Dharamsala and Barsar — it becomes clear that the move to induct six Congress MLAs BYELECTIONS DUE IN THREE SEGMENTS ■ BJP fielded all six Congress party leaders and party cadre turncoats in the recent bypoll, but managed to win only 2 ■ Move to induct turncoats didn’t go down well with senior ■ It now remains to be seen if into the party and then giving them the ticket has not gone down well with the saffron party cadre. It now remains to be seen whether the BJP will give the ticket to all three Independent MLAs — Hoshyar Singh from Dehra in Kangra, Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur and KL Thakur from Nalagarh in Solan — for the bypolls in these segments. The three had joined the BJP on March 23, a day after submitting their resignation to the Speaker. With the acceptance of their resignation on June 3, the strength of the House was reduced to 65. The Congress’ tally in the Vidhan Sabha after the BJP gives the ticket to 3 Independents who resigned as MLA and joined the party the win in four byelection seats has gone up to 38, while the BJP has 27 MLAs. If the BJP decides to give ticket to the new entrants, it has to face opposition from senior leaders, including former ministers Ramesh Dhwala and Ravinder Ravi (Dehra); and former MLAs Lakhvinder Rana (Nalagarh) and Narinder Thakur (Hamirpur). Rana had earlier voiced his grouse when the three were inducted into the BJP on March 23 along with six disqualified Congress legislators. The three MLAs had sat on a continued on page 8 c m y b Nine members of trekkingexpedition dieinUttarakhand INDIA bloc leaders after their meeting in New Delhi. MANAS RANJAN BHUI MANDATE BEFITTING REPLY TO BJP’S HATE POLITICS ❝ The people’s mandate has given a befitting reply to the BJP and its politics of hate, corruption and deprivation. This is a political and moral defeat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. — INDIA bloc of the BJP led by Modi. We will take appropriate steps at the appropriate time to realise the people’s desire not to be ruled by the BJP’s government,” it said. While Mamata Banerjee and Uddhav Thackeray kept away from the meeting, it was attended by all other top leaders of the alliance. Uddhav could not attend the meeting as all newly elected MPs were expected to meet him in Mumbai, sources said, adding that too much should not be read into his absence as he had sent his trusted lieutenants Sanjay Raut and Arvind Sawant to represent him in the meeting. Besides Kharge, top Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were present in the meeting. Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule of the NCP (Pawar), MK Stalin of the DMK, Akhilesh Yadav of the continued on page 8 New Delhi/Uttarkashi, June 5 Nine members of a trekking team were killed while six survived after being trapped due to severe weather conditions on their way to Sahastra Tal in Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand, according to the Indian Air Force (IAF) that carried out a rescue operation on Wednesday. 3 SURVIVORS EVACUATED IN AIR FORCE HELICOPTERS The IAF evacuated three survivors and the bodies of five trekkers, while three Sherpas and the mortal remains of four trekkers will be brought back on Thursday, it said. The 22-member trekking team was sent by Himalayan View Trekking Agency, Maneri, on May 29 on a 35-km long trek from Uttarkashi, according to officials. The IAF shared some continued on page 8