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State-run banks recover Rs 6.4 lakh crore bad loans, and written-off loans since FY15 even as opposition creates confusion between ‘loan waiver’ and ‘loan writeoff’

Siddhi Somani
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State-run banks recover Rs 6.4 lakh crore bad loans, and written-off loans since FY15 even as opposition creates confusion between ‘loan waiver’ and ‘loan writeoff’

The Modi government recently completed 8 years of rule in the country. Reports released by the government state that the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) have recovered bad loans worth Rs 6.42 lakh crore since the financial year 2015. Along with this, 98.5% of willful defaulters have also been sued.

According to the reports, from the financial year 2011 to the financial year 2016, the government has infused Rs 3.36 lakh crore in PSBs, while banks have raised an additional Rs 2.99 lakh crore on their own from the markets. With this, the Provision Coverage Ratio of PSBs has improved from 46% at the end of March 2015 to 86.9% at the end of March 2022. PCR is the percentage of funds that a bank sets aside for losses due to bad debts.

Further, since the financial year 2015, the banks have recovered Rs 5.17 lakh crore in Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) and Rs 1.24 lakh crore in written-off accounts. Data demonstrates that the gross NPA ratio of state-run banks has dropped from 14.6% on March 31, 2018, to 7.4% on March 31, 2022, while the net NPA ratio has decreased from 8% to 2% over this period. Stressed assets came down to 8.7% from 15.3%.

A senior government official elaborating on the data stated that the Indian banks continue to pursue recovery actions initiated in written-off accounts through various recovery mechanisms available. The occurrence of fraud proportional to the gross advances of PSBs fell from a high of 1.32% during the financial year 2013-14 to 0.05% during the financial year 2021-22.

Earlier, the government had released a report claiming that the concrete steps taken by the government and the Reserve Bank of India had helped the Indian Banks to recover the bad loans. “Government and RBI (Reserve Bank of India) regularly issue guidelines and have taken several initiatives aimed at resolution of long-standing stressed assets on the books of banks as well as timely identification and recognition of stress immediately upon default and take corrective action for mitigation of the same”, Bhagwat Karad, the minister of state for finance had said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha in July.

Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal creating confusion between loan waivers and loan write-offs

However, it is important to note that the opposition leaders have intentionally or unintentionally created confusion between loan waivers and loan write-offs. For instance, in December 2020, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi put out misleading information on the alleged ‘waiving-off’ loans of industrialists by the Modi government. He came up with some magical numbers of Rs 2,37,206 crore, claiming that the Modi government helped some industrialists by ‘waiving off’ their loans. According to Rahul Gandhi, the huge amount, which according to him was ‘waive-off’ by the government, could have been provided for 11 crore families in the difficult time of COVID, each with Rs 20,000.

Gandhi was not the only one who rode on the “confused” wagon. Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, who continues to stay irked by Prime Minister Modi’s ‘free ki revdi’ statement, also targeted the government with a similar tweet. Kejriwal wrote, “Providing free education to the children of the country and arranging free treatment for every Indian is patriotism, virtue, religion, nation building. It is treason against Maa Bharti to give free revdi on own friends.”

Kejriwal had posted a photograph of a newspaper clipping that talked about the statement given by MoS Karad in Rajya Sabha. Interestingly, Kejriwal is an IIT graduate and former Income Tax official and one would expect that of all people he would know the difference between loan waiver and loan write-off. Except, he is also a politician now and hence facts don’t seem to matter.

Also recently, BJP leader Varun Gandhi targeted the central government over ‘written-off loans’ in the past five years and confused it with ‘loan waiver’. He shared an infographic made by the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) based on the reply given by Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat K Karad on August 2 in Rajya Sabha and wrote, “The House which aspires to get a ‘thank you’ for giving 5 kg ration to the poor. The same House says that in 5 years, the loan of corrupt ‘money animals’ up to 10 lakh crore has been waived. Mehul Choksi and Rishi Aggarwal’s names are on top among those who take ‘Free Ki Rewari’. Who has the first right on the government treasury?”

The difference between loan written off and loans waive off

From time to time, the leaders of the opposition have used the term written-off in a completely misleading manner. They depict as if the banks have forgotten about the loans when they write them off. As reported earlier, a bad loan is written off to remove them from the balance sheet. It is a regular process that banks follow as per the RBI guidelines.

A balance sheet should reflect the real position of assets and liabilities. Hence Banks have to write off loans given to borrowers, which are “assets” to the banks, which have now shown signs of weakness. If they don’t write off loans, it is like claiming to hold a high-quality asset, when the quality has deteriorated. Will you trust an entity that doesn’t give the true picture of its assets?

Secondly, if a loan is not written off and is continued as a healthy asset (when it is a Non-Performing Asset), then banks can continue to book interest income on the loan, on the accrual basis of accounting. This has two impacts: First, the bank is artificially increasing its income by booking interest on an accrual basis, income which it may or may not receive (since the loan is an NPA). Second, the bank has to pay tax on such interest income. Both are undesirable. A write-off prevents banks from doing this, since once a loan is “written-off”, income booking on the same is based on actual receipt of income, and not based on accrual. Banks do not stop earning interest on such loans, but now they can recognize it as income only when they receive it.

Hence write-offs are a purely technical, accounting entry. Loans, which may not be repaid by the borrower in the normal course of business are written off. Even when these loans are written off, various recovery procedures like recovery suits are filed before the DRT/ Court. and action initiated under SARFAESI Act continues. Now, the bank takes control of the assets secured against such loans and sells them off to recover the loans.

When loans are ‘waived’, however, the money lent is gone forever.

Former NYPD Commissioner says Democrats may attempt Donald Trump’s assassination to stop him from running in 2024

OpIndia Staff
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Former NYPD Commissioner says Democrats may attempt Donald Trump’s assassination to stop him from running in 2024

On August 9 (local time), former New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Bernard Kerik claimed that Democrats might attempt to assassinate former President Trump if the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago does not result in criminal charges against him. He further added the Democrats have exhausted all options to “stop him” from running for the office again in 2024.

Kerik said he was ‘deadly afraid’ for the former President after the reports of the feds’ raid at his residence in Florida. He talked about the raid during his appearance on The Balance hosted by Eric Bolling.

He compared the ongoing investigation against Trump to the incidents that have happened in countries with dictatorships and said in those countries, those who got investigated were either imprisoned or killed. He asserted something similar could happen with Trump.

Notably, the FBI raided Trump’s estate on August 8 as a part of an ongoing probe into accusations that had moved out classified records from the White House to his house located in Florida. In a statement issued by Trump, he said that the FBI personnel broke into his safe while looking for the documents. Earlier, after continuous communication between the department of Archives and Trump, 15 boxes of documents were returned by the former President. However, no further information was available about the content. Interestingly, the probe into the matter has intensified since then.

In his statement, Trump called the raid ‘prosecutorial misconduct’ and accused the investigation agency of double standards as no such action was taken against Hillary Clinton in the matter where she was accused of deleting emails.

Speaking on the show Kerik said, “If you remember back in 2016, right before he got elected, I was in Washington DC. I was at a couple of different social events, and I hear people talking, they said the Democrats want this guy so bad that they wouldn’t put assassination behind it. And I’m gonna tell you something. they’ve tried impeachment, they’ve tried another impeachment, they’ve tried one investigation after another.”

He further added, “This is about one thing. This is about stopping him from running in 2024. And I’m gonna tell you something, I’m not into conspiracies, I’m not into anti-government rhetoric. This is the first time in my lifetime that I would say I am deathly afraid of Donald Trump. I would not put assassination behind these people.”

The FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago

On August 8, FBI agents raided Trump’s Florida residence. The estate was being discussed since June with Trump’s legal team as it was revealed Trump had Presidential documents at the property. Reports suggest the White House was not informed in advance about the raid. However, in his statement at the show, Kerik said such raids could not have happened without the permission and knowledge of the White House.

