Top news of the day: Rishabh Pant becomes most expensive IPL buy at ₹27 crore; three killed in clashes during Sambhal mosque survey in Uttar Pradesh, and more

Rishabh Pant becomes most expensive IPL buy, three killed in clashes during Sambhal mosque survey in Uttar Pradesh, and more in The Hindu’s top news of November 23, 2024.

Rishabh Pant became the most expensive player in the history of IPL as Lucknow Super Giants splurged a humongous ₹27 crore to buy the flamboyant India keeper-batter in the tournament’s mega auction in Jeddah on Sunday. The amount LSG spent for Pant ensured Shreyas Iyer’s record of being the tournament’s costliest player lasted barely a few minutes after Punjab Kings broke the bank to buy the India batter for ₹26.75 crore.

Three people were killed as protesters opposing a court-ordered survey of a Mughal-era mosque here clashed with security personnel on Sunday. A violent clash erupted in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal when people numbered in hundreds opposed a survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid mosque, which was initiated after a local court’s order on a complaint that a temple was demolished by Mughals to build the mosque.

JMM leader Hemant Soren on Sunday met Jharkhand Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar and staked claim to form the government, soon after leaders of the INDIA bloc in the State unanimously elected him as the legislature party leader. The Governor has made him working Chief Minister till the new government, while the oath-taking ceremony will be on November 28. He resigned as the Chief Minister before staking claim to form the government, party leaders said.

Yogi Adityanath’s “Batenge toh Katenge” slogan caused polarisation of votes, said NCP-SP leader Sharad Pawar in his first press conference after the elections results. “The campaign- ‘ladki bahin scheme will be discontinued if not voted’, received us less votes,” he said. “The results are unexpected but this is People’s verdict, we will study their mandate. After receiving authentic data will do the analysis. We have nothing against the OBC community. We study the Maratha-OBC impact in respective constituencies,” he added.

Senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Sunday said his party’s defeat was “shocking” and dubbed it as the “worst-ever” loss in the State assembly polls. Mr. Chavan said the Mahayuti Government’s Ladki Bahin Yojana, for providing financial assistance to women, clicked with voters in rural areas while polarisation hit the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi’s (MVA) prospects in urban parts of the State.

For the first time, there will be no leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Maharashtra Assembly due to the inadequate number of MLAs in the Opposition. This will be the first time in six decades that the Assembly will not have an LoP. With the Assembly’s strength at 288 seats, at least one opposition party must have 28 MLAs for it to be a Leader of the Opposition. In the current scenario, Congress has 16, NCP has 10, and Shiv Sena has 21 seats, which does not meet the required mandate.

Amid demands from the Opposition to discuss bribery charges against the Adani group, the government on Sunday said the business advisory committees of both Houses will decide on matters to be discussed in the Winter session and appealed to parties to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament. Ruling party leaders met floor leaders of political parties ahead of the start of the Winter session on November 25. After the meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju told reporters that the government appealed to all parties to ensure smooth running of Parliament.