13 Ministers From South In Modi 3.0 Cabinet, 5 from Karnataka Alone

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new Council of Ministers in his historic third term has laid an unprecedented emphasis on the southern part of the country, reflecting the outcome of the recently concluded assembly election. The new cabinet includes 13 ministers from south.  This despite the BJP tally remaining exactly where it was in 2019 -- 29 of the 129 southern seats.

Five of the 13 southern ministers -- including former CM Kumaraswamy -- are from Karnataka, BJP's only bastion in the south that delivered 19 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats to the NDA. The BJP won 17 seats and HD Kumaraswamy's Janata Dal (Secular) in two. The state's ruling Congress won nine seats.

Besides Mr Kumaraswamy, the Council of ministers has Nirmala Sitharaman and Pralhad Joshi, who were part of the previous Cabinet. Union Minister of State in the previous Modi government, Shobha Karandlaje, and former minister in the state government V Somanna -- both from BJP -- also took oath today.

Three ministers are from Andhra Pradesh, which delivered 21 seats to the NDA and two from Telangana, which delivered eight seats.

Neighbouring Telangana is being represented by two ministers -- G Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar. There will a change in state leadership, with Eatala Tajender set to take over as the post. The BJP and the state's ruing Congress won eight seats each and one went to the AIMIM of Asaduddin Owaisi.

There are even two Ministers of State from Kerala, where the BJP opened its account with the victory of Suresh Gopi. They are George Kurian, who has been Kerala BJP's vice-president and National Minorities Commission, and L Murugan, who was the former Tamil Nadu BJP chief.

Tamoil Nadu also has been represented by one minister, though the current state BJP chief, K Annamalai, did not get a seat despite rumours that he would be included. It was seen as the party's way of signalling that he would continue as state party chief and there will be no tie-up with the AIADMK. Tamil Nadu remains the only state where the BJP has failed to win a single seat.

The BJP's focus on south had started since the campaigning days. The results bore out speculation that the northern states, already saturated, will show a downward trend. While the BJP lost seats in some Hindi heartland states including Bihar and Rajasthan, nowhere was it more pronounced than in Uttar Pradesh, where the party's tally slid from 62 in 2019 to 33.  The state, though, has the maximum number of ministers -- nine. It is followed by Bihar, which has eight Central ministers.

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Not Just Pics, Prove Adultery By Evidence: Court Amid Deepfake Menace

In the era of deepfakes, photographs placed by a spouse alleging adultery by the other partner would have to be proved by way of evidence before the family court, the Delhi High Court said.

The court's observation came while dealing with a man's contention that his estranged wife was living in adultery.

The high court dismissed the man's appeal challenging a family court order directing him to pay Rs 75,000 as maintenance to his wife and minor daughter.

As the counsel for the husband drew the court's attention to certain photographs of his wife, a bench of justices Rajiv Shakdher and Amit Bansal said, "It is not clear as to whether the respondent/wife is the person in the photographs, as alluded to by the counsel for the appellant/husband."

"We may take judicial notice of the fact that we are living in the era of deepfakes and, therefore, this is an aspect that the appellant/husband, perhaps, would have to prove by way of evidence before the family court," the bench said.

Deepfake technology allows for the creation of realistic videos, audio recordings, and images that can manipulate and mislead viewers by superimposing the likeness of one person onto another, altering their words and actions, thereby presenting a false narrative or spreading misinformation.

Asked by the bench whether this averment of adultery found mention in the man's reply to his wife's plea under the Hindu Marriage Act, his counsel conceded that there was no mention of it.

The bench noted that since the petition instituted by the man for divorce is pending an adjudication, the court may give opportunity to the parties to place their evidence on record in support of their respective cases if this issue is pressed.

"Notably, this aspect, which is vehemently pressed before us, almost as a measure of desperation to wriggle out of the obligation cast in the impugned judgment, finds no mention in the impugned judgment (of family court)," the high court said.

The man's counsel claimed that this aspect was raised before the family court, But, it was ignored while rendering the judgment.

"If this was the situation, the best course open to the appellant/husband was to move an application for review before the family court. However, no such measure has been taken recourse to by the husband," it said.

The man, an architect, has challenged a family court's April 15 order, directing him to pay Rs 75,000 as monthly maintenance to his estranged wife and child.

The couple had married in 2018 and has a five-year-old daughter.

The court was told that the wife has a post-graduate degree but is currently unemployed and living with her parents since her separation.