In February this year, it was revealed that Trump took classified documents from the White House while leaving in January 2021. Some of the documents were returned to the National Archives. In a report, CNN said the investigators met Trump’s attorneys to discuss the documents on June 8. Trump was not questioned by the investigators. The two attorneys took the investigators to the basement room and informed them about the place where the documents were stored. Later, they received a letter from the investigators to enhance the security of the store room.

Pakistan: Politician attacks Hindu family on its way to pilgrimage over petty squabble

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan: Politician attacks Hindu family on its way to pilgrimage over petty squabble

A local Pakistani politician and his goons on Sunday evening attacked a Hindu family on its way to a pilgrimage to Daherji in Pakistan’s Ghotki.

The Pitafi tribe leader got his goons to come and attack the Hindu family, broke the car glasses and harassed men and women of the family because a wrapper of ice cream flew and fell on his car. As per Ajay Kumar, the victim, the goons came and started beating them without any reason.

As per Pakistani local media, Kumar was returning from Raharki Sahib, a temple in the area and crossed vehicle of Pakistani politician, Dr Shamsher Pitafi’s car. Kumar tried to ask for a side to overtake but were repeatedly denied, reports say. When the family did overtake, Pitafi got angry and followed them and got them attacked. Sindh Police have reportedly assured that attackers will be arrested. However, no updates on this front yet.

Pitafi is a relative of Pakistani politician. He is cousin of Sindh Minister of Livestock and Fisheries, Abdul Bari Pitafi. However, as per reports, Kumar was advised not to file an FIR by local Hindu leaders. Reports also suggest Pitafi was not arrested because of political pressure.

‘Advance bookings for Lal Singh Chaddha way below expectations’: Aamir Khan’s copy of Forrest Gump risking failure

OpIndia Staff
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‘Advance bookings for Lal Singh Chaddha way below expectations’: Aamir Khan’s copy of Forrest Gump risking failure

As the release date for Aamir Khan’s Lal Singh Chaddha nears, many experts are cautioning that the boycott calls may be working after all. Social media is abuzz with the lead cast of the movie making repeated appeals to the audience to watch their movie and not boycott it.

Amid all the speculations, noted film critic Taran Adarsh has shared that the advance bookings of Lal Singh Chaddha and Akshay Kumar’s Rakshabandhan are way below expectations.

Adarsh further added that both the movies need a word of mouth and walk-in audience/spot bookings to get a decent opening on Thurseday.

It is notable here that boycott calls against Aamir Khan’s Lal Singh Chaddha have mired the promotion of the big-budget movie that is the official remake of Tom Hanks’s classic Forrest Gump. Aamir Khan’s anti-India statements in the past, his negative and derogatory portrayal of Hindu Gods in is movie PK and his overtly political statements of the past have all been adding to the prevailing sentiments of rejection among the audience of Hindi cinema.

Even Kareena Kapoor’s past statements of mocking the audience and participating in politically motivated campaigns have stirred negative sentiments against the movie.

A number of social media posts also say that the advance booking of the movie is negligible and the movie may be looking at failure.

It is notable here that Bollywood, in general, has been suffering through a crisis lately where a number of multi-star, big-budget movies have bitten the dust in the last few months. While Telugu and Kannada movies like Pushpa, RRR, and KGF have managed to appeal to a pan-India audience, Bollywood movies have been mostly flopping.

92-year-old Sikh man, who lost 22 family members to Partition violence, meets his surviving nephew Mohan Singh-turned-Afzal Khaliq in Pakistan

OpIndia Staff
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92-year-old Sikh man, who lost 22 family members to Partition violence, meets his surviving nephew Mohan Singh-turned-Afzal Khaliq in Pakistan

Sarwan Singh, 92, a resident of Bahaudinpur village in Jalandhar, was overwhelmed with emotions when he met his nephew lost to the partition riots over 75 years ago at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur, in Pakistan.

