The Evening Wrap: BJP goes with Dhami in Uttarakhand, Sawant in Goa

The BJP on Monday opted to continue with incumbent Chief Ministers Pushkar Singh Dhami and Pramod Sawant for the new governments in Uttarakhand and Goa, a day after N. Biren Singh was repeated in Manipur in a similar manner. Legislature party meetings of the party in Uttarakhand and Goa elected Dhami and Sawant as leaders, maintaining status quo in these States. In the case of Uttarakhand, the decision to retain Dhami in the Chief Minister’s chair came despite the fact that while the BJP won a majority in the recent Assembly polls, he had lost his own seat of Khatima. The decision is a reverse of what had happened in Himachal Pradesh in 2017 when Prem Kumar Dhumal had to sit out of government after losing his own seat while the party won, and Jairam Thakur was elected Chief Minister from among the elected MLAs. Since the Uttarakhand Assembly does not have an Upper House or Legislative Council, Dhami will now have to be elected to the Assembly via a bypoll within six months. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh formally announced Dhami’s name as the choice of party MLAs, ending 11 days of suspense over the matter. “I greet Pushkar Singh Dhami for being elected the leader of the BJP legislature party. I have full confidence that under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the leadership of Dhami, Uttarakhand will see multifaceted development,” said Singh after the meeting of the legislature party for which he, along with Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi were appointed central observers on behalf of the party. Party sources told The Hindu that maintaining the status quo in both Goa and Uttarakhand was to ensure stability in internal equations in the party and external situations looking at the 2024 general election. Both Dhami and Sawant had steadied the boughs for the party, the former after two successive changes in Chief Ministers in Uttarakhand -- from Trivendra Singh Rawat to Tirath Singh Rawat -- in an election year, and Sawant after the passing away of the BJP’s most powerful leader in Goa, Manohar Parrikar. Dhami’s election as legislative party leader is particularly significant with regard to decisions to be made in Uttar Pradesh and government formation there, as Keshav Prasad Maurya, former Deputy Chief Minister, who is still an MLC, lost his Assembly poll from Sirathu. While Maurya does not share warm vibes with Chief Minister-designate Yogi Adityanath, Dhami’s continuation may mean that Maurya may also be accommodated in the new U.P. government. In Goa, Sawant had won his Assembly seat but was facing internal leadership challenges from Vishwajeet Rane, who had created quite a buzz meeting Governor Sreedharan Pillai in the 11 days leading up to the announcement of the Chief Minister’s name. Central observers from Delhi, Union Ministers Narendra Tomar and L. Murugan, supervised the legislature party meet in Panaji, with Rane moving the resolution proposing Sawant’s name. “Vishwajit Rane proposed the name of Pramod Sawant as the leader of the legislative party. Everyone unanimously elected Sawant as the leader. He will be leader for the next five years,” said Tomar coming out of the meeting. According to sources who spoke to The Hindu, Cabinet formation in Goa could be in two tranches, with Sawant, Rane and Mauvin Goudinho from the BJP, along with Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) leader Sudhin Dhavalikar and independents Alexio Reginaldo Lorenco to be sworn-in, in the first round. The sources also said that four MLAs from North Goa and a corresponding number from South Goa would be part of the new government later. The BJP won 47 out of 70 seats in Uttarakhand, whereas in Goa, it won 20 out 40 seats and have the support of two independents and the two MGP MLAs. Ukraine rejects Russian demand for surrender in Mariupol Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol lay down their arms and raise white flags Monday in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged port city. As Russia intensified its effort to pound Mariupol into submission, its ground offensive in other parts of Ukraine has become bogged down. Western officials and analysts say the conflict is turning into a grinding war of attrition, with Russia bombarding cities. In the capital, Kyiv, a shopping center in the densely populated Podil district near the city center was a smoking ruin after being hit late Sunday by shelling that killed eight people, according to emergency officials. The attack shattered every window in a neighboring high-rise. Ukrainian authorities also said Russia shelled a chemical plant in northeastern Ukraine, sending toxic ammonia leaking into the air, and hit a military training base in the west with cruise missiles. The encircled southern city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov has seen some of the worst horrors of the war, under Russian pounding for more than three weeks, in what Ukrainian and Western officials have branded a war crime. Hours before Russia’s offer to open corridors out of the city in return for the capitulation of its defenders, an art school where some 400 people were taking shelter was hit by an airstrike, according to Ukrainian officials. “They are under the rubble, and we don’t know how many of them have survived,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. In a video address, he vowed that Ukraine would “shoot down the pilot who dropped that bomb.” Russian Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev had offered two corridors — one heading east toward Russia, the other west to other parts of Ukraine — in return for Mariupol’s surrender. He did not say what Russia would do if the offer was rejected. The Russian Ministry of Defense said authorities in Mariupol could face a military tribunal if they sided with what it described as “bandits,” the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported. Ukrainian officials rejected the proposal even before Russia’s deadline of 5 a.m. Moscow time for a response came and went. “There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk told the news outlet Ukrainian Pravda. The strike on the art school was the second time in less than a week that officials reported an attack on a public building where Mariupol residents had taken shelter. On Wednesday, an airstrike devastated a theater where more than 1,000 people were believed to be sheltering. At least 130 people were reported rescued Friday, but there has been no update since then. Mariupol officials said at least 2,300 people have died in the siege, with some buried in mass graves. City officials and aid groups say Russian bombardment has cut off Mariupol’s electricity, water and food supplies and severed its communications with the outside world, plunging the remaining residents into a chaotic fight for survival. “What’s happening in Mariupol is a massive war crime,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. Mariupol had a prewar population of about 430,000. About a quarter were believed to have left in the opening days of the war, and tens of thousands got out over the past week by way of a humanitarian corridor, though other attempts have been thwarted by the bombardment. In the Black Sea port city of Odesa, authorities said Russian forces damaged civilian houses in a strike Monday. The city council said no one was killed. Russia’s invasion has driven nearly 3.4 million people from Ukraine, according to the United Nations. The U.N. has confirmed over 900 civilian deaths but said the actual toll is probably much higher. Estimates of Russian deaths vary, but even conservative figures are in the low thousands. Some who were able to escape Mariupol tearfully hugged relatives as they arrived by train Sunday in Lviv in western Ukraine. “Battles took place over every street. Every house became a target,” said Olga Nikitina, who was embraced by her brother as she got off the train. “Gunfire blew out the windows. The apartment was below freezing.” Mariupol is a key Russian target because its fall would allow Russian forces in southern and eastern Ukraine to link up. Its capture would also help Russia establish a land bridge to Crimea, which was seized from Ukraine in 2014. More than three weeks into the invasion, the two sides seem to be trying to wear each other down, experts say, with Russian forces launching long-range missiles at cities and military bases as Ukrainian forces carry out hit-and-run attacks. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces on the ground are “essentially stalled.” Talks between Russia and Ukraine have continued by video conference but failed to bridge the chasm between the two sides, with Russia demanding Ukraine disarm and declare itself neutral and Ukraine saying Russian forces must withdraw from the whole country. Ukrainian delegation member Davyd Arakhamia told Ukrainska Pravda that there was a 90-minute session between top negotiators Monday morning, to be followed by a full day of talks in various working groups. U.S. President Joe Biden was expected to talk Monday with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Britain about the war. In Ukraine’s major cities, hundreds of men, women and children have been killed in Russian attacks. Ukraine’s prosecutor general said a Russian shell struck a chemical plant outside the eastern city of Sumy just after 3 a.m. Monday, causing a leak in a 50-ton tank of ammonia that took hours to contain. Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed the leak was a “planned provocation” by Ukrainian forces to falsely accuse Russia of a chemical attack. Konashenkov also said an overnight cruise missile strike hit a military training center in the Rivne region of western Ukraine. He said 80 foreign and Ukrainian troops were killed, though the figure could not be independently confirmed. Tharoor declines CPI(M) invite for meet Hours after Congress President Sonia Gandhi told senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor to abide by the decision of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee which has prohibited Congress leaders from attending the seminar to be held in connection with the CPI(M)’s 23rd party congress slated for next month in Kannur, Tharoor declined the invitation. In a statement on Monday evening, Tharoor said he had conveyed his inability to participate, respecting Gandhi’s views on this matter. He also expressed regret at “unseemly public airing of internal differences,” creating needless controversy in a matter in which the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) view was binding. The Congress MP also said he had received an invitation to participate in a seminar on the sidelines of the CPI(M) State party conference in Kerala last month. “On that occasion also, I consulted the AICC President and a suitable decision was taken without any media controversy,” Tharoor added. Earlier in the day, Gandhi had met Tharoor and other Kerala MPs, including Thrissur MP T.N. Prathapan, Mavelikkara MP Kodikunnil Suresh and Chalakudy MP Benny Behanan. Tharoor, along with senior leaders K.V. Thomas and Mani Shankar Aiyar, has been invited for the CPI(M) national seminar from April 6 to 10. Kerala Pradesh Congress president K. Sudhakaran on March 19 sent out e-mails to all the leaders concerned urging them to refrain from attending the event. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Sudhakaran said, “If any leader takes part in the CPI(M) seminars, they would face action.” He was not present in Delhi and could not attend the meeting with Gandhi. Tharoor’s participation, the MPs said, would be embarrassing for the Congress since they were opposing the CPI(M) government on many fronts, including the latest protests against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s pet project, the K-Rail. “Principally there may be nothing wrong in Tharoor’s decision to attend the event. But one has to take into consideration the sentiment of workers who are facing political violence from the CPI(M) on a daily basis,” a senior Congress leader who attended the meeting said. They also pointed out that in the recent Kerala State committee meeting of the CPI(M) the party launched a vitriolic attack on the Congress, going to the extent of exhorting its cadres to work for a “Congress Mukt” Kerala. Tharoor gave three reasons on why he had welcomed the invite. It was a national event organised by the CPI(M)’s highest forum, the Central Committee, that decided the party’s national policy. “Nationally we have a cooperative relationship with the CPI(M),” he said. The topic of the seminar did not involve any matter of sensitivity in Kerala, but was on Centre-State relations, where there was no real difference of opinion between the Congress and the CPI(M), Tharoor said in the statement. He had conveyed the same to Gandhi at the morning meeting. “The event sets a fine example of intellectual exchange on policy issues among ‘anti-BJP opposition parties’, which should in principle be encouraged,” Tharoor wrote. In recent months, Tharoor has been regular target of his colleagues from Kerala. He had earned the ire of the KPCC leadership earlier for appearing to support K-Rail and Vijayan’s development initiatives. In a clarification later, Tharoor said his support for the project was not “unqualified” and that he was examining the social, environmental and economic implications of K-Rail. The CPI(M) reacted sharply to the Congress’ decision to stay away from the seminar. “It is quite unfortunate that the Congress in Kerala is playing into the hands of the BJP. It is very unfortunate that just for parochial politicking the regional unit of the party is preventing national leaders like Shashi Tharoor from participating in a seminar on a topic ‘Centre-State relationship’ where the Congress and we are on the same side,” CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member John Brittas said. China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 with 132 on board crashes in southern China, casualties unknown A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 with 132 people on board crashed in the hills of southern China on Monday. This is the country’s worst air tragedy in more than a decade. China’s President Xi Jinping ordered “all-out rescue efforts” for survivors, with search teams dispatched to the crash site. As of Monday evening, there was no word on the casualties. Xi said he was “shocked to learn about the incident involving China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735” and “ordered the immediate launch of an emergency response, all-out search and rescue efforts and the proper settlement of the aftermath”. The aircraft, according to authorities, was cruising at an altitude of 8,869 meters with a speed of 845 km/h before a steep and sudden descent a little over an hour after its take-off from the Kunming airport at 13.15 local time (10.45 am IST). Loss of radar signal was reported at 14.21 (11.51 am IST) and flight MU5735 is reported to have crashed shortly after at 14.38 (12.08 pm IST), a little over halfway through its journey to Guangzhou, aviation authorities and Chinese media reports said. There were 123 passengers and nine crew on board. Images from the site, in a mountainous part of southern Guangxi province, showed a forested hillside on fire and aircraft parts strewn across the landscape. The plane crashed near a village in Teng county, near the city of Wuzhou in Guangxi. The fire at the crash site had been put out by early evening, city officials said, adding that the Wuzhou fire brigade had deployed 117 firefighters and 23 fire trucks. More than 500 firefighters from elsewhere in the province had also been dispatched. Follow our live coverage on the Russia-Ukraine conflict here. In brief The newly chosen BJP Legislative leader N. Biren Singh was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Manipur at the Raj Bhavan at 3:20 pm on Monday. Five other cabinet Ministers were also sworn in along with him. They are T. Bishwajit, Govindas Konthoujam who has been elected seven consecutive terms, Y. Khenchand (a former Speaker), Nemcha Kipgen (a former Minister for some time in the Biren ministry) and Awangbou Newmai of the Naga People’s Front. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow [logo] The Evening Wrap 21 MARCH 2022 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( BJP goes with tried and tested CMs — Dhami in Uttarakhand, Sawant in Goa   The [BJP on Monday opted to continue with incumbent Chief Ministers Pushkar Singh Dhami and Pramod Sawant]( the new governments in Uttarakhand and Goa, a day after N. Biren Singh was repeated in Manipur in a similar manner. Legislature party meetings of the party in Uttarakhand and Goa elected Dhami and Sawant as leaders, maintaining status quo in these States. In the case of Uttarakhand, the decision to retain Dhami in the Chief Minister’s chair came despite the fact that while the BJP won a majority in the recent Assembly polls, he had lost his own seat of Khatima. The decision is a reverse of what had happened in Himachal Pradesh in 2017 when Prem Kumar Dhumal had to sit out of government after losing his own seat while the party won, and Jairam Thakur was elected Chief Minister from among the elected MLAs. Since the Uttarakhand Assembly does not have an Upper House or Legislative Council, Dhami will now have to be elected to the Assembly via a bypoll within six months. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh formally announced Dhami’s name as the choice of party MLAs, ending 11 days of suspense over the matter. “I greet Pushkar Singh Dhami for being elected the leader of the BJP legislature party. I have full confidence that under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the leadership of Dhami, Uttarakhand will see multifaceted development,” said Singh after the meeting of the legislature party for which he, along with Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi were appointed central observers on behalf of the party. Party sources told The Hindu that maintaining the status quo in both Goa and Uttarakhand was to ensure stability in internal equations in the party and external situations looking at the 2024 general election. Both Dhami and Sawant had steadied the boughs for the party, the former after two successive changes in Chief Ministers in Uttarakhand -- from Trivendra Singh Rawat to Tirath Singh Rawat -- in an election year, and Sawant after the passing away of the BJP’s most powerful leader in Goa, Manohar Parrikar. Dhami’s election as legislative party leader is particularly significant with regard to decisions to be made in Uttar Pradesh and government formation there, as Keshav Prasad Maurya, former Deputy Chief Minister, who is still an MLC, lost his Assembly poll from Sirathu. While Maurya does not share warm vibes with Chief Minister-designate Yogi Adityanath, Dhami’s continuation may mean that Maurya may also be accommodated in the new U.P. government. In Goa, Sawant had won his Assembly seat but was facing internal leadership challenges from Vishwajeet Rane, who had created quite a buzz meeting Governor Sreedharan Pillai in the 11 days leading up to the announcement of the Chief Minister’s name. Central observers from Delhi, Union Ministers Narendra Tomar and L. Murugan, supervised the legislature party meet in Panaji, with Rane moving the resolution proposing Sawant’s name. “Vishwajit Rane proposed the name of Pramod Sawant as the leader of the legislative party. Everyone unanimously elected Sawant as the leader. He will be leader for the next five years,” said Tomar coming out of the meeting. According to sources who spoke to The Hindu, Cabinet formation in Goa could be in two tranches, with Sawant, Rane and Mauvin Goudinho from the BJP, along with Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) leader Sudhin Dhavalikar and independents Alexio Reginaldo Lorenco to be sworn-in, in the first round. The sources also said that four MLAs from North Goa and a corresponding number from South Goa would be part of the new government later. The BJP won 47 out of 70 seats in Uttarakhand, whereas in Goa, it won 20 out 40 seats and have the support of two independents and the two MGP MLAs. Ukraine rejects Russian demand for surrender in Mariupol [Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol]( lay down their arms and raise white flags Monday in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged port city. As Russia intensified its effort to pound Mariupol into submission, its ground offensive in other parts of Ukraine has become bogged down. Western officials and analysts say the conflict is turning into a grinding war of attrition, with Russia bombarding cities. In the capital, Kyiv, a shopping center in the densely populated Podil district near the city center was a smoking ruin after being hit late Sunday by shelling that killed eight people, according to emergency officials. The attack shattered every window in a neighboring high-rise. [Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen in the body of a truck during Ukraine-Russia conflict on a road near the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine on March 21, 2022] Ukrainian authorities also said Russia shelled a chemical plant in northeastern Ukraine, sending toxic ammonia leaking into the air, and hit a military training base in the west with cruise missiles. The encircled southern city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov has seen some of the worst horrors of the war, under Russian pounding for more than three weeks, in what Ukrainian and Western officials have branded a war crime. Hours before Russia’s offer to open corridors out of the city in return for the capitulation of its defenders, an art school where some 400 people were taking shelter was hit by an airstrike, according to Ukrainian officials. “They are under the rubble, and we don’t know how many of them have survived,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. In a video address, he vowed that Ukraine would “shoot down the pilot who dropped that bomb.” Russian Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev had offered two corridors — one heading east toward Russia, the other west to other parts of Ukraine — in return for Mariupol’s surrender. He did not say what Russia would do if the offer was rejected. The Russian Ministry of Defense said authorities in Mariupol could face a military tribunal if they sided with what it described as “bandits,” the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported. Ukrainian officials rejected the proposal even before Russia’s deadline of 5 a.m. Moscow time for a response came and went. “There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk told the news outlet Ukrainian Pravda. The strike on the art school was the second time in less than a week that officials reported an attack on a public building where Mariupol residents had taken shelter. On Wednesday, an airstrike devastated a theater where more than 1,000 people were believed to be sheltering. At least 130 people were reported rescued Friday, but there has been no update since then. Mariupol officials said at least 2,300 people have died in the siege, with some buried in mass graves. City officials and aid groups say Russian bombardment has cut off Mariupol’s electricity, water and food supplies and severed its communications with the outside world, plunging the remaining residents into a chaotic fight for survival. “What’s happening in Mariupol is a massive war crime,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. Mariupol had a prewar population of about 430,000. About a quarter were believed to have left in the opening days of the war, and tens of thousands got out over the past week by way of a humanitarian corridor, though other attempts have been thwarted by the bombardment. In the Black Sea port city of Odesa, authorities said Russian forces damaged civilian houses in a strike Monday. The city council said no one was killed. Russia’s invasion has driven nearly 3.4 million people from Ukraine, according to the United Nations. The U.N. has confirmed over 900 civilian deaths but said the actual toll is probably much higher. Estimates of Russian deaths vary, but even conservative figures are in the low thousands. Some who were able to escape Mariupol tearfully hugged relatives as they arrived by train Sunday in Lviv in western Ukraine. “Battles took place over every street. Every house became a target,” said Olga Nikitina, who was embraced by her brother as she got off the train. “Gunfire blew out the windows. The apartment was below freezing.” Mariupol is a key Russian target because its fall would allow Russian forces in southern and eastern Ukraine to link up. Its capture would also help Russia establish a land bridge to Crimea, which was seized from Ukraine in 2014. More than three weeks into the invasion, the two sides seem to be trying to wear each other down, experts say, with Russian forces launching long-range missiles at cities and military bases as Ukrainian forces carry out hit-and-run attacks. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces on the ground are “essentially stalled.” Talks between Russia and Ukraine have continued by video conference but failed to bridge the chasm between the two sides, with Russia demanding Ukraine disarm and declare itself neutral and Ukraine saying Russian forces must withdraw from the whole country. Ukrainian delegation member Davyd Arakhamia told Ukrainska Pravda that there was a 90-minute session between top negotiators Monday morning, to be followed by a full day of talks in various working groups. U.S. President Joe Biden was expected to talk Monday with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Britain about the war. In Ukraine’s major cities, hundreds of men, women and children have been killed in Russian attacks. Ukraine’s prosecutor general said a Russian shell struck a chemical plant outside the eastern city of Sumy just after 3 a.m. Monday, causing a leak in a 50-ton tank of ammonia that took hours to contain. Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed the leak was a “planned provocation” by Ukrainian forces to falsely accuse Russia of a chemical attack. Konashenkov also said an overnight cruise missile strike hit a military training center in the Rivne region of western Ukraine. He said 80 foreign and Ukrainian troops were killed, though the figure could not be independently confirmed. Tharoor declines CPI(M) invite for meet [Hours after Congress President Sonia Gandhi told senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor]( to abide by the decision of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee which has prohibited Congress leaders from attending the seminar to be held in connection with the CPI(M)’s 23rd party congress slated for next month in Kannur, Tharoor declined the invitation. In a statement on Monday evening, Tharoor said he had conveyed his inability to participate, respecting Gandhi’s views on this matter. He also expressed regret at “unseemly public airing of internal differences,” creating needless controversy in a matter in which the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) view was binding. The Congress MP also said he had received an invitation to participate in a seminar on the sidelines of the CPI(M) State party conference in Kerala last month. “On that occasion also, I consulted the AICC President and a suitable decision was taken without any media controversy,” Tharoor added. Earlier in the day, Gandhi had met Tharoor and other Kerala MPs, including Thrissur MP T.N. Prathapan, Mavelikkara MP Kodikunnil Suresh and Chalakudy MP Benny Behanan. Tharoor, along with senior leaders K.V. Thomas and Mani Shankar Aiyar, has been invited for the CPI(M) national seminar from April 6 to 10. Kerala Pradesh Congress president K. Sudhakaran on March 19 sent out e-mails to all the leaders concerned urging them to refrain from attending the event. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Sudhakaran said, “If any leader takes part in the CPI(M) seminars, they would face action.” He was not present in Delhi and could not attend the meeting with Gandhi. Tharoor’s participation, the MPs said, would be embarrassing for the Congress since they were opposing the CPI(M) government on many fronts, including the latest protests against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s pet project, the K-Rail. “Principally there may be nothing wrong in Tharoor’s decision to attend the event. But one has to take into consideration the sentiment of workers who are facing political violence from the CPI(M) on a daily basis,” a senior Congress leader who attended the meeting said. They also pointed out that in the recent Kerala State committee meeting of the CPI(M) the party launched a vitriolic attack on the Congress, going to the extent of exhorting its cadres to work for a “Congress Mukt” Kerala. Tharoor gave three reasons on why he had welcomed the invite. It was a national event organised by the