Traffic movement along the Noida-Greater Noida expressway resumed on Monday evening after hundreds of farmers, who had gathered for a “Delhi Chalo” march over various demands, agreed to vacate the protest site.

Sources said that after a meeting with the Noida authorities, Bhartiya Kisan Parishad (BKP) leader Sukhbir Khalifa, who is spearheading the protests, decided to give the Centre a week’s time to fulfill the farmers’ various demands, including a legislation on Minimum Support Prices (MSPs).

The farmers temporarily shifted their protest to Dalit Prerna Sthal (Ambedkar Park) on Noida Link Road but threatened to resume their march towards the national capital, if their demands were not met on time.

Earlier in the day, massive traffic snarls caused inconvenience to commuters crossing the Delhi-Noida border, as police set up multiple barricades to prevent the farmers from Uttar Pradesh from marching towards the Parliament complex.

A video posted by news agency ANI showed cars moving at a snail’s pace at the Chilla border, while all vehicles appeared to be at a standstill along the Delhi-Noida-Direct Flyway or DND.

“The police set up barricades on both sides of the Delhi-Noida border, causing significant traffic congestion, especially on the carriageway heading from Noida to Delhi. It took me about an hour to get through that stretch,” Aprajita Singh, a resident of Greater Noida, was quoted as saying by PTI.

The protest is being supported by the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and other farmer organisations.

The farmers had gathered at the Mahamaya flyover on the Dadri-Noida link road around 11.30 am to press their demands, which also included land allocation and increased compensation for their lands acquired by the government.

Carrying banners and flags of various farmer groups, hundreds of protesters crossed the initial barricades erected by Noida Police. While some climbed over the barricades, others pushed them. They were finally stopped by police near Dalit Prerna Sthal, around 1 km from the Chilla border, an entry point to Delhi. Senior police officers tried to pacify the protesting farmers.

“We are ready for our march towards Delhi. Tomorrow, on December 2, we will start our march towards Delhi from under the Mahamaya flyover (In Noida). At noon, all of us will reach there and demand our compensation and benefits as per the new laws,” Mr Khalifa told ANI on Sunday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has named Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and ex-Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani as the designated ‘observers’ for a meeting of its newly elected Maharashtra MLAs later today, at which the issue of the next Chief Minister may be settled.

No formal announcement has been made so far, but Devendra Fadnavis, a senior BJP leader and two-time former Chief Minister, is widely seen as the frontrunner for the post.

The BJP – which recorded a big win in last month’s Assembly election, with help from allies Shiv Sena and NCP (the Eknath Shinde- and Ajit Pawar-led factions) – has delayed naming the new Chief Minister amid backroom talks between the three allies over a power-sharing agreement.

A rudimentary deal was announced last week; the Chief Minister will be from the BJP and the two allies will each get a deputy, a repeat of the current formula but tilted in favour of the former.

The BJP emerged as the single-largest party in the 288-seat House with 132 MLAs, while the Shinde Sena got 57 and the Pawar NCP group 41. That meant the BJP can form the government – with the majority mark at 145 – without help from the Sena faction, unlike the 2022 mid-term switch.

The fact that the BJP does not, at this point, need the Shinde Sena’s help (assuming Ajit Pawar’s NCP remains an ally) has emboldened the saffron party to claim the Chief Minister’s position, a claim that has not gone down all too well with outgoing Chief Minister Shinde and his party.

But last week Mr Shinde, after days of posturing – which included retreating to his hometown in Satara district, a move attributed to a need for rest after a draining election campaign but one seen as conveying displeasure at being sidelined – seemed to accept the new status quo.

READ | “Won’t Obstruct”: In Maharashtra CM Race, E Shinde Leaves It To BJP

He told reporters he had spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I told PM Modi I would not be an obstacle… we (the Mahayuti alliance that won the election) will go with what he decides.”

Days later, while he was in Satara, the BJP said the new Chief Minister would be sworn-in at 5 pm on December 5. The ceremony will take place at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan in the presence of PM Modi.