Sarwan’s nephew, Mohan Singh, then six years old, was separated from his family during the Partition riots in 1947, during which 22 of his family members lost their lives in the communal conflagration in Chak 37 village in Pakistan.

But Mohan somehow miraculously survived the onslaught unleashed in the wake of the partition when millions of Hindus and Sikhs were slaughtered by the Islamist supremacists who wanted to purge Pakistan of non-believers. However, survival came at a cost. Mohan Singh relinquished his faith and became Afzal Khaliq.

Seven and a half decades later, Mohan met his uncle and his daughter Rachhpal Kaur when the duo visited the resting place of Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak. Both Sarwan Singh and Mohan (Afzal) were swept with emotions as the two found themselves short of words to express their pleasure over meeting each other after 75 years.

After returning from Pakistan, Sarwan said, “I cannot believe I found my nephew. There was no hope. God blessed me long age to meet him.”

He further added, “I wish he comes to India if both the governments agree to his visit.”

During the partition, Mohan and his family, who lived in modern-day Pakistan, were attacked by a group of rioters. While they slaughtered men, the women in the house jumped into the well to save their honour. Mohan had managed to flee from the place. He was raised by a Muslim family in Pakistan and was converted to Islam. 

Neither Sarwan nor Mohan knew they were related to each other until a Punjab-origin man, based out of Australia, Gurdev Singh, assisted the two families to unite after separately coming across their respective Partition accounts. Singh had watched a documentary, in which Sarwan Singh spoke about the identifying marks of the missing child. He had also seen the interview of one Partition victim based out of Pakistan, who had described a similar account of the ordeal that befell him. He managed to get the contact numbers of both the families and got them to speak over the phone.

After a day of political upheaval in Bihar, Nitish Kumar once again stakes claim to form the government

OpIndia Staff
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After a day of political upheaval in Bihar, Nitish Kumar once again stakes claim to form the government

A day of great political upheaval in Bihar ends with Nitish Kumar once again staking claim to form the government. After resigning from the post of Chief Minister earlier in the day and breaking the Janata Dal (United) alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party, Nitish is set to return as the Bihar CM.

Returning to his Mahagathbandhan alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Nitish Kumar has staked claim to form the government in front of Governor Phagu Chauhan. Congress and the communist parties are also going to support this alliance in government.

Nitish Kumar has said that they have the support of seven Mahagathbandhan parties, totaling 164 MLAs in the Bihar assembly.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav is likely to be the deputy CM in this new government. It is notable that JDU-RJD alliance had formed the government in the state after the 2015 elections as well but that government couldn’t even complete 2 years as Nitish returned to BJP.

Nitish Kumar resigns and breaks alliance with the BJP in Bihar

Earlier in the day, Nitish Kumar resigned from his post as Bihar Chief Minister as the BJP-JDU alliance once again broke in the state. After days of speculations, Nitish Kumar resigned after meeting Governor Phagu Chouhan in the afternoon.

Nitish Kumar made the announcement of breaking the alliance with the BJP in front of JDU MLAs and MPs who had gathered in Patna for a meeting on this issue.

This is not the first time that JDU has broken its alliance with the BJP. The party walked out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2013 in protest against the announcement of Narendra Modi as the PM candidate. However, after a brief affair with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Nitish Kumar re-entered an alliance with BJP in 2017.

The relationship between BJP and JDU has been strained since the last Bihar elections, but the tensions had been rising in recent days and the breaking point may have been former union minister RCP Singh’s resignation from JDU last weekend, calling it a sinking ship. JDU had called it BJP’s attempt to split the party through RCP Singh.

