The big news: Manik Saha to be new Tripura CM after Biplab Deb resigns, and nine other top stories
Other headlines: India banned wheat exports amid rising domestic prices, and two men were arrested in relation to the fire incident in Delhi that killed 27.
A look at the top headlines of the day:
- Manik Saha to take over as Tripura chief minister after Biplab Deb’s resignation: Saha, the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Tripura unit, was elected the new leader of the state legislature party. It is not yet known why Deb resigned, but there has been discontent about his leadership among the party MLAs.
- India bans wheat exports amid rising domestic prices: Earlier this month, the Union government reduced the amount of wheat allocated to states and Union Territories under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.
- Two men arrested after 27 died in fire in building in Delhi’s Mundka: The arrested men are owners of the company where the fire erupted in the three-storey office complex on Saturday. The owner of the building, which did not have a fire clearance, is absconding.
- Rules to link Aadhaar with voter ID cards could be issued soon, says Election Commission chief: Sushil Chandra said that the sharing of Aadhaar details will be voluntary, but voters will need to give sufficient reason for not linking the unique identification number to their voter ID cards.
- State of Indian economy extremely concerning, says P Chidambaram: The former Union finance minister said that the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery has been indifferent and faulty. He also said that a slower rate of growth has been the hallmark of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
- Special Investigation Team will inquire into killing of Kashmiri Pandit: On Thursday, suspected militants barged into a government office in Budgam district and shot dead Rahul Bhat. The police said that he worked as a revenue department official at the tehsil office in Chadoora.
- Former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar quits party: He said that the Congress was facing an existential crisis. Last month, the Congress had removed him from all party posts, accusing him of being involved in activities against the organisation.
- SC asks Centre, election panel to respond on plea challenging J&K Delimitation Commission: A petition filed in March by two Kashmiris, Haji Abdul Gani Khan and Mohammad Ayub Mattoo, has argued that the formation of the Delimitation Commission is unconstitutional and has been done without the necessary power, jurisdiction and authority.
- Marathi actor arrested over allegedly derogatory social media post targeting Sharad Pawar: Ketaki Chitale, has been booked on charges of defamation and promoting enmity for sharing a poem that referred to the NCP leader’s last name.
- Day after Elon Musk put Twitter deal on hold, its CEO says need to be prepared for all scenarios: Parag Agrawal made the comment in a series of tweets on why two senior executives of the company quit earlier this week. On Friday, Musk said that his acquisition of Twitter was on hold “pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users”.