Political updates: Modi set to secure India’s place in SCO, lobby for NSG membership

New Delhi: As New Delhi gears up to get a seat at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to depart on his diplomatic tour to Tashkent today to attend the SCO summit as well as lobby for India’s entry to the Nuclear Supplier’s Group (NSG) on the sidelines.

In other news, all does not seem to be well within the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as senior party leader Swami Prasad Maurya quit the party on Wednesday alleging corruption by party matriarch and former Uttar Pradesh (UP) chief minister Mayawati while distributing tickets for the UP elections next year. Maurya has defected to the ruling Samajhwadi Party (SP).

Narendra Modi to leave for Tashkent today to seal SCO membership

India is all set to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)—dominated by Russia and China—as a member later this week when the Eurasian bloc meets in Tashkent on Friday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will leave for the Uzbek capital on Thursday to attend the annual summit of the SCO that will start the process of India’s accession to the grouping as a full-fledged member along with Pakistan. Read more

Modi will also have bilateral meetings with Russian president Vladimir Putin and Uzbekistan president Islam Karimov.

NSG membership: Foreign secretary leaves for Seoul

Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar left for Seoul, South Korea on Wednesday ahead of the NSG plenary meeting which is scheduled to be held on Thursday. India’s entry to NSG is expected to be discussed during the meeting. “China to play a constructive role in the discussions on India’s NSG membership,” a foreign ministry spokesperson told PTI. “Suppliers Group members had three rounds of unofficial discussions on India and Pakistan’s membership in the grouping,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said. China on Monday had said that it was unlikely that the issue of India’s entry to NSG would be discussed during the Seoul meeting. Read here

Leader of opposition in UP Swami Prasad Maurya quits BSP, joins SP

With less than a year to go for the Uttar Pradesh assembly election, Mayawati-led BSP is in trouble, with its national general secretary Swami Prasad Maurya quitting the party and accusing its chief of corruption and “auctioning” seats. Maurya, who was leader of opposition in the state assembly, has joined the SP and will be formally inducted, along with his son, on 27 June by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. Read more

AAP seeks to do a Delhi in Goa, Punjab elections

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) plans to conduct a door-to-door campaign and draw up its manifesto with public inputs for next year’s assembly elections in Punjab and Goa —strategies that helped it secure a landslide win in the Delhi election last year.

Leading the campaign, Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal will be travelling to the states over the next fortnight.

The AAP is also planning to contest elections in Gujarat, expected to be held next year, but an official announcement is yet to be made. Kejriwal will be making a two-day visit to that state on 9 and 10 July. Read more

Key policy initiatives taken at Wednesday’s crucial cabinet meet

The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved the norms for the next round of spectrum auctions and a new textile policy to push manufacturing and exports, besides extending the scheme to assist debt-ridden power distribution companies in the state sector, sources said. Read more

After poisonous campaign, British vote on EU ties shapes up as cliffhanger

Britain careened toward a historic choice on Wednesday with voters hearing final pitches on both sides of a bitterly fought referendum showdown that could rock the global economy and deeply unsettle the Western political order.

After months of campaigning that sharply divided the country over questions of immigration and identity, final polls showed Britons almost exactly split over whether the country should exit the 28-member European Union.

Voting takes place on Thursday, and the results are expected early Friday (Thursday evening, eastern daylight time) Read more

After Rajan, Subramanian Swamy guns for CEA Arvind Subramanian

Less than a week after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan announced his intention to return to academia, the man who many blame for his decision, Subramanian Swamy, has found a new target. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP on Wednesday took to Twitter to demand chief economic advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramanian’s sacking, alleging that he had acted against Indian economic interests in the past. The BJP and the finance ministry have distanced themselves from Swamy’s remarks as important sources in the ministry said that the CEA’s stand on certain contentious issues was known to it prior to his appointment. Finance minister Arun Jaitley also said that the advice of the CEA was of great value. This came as a survey showed that Arvind Subramanian was most likely to replace Raghuram Rajan as the RBI chief. Read more

Akhilesh Yadav disappointed with senior leaders ahead of cabinet expansion on 27 June

While the sudden decision to dismiss his cabinet minister Balram Yadav on Tuesday alarmed many, Uttar Pradesh chief minister (CM) Akhilesh Yadav’s disappointment with senior SP leaders became even more apparent on Wednesday as he cancelled all scheduled meetings with party leaders. Yadav had been upset with the decision of fellow party leaders to merge gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s Quami Ekta Dal (QED) within the SP fold. This had also led him to sack Balram Yadav, instrumental in engineering the merger. The unrest within the party comes ahead of the CM’s decision to expand his cabinet on 27 June. Read more

AAP asks Najeeb Jung, M.K. Meena to become co-accused in alleged scams

Attacking Delhi Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Najeeb Jung, the Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday wrote to him demanding that he and anti-corruption branch (ACB) chief M.K. Meena be made “co-accused” in four cases pertaining to alleged scams during the Sheila Dikshit government, including one that is related to prices of natural gas from the Krishna Godavari basin. Twelve AAP members of legislative assembly (MLAs) went to Raj Niwas, the L-G’s residence, around 11.30am with the demands. They later claimed that Jung “refused” to meet them, while the L-G secretariat said Jung’s schedule was already prepared for the day and procedures have to be followed for seeking an appointment. The development came after Meena said chief minister Arvind Kejriwal may also be quizzed apart from Dikshit in the tanker scam case after a first information report was lodged. Read more