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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IPL first phase schedule announced amid travel concerns caused by war in West Asia
New Delhi (PTI): Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2026 opener in Bengaluru on March 28 as the BCCI announced the first phase of the tournament schedule amid concerns around players' travel arrangements due to the ongoing West Asia conflict.
All matches scheduled at the Chinnaswamy Stadium remain subject to clearance from the Karnataka government appointed expert committee, which is scheduled to meet on March 13 to assess venue preparedness in the wake of the deadly stampede at the stadium last season.
The BCCI announced the schedule of the first 20 games on Wednesday and will unveil the full schedule once the dates of elections in three states -- Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal -- are announced.
Besides the state elections, the escalating conflict in West Asia will also be at the forefront of BCCI officials' minds. The war has wreaked havoc to international travel with operations of major airports like Doha and Dubai being heavily restricted.
As a result of that, some of the squad members of South Africa and West Indies are yet to reach home a week after the completion of their T20 World Cup campaign.
It remains to be seen if IPL bound players of those two nations report to their respective teams in time.
"There was a substantial delay in departure of West Indies and South Africa players. It would be a tough task to get them back to India on time. Plus the airfares have gone up substantially due to the war in West Asia," a team official told PTI.
Additionally, hotels across India are facing cooking gas shortage due to the raging conflict and on Tuesday, the central government invoked Essential Commodities Act to ensure uninterrupted supply of domestic cooking gas.
Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanthan told PTI that he is expecting his players from the West Indies and South Africa -- Akeal Hossein and Dewald Brevis, to join the team well before their IPL opener.
"We are expecting no delays from their end," he said.
The second game of the opening weekend will see Mumbai Indians host Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium and the opening weekend will not feature any double-headers.
A total of 20 matches will be played across 10 venues: Bengaluru, Mumbai, Guwahati, New Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
"During the season, Royal Challengers Bengaluru will play five home matches in Bengaluru and two in Raipur. Punjab Kings will play four home matches in New Chandigarh and three in Dharamshala, while Rajasthan Royals will play three home matches in Guwahati and four in Jaipur," said the BCCI in a statement.
"During this period (the first 16 days), the tournament will feature four double-headers, with the afternoon matches beginning at 03:30 PM IST and the evening matches commencing at 07:30 PM IST.
"Following the opening encounter on Saturday, Mumbai Indians will take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
"The matches scheduled in Bengaluru are subject to clearance from the Expert Committee constituted by the Government of Karnataka," the BCCI added.