Modi government helps revive the only school in Delhi for Afghan refugees, school was struggling for funds after Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

OpIndia Staff
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Modi government helps revive the only school in Delhi for Afghan refugees, school was struggling for funds after Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

The only Afghan school in Delhi, Syed Jamaluddin Afghan High School, was given a second life by the PM Modi-led government a year after the government in Afghanistan collapsed in August last year. The school for Afghan refugees which is located at Jangpura, Delhi, faced an acute shortage of funds due to the Covid pandemic and government collapse in Afghanistan until the Ministry of External Affairs provided financial assistance to the school and ensured that it operated as usual.

According to the reports, Syed Jamaluddin Afghan School was first set up at Lajpat Nagar in 1994 and then shifted in the mid-2000s. It enrolls pupils from classes 1-12 and employs 32 Afghan teachers. The school used to receive funds from the Afghanistan Ministry of Education through the embassy in Delhi. However, due to a combination of factors, the school has been facing a shortage of funds since 2020.

The school began facing problems with the onset of the Covid pandemic and it escalated after the fall of the Afghan government to the Taliban. The school didn’t have money to pay the teaching and non-teaching staffers, and later also could not afford the rent of the school premises at Jangpura.

“Problems had started even before the collapse of the previous regime in Afghanistan. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, funds were irregular and we were facing several challenges”, Nazir Ahmad Yosufi, board secretary of the school was quoted as saying. He added that after the government collapsed in Afghanistan, the board members and the staffers became hopeless which forced them to give away the school building.

Reports mention that the school could not pay the salaries of the staff members for 10 months and some of the board members sold their assets to meet the basic expenses. It is then that the Ministry of External Affairs came to the rescue and asked the board members to find a new place for the school to resume the offline classes. It also committed to looking after the other sundry expenses like the rent, teachers pay, administrative expenses, etc.

Following support and funding from the Narendra Modi government, the school officials are currently engaged in chartering a new road plan. The Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP), which started the school in 1994, presently sponsors 257 students, the majority of whom are female. However, the number has significantly decreased from the previous 400. While 65 percent of the students are girls, the teaching staff comprises only women.

Yosufi cited the relocation of several refugee families to other nations as the reason why there are now fewer pupils admitted to the school. However, he added that from this year the school is seeing a boost in admissions. The school also has established several extra-curricular clubs to ensure that the children receive a well-rounded education. The school members also celebrated International Women’s Day at the school premises.

Navita Srikant, an international affairs expert who has worked closely with the school administration, stated that the administration is dedicated to the cause. “Mentoring and inspiring these children for creative activities beyond education which helps them express their emotions constructively has been a humbling experience,” Srikant was quoted.

The teachers of the school have also been introduced to a non-violent communication course to enhance the quality of teaching. “The centre’s efforts will become a landmark case study at UN inspiring other member states to make arrangements for education for Afghan Students, especially girls,” Srikant added.

Actor Satish Shah shares an image of the Indian flag his mother got during the quit India movement

OpIndia Staff
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Actor Satish Shah shares an image of the Indian flag his mother got during the quit India movement

On August 9, actor Satish Shah shared a photograph on the social media platform Twitter in which he was holding the Tiranga. Shah mentioned that the flag belonged to his mother who got it during Quit India Movement in 1942. He said, “The very same TIRANGA DHWAJ my mother had got during Quit India Movement 1942.”

Though a few netizens pointed out that the flag with Ashok Chakra was adopted shortly before the Independence in 1947 and before that the flag had Charkha at the centre, it does not take away the fact that he was very proud of having held on to this memento of Indian independence.

Furthermore, it is worth noting that the flag with Ashok Chakra was officially adopted as Indian National Flag, that is, in its present form, during the meeting of the Constituent Assembly held on 22 July 1947. However, the flag might have been used with Ashok Chakra before the said date. For example, an image attributed to from Quit India Movement in Karnataka from 1942 has a flag with Ashok Chakra at the centre. OpIndia could not verify the origin of the image.

OpIndia tried to connect to Satish Shah to get more information about the flag and his mother’s participation in the struggle for Independence but could not get a reply from him.