The NCP has already indicated it will back the BJP, meaning party boss Ajit Pawar will likely return as Deputy Chief Minister. Who the second deputy will be remains to be seen.

It could be Eknath Shinde but the jump from the top post to the deputy’s might be seen as a bit too big to stomach, and explain to party workers, even if it mirrors the step taken by Mr Fadnavis in 2022.

A possible option, though, is Eknath Shinde’s son, Shrikant Shinde.

Shinde’s Son To Be Deputy?

However, Shinde junior has refused such speculation, suggesting the Shinde Sena, despite outwardly accepting its junior status in this new-look Mahayuti, is actually still playing tough.

Eknath Shinde’s son said on X that “there are a lot of discussion and rumours” about his becoming Deputy Chief Minister and said firmly, “As a matter of fact, there is no truth in it… all the news about my taking up the post of Deputy Chief Minister is baseless”.

महायुतीच्या सरकारचा शपथविधी थोडा लांबल्यामुळे सध्या चर्चा आणि अफवा यांचे पीक फोफावले आहे. काळजीवाहू मुख्यमंत्री मा. श्री एकनाथ शिंदे यांनी प्रकृती अस्वास्थ्यामुळे दोन दिवस गावी जाऊन विश्रांती घेतली. त्यामुळे अफवांना अधिकच बहर आला. मी उपमुख्यमंत्री होणार अशा बातम्या प्रश्नचिन्हे…

— Dr Shrikant Lata Eknath Shinde (@DrSEShinde) December 2, 2024

He said he had been given the opportunity to become a Union Minister after the Lok Sabha elections but turned that down. “I refused the post then (and) have no desire for a position in power. I make it clear, once again, I am not in the race for any ministerial position in the state.”

Aaditya Thackeray’s Jab

The delay in announcing the Chief Minister has drawn predictable criticism from the opposition.

Thackeray Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray, slammed the Mahayuti’s inability to close the deal even a week after the result and called it was an “insult” to Maharashtra. He has called the move to announce a swearing-in date without even staking claim to form the government as “pure anarchy”

READ | E Shinde’s CM Update, Aaditya Thackeray’s “Pure Anarchy” Post

He also doubled down on his allegations, by his party and the Congress, that the ruling alliance had indulged in voter fraud and tampered with EVMs, or electronic voting machines and called the election result the “mandate of the Election Commission” rather than that of the people.

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Akal Takht, the highest temporal body of Sikhs, has sentenced former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal to cleaning duty in the kitchen and bathrooms of several Gurdwaras including Amritsar’s Golden Temple,  for favouring Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in the 2015 sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib. His father, the late Parkash Singh Badal, the former Chief Minister of Punjab, has been stripped of the Fakhr-e-Qaum (pride of the Sikh community) honour, bestowed on him in 2011 for services to the community.

Sukhbir Badal, who is wheelchair-bound, and the core committee members and the leaders of the Akali Dal, who were cabinet members in 2015, will clean the bathrooms at Amritsar’s Golden Temple on December 3 from 12 noon to 1 pm. After this, they will take a bath and serve langar.

The sentence came after Mr Badal had tendered an unconditional apology to the Akal Takht admitting his mistakes. 

Earlier today, the five high priests of the Sikhs — led by Akal Takht jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh — announced the quantum of ‘tankhah (religious punishment for misconduct)’.

The jathedar asked the SAD working committee to accept Mr Badal’s resignation as party chief and for a panel to reorganise the party within six months.

Sukhbir Badal was declared a “tankhaiya” in August by Akal Takht after he was held guilty of religious misconduct “for mistakes committed by the party when it was in power in Punjab from 2007 to 2017”. These included the pardon to Gurmeet Ram Rahim for the sacrilege cases that had triggered clashes between Dera followers and Sikhs in parts of Punjab.

In 2007, Gurmeet Ram Rahim had also dressed like the Sikh Gurus and performed a ceremony for which he was excommunicated by the Akal Takht. Sukhbir Singh Badal had allegedly used his influence to get the Dera chief pardoned.