While the woman had sought Rs 2 lakh as monthly maintenance, the family court ordered the man to pay Rs 75,000.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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30 Ministers To Take Oath As Modi 3.0 To Be Sworn In Today: Sources To NDTV

1. PM Narendra Modi will take oath as the Prime Minister for the third straight term today and while the entire council of ministers will not be sworn in, nearly 30 ministers will, sources have told NDTV. The strength of the full council of ministers is expected to be between 78 and 81.
2. Taking oath after PM Modi will be the top ministers of the government, including those who will hold the crucial portfolios of home, defence, finance and external affairs - all of which will continue to be held by the BJP. Others who are likely to be sworn in will include those who will be entrusted with critical infrastructure ministries like steel, civil aviation and coal.
3. The official time of the swearing-in ceremony is 7.15 to 8 pm, which means that it is expected to last 45 minutes. The ministers that will be taking oath are expected to get calls from the government beginning this morning.
4. The BJP is short of a majority on its own for the first time in 10 years and this will reflect in the swearing-in ceremony and the composition of the cabinet. Allies, especially Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party and Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United, are pressing for more than one ministerial berth and other parties will need to be accommodated too.
5. The BJP and the Prime Minister were planning to reduce the number of ministers going forward but, sources said, very few members of the cabinet will hold more than one portfolio in third iteration of the PM Modi-led cabinet.
6. Among the leaders taking oath tomorrow will be representatives of the BJP's NDA allies, some of whom are likely to get key ministries. Reports have said that the TDP is likely to get four ministerial posts and the JDU two, but it is not clear if all of them will be sworn in tomorrow.
7. When PM Modi takes oath today, he will be only the second person in India's history to be Prime Minister for three successive terms. The country's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, had won the 1952, 1957 and 1962 general elections.
8. Several foreign leaders will be attending the event, including Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Mauritius PM Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', Bhutan PM Tshering Tobgay and Seychelles Vice-President Ahmed Afif.
9. Security has been strengthened in the national capital and prohibitory orders have been put in place. Traffic restrictions will also apply on several roads, especially those around the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
10. The NDA won 293 of 543 Lok Sabha seats in the just-concluded elections, putting it comfortably past the halfway mark. The INDIA alliance put up a strong fight and managed to clinch 232 constituencies. The Congress nearly doubled its tally from 52 in the 2019 elections to 99 this time.

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16-Foot Python Swallows Woman Whole In Indonesia

A woman has been found dead inside the belly of a snake after it swallowed her whole in central Indonesia, a local official said Saturday.

The husband of 45-year-old Farida and residents of Kalempang village in South Sulawesi province discovered her on Friday inside the reticulated python, which measured around five metres (16 feet).

The mother-of-four had gone missing Thursday night and failed to return home, forcing a search effort, village head Suardi Rosi told AFP.

Her husband "found her belongings... which made him suspicious. The villagers then searched the area. They soon spotted a python with a large belly," said Suardi.

"They agreed to cut open the python's stomach. As soon as they did, Farida's head was immediately visible."

Farida was found fully clothed inside the snake.

Such incidents are considered extremely rare but several people have died in Indonesia in recent years after being swallowed whole by pythons.

Last year, residents in Southeast Sulawesi's Tinanggea district killed an eight-metre python, which was found strangling and eating one of the farmers in a village.

In 2018, a 54-year-old woman was found dead inside a seven-metre python in Southeast Sulawesi's Muna town.

And the year before, a farmer in West Sulawesi went missing before being found eaten alive by a four-metre python at a palm oil plantation.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Dilip Ghosh Speaks Out As BJP's Bengal Setback Prompts Attacks From Within

The second successive setback for the BJP in West Bengal has exposed fissures within the state unit, with a former president hitting out at the local leadership and pointing out flaws in the way the campaign was run.

Former West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh, who was at the helm when the party shocked the Trinamool Congress by winning 18 of the state's 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2019, fired the first volley on Thursday when he quoted former Prime Minister, and one of the party's most revered figures, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in a post on X. 

"Keep one thing in mind: even one old Karyakarta of the party should not be neglected. If necessary, let ten new Karyakartas be separated. Because the old workers are the guarantee of our victory. Trusting new Karyakartas too quickly is not advisable - Atal Bihari Vajpayee," Mr Ghosh wrote.

While the former state BJP president did not name anybody, the post was widely seen as hinting at Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, who had quit the Trinamool Congress and joined the BJP in 2020. While Sukanta Majumdar is the Bengal BJP chief now, Mr Adhikari was seen to be calling the shots as far as ticket distribution for the Lok Sabha polls was concerned.

The BJP was reduced to 12 seats in the elections and the constituencies the party lost included Medinipur, where Mr Ghosh was the sitting MP. Instead of being fielded from there again, the senior leader was made to contest from the Bardhaman-Durgapur seat, where he lost to the Trinamool's Kirti Azad by a margin of over 1.37 lakh votes. Mr Ghosh's replacement for the Medinipur constituency, Agnimitra Paul, was also defeated.

This prompted another attack from Mr Ghosh on Friday. "For over a year, I have spent all my time and money in Medinipur. But I wasn't allowed to contest from there. The result in both seats (Medinipur and Bardhaman-Durgapur) is for all to see," he said in Bengali.

Implying that he had strengthened the party at a time when it did not have much of a standing in Bengal, Mr Ghosh added, "This time, votes in Bengal were sought in the name of PM Narendra Modi, we have a stronger organisation, and so many leaders have joined the party. In 2021 (Bengal Assembly polls), we didn't have so many people and in 2019 (Lok Sabha polls) there was nobody, I went around campaigning and there were central leaders."

"This time, PM Modi went practically everywhere. We have so many MLAs and MPs now, why did the results turn out the way they did," he asked.

