New Delhi, Sep 30: As Uttar Pradesh gears up for Assembly election early next year, the emerging dispute between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) over seat-sharing somewhat resembles the tensions that surfaced within Bihar’s Mahagathbandhan during the 2025 state poll.

In both cases, the Congress chose to seek a larger role, while a stronger regional ally appeared resisting to concede its space.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress-SP partnership produced impressive results in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, giving the INDIA bloc a significant boost and reducing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dominance in the state.

Perhaps encouraged by that performance, Congress leaders have been pushing for an early seat-sharing arrangement where they reportedly want a “respectable” number for themselves.

That number, as per indications, could be “anything above 150 seats” in the 403-member strong uttar pradesh Assembly where other alliance partners would also seek “respectable” allocations.

The SP is believed to be more comfortable with an allocation of up to some 80 seats to its principal partner in the alliance.

The disagreement has already triggered public sparring between leaders of the two parties with reports of leaders on both sides exchanging barbs over respective political stature, organisational strength, and electoral contributions.

But the sparring politicians have mostly admitted that a final call will be taken by the “Central leadership” — implying Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav.

The situation overall bears certain similarities to Bihar, where Congress entered the 2025 Assembly election-negotiations buoyed by a perceived momentum generated by Rahul Gandhi’s new political outreach.

Congress leaders sought to convert what they considered renewed visibility into greater bargaining power within the Mahagathbandhan.

Yet, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav remained unwilling to accommodate all of Congress’ demands.

Congress had continued to press for around 70 seats, the same number it contested in the 2020 Assembly election.

Tejashwi Yadav reportedly reiterated that electoral performance would be a more important criterion than aspiration.

The RJD leadership pointed to Congress’ poor strike rate in 2020, when it won only 19 of the 70 seats it contested, and used that argument to justify limiting Congress’ ambitions.

Friction grew, as did speculations about widening differences.

At one stage, Tejashwi Yadav even declared that the RJD was prepared to contest all 243 Assembly seats, a move widely interpreted as pressure tactics directed at the Congress.

Despite Rahul Gandhi exhibiting more involvement in Bihar politics, the final terms of seat-sharing were implied as to be dictated primarily by the regional heavyweight.

Eventually, the Congress reconciled itself to a marginally lesser allocation of 61 seats, but Tejashwi portrayed a dominant position within the alliance structure.

In the final result, the Congress won only six seats, 13 less than in 2020 polls, while the Opposition challenge was crushed under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) juggernaut.

The Bihar experience also offered the Opposition alliance another lesson in the dangers of excluding smaller partners while larger constituents battle over numbers.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), an important ally of Congress and RJD in neighbouring Jharkhand, spent months seeking meaningful accommodation within Bihar’s Mahagathbandhan framework.

JMM leaders alleged that assurances were not honoured and accused the Mahagathbandhan leadership of failing to respect its interests.

The tensions escalated to the point where JMM openly threatened to chart its own course.

The party announced plans to contest independently and publicly accused alliance partners of betrayal and marginalisation.

Though it did not, but the episode led to the Opposition alliance winning one and losing the other among the two seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes in Bihar.

Among the four other seats that the JMM intended to contest, the RJD won one while the rest went to NDA constituents.

At the same time, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) repeatedly sought entry into the Mahagathbandhan.

AIMIM leaders wrote to the RJD leadership, and publicly expressed willingness to join the Opposition bloc and even offered to contest a limited number of seats.

However, those overtures were reportedly ignored, as claimed by AIMIM leaders who complained that despite approaching Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav for a tie-up, the proposal was not accepted.

The AIMIM formed a separate alliance and contested 28 out of the 79 the third bloc contested, and won five seats in a repeat of its 2020 state poll performance.

But overall, in a stunning show, the NDA broke into the Muslim-dominated Assembly constituencies in Bihar, traditionally seen as the Opposition’s strongholds, securing some 16 of these seats.

About 32 Bihar seats are Muslim-dominated, most of which lie in districts along the Nepal border, called the Seemanchal region that largely witnessed increased turnout in 2025 state polls.

Whether the Congress and SP can avoid repeating the Bihar story in Uttar Pradesh may ultimately determine not only the Opposition’s prospects against the ruling BJP in India’s most politically consequential state, but its political future as well.

Jerusalem, Sep 30: Israeli security agencies were investigating an incident aboard a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv after the aircraft transmitted an emergency signal and descended sharply before diverting to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

Israel’s state-owned Kan TV news, citing an Israeli official, reported that Israeli authorities had not ruled out a possible “terrorist incident” and were examining whether one of the two pilots may have tried to crash the aircraft. It said one of the pilots was injured.

In a video circulated on social media, an Israeli passenger with blood on his face said, “We are under attack on the plane. We have overpowered the terrorists. We are about to land.”

Earlier, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the incident was not believed to have been a hijacking. An Israeli official said that the emergency signals were transmitted after the pilots became involved in a physical altercation.

A flydubai spokesperson confirmed that flight FZ 1073 operating from Dubai International Airport to Ben Gurion International Airport “experienced an incident” while en route. The aircraft later landed in Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia and all passengers are “safe and accounted for,” according to the spokesperson, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, a statement issued by the spokesperson of the Israel Airports Authority said that they have opened a dedicated waiting and information area for the families of passengers on the Flydubai flight, in accordance with the directive of Minister of Transport, Miri Regev.

“The area is located in Terminal 1, in the domestic arrivals hall at Ben Gurion Airport. Family members wishing to come to Ben Gurion Airport are invited to proceed to the designated area in Terminal 1, where they will be able to wait and receive information and updates as developments unfold,” read the statement.

“Israel Airports Authority representatives will be present at the site and will assist family members as needed. We ask members of the public who are not relatives of passengers on the flight to refrain from coming to the area, in order to allow for the orderly and appropriate assistance of the families,” it added.

Mumbai, Sep 30: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said that Maharashtra is India’s undeniable startup capital, both in sheer numbers and effective implementation.

At the prize distribution ceremony of the 4th edition of ‘The Governance Challenge’, he expressed confidence that youth-led research and innovation will soon position Maharashtra as a global innovation hub.

The prestigious governance competition was organised in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Samagra. Prominent dignitaries present included Chief Secretary Rajesh Aggarwal, MITRA Governing Council Member Deepak Karanjikar and Gates Foundation Deputy Director Arnav Kapoor.

CM Fadnavis said that Maharashtra currently hosts over 18% of India’s total startups, exceeding 30,000 active ventures—the highest in the nation. He announced plans to construct a massive 300-acre Innovation City in Navi Mumbai, focusing primarily on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced deep-tech research.

Under the Maharashtra Artificial Intelligence Policy 2026, the state will establish dedicated AI incubators and train over 200,000 youth and working professionals. Additionally, ‘M-Hub’ is being built as the state’s first dedicated startup incubator, he informed. Powered by innovation, Maharashtra aims to build a $1 trillion economy by 2030 and expand to a $2 trillion economy by 2035, he said.

CM Fadnavis stated that the state is establishing an end-to-end innovation pipeline—bridging ideas from tier-2 and tier-3 regional centres (such as Nagpur, Nashik, Kolhapur, Nanded, and Amravati) directly into market-ready global enterprises. “This initiative goes beyond a mere competition—it is a platform to discover talent and ideas that will shape the future administrative setup of Maharashtra and India. Hackathons should not end with certificates; their true strength lies in real-world implementation,” he added.

Chief Secretary Rajesh Aggarwal emphasised the synergy between government, corporate sectors, and market dynamics to foster self-sustaining innovations with minimal governmental friction.