KOchi l thursday l fEBRUARY 05, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION IT stocks crash after AI tool that automates core work unveiled Sentiment turned sharply negative on Wednesday after a US start-up unveiled a new plug-in for its AI tool that could disrupt traditional IT businesses Dario Amodei, CEO and co-founder of AI startup Anthropic Traditional software biz faces disruption Infosys falls the most among large cos US-based AI company Anthropic unveiled its new AI tool, Cowork, last month. What sent the IT stocks into a tailspin on Wednesday was a new plugin for this tool that automates tasks across legal, sales, marketing, and data analysis. This could cut the need for custom-built software and human expertise, reducing dependence on traditional IT companies ■ ■ Shares of Infosys plunged 7.19%, that of Tata Consultancy Services 6.95%, HCL Technologies 4.22% and LTIMindtree 5.51% on the BSE In the US market, the Nasdaq Composite index tanked 1.43% on Tuesday and was down 1.25% in early trading on Wednesday. Shares of major firms like Nvidia Corp and Alphabet Inc registered declines 50% entry-level white-collar jobs could be disrupted in 1–5 yrs: aNTHROPIC CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Lok Sabha impasse Mamata argues in SC, questions SIR forces cancellation of Modi’s address SUCHIT R A KALYAN M OHANTY @ New Delhi Cong insisted on Rahul Gandhi completing his speech, suspension of BJP MP Dubey THE Supreme Cour t on Wednesday witnessed dramatic scenes as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appeared in person to make submissions in a case challenging the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal. Banerjee, who holds a law degree and had briefly practised as a lawyer, alleged her state was being targeted and people were being bulldozed. “We are not getting justice,” she told a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi. Banerjee, who was represented by senior advocates Shyam Divan and Kapil Sibal, sought five minutes to personally advance submissions. The CJI granted her 15 minutes. “They (EC) are targeting Bengal. We have given everything to ECI... all kinds of documents, but got no justice. I am a very less important person. But please protect people’s rights,” Banerjee told the bench with folded hands. She alleged that the names of women who take their husbands’ surnames after marriage or shift to their in-laws’ houses are deleted, citing mismatches. The bench took note of Banerjee’s submission and said genuine persons must remain on electoral rolls. Referring to the EC as a ‘WhatsApp Commission’ that passes instructions through the instant messaging app, Banerjee alleged that “the SIR pti process is only for deletion, not inclusion”. Opposing the submissions of Banerjee, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the EC, said the West Bengal government was not cooperative. “We wrote to the state government so many times to give grade-two officers to be appointed as EROs (electoral registration officers). Only 80 officers were given.” During the hearing, Banerjee’s counsel Divan sought a direction from the court to the ECI to upload the reasons for each voter discrepancy so that , people know why they are not on the list. The SC bench issued notices and sought replies to the petition by February 9 from the EC and chief electoral officer of West Bengal. Cong banks on Guru to reset caste calculus before polls M a n o j V i s w a n at h a n @ Kochi Opposition MPs seeking to gherao the Treasury benches in the Lok Sabha during the Budget session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Wednesday | PTI P ree t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled reply to the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address could not take place on Wednesday, as the Opposition stepped up its attack on the government for blocking Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s speech and suspension of eight MPs. As soon as the House convened at 5 pm after three adjournments, women MPs from the Opposition marched towards the Treasury benches holding banners which read “Do what is right.” Modi was not present in the House when the Opposition members made their way to the Treasury benches protesting against the suspension of MPs and former Army Chief M M Naravane’s unpublished memoir. BJP MP Sandhya Rai, who was in the chair, adjourned the proceedings for the day in a few minutes. In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi said, “PM Modi won’t come to Parliament because he is scared and doesn’t want to face the truth.” Later, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge called a meeting of the floor leaders in both Houses. It was decided that floor leaders of all Opposition parties will meet on Thursday morning to chalk out strategy ahead. “How can the PM speak when the LOP was not allowed to speak? What was the PM going to reply to?” said Congress MP Jairam Ramesh. Though Speaker Om Birla convened a meeting of the Opposition leaders at 4 pm ahead of the PM’s scheduled speech, it failed to break the logjam. The Opposition put forward two demands — the suspension of BJP’s Nishikant Dubey and to allow Rahul to speak in the House. The meeting was attended by Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi and K C Venugopal among others. The leaders conveyed to the Speaker that if the government does not yield, the Opposition will disrupt the PM’s speech. Earlier, a row erupted when Dubey began his speech by referring to books such as Edwina and Nehru and Mitrokhin Archive among others and made remarks targeting former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Modi gave the message (to the then Army Chief MM Naravane), do what you think is right (on LAC). Meaning he shed responsibility Rahul Gandhi, LS Leader of Opposition Fire-fighting by Speaker Speaker Om Birla convened a meeting of the Opposition at 4 pm ahead of the PM’s scheduled speech, but it failed to break the logjam Rule 349 As Dubey kept listing books about the Gandhi family, the chair disallowed it citing Rule 349, which bars reading from any book except in connection with the business of the House In a calculated attempt to finetune caste and community equations ahead of the assembly elections, the Congress has joined hands with the Sivagiri Mutt to organise an event marking the centenary of the historic meeting between Sree Narayana Guru and Mahatma Gandhi. Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will inaugurate the event, tentatively scheduled for February 18, at Ashramam Maidan in Kollam. With the BJP and the CPM aggressively flagging what they describe as the Muslim League’s dominance within the UDF, the Congress feels it important to convince Hindu Rahul’s ‘traitor’ jibe at Bittu sparks political firestorm P R E E THA NAI R @ New Delhi A sharp war of words between Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu snowballed into a political storm on Wednesday with the BJP urging Lok Sabha Speaker to take action against Rahul. The face-off took place outside Parliament’s Makar Dwar, where Rahul was standing with the suspended opposition MPs, who were protesting on the stairs. While walking past the protesting MPs, Bittu said, “They are sitting here as if they have won a war.” Responding to the comment, Rahul said, “The thing is, here is a traitor walking right by Take a look at the face. How he looks.” Ra. hul then extended his hand towards Bittu and said, “Hello brother, my traitor friend. Don’t worry you will come back to the Congress.” , Bittu refused to shake hands, saying: “Desh ke dushman (enemies of the country),” pointing at Rahul. A former close aide of Gandhi, Bittu had switched to the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Later in a video statement, Bittu asked why Rahul didn’t say such a thing to other MPs, but only to a Sikh? “I am the grandson of a martyr and as long as I was in the Congress, it was fine. But, now that I am with the BJP he is giv, P8 ing me such names,” he said.  Lens on Korean online games as 3 minor sisters die by suicide in UP Kerala all set to raise a toast to jackfruit wine N i t i n R a w at & N a m i ta B a j pa i @ Ghaziabad/Lucknow S h a n A S @ T’Puram In a shocking incident, three sisters, aged 12, 14 and 16, allegedly addicted to a Korean taskbased online game— Love Game— died by suicide in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, on Wednesday All three jumped from a balcony of their . ninth-floor apartment around 2 am. The trio lived with their father Chetan Kumar, a forex trader. While the eldest was born to Kumar’s first wife, the younger two were born to his second wife, who also lived with the family At the time of the incident, Kumar and . his wife were sleeping with their son. “Papa, sorry We cannot leave Korea. Korea . is our life, Korea is our soul, and you cannot separate us from it,” their suicide note read. Police said the three were addicted to the Korean game and had not been attending school. “Because of this, when their family members restricted their mobile usage, they took the extreme step,” a police officer said. (If you are having suicidal thoughts, remember help is available. Call Disha Helpline at 1056 or Maithri at 0484-2540530) Who would have thought that jackfruit, the mushy tropical fruit widely grown in Kerala and often overlooked in the countryside, could end up in the cellaret, neatly bottled as wine, for oenophiles to savour! Thomas P O, an expert winemaker from Kottarakkara, has done just that. An internationally licensed blending man who perfected wine-making while working in Vatican City, Thomas foresaw the potential of preparing wine from jackfruits. And his effort is about to bear fruit as the Bevco outlets will receive the first batch of jackfruit wine for sale from him by April. After returning to Kerala from Europe, Thomas started making non-alcoholic wine in 2019, which did not require a licence from the excise department. Later, when the state government pitched the idea of promoting ‘horti-wine’ from local fruit varieties, Thomas applied for a licence. The government move was meant to provide additional income to farmers and help them reduce agri waste. In 2024, Thomas became the first person to obtain a licence to brew horti-wine. Though a few others — less than half a dozen — also procured the licence, they are yet to venture into the business fully . Pineapple and grape wines made by Thomas have already hit the Bevco stands, and he expects the jackfruit one to be equally successful.  ● More on P4 voters that the perception is misplaced. The Kollam event is being viewed as a step in that direction. Relieved by NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair’s decision to pull the plug on Nair - Ezhava unity proposed by SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan, the Congress has stepped up efforts to woo both communities. Despite being the largest Hindu community in Kerala, accounting for 24% of the state’s population, Ezhava representation within the Congress has steadily declined. Currently, the party has just one MLA from the community Attingal . MP and UDF convenor Adoor Prakash has taken the lead in addressing apprehensions ● More on P4 among Ezhavas. State to bear half of Sabari rail project cost E x pre s s Ne w s Serv i c e @T’Puram In a major decision to accelerate the long-stalled Sabari rail project, the state government has decided to bear half of its cost. The state cabinet on Wednesday sanctioned `1,900 crore for the Angamaly-Erumeli railway project, making Kerala the first state to bear such a significant share of a railway project’s cost. The funding will be routed through the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). The Sabari rail project — first announced in the 1997-98 Railway Budget — has remained in limbo for over 25 years due to funding disputes and land acquisition hurdles. The total project cost has now escalated to `3,800.90 crore, from `2,815 crore in 2021. The 110-km railway line is considered a lifeline for the eastern hill regions, spanning Er nakulam, Idukki, and Pathanamthitta districts. It will connect the pilgrimage hub of Erumeli with major towns, including Perumbavoor, Muvattupuzha, Thodupuzha, and Pala. 16 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express