Morning Digest: Mahayuti leaders’ meet with Amit Shah ends without decision on Maharashtra CM decision; Depression may make landfall between TN-Puducherry on November 30, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on November 29, 2024

BJP national president J.P. Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a marathon meeting with Mahayuti leaders, including caretaker CM Eknath Shinde and his deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar. The meeting at Mr. Shah’s residence in New Delhi lasted over two hours, with leaders exiting around midnight. The BJP will now call the meeting of its newly-elected MLAs. After they appoint their Legislature Party leader, another round of talks of the Mahayuti leaders will take place, top sources told The Hindu. “Today’s talks were positive. It was the first round of talks,” a top source said.

Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of tampering with voter data in the recent Assembly election. Citing discrepancies in polling percentages, he asked how voter turnout rose by 7.83 percentage points after the official polling time ended. The State Congress president argued that experts across various fields have raised concerns about the ECI’s handling of the election process. 

The deep depression that moved slowly and remained stationary since Wednesday morning is expected to intensify into a cyclonic storm on Thursday evening. The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai has forecast the potential landfall of the weather system as a deep depression between Karaikal and Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram) on Saturday (November 30, 2024), bringing heavy rainfall over coastal areas. The weather agency has issued a red weather alert indicating extremely heavy rainfall above 24.4 cm in one or two places of some delta and north coastal districts on Friday (November 29, 2024) and Saturday (November 30, 2024) as the system moves closer.

Stating that the Armies of India and China are implementing the settlement reached between the two countries for disengagement and resumption of patrolling at Demchok and Depsang in eastern Ladakh, the Chinese Defence Ministry said. that they were making “great progress.” Sources in the know said the frequency of patrolling would be a maximum of one patrol a week by each side in Depsang and Demchok. Talks are continuing between the two sides for resumption of patrolling in other five friction points where buffer zones are in place following disengagement.

The Press Club of India condemned the Uttar Pradesh police filing of an affidavit in the Allahabad High Court, accusing Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair of “endangering the sovereignty and unity of India”. “An FIR under BNS 152 was filed against him. All sane minds have been opposing this section as it has the potential to silence the free thinkers and media. It can also be imposed against those who are critical of dispensation,” said the Club on X.

A Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna is scheduled to hear on November 29 a petition filed by the Sambhal Shahi Jama Masjid Committee against a civil court direction allowing a survey of the mosque to verify if it was built on the ruins of a temple. The local court had passed the order on November 19, triggering violence and communal tensions across the Sambhal district of Uttar Pradesh. Four people reportedly lost their lives in the violence.

Twelve thousand Indian workers travelled to Israel after the beginning of the conflict between Hamas and Israel on October 7, 2023, the government has informed the Rajya Sabha. In response to a question from P.P. Suneer of the Communist Party of India, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh informed that the total number of Indian workers in Israel at the moment is “around 32,000” and they are eligible for “medical insurance” as per the Israeli system.