Mr Ghosh also pointed to former Union minister Debasree Choudhury being asked to contest from the Kolkata Dakshin seat instead of Raiganj, which she had won in 2019. This was seen by many as the BJP leader suggesting that the old guard in the party was being sidelined by new entrants like Mr Adhikari. 

The just-concluded Lok Sabha election is the second time the BJP has fallen way short of its own expectations since its astounding performance in 2019. During the 2021 Assembly polls, the party had set itself a target of winning 200 of the state's 294 constituencies, but had ended up with only 77.

'Leaders Self-Centred'

For the Trinamool Congress, which has gone up from 22 Lok Sabha seats to 29, Mr Ghosh's remarks provided a welcome opportunity to hit out at the BJP.

"The BJP's Bengal leadership is a tragedy. The leaders are self-centred. They do not care about the people. The BJP had 18 MPs and they did nothing for the people of their constituencies. People understand that it is all political," said Saayoni Ghosh, Trinamool Congress leader and the newly elected MP from Jadavpur.

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Multi-Layered Security In Delhi For PM Modi's Oath Ceremony

A multi-layered security with five companies of paramilitary personnel, NSG commandoes, drones and snipers will blanket the Rashtrapati Bhawan for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony scheduled on May 9, Delhi Police officials said on Friday.

The national capital will remain on high alert on the day as dignitaries from SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) nations have been invited to the ceremony, officials said.

According to officials, dignitaries attending the swearing-in will be given designated routes from their hotels to the venue and back.

Top leaders of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal, Mauritius and Seychelles are likely to attend the swearing-in ceremony. Hotels in the city such as Leela, Taj, ITC Maurya, Claridges and Oberoi have already been brought under the security cover.

Commandoes from Delhi Police's SWAT and NSG will remain deployed around the President's house and various strategic locations on the event day.

The Delhi Police officials have held multiple meetings at the police headquarters and in the New Delhi district to make a security plan for the event, officials said.

According to a senior police officer, as the event is scheduled to be held inside the Rashtrapati Bhawan, it will have a three-layered security both inside and outside the premises. Delhi Police personnel will remain deployed at the outer ring followed by paramilitary personnel and internal security of the President's house at the inner ring.

"Around 2500 police personnel, including five companies of paramilitary and Delhi Armed Police (DAP) jawans, have been planned to be deployed around the venue," the officer said.

Snipers and armed police personnel will remain deployed on the routes of the dignitaries too and drones will be deployed at the strategic locations in the new Delhi district, another officer said, adding that the security cover is likely to resemble the one for the G20 summit last year.

The officer said several roads heading towards the central part of Delhi may be shut on Sunday or there may be traffic diversions since morning. Checkings will be enhanced at the borders of the national capital from Saturday itself.

PM Modi is all set to take charge as the prime minister for a historic third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) winning 293 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.

It is learnt that the guest list of foreign leaders for PM Modi's swearing-in ceremony was primarily guided by New Delhi's "Neighbourhood First Policy" and its strategic focus on island nations considered important in the Indian Ocean region.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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"Unfortunate": Kangana Ranaut's Mandi Rival Vikramaditya Singh On Slap Row

After a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) official allegedly slapped BJP MP Kangana Ranaut at the Chandigarh airport today, Congress leader and Ms Ranaut's poll rival in Mandi Vikramaditya Singh called the incident "unfortunate" and called for action against the official concerned.

"It is unfortunate if these kinds of incidents are happening and should not happen to any person, particularly a woman. It is unfortunate that it has been done by a security person. We got to know that the security person had some grievances related to the farmer's protest," Mr Singh said.

It is the duty of the CISF to provide a peaceful atmosphere inside airports, he added.

"You have a constitutional right and platform to bring up your grievances and issues. To assault a person like this is unfortunate. The government should take action against the person. Once you are in an airport, you are under the security protection of the CISF, and it is their duty to provide you with security and a peaceful atmosphere," Mr Singh said.

Meanwhile, the CISF suspended the woman constable, who allegedly slapped actor and MP Kangana Ranaut inside Chandigarh airport during the security check.

A senior CISF officer confirmed the incident and said they are also in the process of filing an FIR against the constable.

"We have given a complaint to the local police station against the lady constable. She has been suspended with immediate effect and an inquiry has been ordered into the matter," the officer said.

The incident took place around 3:30 pm when Kangana Ranaut was on her way to board a flight to Delhi.

Reacting to the incident, Ms Ranaut in a video message said, "I am safe. I am perfectly fine. The incident took place during the security check. After I was done with the security check, a woman constable of the CISF waited for me to pass through the cabin. Later, she came from the side, hit me in the face, and started abusing me."

"When I asked her why she did this, she said that she supported the farmers' protest. My question is how we end the growing extremism and terrorism in Punjab", the BJP leader added.

Meanwhile, the CISF constable said her mother was among the farmers sitting in protest against the farm laws, which have now been repealed.

"She (Kangana Ranaut) said that the farmers are sitting there for Rs 100. Will she go and sit there? My mother was sitting there and protesting when she gave this statement..." the constable said.

Farmers protested for 15 months against the now-repealed farm laws and other issues.

Kangana Ranaut defeated Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi by a margin of 74,755 votes in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

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