Top news of the day: Mohan Majhi becomes new CM of Odisha; Malawi Vice President, nine others killed in plane crash, and more

Mohan Majhi becomes Odisha CM, Malawi Vice-President dies in plane crash, and more in The Hindu’s top news of June 11, 2024.

After a week of intense speculation surrounding BJP’s first Chief Ministerial pick for Odisha, the party on June 11 officially named Mohan Majhi, a four-time MLA from Keonjhar, to be the new Chief Minister of the State. The BJP MLAs — Pravati Parida and K.V. Singh Deo — are two new Deputy Chief Ministers of Odisha.

Malawi’s Vice President and nine others were killed in a plane crash, the country’s President said on June 11. The wreckage of the military plane carrying Vice President Saulos Chilima was located in a mountainous area in the north of the country after a search that lasted more than a day. There were no survivors of the crash, Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera said in a live address on state television.

The TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu has been unanimously elected as Leader of the House in Andhra Pradesh by the partners of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The NDA leaders then submitted a letter to Andhra Pradesh Governor S. Abdul Nazeer, who would invite Mr. Naidu to form the government.

The Supreme Court on June 11 sought the National Testing Agency’s response to a plea seeking the fresh conduct of NEET-UG 2024 on the grounds of alleged question paper leak and other malpractices. A vacation bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, however, refused to stay the counselling of successful candidates for admissions to MBBS, BDS and other courses. NEET-UG 2024 was held on May 5 and its results were declared on June 4. It was expected to be declared on June 14.

A fire at a power sub-station in Mandola, Uttar Pradesh caused a major power outage in many parts of Delhi on June 11, Delhi Power Minister Atishi said. According to officials, the power cut was due to a snag in the grid stations of Delhi Transco Ltd due to high power demand and excessive heat. Officials also said that government engineers were working on it and that power would be restored soon.

India will focus on resolving the remaining issues along the frontier with China, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on June 11, amid the over four-year-long border row in eastern Ladakh that significantly strained bilateral ties. Shortly after taking charge of the Ministry of External Affairs, Jaishankar, referring to cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan, said efforts will be made to address the challenge.

Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa was taken into custody in connection with a murder case on June 11. The actor was picked up from a hotel in Mysuru and was shifted to Bengaluru by the jurisdictional police. The local police in Bengaluru was investigating the murder of one Renukaswamy, who originally belonged to Chitradurga. It had taken nine persons for questioning in connection with the murder when Darshan’s name was also mentioned, following which the police took him into custody.