eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE The Third Wave KOLKATA,LATECITY JUNE9,2024 10+4PAGES,`7.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA TALKSCONTINUEON Haven’t got an invite yet: Mamata Banerjee TMC won’t attend Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, says Mamata portfolios for allies SHIVRAJ,KHATTAR,BOMMAI,DEB: Former CMs may get new roles WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT 10 years after SC’s NALSA judgment, the transgender community tells us what’s changed – and what hasn’t BJP-RSSLEADERSDISCUSS way ahead on party leadership Taking oath today EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, JUNE 8 THE WORLD ISRAEL RESCUES 4 HOSTAGES IN GAZA, AIRSTRIKES KILL 210 WORKING STYLE HAS TO CHANGE: CM Preparations at Rashtrapati Bhavan Saturday for the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister. PTI Stage set, Modi to send list of ministers before oath-taking ceremony LIZ MATHEW & JATIN ANAND NEW DELHI, JUNE 8 PRIME MINISTER-DESIGNATE Narendra Modi, set to take oath for the third consecutive term Sunday as the head of an NDA government,isexpectedtohand over the list of Ministers in his council a few hours ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, scheduled for 7.15 pm at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The BJP, 32 seats below the majority mark, will need the support of its allies, especially Telugu Desam Party and Janata Dal (United). Indeed, top BJP leaders,includingAmitShahand Rajnath Singh, along with party national president J P Nadda, have been in consultations with TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu, JDU’sNitishKumar,andShivSena’s Eknath Shinde, to work out how best to accommodate them in the Council of Ministers. Thefinaldecisionis,of course, with the Prime Minister-designate but sources said the BJP is likelytoretainthecrucialportfolios of Home, Finance, Defence andExternalAffairs,allpartofthe Cabinet Committee on Security. EducationandCulture,twoministries shaped by the party’s ideological imperatives, are also CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 UCC, delimitation and quota: Day before, TDP flags ‘discussion’ points SHUBHAJIT ROY BJP stand on removing Muslim quota is if it’s on its own, not in coalition: Lokesh NEW DELHI, JUNE 8 BANGLADESH PRIME Minister Sheikh Hasina arrived in Delhi Saturday, being the first of the sevenforeignleaderstoreachIndia to attend the swearing-in ceremonyofPrimeMinister-designate NarendraModiforhisthirdterm. Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu also confirmed his visit as he accepted the invitation, which was personally delivered by the Indian High Commissioner in Male. In a statement issued by the President’soffice,Muizzusaidhe looked forward to working with CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ASAD REHMAN NEW DELHI, JUNE 8 SPORT PAGE 9 Hasina arrives; Muizzu confirms visit, says ties in right direction SREENIVAS JANYALA HYDERABAD, JUNE 8 THE TELUGU Desam Party will ensure that decisions on contentious issues such as delimitation and the Uniform Civil Code are not taken unilaterally, nor would the reservation of any communitybetakenaway,party leader and N Chandrababu Naidu’s son N Lokesh Naidu has told The Indian Express. Speaking a day before the new government is sworn-in, with TDP as the NDA’s second TDP leader N Lokesh Naidu largest constituent with 16 MPs, Lokesh,speakingaboutthe4per cent Muslim reservation in his state, said the community has nothing to worry about. “TDP has always been and will remain a secular party. No one’s quota would be taken CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Central forces must actively help state’ P5 RITIKA CHOPRA NEW DELHI, JUNE 8 ACKNOWLEDGING THAT the stateandtheCentrehavenotmet the “expectations” of the public in Manipur, state Chief Minister N Biren Singh said this was reflectedintheBJP’sdefeattherein the just concluded Lok Sabha elections.Acceptingresponsibility for that defeat — Congress won both seats — he said, in an interview to The Indian Express, that it was time for him to work with “even more conviction.” Thiswasthefirstelectionthat Singh and the BJP faced after the ethnic violence broke out in the state a year ago in May 2023. The THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW N BIREN SINGH MANIPUR CHIEF MINISTER InnerManipurconstituencywas won by Congress’s Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, a professor from Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, who defeated his BJP rival;theOuterManipurreserved CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Manipur’s Jiribam on edge as mob torches Parliament will no longer be muzzled and stifled: Sonia houses, govt offices Over 230 people in district flee homes PAGE 6 SUNDAY SHOWDOWN: INDIA TAKE ON PAK Centre and state are not meeting public expectations, admits Manipur CM Biren (From left) Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Mallikarjun Kharge, KC Venugopal and Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on Saturday. Amit Mehra AS THE Narendra Modi government prepares to begin its third term, senior Congress leader SoniaGandhiSaturdaylaunched astrongattackonit,andsaidthat a stronger Opposition now means Parliament will no longer “be muzzled and stifled as it has been over the past 10 years”. She asked the newly elected CongressMPstobe“tobewatchful,vigilantandproactive”inholding