The Editorial Page: The Calcutta that once was, the city that can resume its journey again 10 FriDAy, MAy 8, 2026 JoURnAlism of CoURAge kolkaTa, laTe cITy, 18 PageS ₹6.00 (₹12 in north east states, ₹20 in andaman) l www.indianexpress.com Da I ly f r o m : a h m e Da b a D , c h a n D I ga r h , D e l h I , J a I P u r , ko l k aTa , l u c k n o w , m u m b a I , n ag P u r , PaT n a , P u n e , va D o Da r a Business as usual By eP UNNy Uncertainty in TN: Vijay stakes claim, Governor tells him prove majority first Questions over role of Governor: SC has upheld primacy of floor test arun Janardhanan Chennai, May 7 politics PAGE 8 Somnath & BhaRat: In a woRld maRked By dIvISIonS, SPIRIt oF unIty moRe Relevant than eveR By PM NAreNDrA MoDi As ACToR-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) scrambled for the final numbers needed to form a governmentinTamilNadu,itsoutreach to potential allies Thursday carried a distinctly new politicalstyle:WhatsAppmessages from the state’s newest majorpartytosomeofitsoldest ideological formations. The response from sections of CPI, CPM and VCK ranged from cautious curiosity to visible discomfort, with several senior leaders privately admitting they had never before received a government-forma- apurva Vishwanath Banners of Vijay in chennai. PTI New Delhi, May 7 tion invitation through a messaging app from a party seeking power in Fort st George. The unusual outreach unfolded even as Vijay met GovernorRajendraArlekarforasecond consecutive day, this time expressing his wish to be sworn inintwodays,TVKsourcessaid. TAMILNADUGovernorRajendra Arlekar’s decision to delay theswearing-inofTamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader Vijay as Chief Minister puts the spotlightbackonthedebate pitting the Governor’sgubernatorialdiscretion against the democratic man- »CoNTiNueD oN Page 2 suVeNDu aiDe KilliNg Police recover bike, car used in murder; Bengal on edge date of the people. Conventionally, the single largest party stakes its claim, is theninvitedtoformthegovernment, and prove its majority on the floor of the House. However,GovernorArlekarislearnttohaveasked Vijay to submit proof of support from at least 118 MLAs — the majority in the 234-member Assembly. E. »CoNTiNueD oN Page 2 Kerala race: Satheesan inches ahead, but ‘overwhelming’ MLA support for Venugopal rath’s body being carried out of Barasat Government college after postmortem, Thursday. ParTha Paul VerDiCT 2026 Sporadic clashes across state, BJP mamata haS a and TMC workers long, BumPy RIde ahead clash in Howrah ravik Bhattacharya, sweety Kumari & Tanusree Bose Kolkata, May 7 shaju Philip & Manoj C g Thiruvananthapuram, New Delhi, May 7 THe DIFFICULTIes facing the Congress in picking the Chief Minister for Kerala, the only state where it won in the recent state elections, were apparent Thursdayasitscentralobservers arrivedinThiruvananthapuram for the selection process. Whilesourcessaidan“overwhelming”majorityoftheCongress’s newly elected MLAs, as well as state MPs, told AICC observers Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik that they wanted K C Venugopal to be named for the top post, soon after their departure,thecampofVDsatheesan claimed that around 35 of the 63 party MLAs favoured the latter. They also claimed that a few others have given satheesan’s name as their second choice. “some of the MLAs have changed their mind after sensing the growing support for satheesan from party workers,’’ a leader with satheesan said. V d satheesan, k c Venugopal even as the Congress MLAs and leaders held meetings in the state capital, there were reports of party workers hitting the streets across Kerala demanding that satheesan be made CM, including at Iritty in Kannur, the home district of stateCongresspresidentsunny Joseph, Kochi and Alappuzha. The workers have been asserting that satheesan, the outgoingLeaderoftheopposition, had earned the CM’s post after leadingtheparty’sfightagainst the Left in the state. sources said satheesan has made it clear that he is not interested in any post other than that of the CM — which could »CoNTiNueD oN Page 2 Happening today lThe Delhi high CourT is scheduled to hear petitions filed by several private schools challenging the Delhi government’s fee regulation law. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com PM on Patna dais, 32 ministers join Samrat govt, Nitish son gets Health santosh singh Patna, May 7 As MANy as 32 ministers were sworn in to Bihar Chief MinistersamratChoudhary’sCabinet on Thursday, including former CM Nitish Kumar’s son Nishant Kumar, who has been given the Health portfolio. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among those who attendedtheswearing-ineventat Patna’s Gandhi Maidan. on the way to the venue from the airport, Modi’s vehicle was showered with flower petals by people who lined up on both sides of the road. Former chief minister Nitish Kumar, Union ministers Rajnath singh, Amit shah, J P Nadda, Jitan Ram Manjhi and Chirag Paswan, BJP national president Nitin Nabin, and RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha also attended the function. After the ceremony, PM Modi was seen interacting with Nitish Kumar as well as Nishant. Choudhary’s Cabinet now includesthesonsofthreeformer chief ministers — Nitish Kumar’s son Nishant, JagannathMishra’ssonNitishMishra, andJitanRamManjhi’ssonsantosh Kumar suman. All three were sworn in on Thursday. Nishant, who is widely seen as the next leader of the JD(U) »CoNTiNueD oN Page 2 Drones to standoff weapons: Armed forces take fast route to shopping lTaTa TrusTs will hold a crucial board meeting, which is likely to consider key issues on the agenda, including representation on the board of Tata Sons, differing views among trustees regarding the potential listing of Tata Sons, and the issue of perpetual trustees. pm narendra modi with Bihar cm samrat choudhary and deputy cm Bijendra prasad yadav as nishant kumar (second from right) and other ministers take oath at Gandhi maidan in patna on Thursday. anI Learning from conflicts, strategies revisited, reorganisation underway amrita Nayak Dutta New Delhi, May 7 ReoRGANIsING ITseLF into a more agile and functional fightingforce,moresopostoperation sindoor, the Indian military has made large-scale emergency procurement of modern weapons and technology to change the way it fights future wars. The acquisitions over a year operation sindoor a year laTer include a variety of drones, loitering munitions, counter-unmanned aerial systems, standoff weapons, including guided munitions and missiles. several radars and electronic war- lt Gen rajiv Ghai, air marshal awadhesh kumar Bharti and Vice admiral a n pramod, who briefed the country during op sindoor, address the media in Jaipur on its first anniversary. rohIT JaIn ParaS p 5 fare equipment have also been procuredthroughthefast-track route. According to officials familiar with the developments, »CoNTiNueD oN Page 2 Rath: FRom IaF to Suvendu’S Shadow PageS 6, 7 ADAyaftersuvenduAdhikari’s personal assistant Chandranath Rath was shot dead in Madhyamgram, near Kolkata, police on Thursday said they hadseizedthecarthathadbeen used to block the road in which Rath’scarwastravelling,aswell asthemotorbikethattheassailants rode. Police have also set upaspecialInvestigationTeam (sIT) comprising the CID, the Intelligence Bureau, and a special Task Force. ThiscameonadayAdhikari claimed that Rath might not have been killed had he not worked for him, while Rath’s mother alleged that the killing was linked to the Trinamool ex-High Court Chief Justice quits Bengal Sir tribunal, cites ‘personal reasons’ on SC directions, had held special hearing on appeal by Cong’s Motab Shaikh, who later won Farakka seat Damini Nath New Delhi, May 7 FoRMeR CALCUTTA High CourtChiefJusticeTssivagnanam, who was among the 19 retired judges appointed as Appellate Tribunals to hear appealsagainstjudicialofficers’ decisions in the special IntensiveRevision(sIR)inWestBengal, resigned from the tribunal on Thursday, The Indian Express has learnt. The supreme Court had asked Justice sivagnanam to holdspecialhearingsonappeals by suprabuddha sen, grandson ofartistNandalalBose,andCongress candidate Motab shaikh, wholaterwontheelectionfrom the Farakka Assembly seat. The court had ordered outof-turn hearings for some ap- Justice T s sivagnanam retired as chief Justice of the calcutta hc in september last year pellants, including shaikh and sen. The appeals were sent before Justice sivagnanam, who accepted them. Justice sivagnanam retired after a two-year tenure as Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Courtinseptemberlastyear.He wasamongthe19formerjudges recommended by Calcutta »CoNTiNueD oN Page 2 Congress’s defeat in Bhabanipur. “I would not have suffered so much had he died in an accident. He was targeted because he worked for Adhikari,” she told local television channels, adding that she wants the culprits to get a life term and does not want them hanged. The Governor, meanwhile, has issued a notification dissolvingtheWestBengalAssembly even as outgoing CM Mamata Banerjee refused to resign, a day before the BJP Legislature Party meets to elect the new CM. Murder probe The police said they were scanning CCTV footage and that the Border security Force »CoNTiNueD oN Page 2 Tyrannyofthe elected:Top courtondelay overCeClaw ananthakrishnan g New Delhi, May 7 THe sUPReMe Court