DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2024, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES Biden, Putin, Sunak call Modi; Ranil & Hasina invited to swearing-in SHUBHAJIT ROY `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 WILLGOTOPRESIDENTTOMORROW to stake claim to form govt at the Centre NOCLARITYONSWEARING-INDATE, Modi may attend TDP’s Andhra ceremony NDA elects Modi, to stake claim Message from INDIA bloc: Mandate a reply to the BJP, will keep watch on Modi Govt NEW DELHI, JUNE 5 US PRESIDENT Joe Biden called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday and congratulated him and the NDA on theirvictory,andthe“nearly650 million voters in this historic election”. After the call, Modi said in a post on X: “Happy to receive call from my friend President @JoeBiden. Deeply value his warm words of felicitations and his appreciation for Indian democracy.ConveyedthatIndiaUS Comprehensive Global Partnership is poised to witness manynewlandmarksintheyears to come. Our partnership will continue to be a force for global goodforthebenefitofhumanity.” In a post on X, President Biden said, “Congratulations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the National Democratic Alliance on their victory, and the nearly 650 million voters in this historic election. The friendship between our nations is only growing as we unlock a shared future of unlimited potential.” Besides Biden, Russian PresidentVladimir Putin,French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Egypt President Abdel Fatah El Sisi were among the world leaders who congratulated Prime Minister Modi for the victory of the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha elections. Meanwhile, officials in Delhi, Colombo and Dhaka confirmed that Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina are among the leaders who have been invited for the swearing-in ceremony. On the re-election, Putin and Sunak also called up Modi to convey their wishes. In the phone call, Kremlin CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav after the INDIA bloc meeting in Delhi, Wednesday. Anil Sharma We will take appropriate steps at the appropriate time: Kharge after meet EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, JUNE 5 Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde during the meeting of NDA leaders at his residence in New Delhi on Wednesday. ANI Rajnath, Shah, Nadda Ally TDP likely to demand special tasked by Modi to hold status for Andhra, Cabinet berths talks with partners SREENIVAS JANYALA HYDERABAD, JUNE 5 LIZ MATHEW & MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL NEW DELHI, JUNE 5 A SPECIAL Category Status for Andhra Pradesh, Cabinet berths including for his son in the new government, and funds for Amaravati capital city he had originally planned, are the key demands that Telugu Desam Party will make as talks commence over the formation of a BJP-led coalition government at the Centre. Led by N Chandrababu Naidu, TDP put up a stellar performance in Andhra Pradesh, winning 16 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats it contested and bagging BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY A DAY after the BJP lost majority and the NDA secured 293 seats in the new Lok Sabha, the alliance Wednesday elected Narendra Modi as its leader and decided to stake claim to form the government. Modi, on his part, assured partners that the NDA will work withgreaterstrengthtoattainits CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Nine of 13 being investigated by agencies jumped party, lost polls 135 seats of the total 175 in the Assembly polls. With BJP falling shortof thehalf-waymarkatthe Centre,theTDP,whichhadaprepoll alliance with the saffron party, is the second-largest constituent of the NDA, giving it a strong bargaining hand. A day after he spearheaded the landslide win, Naidu on Wednesday dismissed rumours of a possible switch to the INDIA bloc and affirmed that he is still a part of the NDA. “I am going to New Delhi to attend the NDA meeting. I will let you know if there are any other developments,” he said before taking a flight to the national capital from Andhra. VERDICT 2024 Seven of these nine who lost belonged to BJP or its allies NEW DELHI, JUNE 5 FROM YAMINI JADHAV of the Shiv Sena Shinde faction in Maharashtra to BJP’s Tapas Roy in West Bengal, from Pradeep Yadav of the Congress in Jharkhand to BJP’s Jyothi Mirdha in Rajasthan, nine of the 13 turncoat candidates or their family members being probed by investigative agencies, lost in the Lok Sabha elections whoseresultsweredeclared Tuesday. Of these nine who lost, as many as seven belonged to the BJP or its allies. There were more than 150 turncoats — politicians who shifted from one political party to another — in the fray in the elections that concluded on Saturday. Of these, 13 candidates or their family members are facing probes either by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), ● the Income Tax Department or the Enforcement Directorate (ED). E EXPLAINED HAMAS SIGNALS POST-WAR AMBITION IN TALKS WITH FATAH SUNAK, STARMER HEAD-TO-HEAD ON ECONOMY, IMMIGRATION PAGE 10 DEEPTIMAN TIWARY CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 He attended the NDA meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the evening. Sources said the TDP chief is likely to seek Special Category Status (SCS) for Andhra, an issue over which he had walked out of theNDAin2018.TheSCSwillensure the state gets most of the Central funds in the form of grants (which do not carry any interest) and industrial incentives including tax exemptions, duty waivers, and GST concessions. The TDP chief is also likely to seek additional funds from the Centre to restart the development of Amaravati as the state CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, JUNE 5 ● Muslims failed to understand BSP: Maya PAGES 5, 6 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 How 44 are NEET toppers because of a wrong answer, wrong textbook DEEKSHA TERI ● Naveen era ends, all eyes on BJP’s CM pick BOLSTERED BY the gains in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, top leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc met Wednesday and indicated a restraint rather than a proactive push toexploregovernmentformation. While the Congress was not in a mood to scout for numbersnow,someof theparties,including the Shiv Sena and Trinamool Congress, leaned on the side of exploring options. Almost all the leaders who attended the meeting at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence felt the people’s mandate was against the BJP, the fact — many of them underscored — nevertheless is that theBJPhasemergedasthesingle largest party and the NDA, a prepoll coalition, has crossed the halfway mark. The majority view, at the end of the meeting, was that the INDIA bloc should wait and watch for now. Calling the mandate a reply totheBJPgovernment,thecoalition resolved to “continue to fight against the fascist rule of the BJP led by (Narendra) 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. This is our decision,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, reading out a joint statement of the alliance. Thefirstdraftofthestatement was vague on the Opposition’s willingness to explore options, now or later. At the instance of several leaders, the draft was revisedandthelinethatitwilltake “appropriate steps at the appropriatetime”torealisethepeople’s desirenottoberuledbytheBJP’s government was added. The choice of words in the INDIAblocstatementontheverdict was interesting as it said the “people’s mandate has given a befitting reply to the BJP and their politics of hate, corruption and deprivation”. “The constituents of the INDIA bloc thank the people of Indiafortheoverwhelmingsupport received by our allies. The people’smandatehasgivenabefitting reply to the BJP and their politics of hate, corruption and deprivation. This is a mandate in defence of the Constitution of India, against price rise, unemployment and crony capitalism OF THE 67 candidates who got a perfect score (720/720) in the 2024 NEET-UG results announced by the NTA Tuesday, as manyas44madeittothetopbecause, ironically, they got an answer to a basic physics question wrong — and received “grace marks” for that. Reason: their wrong answer was based on an incorrect reference in their old Class 12 NCERT science textbook. Since 2019, there haven’t been more than three toppers in any year of NEET UG, which is thesinglegatewayforadmission to all MBBS programmes in the country. In 2019 and 2020, there wasonetoppereach.Therewere three toppers in 2021, one in 2022, and two last year. However, this year, a multiple-choice Physics question on atoms opened the floodgates for high scores. The question was based on two statements. The first said: “Atomsareelectricallyneutralas they contain equal numbers of positive and negative charges.” The second statement said: “Atoms of each element are stable and emit their characteristic spectrum.” Candidates were asked to choose the “most appropriate CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow