Amid the suspense over Maharashtra’s new Chief Minister, Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde, BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis and Nationalist Congress Party chief Ajit Pawar will meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday in New Delhi.

The BJP-led NDA has called a meeting in the capital on November 28. Shinde, Fadnavis and Pawar will attend the meeting to discuss the allocation of the Chief Minister’s post, cabinet shares, and ministerial berths with the top BJP leadership.

Speaking to the media, Shinde said: “A meeting of all three parties (of Mahayuti) will be held with Amit Shah tomorrow. Detailed discussions will be held in that meeting. After that, a decision will be made.”

The suspense over the next chief minister started with BJP’s stellar performance in the recently concluded Maharashtra election gaining 132 seats, while Shinde Sena 57 and Ajit Pawar’s NCP 41 seats of the 288 seats. All three parties contested under the Mahayuti alliance.

Shinde resigned as Chief Minister on Tuesday and is currently serving as the caretaker CM till the new one is sworn in. The term of the current government ended on November 26.

Ahead of the meeting with Shah, Shinde said that he and his party will fully support the top BJP leadership’s decision on the next chief minister of state.

During a media briefing, Shinde mentioned that he had talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, assuring them that he would not hinder the formation of the government and that he would support their decision.

“I informed the Prime Minister that if my presence poses any issue in forming the government, there should be no hesitation. We will respect any decision you make regarding the chief minister’s position. We will accept the choice made by the BJP leadership,” he stated.

Earlier today, Naresh Mhaske, an MP from the Shinde-led faction of Shiv Sena, arrived to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah at Parliament, where MPs from the Shinde faction were in attendance.

Reports suggest that Devendra Fadnavis, who previously served as Deputy Chief Minister under Shinde, is likely to take on the role of Chief Minister again. Fadnavis is noted as the second individual, after Vasantrao Naik, to complete a full term as chief minister from 2014 to 2019.

Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday highlighted the urgent need to make existing laws more stringent to curb vulgar content on social media platforms.

Responding to questions by BJP MP Arun Govil in the Lok Sabha, the Information and Broadcasting Minister said: “We are living in the era of social media and OTT platforms. However, the democratic institutions and traditional forms of the press that once relied on editorial checks to ensure accountability and correctness of content, have seen these checks diminish over time.”

Vaishnaw noted that due to the absence of such editorial oversight, social media has become a platform for freedom of press on one hand, but on the other hand, it has also become a space for uncontrolled expression, which often includes vulgar content.

The Union Minister urged the Parliamentary Standing Committee to take up the issue and also called for a consensus to frame more strict laws in this regard.

During question hour, the Meerut MP asked about existing mechanisms to check the illegal broadcast of vulgar and sex-related content through social media platforms and whether the government proposes to make the existing laws more stringent, keeping in view the fact that the said laws are not effective in stopping the misuse of these platforms.

“Earlier, there were editorial checks and it was decided whether something was right or wrong but those checks have ended. Today, social media is a platform for freedom of press but it is uncontrolled and there is vulgar content,” the Minister responded.

There is a need to make existing laws more stringent laws to curb vulgar content on social media platforms, Vaishnaw said amid din in the House.

Acknowledging the distinct cultural differences between India and the geographies where these platforms originated, Vaishnaw emphasised, “The cultural sensitivities of India vastly differ from those of the regions where these platforms were created. This makes it imperative for India to make existing laws more stricter and he urged everyone to come to a consensus on this matter.

“There should be societal consensus on it, along with stricter laws to address this challenge,” Vaishnaw said.

The Congress and the BJP engaged in a major slugfest regarding the Adani bribery case after the Adani Group asserted that the billionaire has not been charged with corruption in the US indictment. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned as it witnessed stormy scenes after multiple opposition leaders gave notice for discussion on the bribery case, suspending all other business.

Speaking to the media in the Parliament complex, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi repeated his call for Adani’s arrest, mentioning that the industrialist would never accept the charges mentioned by US prosecutors. He claimed that hundreds of people are being arrested on tiny charges. Mentioning that Adani has been indicted in the United States for thousands of crores, Rahul Gandhi demanded that he should be in jail. He further claimed that the government is protecting him.

Previous week, a New York court indicted Gautam Adani and his nephew for allegedly promising Rs 2,029 crore of bribes to state government officials in India for securing solar power contracts between 2020-2024. However, the Adani Group as well as former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi have claimed Adani has not been named in key bribery or obstruction of justice charges in the indictment.

Reacting to former AG Mukul Rohatgi’s claim, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the Modani ecosystem was attempting damage control through denial. The Congress leader asserted that the Modani ecosystem has let loose big legal cannons this morning, describing that the laughable attempt cannot dilute the seriousness of the charges levelled by US agencies.

Jairam Ramesh also called on the ED, CBI, and SEBI to investigate the Adani Group’s dealings rather than act as tools of a corrupt political-business nexus. He noted that this is the moment of reckoning for the institutions and the Indians who occupy those offices. He added that history will neither forgive nor forget this moment.

Slamming the Congress leader, Raebareli MP, BJP national spokesperson Tom Vadakkan accused the Congress of doing US investor George Soros’s bidding. He said that this is not an attack by the Congress but a Soros script being enacted in India. Speaking to a news publication, he said that the US administration has also realised that this is a case that has been funded by Soros, a script that is outside India to defeat India economically.