ThursdaydescribedthefailureofParliament to frame a law for the selection of the CeC and eCs until its direction in the Anoop Baranwal case in 2023 as the “tyranny of the elected”. Hearing petitions challengingtheChiefelectionCommissionerandotherelectionCommissioners (Appointment, ConditionsofserviceandTerm of office) Act, 2023, which laid downthattheCeCandeCswill be selected by a panel comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of opposition and a Union Cabinet Minister, Justice Dipankar Datta, presiding over a two-judgebench,saiditwished judgestoowereappointedwith the same speed as eCs. “We can only say we wish this speed is maintained in the appointmentofjudges,”Justice Datta remarked when senior Advocate Vijay Hansaria, appearing for petitioner and Congress leader Jaya Thakur, contended that there was no effective consultation by the »CoNTiNueD oN Page 2 l parTy leader files fir sayinG she paid ‘swindler’ for sake of parTy; sTaTe chief spoTs ‘conspiracy’ Whodunnit? A ‘fake Rahul aide’ leaves divided Uttarakhand Cong squabbling aiswarya raj to claim that a conspiracy was underway to replace him. Amid the open trading of FeW IN the Congress can put barbsandtheearlierannouncetheir money on being privy to mentofa“sabbatical”byveteran the high command. That per- leader Harish Rawat, who has haps explains Amritsar native been sidelined within the party, Gaurav Kumar’s alleged suc- Congressstatein-chargeKumari cess in cheating several Con- seljahasarrivedinUttarakhand. gressleadersacrossthecountry officially, selja is here for a tour for money, posing as Rahul of the Garhwal division, but her Gandhi’sprivatesecmeetings with Conpage 1 gress leaders and retary. In Uttarakhand, he has got workers are being bang for the buck. seen as an effort to GauravKumar’sallegedtar- settle the latest flare-up in the geting of Congress leader fractious state unit. Bhavna Pandey has set off finThe fast-moving developgerpointing across the ranks in ments were set off by Pandey the party, leading state Con- lodging an FIR on sunday gresspresidentGaneshGodiyal against Kumar for swindling Dehradun, May 7 anchor her by posing as Gandhi’s private secretary. speaking to reporters the following day, Pandey claimed Kumar told her thatthehighcommanddidnot support Godiyal and thought hewasdamagingthestateCongress’s image, and that he sought Rs 2-3 crore from her to facilitate Godiyal’s removal. she paid Rs 25 lakh, Pandey admitted, but only “to save the state”. Nextup,Godiyalsaidhe,too, hadreceivedacallfromKumar. “HetoldmeIwasseenassomeoneworkingagainstpartyinterests. I told him that I should be replaced if that was the case.” Godiyal added that when Kumar went on to say that he Gaurav kumar allegedly cheated several leaders under the pretext of securing election tickets or party positions. exPreSS had “settled” matters with several leaders, he smelled a rat. An emotional Godiyal added: “Anyone who wants to improve the party can sit in my chair… The allegations against mearebeyondanythingIcould have imagined.” Rawat told The Indian Express the incident showed how crime was rising in the BJP-ruledstateanddeniedany politicalconspiracy.“Policewill investigate the case.” Pandey also alleged that Khanpur Independent MLA UmeshKumar,whohasnolove lost with Rawat, had links with Gaurav Kumar. The MLA respondedbyaccusingPandeyof conspiring against her own party leaders. A former journalist, Umesh Kumar had released a sting video, purportedly showing Rawat discussing exchange of money with then rebel Con- Kolkata gress MLA Harak singh Rawat, for support of MLAs during the 2016 political crisis in the party. Partyleadersdespairedover the fresh eruption of tensions between the Godiyal and Harish Rawat camps, with the PCC chiefapparently“ignoring”the veteran and leaning on former PCCchiefKaranMaharaforadvice. Godiyal was earlier considered close to Rawat, but ties between the two soured after Rawat backed Pritam singh for the PCC chief’s post in August. Recently, Rawat sought the induction of sanjay Negi, a former block pramukh from Ramnagar, into the party, but Godiyalopposedit.“Atthesame time, Godiyal is growing closer topeopleRawatopposes…Heis tryingtoropeinUmeshKumar. Ranjeet Rawat, who had earlier fallen out with Harish Rawat, is also being favoured,” a senior Congress leader said. Ranjeet Rawat, once consideredHarishRawat’saideand dubbed the “super CM” for his perceived influence, has also emerged as a dissident voice. The relationship between the two leaders deteriorated after the Congress’s defeat in 2017. In 2021, Ranjeet Rawat sought a ticketforhissonforabypollbut wasdeniedone.In2022,thetwo againclashedoveraticketfrom Ramnagar,withthepartydenying the seat to both. »CoNTiNueD oN Page 2