KOttayam l Thursday l January 11, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION First indigenously developed drone handed over to the NAVY Adani Defence & Aerospace on Wednesday handed over its indigenously manufactured Drishti 10 Starliner Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to the Navy Naval chief calls it a transformative step An All-weather military platform Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar flagged off the medium altitude long endurance UAV, which left from Hyderabad for Porbandar. “This is a transformative step in India’s quest for self reliance in advanced Intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance technology, and maritime supremacy. Drishti 10’s integration into our operations strengthens our preparedness,” he said ■ ■ The UAV has a 36 hours’ endurance and 450kg payload capacity. It is the only all-weather military platform with STANAG 4671 certification and clear to fly in both segregated and unsegregated airspace | P7 Apart from manufacturing the drone, Adani has also created an ecosystem for MRO and strengthening Navy’s preparedness, Kumar said 35 drone attacks have happened in past 40 days in red sea, Arabian sea CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Shinde faction is the real On run for 13 yrs, Savad finally caught Shiv Sena: Maha Speaker E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @Kochi Refuses to disqualify any MLA; Uddhav says it is contempt of SC S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday held that the group led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is the ‘real’ Shiv Sena and rejected cross-petitions filed by both Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray factions to disqualify each other’s MLAs. “All the petitions seeking disqualification of MLAs are rejected. No MLA is being disqualified,” Narwekar said. Reacting to the decision, Uddhav Thackeray said it is contempt of the Supreme Court. He said that the apex court clearly stated that the legislative party cannot be called as a political party but the Speaker has given a contrary order by accepting the Shinde faction as a political party . “The main petition was about disqualification of the MLAs under the anti-defection law for their anti-party activities, but here, not a single MLA got disqualified — neither from Shinde’s side nor our side. The Speaker himself has gone into multiple political parties; therefore, he could have failed Rahul Narwekar | ani Constitution: 1999 vs 2018 The 1999 constitution of Shiv Sena made the Rashtriya Karyakarini (national executive) the supreme body, whereas the amended constitution of 2018 made Paksha Pramukh (president) as the top leader who will have the final say to understand the anti-defections law and its procedure,” Thackeray said. The Shiv Sena had split in June 2022 after Shinde rebelled against then CM Thackeray claiming the support of majority of MLAs. Thackeray re- signed on June 29, 2022 without facing a floor test. Narwekar said the Shinde faction had an overwhelming majority of 37 of 55 MLAs when rival factions emerged. “Therefore, he is the real Shiv Sena,” he added. Narwekar said Sunil Prabhu of the Sena (UBT) ceased to be the whip from June 21, 2022, and Bharat Gogawale of the Shinde group became the authorised whip. However, the Speaker rejected the Shinde faction’s petition to disqualify UBT group’s MLAs citing discrepancies in the way the whip was issued by Gogawale. He said Gogawale’s whip did not reach the MLAs and it was not issued in person. Whip sent through WhatsApp is not valid, he said. Narvekar read out his order for 1 hour and 40 minutes. He first tried to establish how the Thackeray-led Sena is not the real party He said the 1999 par. ty constitution submitted to the Election Commission was the valid constitution for deciding the issues and refused to accept the amended constitution of 2018. R am T emp l e Cong to skip consecration ceremony P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi ENDING its ambivalence about the Ayodhya temple consecration, the Congress on Wednesday “respectfully declined” the invitation to attend the ceremony. Ter ming it a ‘political project’ of the BJP and RSS, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and leader of the party in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will not attend the consecration on January 22. The three leaders had got the invitation last month, but they did not say whether they would attend or not. “Inaugura- tion of the incomplete temple by leaders of BJP and RSS has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain,” Ramesh said in a statement. CPM was the first party to decline the invite. L a t e r, TMC, JD(U), RJD, and Shiv Sena (UBT) said they would not attend the event. Congress’s indecision had invited criticism from INDIA bloc partners as well as state units of the party Sources . said the party’s decision was after weighing in several factors, including the potential backlash if it boycotts the event. The 13-year-long chase for Savad, the fugitive who chopped the palm of Prof T J Joseph following a row over a question paper, ended on Tuesday night with the NIA arresting him from Kannur. Savad, 38, the first accused, had been absconding since the incident that took place on July 4, 2010. In a clandestine operation spanning six hours, the NIA’s fugitive tracking wing, based on a tip-off, raided the rented house in Beram near Mattannur in Kannur, where Savad was living with his wife and two children, and arrested him. The raid was carried out with the aid of the Kerala police. Around 20 NIA and police officials were part of the raiding team. They remained at Savad’s house, interrogating him, till 6am before bringing him to Kochi. NIA officials said they mainly questioned Savad about his whereabouts all these years and about the people who helped him stay in hiding. Real culprits are conspirators: Prof Joseph Kochi: In an interview to TNIE on Wednesday, Prof T J Joseph said though Savad’s jail term won’t benefit him, it was gratifying to hear that a criminal absconding for 13 years was nabbed. He also said until the perpetrators of the crime, or those involved in the conspiracy, are brought to justice it will not curb their activities | P4 Mar Raphael Thattil elected Major Archbishop of Syro-Malabar Church E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @Kochi The 32nd synod meeting of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church on Wednesday announced Shamshabad bishop Raphael Thattil as the new Major Archbishop of the Church and the archbishop of the Ernakulam Angamaly Archdiocese. The Syro-Malabar Church began the process to select a new head after Cardinal George Alencherry stepped down from the position on December 7. The installation of Mar Thattil, the fourth major archbishop of the Church, will be held Raphael Thattil Bishop of Shamshabad Born: April 21, 1956 Age: 67 yrs Primary education: St Thomas College HS, Thrissur at 2.30pm on Thursday at Mount St Thomas, the Church’s headquarters in Kakkanad. Kottayam Archbishop Mathew Moolakattil made the announcement after receiving a communication from the Vatican on Wednesday evening. Fr Antony Vadakekkara, the spokesperson of the Church, said 53 bishops voted to select the new head. He said the an - Ordained priest: Dec 21, 1980 Consecrated as bishop: April 10, 2010 Named 1st bishop of Shamshabad: January 7, 2018 nouncement was made at the Vatican and Mount St Thomas simultaneously . Thattil thanked God for the ineffable grace bestowed on him. He also thanked the Pope and synod of bishops for placing trust in him. P2 Savad of Nooleli in Asamannoor, Ernakulam, had been staying at the rented house in Beram with his family since December 2022 and was working as a carpenter there under the alias of Shajahan. The house is owned by one Kadeeja, and Savad had rented it using the ID card of his wife, a Kasaragod native. Before coming to Beram, he stayed near Iritty in Kannur. There are reports Savad breifly worked in a Gulf country while on the run. Naufal, a neighbour, said Savad was a “very silent man.”  ● More on P4 EXPRESS READ State budget to be presented on Feb 5 The budget session of the 15th state assembly will be convened on January 25. The government has in principle decided to present the budget on February 5. The session is expected to continue till February 15 | P5 YC secretariat march turns damp squib The Youth Congress secretariat march against the arrest of its state president Rahul Mamkootathil turned out to be a damp squib on Wednesday. Hardly 250 YC activists attended the march taken out in Thiruvananthapuram | P4