IB, Mumbai Police fear violence once Shinde returns
After senior Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde’s coup against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Intelligence Bureau and the state police fear violence in Mumbai and elsewhere in Maharashtra. The coming days will show who the masters of the streets in Mumbai are when Shinde and his flock return from Guwahati.Shiv Sena is a strong cadre-based party, and its Parumukhs, Zila chiefs and the army of highly aggressive Shiv Sainiks still seem to be standing behindThackeray. “Whosoever controls the streets of Mumbai will control the party,” a top Shiv Sena told The Sunday Guardian. “Let Shinde and his MLAs return, then, see the fun.”The IB and the Maharashtra police, especially in Mumbai, are picking up signals of Shiv Sainiks preparing “to welcome” the rebels in their own style. Shinde is aware of the danger ahead although the saffron parivar has reportedly promised them “protection”.On the other side, Maharashtra’s hurt strongman, NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s men, too, are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Shiv Sena.
‘Difficult moments’ for Naidu to meet Murmu
Soon after her arrival in the capital on Thursday, NDA’s Presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu(64), who is in a comfortable position to win the 18 July election to succeed Ram Nath Kovind, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu. Although a customary meeting with Naidu, it was perhaps the most significant one; for the VP and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, it must have been “difficult moments”.Since becoming VP, Naidu had aspired to be elevated as the next President of India. Whenever the Parliament was not in session, Naidu began visiting Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala every week. He hardly went to the northern states. His calculation was that the NDA would choose a Presidential candidate from the south and in that case, he would get the support from down south, even from opposition-run governments. But he had forgotten that Modi loves to give surprises and he decided to choose Murmu from an eastern state,Odisha.Interestingly, earlier on Tuesday, political buzz had started about Naidu being considered by the ruling combined candidate when Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh and BJP president J.P. Nadda met Naidu ahead of a crucial party meeting on the presidential election. It is obvious that the BJP’s top leadership had gone to politely tell Naidu, former BJP president, that Modi wants Murmu to be the NDA candidate. It’s not clear at this stage whether the NDA would like to field a new face in the Vice-Presidential election due soon.
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First ‘Agniveer’ Surfaces In West Bengal’s Wild
Credit goes to Ashwini Choubey, Minister of State for Environment, for “finding” the first “Agniveer”, irrespective of the protests against the Modi government’s Agnipath scheme.Choubey’s“Agniveer” has a chubby face but looks like a future warrior. While touring Sikkim and North Bengal, and carrying out an inspection of the Bengal Safari North Bengal Wild Animals Park on Wednesday, Choubey liked a one-year-old tiger so much that he adopted it under the park’s adoption scheme. He immediately paid Rs two lakh for its maintenance for one year. “I adopted this baby tiger in remembrance of the victims of the Kedarnath tragedy,” Choubey told The Sunday Guardian. “It’s my humble effort to strike a balance between wildlife protection and nature conservation.”The Minister there and then decided to christen his “adopted baby” Agniveer. “After all,” he commented, “this is most talked about name these days.”
Amarinder’s trusted ex-DGP is new NIA chief
Punjab’s former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s trusted ex-state DGP Dinkar Gupta was appointed on Friday as the new NIA chief. His tenure is up to 31 March 2024, the scheduled date of his retirement. The NIA was without a regular chief for over a year. Gupta’s appointment to head premier anti-terrorism investigation agency is significant from Punjab’s point of view also. At this moment, the state is witnessing a spate of terrorist cases and drug gangs’ war and the rise of pro-Khalistani movement.The appointment of Gupta and Das has triggered hopes of new chiefs at the Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing to be in place soon.
Russia Changes US Embassy’s address in Moscow
Both Moscow and Washington love to tease each other from time to time in their own style. On Wednesday, Russia changed the official address of the US embassy in Moscow to one named after pro-Kremlin separatists in Ukraine.The new address is: 1, Donetsk People’s Republic Square, which refers to a “breakaway region” in eastern Ukraine that Moscow recognised as independent shortly before sending troops there as part of its “Special Operations”.The American embassy’s previous address was 8, Bolshoi Devyatinsky Lane.In February 2018, a street outside the Russian embassy in Washington was named after Boris Nemtsov, an opposition politician who was shot dead outside the Kremlin in 2015.