bhubaneswar l saturday l march 07, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l jeypore EDITION Red or black to change of hotel, it’s all happening in ahmedabad India, who lost the last match against South Africa & 2023 ODI World Cup final to Aussies, are not taking any chances for T20 World Cup final PIC: DEBADATTA MALLICK divine intervention and focus on soil Two days before India took on England in semis in Mumbai, the team deferred its training session by an hour due to Lunar Eclipse. Now, the team has changed the hotel in Ahmedabad ahead of the final. The team had stayed in a different hotel previously. The Motera strip is made of three soils — red, black and a mixture. India might not go for black this time ■ 1,00,000 rickey martin in the house for final ■ Puerto Rican Grammy award-winning singer Ricky Martin will be the star performer before T20 WC final on Sunday. Falguni Pathak and Bollywood playback singer Sukhwinder Singh too will be part of it With airfares soaring, Western and Central Railways to operate several special trains to facilitate travel to Ahmedabad | P11 The number of spectators expected at the stadium 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 Presenting Partner Silver Partner Luxury Mobility Partner March 7 2026 6 pm Raajkutir, Kolkata - IHCL SeleQtions Associate Partners Hospitality Partner Celebration Partner Prosenjit Chatterjee, Actor, Padmashri Awardee will be presenting the awards Turkmenistan Caspian Sea Rapper-politico Balen on Nepal landslide course Voters across the nation align with spirit of Gen Z revolution, chuck all major parties J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Top choice in Gen Z protest Balendra was a popular choice to lead the interim government after Gen Z youths toppled the Oli-led coalition government in September last year. But Balen declined, saying he would rather contest the parliamentary elections for a full term. Both Congress and BJD failed to serve interests of people: Shah b i j o y p r a d h a n @ Bhubaneswar Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday launched a sharp attack on the Opposition Biju Janata Dal and Congress, accusing both parties of failing to serve the interests of the people. Addressing a gathering at a programme where development projects worth `3,275 crore were launched here, Shah said the previous BJD government led by Naveen Patnaik treated the people’s mandate as a compulsion rather than a blessing. Despite ruling the state for over two decades, he said, the BJD government stalled Odisha’s development and did nothing to strengthen the cooperative movement and dairy sector. “A mandate is the blessing of the people. The BJP won 20 Lok Sabha seats and formed government in the state for the first time with their blessings. The double-engine government has RA K ESH K UMAR @ New Delhi Israel sovereignty to a foreign power. with the Iran-Israel/US war starting to impact crude supply and setting prices on fire, the US on Friday said it would issue a 30-day waiver for Indian refiners to buy Russian oil stranded at sea. The Strait of Hormuz, the crucial chokepoint through which 20% of global oil and gas shipments pass through, is currently under threat due to the war. Announcing the decision, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the temporary waiver is to ensure oil continues to flow into global markets. The announcement, however, kicked of a political storm in India with the opposition parties questioning how the US can decide where India should buy from, accusing the Narendra Modi-led government of “surrendering” the country’s Government sources, meanwhile, clarified that India had not stopped buying Russian oil despite US overtures. In February, Russia was India’s largest crude oil supplier. Sources said despite the US waiver, Indian refiners are seeking a legal opinion on purchasing the Russian oil stranded at sea, which may include shipments from sanctioned entities and vessels. “So far refiners have bought only non-sanctioned oil,” said a petroleum ministry official, adding that oil companies want to avoid complications including payment problems if they buy sanctioned oil. Since the Russia-Ukraine war started, New Delhi has increased purchases from Russia from 0.2% of total oil imports in December 2021 to around 40% now. S ea India, through MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We look forward to working with the new Government of Nepal to build on the robust ties between our two countries and peoples for mutual benefit.” For India to buy stranded Russian oil Twenty attempts of his launching by the Congress has failed and if he continues to do such mistakes, he will prove a failure even in the 100th attempt Amit Shah, Union Home Minister fulfilled all promises made before the election within a short period of time,” he said. Mounting a scathing attack the Congress, Shah said the party is pushing the country’s politics in a negative direction. Referring to the incident during the AI Summit in Delhi, he said the Congress leaders’ pro- test by removing their shirts embarrassed the country on the global stage. Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Union Home Minister said, “Twenty attempts of his launching by the Congress has failed and if he continues to do such mistakes (to defame the country), he will prove a failure even in the 100th attempt.” During his visit to the state, Shah laid the foundation stone for the permanent campus of National Forensic Sciences University and inaugurated its temporary campus in Bhubaneswar. CONTINUED ON P5 E x p r e s s N e w s SE r v i c e @ New Delhi THE Centre on Friday invoked its rarely used emergency powers to direct all oil refiners operating in India to ramp up LPG production in view of supply disruptions due to the ongoing war in West Asia. As much as 85% of India’s LPG imports pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which is now effectively closed. To ensure seamless supply of cooking gas, the government issued an order under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (ESMA) asking refiners to maximise LPG Sattwik and Amrit crack UPSC, top