Tej Pratap Yadav gives ‘Muharram ki Badhai’ to Muslims of India, except it is the Muslim festival of mourning

OpIndia Staff
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Tej Pratap Yadav gives ‘Muharram ki Badhai’ to Muslims of India, except it is the Muslim festival of mourning

RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav on Tuesday extended greetings to Indian Muslims on the occasion of Muharram, the Muslim festival of mourning. 

Speaking to the media, Yadav said, “Desh bhar mein sabhi Musalman bhaiyon ko hum Muharram ki badhai dete hain” (I extend my wishes to all our Muslim brothers on Muharram).

Tej Pratap Yadav was not the only politician to commit the gaffe. Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who remains in controversy over his indiscreet comments, was subjected to online trolling after he wished “Happy Islamic New Year” on the day of Muharram. 

Soon after sharing the tweet, social media users slammed Chowdhury for wishing on essentially what is known as the festival of mourning. Many others wondered if Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was ignorant about the festival of Muharram, primarily observed by the Shia sect of Muslims. Subsequently, Chowdhury deleted his tweet after Muslims objected to his greetings on the festival of mourning.

According to the Islamic calendar, Muharram is considered the second holiest month after Ramadan. The 10th day of this month, known as Ashura, has special significance in Islam. The month of Muharram started on July 31, so August 9 happened to be Ashura. 

It is also known as Youm-e-Ashura. As per Islam, the 10th day of Muharram is the day of mourning. As per legends, about 1,400 years ago on this day, Hazrat Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, died while fighting a war in defence of Islam. Therefore, in his memory, Ashura is observed as a day of mourning by the Muslim community. 

Muharram literally translates to “forbidden” and marks a period of remembrance and reflection for the believers rather than celebrations. While Shias mourn the death of Imam Hussain, for Sunnis, it is the day when God saved Moses and the Israelis from the brutal Egyptian pharaoh by ‘parting the Red Sea’.

Memes, jokes flood the Internet as Nitish Kumar resigns as Bihar CM, political drama ensues

OpIndia Staff
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Memes, jokes flood the Internet as Nitish Kumar resigns as Bihar CM, political drama ensues

In a major political development, the NDA alliance in Bihar broke as Nitish Kumar of JDU resigned as chief minister of state. It is expected that he will again join hands with Lalu Yadav’s RJD and other left parties in the state to form government again. Amid all this, the Internet has exploded with memes and jokes on the ‘palti babu’ who has once again switched alliance.

Many think Nitish Kumar as opposition leader would like to portray himself as the PM candidate in upcoming 2024 elections. However, the ‘united opposition’ is far from united when it comes to the PM candidate as everyone wants to be the one to ‘defeat Modi’ which at this point seems quite unlikely.

Many feared that this may bring back the jungleraj, where under RJD rule, law and order situation in Bihar had hit rock bottom.

Nitish first formed alliance with BJP in 2005 and won elections. He won 2010 elections also in alliance with the BJP. In 2013 he snapped ties with BJP. In 2015, Nitish joined hands with RJD and contested elections and formed government. However, in 2017, the alliance broke and he formed government again with BJP alliance. He then contested 2020 elections in Bihar with JDU-BJP alliance and won and now, 2 years later, he again decided to break alliance with BJP and will likely form government with the RJD. It is because of this multiple flipflops that Nitish Kumar is called ‘Palti Kumar’ or as suggested by Twitter user, giving tough competition to AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal for u-turns.

Netizens also poked fun that this way, if Nitish Kumar keeps switching sides, he may lose everyone’s support. Though it is unlikely to happen in politics as there is never any permanent enemy or friend.

In fact, the jokes had started from last evening itself as early hints suggested he may break the alliance.

Some even joked that this perhaps would be ideal time to break the JDU as a party and make Nitish Kumar irrelevant like the Thackerays in Shiv Sena.

Meanwhile, as per latest reports, Nitish Kumar, along with Tejashwi Yadav has reached Raj Bhawan in Bihar where it is expected they would stake claim to form government and it is likely again that he will be chief minister of the state with just a different alliance partner.

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