Japan PM Shigeru Ishiba decides to resign to avoid party split: Reports
Tokyo: Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has reportedly decided to resign in an effort to avoid a potential split within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), local media outlets reported on Sunday.
Ishiba, 68, took charge of the LDP less than a year ago but has faced mounting challenges, including a loss of majority in both houses of parliament and widespread voter dissatisfaction over rising living costs.
Public broadcaster NHK said Ishiba made the decision to avoid a split in the party, while the Asahi Shimbun daily said he was unable to withstand the mounting calls for his resignation, as reported by news agency AFP.
Reports suggested that Japan’s agricultural minister and a former prime minister met with Ishiba on Saturday evening to persuade him to resign.
LDP lawmakers and regional officials across Japan advocating for a new leadership election are expected to submit a formal request on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s Office has not yet issued any official statement regarding the resignation reports.
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Indigo flights chaos: SCR to run special trains to clear passenger rush
Hyderabad (PTI): The South Central Railway on Saturday announced that it would run four special trains to manage the surge in passengers resulting from the large-scale cancellation of IndiGo flights here.
The move comes as flyers face significant disruption and long queues at the airport due to the cancellation.
A press release from the SCR said it is running the special trains to clear the extra rush of passengers to Chennai, Mumbai and Shalimar (Kolkata) from Hyderabad today.
Meanwhile, as many as 43 outbound Indigo flights were cancelled from here on Saturday, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport sources said.
ALSO READ: IndiGo cancels over 200 flights from Delhi, Mumbai on Saturday
Similarly, 26 incoming flights are also likely to be cancelled during the day, they said.
The flight cancellations drew ire from passengers, who thronged the IndiGo counters at the airport demanding to know the exact situation.
“This is utter nonsense! Digiyatra done, message received that departure has been rescheduled ahead of the scheduled departure and now upon arriving at Hyderabad airport coming to know at the security checkpoint that Indigo flight is cancelled,” Tarun Singha, former Ministry of Defence spokesperson said in a post on X.
“But the thing is if you don’t shout they do nothing. Example at Hyderabad Airport, there was no staff no flight information for an hour. Then a fellow passenger started shouting on mic and an Indigo staff appeared finally,” a netizen said in a post.
On Friday, when IndiGo cancelled over 1,000 flights from across airports, its CEO Pieter Elbers apologised in a video message for the major inconvenience caused to passengers due to the disruptions.
In the one-way video communication, Elbers also said that the airline was expecting fewer than 1,000 flights on Saturday.