list in Odisha Nearly a dozen of students from Odisha reaped success in the Civil Services Examination -2025 results of which was released by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Friday . Among the 953 qualified candidates, Sattwik Satyakam Devta from Bhubaneswar secured 100 rank, while Amrit Mahapatra from Puri grabbed the 121 rank in the prestigious exam. Sattwik is the son of re t i re d I A S G o sw a m i Golam Debata. The 29-yearold who is currently employed with Nabard in the state capital, said, he cracked the exam in his sixth attempt. “I am beyond happy and excited. Given how competitive this exam is, the journey was really tough. However, it was strong willpower that kept me going through my sixth attempt to finally achieve this result,” CONTINUED ON P5 Sattwik told TNIE. Political messaging Social inclusion triumphed party heft in Cong RS ticket to Tilak Preetha Nair & Rajesh A b r a h a m @ New Delhi The Congress announcement of M Christopher Tilak as its Rajya Sabha candidate from Tamil Nadu sparked quiet discussions within party circles, with sources indicating that the decision followed intense internal consultations amid differing views among the top leadership. Sources said Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and former party president Sonia Gandhi had favoured the M Christopher Tilak | P JawahaR candidature of Dr A Chellakumar, a former MP from Tamil Nadu who has held several organisa- Status of major Gulf energy sites Basra Mina AI Ahmadi Kuwait Kharg Island AI Zour IRAN Juaymah Strait of Hormuz Ras Tanura Iranian warship docked in Kochi New Delhi: Days before the US sank Iranian frigate IRIS Dena, Iran had approached India seeking urgent docking permission for IRIS LAVAN with 183 crew members, in Kochi. Sources said request was made on Feb 28 and permission given on March 1. The ship remains docked in Kochi since March 4 Oil facilities Ras Laffan qatar Gas facilities Ruwais Jebel Ali Fujairah Gulf of Oman UAE Oman Saudi Arabia Duqm Arab Se Recently damaged Shut down Yemen Govt invokes ESMA, asks OMCs to raise LPG output S u d a r s a n M a h a r a n a @ Bhubaneswar Union Home Minister Amit Shah launching projects in Bhubaneswar on Friday | Shamim Qureshy Iraq ed eR India bullish on new govt Syria Th Balendra Shah RAPPER-turned-politician Balendra Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra Party is on course for a historic landslide in Nepal’s first post-Gen Z protest general elections, toppling decades of dominance by the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML (Communist Pa r t y o f N e p a l ( U n i f i e d Marxist–Leninist). Shah, 35, a former mayor of Kathmandu, joined the threeyear-old RSP in January as its prime ministerial candidate. Early counting trends from the Election Commission, covering 144 of 165 constituencies, show the RSP has already won three seats and is leading in 104 others. By contrast, the Nepali Congress has secured two seats and leads in 12, while the CPN-UML leads in 10 constituencies. In its manifesto, Shah’s RSP promised to bold economic and social reforms, pledging to create 1.2 million jobs, curb forced migration, and double Nepal’s per capita income from $1,447 to $3,000 within five years. The party also vowed to expand the national GDP to $100 billion and provide universal healthcare insurance. Voter turnout reached approximately 60%, reflecting strong engagement in a politically fragile nation that has seen 14 governments in 18 years. The RSP’s dominance is evident in Kathmandu, where it leads in all 10 constituencies. Shah was leading in Jhapa-5 against fourtime prime minister Oli, securing 6,551 votes to Oli’s 1,428. Other RSP victories include Ranju Darshana in Kathmandu-1 with 15,455 votes. Analysts caution that much of Shah’s success will depend on the team he surrounds himself with to tackle a corruptionprone bureaucracy and aspiration of youth who voted for change. Shah, popularly known as ‘Balen’, owes part of his appeal to a strong social media presence, boasting over 3.5 million followers, which allows him to engage directly with younger voters who spearheaded the anti-corruption, pro-reform protests last year.  30-day u.s. ‘waiver’ Turkey tional responsibilities in the party . However, the proposal did not find wider acceptance during the final round of discussions, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and a section of the leadership backing the idea of fielding a Dalit representative. The leadership eventually settled on Tilak. Senior leaders, including Kharge, Sonia and Rahul, were closely involved in consultations on both seat sharing with the DMK and the selection of the Rajya Sabha nominee. According to sources, Rahul and Sonia argued that the nomination should reflect organisational experience and merit, pointing to Chellakumar’s long association with the party and his earlier tenure as a Lok Sabha member from Tamil Nadu. However, another view emerged, with some leaders emphasising the importance of social representation. Kharge and a section of the leadership are learnt to have felt that nominating a Dalit would align with the party’s broader political messaging on social inclusion. production and supply it only Gulf of Aden to the three state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) — Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation. The order further stated that refiners must use all available propane and butane to produce LPG and should not use the two chemicals to make petrochemical products or other downstream derivatives. “All Public sector OMCs shall ensure that LPG so procured is supplied/marketed solely to consumers of domestic LPG only the order read. ,” E x pr e s s R e a d Bid to create red corridor will be defeated: Shah Bhubaneswar: Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Friday asserted that India will become free of Maoist violence by March 31, declaring that security forces will defeat attempts to create a ‘red corridor from Tirupati to Pashupati’. Shah was speaking at the 57th Raising Day celebrations of the CISF at the Kharavela Regional Training Centre in Mundali near Cuttack | P3