CPI(M)’s highest forum, the Central Committee, that decided the party’s national policy. “Nationally we have a cooperative relationship with the CPI(M),” he said. The topic of the seminar did not involve any matter of sensitivity in Kerala, but was on Centre-State relations, where there was no real difference of opinion between the Congress and the CPI(M), Tharoor said in the statement. He had conveyed the same to Gandhi at the morning meeting. “The event sets a fine example of intellectual exchange on policy issues among ‘anti-BJP opposition parties’, which should in principle be encouraged,” Tharoor wrote. In recent months, Tharoor has been regular target of his colleagues from Kerala. He had earned the ire of the KPCC leadership earlier for appearing to support K-Rail and Vijayan’s development initiatives. In a clarification later, Tharoor said his support for the project was not “unqualified” and that he was examining the social, environmental and economic implications of K-Rail. The CPI(M) reacted sharply to the Congress’ decision to stay away from the seminar. “It is quite unfortunate that the Congress in Kerala is playing into the hands of the BJP. It is very unfortunate that just for parochial politicking the regional unit of the party is preventing national leaders like Shashi Tharoor from participating in a seminar on a topic ‘Centre-State relationship’ where the Congress and we are on the same side,” CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member John Brittas said. China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 with 132 on board crashes in southern China, casualties unknown A [China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 with 132 people on board crashed in the hills of southern China]( on Monday. This is the country’s worst air tragedy in more than a decade. China’s President Xi Jinping ordered “all-out rescue efforts” for survivors, with search teams dispatched to the crash site. As of Monday evening, there was no word on the casualties. Xi said he was “shocked to learn about the incident involving China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735” and “ordered the immediate launch of an emergency response, all-out search and rescue efforts and the proper settlement of the aftermath”. The aircraft, according to authorities, was cruising at an altitude of 8,869 meters with a speed of 845 km/h before a steep and sudden descent a little over an hour after its take-off from the Kunming airport at 13.15 local time (10.45 am IST). Loss of radar signal was reported at 14.21 (11.51 am IST) and flight MU5735 is reported to have crashed shortly after at 14.38 (12.08 pm IST), a little over halfway through its journey to Guangzhou, aviation authorities and Chinese media reports said. There were 123 passengers and nine crew on board. Images from the site, in a mountainous part of southern Guangxi province, showed a forested hillside on fire and aircraft parts strewn across the landscape. The plane crashed near a village in Teng county, near the city of Wuzhou in Guangxi. The fire at the crash site had been put out by early evening, city officials said, adding that the Wuzhou fire brigade had deployed 117 firefighters and 23 fire trucks. More than 500 firefighters from elsewhere in the province had also been dispatched. [Follow our live coverage on the Russia-Ukraine conflict here]( . In brief The [newly chosen BJP Legislative leader N. Biren Singh was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Manipur]( at the Raj Bhavan at 3:20 pm on Monday. Five other cabinet Ministers were also sworn in along with him. They are T. Bishwajit, Govindas Konthoujam who has been elected seven consecutive terms, Y. Khenchand (a former Speaker), Nemcha Kipgen (a former Minister for some time in the Biren ministry) and Awangbou Newmai of the Naga People’s Front. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow  Today‘s Top Picks [[Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin banned for six months over pro-Russia comments] Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin banned for six months over pro-Russia comments]( [[India-Australia virtual summit | Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has implications for Indo-Pacific: Australian PM Scott Morrison] India-Australia virtual summit | Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has implications for Indo-Pacific: Australian PM Scott Morrison]( [[COVID curbs on Army recruitment rallies continue: Rajnath] COVID curbs on Army recruitment rallies continue: Rajnath]( [[The complexities of introducing African cheetahs to India] The complexities of introducing African cheetahs to India]( Copyright @ 2021, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. If you are facing any trouble in viewing this newsletter, please [try here]( If you do not wish to receive such emails [go here](