Boris Johnson pulls out of UK PM race, Rishi Sunak closer to victory
London, Oct 24: In a surprise move, former British PM Boris Johnson on Sunday announced that he will not be contesting the Conservative Party leadership race, with frontrunner Rishi Sunak moving a step closer to be elected Britain's first Indian-origin prime minister.
The 55-year-old former leader claimed he had crossed the 100-MPs threshold but decided not to go forward in the interest of Tory party's unity.
In a statement, Johnson who resigned in July in the wake of the partygate' scandal of COVID-19 lockdown law-breaking parties said he had "cleared the very high hurdle of 102 nominations", but came to the conclusion that "this is simply not the right time".
"I am afraid the best thing is that I do not allow my nomination to go forward and commit my support to whoever succeeds," Johnson said. "I believe I have much to offer but I am afraid that this is simply not the right time.".
"And though I have reached out to both Rishi and Penny because I hoped that we could come together in the national interest we have sadly not been able to work out a way of doing this," he added.
Johnson, who formally had not announced his candidacy yet, had the public backing of around 59 Tory MPs, including some high-profile cabinet members. It now remains to be seen which way that support would be divided between British Indian former chancellor Rishi Sunak, who leads the nominations among Tory MPs with around 144 supporters, and Penny Mordaunt with around 23 publicly declared backers.
The likelihood of a two-member shortlist by 2 PM local time Monday deadline is now almost certain. If the party MPs unite behind a single candidate, expected to be frontrunner Sunak, he will be declared the Tory leader and prime minister by Monday evening.
However, if there are two candidates, the Tory membership will get an online vote and the successor to Liz Truss will be declared on Friday.
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Power tariffs under BESCOM to rise from May 1
Bengaluru (PTI): Power bills for consumers under the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will go up from May 1, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday.
The hike comes after KERC allowed the BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore incurred in 2024-25, from the consumers.
As a result, for every unit of electricity consumed in 2024-25, the customers will be charged an additional 56 paise, it said.
"BESCOM shall calculate, for each of the active consumers of FY2024-25 the amount to be recovered based on their actual energy consumption during FY2024-25. Such amount shall be recovered during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, to be called as 'FY25 True up Charges', commencing from the first meter reading date falling on or after 1 May 2026 and concluding with the reading date ending on 30 April 2027," the order said.
"It is further ordered that BESCOM shall maintain a separate head of account, allocated for the purpose, to record the adjustment of the said amount to ensure full recovery of the deficit," it added.
Similarly Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) has also recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 121.71 crore and can collect an additional 15 paisa per unit for consumption in 2024-25, official sources said.