the Prime Minister and his new government “accountable”. Addressing party MPs after her re-election as the Congress ParliamentaryPartychairperson, Sonia said: “No longer can and should Parliament be bulldozed likeithasbeenforadecadenow. Nolongerwillthewritof theruling establishment be permitted to disrupt Parliament, whimsically mistreat members or push through legislation without due CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUOYED CONG ASKS RAHUL TO BE LOP, HE SAYS WILL DECIDE SOON PAGE 5 EXPLAINED WEST BENGAL Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government was being formed “undemocratically and unconstitutionally” and that her party would not be attending Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi'sswearing-inceremonyin New Delhi on Sunday. Talking to reporters after meeting TMC's newly elected MPs at her Kalighat residence in Kolkata, Banerjee said, “We haven'treceivedaninvitation(to the swearing in ceremony) yet. Even if we get an invitation, we will not attend the ceremony.” “This government is being formed undemocratically and unconstitutionally. We cannot wishbesttothisgovernment.We are giving our best wishes to the countryanditspeople,”shesaid. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the ruling TMC increased itsseat tallyto29,whiletheBJP's number reduced to 12. She also said that just becausetheINDIAblocisnotformingagovernmentthistimedoesn't mean it won't in the future. “Today, the INDIA bloc may not have staked a claim to form the government, but that does not mean they won't in the future. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E Asserting their new ● numbers SONIA GANDHI’s remarks underline the Congress’s resolve to play the role of an aggressive Opposition, challenging the government every step of the way in Parliament, the composition of which will be completely different this time given that the BJP does not have majority on its own. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE IMPHAL, JUNE 8 ETHNIC TENSIONS escalated in Manipur’s Jiribam district, bordering Assam, on Saturday after a mob of armed miscreants torched several houses and some government offices, including two police outposts and a forest beat office. Over 230 people from Mongbung, Lamlai Khunou, and surrounding villages fled their homes and are currently taking CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Express Security forces evacuate residents from Jiribam As Naveen bows out, selfies and a pep talk to leaders: ‘Will be around for you’ PAGE 1 ANCHOR SUJIT BISOYI BHUBANESWAR, JUNE 8 HOURS AFTER offering his resignation following his party’s defeat in the recently concluded Assembly polls, a video of Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik appeared on social media in which the outgoing chief minister is heard addressing a small group of party workers. In the video, Patnaik asks BJD workerstoowntheworktheBJD government did and not be “ashamed” of the loss. As Patnaik bows out after an unprecedented 24-year reign as Chief Minister, amid swirling questions about the future of the party and its leadership, the 77year-old has been gracious in defeat. Over the last few days since the BJD’s loss, Patnaik has been meetingasteadystreamof party candidates — both winners and those who lost — gamely posing with them for selfies, “motivat- ingthemnottogetdiscouraged” and assuring them that he would be around for them. “The (former) CM told us what the government has done in 24 years and motivated us to keep working. He said he would be there for us and lead us from the front. He has given us directionsonwhattodoandwhatnot to do,” BJD’s organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das told TheIndianExpressafterhismeeting with Patnaik. Of the147seatsintheOdisha Assembly,theBJPwon78,reducing the BJD to 51, down from the X/@Naveen_Odisha BJD chief Naveen Patnaik addresses party leaders on Thursday 113 seats it won in 2019. Patnaik himself lostfromKantabanji,his firstlosssincehiselectoraldebut in 1997, while registering a narrow win in Hinjili. However, Patnaik’s former private secretary and confidant V K Pandian, the Tamil Naduborn ex-IAS officer who became thefocalpointof theBJP’sattacks this election, was absent from the proceedings. Considered to be Patnaik’s “shadow” for the last couple of years, the former civil servant has been missing in action since the election results, not accompanying the former CM even when he went to Raj Bhawan on Wednesday to tender his resignation. Amid growing voices of dissent within the party over Pandian’s growing influence and “sidelining” of senior party leaders in the party, Patnaik has formed a committee to look into the reasons for the BJD’s poll debacle. On Saturday, in an interview to PTI and ANI that was released by the BJD media cell, Patnaik defended Pandian, calling the criticism against him “unfortunate” and that as an officer, he did “excellent work”. In the last 10 years, Pandian has “helped with two cyclones and the Covid-19 epidemic in the state…He is a person of integrity and honesty and should be remembered for all that,” Patnaik said. On a question on his successor, Patnaik said, “I have always clearlysaidaboutmysuccessor… it’snotMrPandianandIrepeatit again—thatthepeopleofOdisha will decide my successor.” Accordingtopartysources,at therecentmeetingswithPatnaik, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata