Daily Bulletin: JD(S) legislators to meet today, strains surface in SP-BSP coalition, search on for missing IAF AN-32; today's top stories

HD Kumaraswamy calls meeting of JD(S) MLAs to discuss political scene Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy has called a meeting of JD(S) legislators Tuesday amid expected cabinet expansion or reshuffle to save the government headed by him following persisting dissidence within coalition partner Congress. A senior JD(S) functionary Monday said the meeting was likely to discuss the recent political developments in the state, performance in the Lok Sabha and Urban Local body polls and steps the party will need to take politically in the future. [caption id=“attachment_5606671” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy. AP[/caption] All political issues, including expansion or reshuffle of the Congress-JD(S) ministry, are likely to come up for discussion during the meeting, he said. Kumaraswamy and coalition Coordination Committee chief and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah have held several rounds of meetings recently, the last being on Saturday night regarding cabinet expansion or reshuffle. A top official source had said it is likely to take place only after 4 June. Congress in Karnataka last week had gone into a huddle to avert a potential existential crisis to the one-year-old coalition ministry and discussed about the possible cabinet rejig to address the dissidence within. Kumaraswamy had also held discussions with Congress President Rahul Gandhi in Delhi. #StopHindiImposition protests take political colour, Stalin accuses BJP of trying to hoodwink TN DMK president MK Stalin alleged on Monday that the Centre’s move on dropping the clause on compulsory Hindi learning in the draft National Education Policy was aimed at deceiving Tamil Nadu and demanded an explanation over it. He sought a categorical assurance that Hindi will not be thrust on the southern state. The DMK chief alleged that the BJP-led Centre was enacting a drama on the language issue after seeing the huge opposition to the proposal in the draft National Education Policy on Hindi learning in Tamil Nadu. The reaction came after the Centre Monday dropped the contentious provision of compulsory teaching of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states after the three-language proposal sparked outrage, mainly in Tamil Nadu. According to the revised draft, the modular board examinations for language proficiency would test only basic proficiency in each language. Search for missing IAF AN-32 continues A massive search operation was underway to locate an Indian Air Force AN-32 transport aircraft with 13 people on board, which went missing Monday while flying over Arunachal Pradesh. The aircraft got airborne at around 12:25 PM and lost all contacts with ground staff at around 1 pm, they said. A total of eight crew and five passengers were on board the aircraft, the sources said. Akhilesh seeks to end uncertainty over future of alliance, says SP-BSP will fight injustice together The Samajwadi Party will fight for social justice together with the Bahujan Samaj Party, said SP chief Akhilesh Yadav Monday, hours after BSP supremo Mayawati expressed dissatisfaction over the poll performance of the alliance between the two parties. “We and Bahujan Samaj Party will fight for social justice together,” said Yadav, addressing a public meeting here during his first visit to the constituency after the declaration of the Lok Sabha poll results. BSP chief Mayawati earlier told her party workers in New Delhi that the Lok Sabha poll drubbing in Uttar Pradesh was due to the “poor performance” of the alliance with the SP. She also asked her party leaders and workers to prepare to contest the assembly by-elections on their own, raising questions over the future of the ‘gathbandhan’. Addressing the public meeting in Azamgarh, Akhilesh Yadav, however, defended the poll performance of the alliance, saying that the Lok Sabha poll battle this time was of a different kind, which he could not understand. “It was a race between Ferrari and a cycle (the SP’s election symbol). Everybody knew the Ferrari will win. The Lok Sabha elections were not fought on issues, it was fought on something else,” said Yadav. Sri Lanka face Afghanistan in ICC Cricket World Cup as teams eye first win An under-pressure Sri Lanka will aim for their first win when they take on a spirited Afghanistan in match seven of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Captain Dimuth Karunaratne’s half-century was the only positive takeaway for the Lankans in their 10-wicket loss to New Zealand, whereas Afghanistan showed some good fight with Najibullah Zadran’s half-century guiding them to 207 when the team looked in trouble at 77-5. However, that was not enough for them as David Warner’s unbeaten 89 guided Australia to a seven-wicket win. Bodies of 5 mountaineers, part of team that went missing in Nanda Devi, spotted Indian Air Force helicopters Monday spotted the bodies of five of the eight mountaineers who went missing en route to the Nanda Devi East peak in Uttarakhand, the IAF said. The eight-member team consisting of climbers from the UK, the US and Australia went missing on the way to the Nanda Devi East peak. Bodies of five mountaineers were sighted near an unscaled peak adjoining Nanda Devi East during an air search by IAF helicopters on Monday, Pithoragarh District Magistrate VK Jogdande said. Apparently, the mountaineers perished in an avalanche while ascending an unscaled peak near the Nanda Devi East peak after they failed to scale the latter, he said. Fitch downgrades ICICI Bank, Axis Bank rating by a notch as financial health weakens Global rating agency Fitch said on 3 June it has downgraded two private sector lenders, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank as the banking sector of the country remains under stress. Fitch said it took the rating action after lowering its midpoint for India’s operating environment to ‘bb+’ from ‘bbb-’ following a review of the banking sector’s performance, particularly in the last three years, the regulatory framework for the sector, and the outlook in the near term. The performance of India’s banking sector is expected to be below-average over the next one to two years despite high growth prospects, it said. Apple announces new Mac Pro and 6K display At WWDC 2019 Apple announced a brand new Mac Pro computer and an accompanying 6K Retina display. The Mac Pro features a completely redesigned chassis and pro-grade hardware including Intel Xeon CPUs and ECC RAM. The 32-inch 6K display is a true 10-bit panel with an incredible 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The devices will retail at about $5,000 apiece.