The New Indian Express Wishes its readers a Kailash Vijayvargiya NADDA REVAMPS HIS TEAM, NAMES STATE IN-CHARGES While dropped general secretary Muralidhar Rao has been accommodated, Ram Madhav does not figure in the line-up Radha Mohan Singh CT Ravi HYDERABAD  SATURDAY  NOVEMBER 14, 2020  `7.00  PAGES 18  LATE CITY EDITION Bhupendra Yadav Purandeshwari Arun Singh Sambit Patra Baijayant Panda V Muraleedharan KAILASH VIJAYVARGIYA RETAINS WEST BENGAL RADHA MOHAN SINGH FOR UTTAR PRADESH Rao has got charge of Madhya Pradesh and Kailash Vijayvargiya retains his position in West Bengal. Among the new faces are V Muraleedharan as in charge for Andhra Pradesh; Baijayant Panda for Assam and Delhi; C T Ravi for Maharashtra, TN and Goa; Arun Singh for Karnataka and Rajasthan; C P Radhakrishnan for Kerala; Tarun Chugh for Telangana, J&K and Ladakh ■ Among the weighty states, former Union minister Radha Mohan Singh has got charge of Uttar Pradesh; Bhupendra Yadav Bihar and Gujarat; D Purandeshwari Odisha and Chhattisgarh, while Sambit Patra will handle Manipur. Pankaja Munde is one of the saha prabharis (deputy in-charge) of Madhya Pradesh Our offices and press will remain closed today and there will be no issue of the paper on Sunday 63 LEADERS ARE PART OF THE NEW LEADERSHIP TEAM AFTER SHAKE-UP CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Jawans among 11 killed in fierce shelling on LoC Ordinance to amend Revenue Act approved EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad Indian troops retaliate, kill 8 Pak soldiers, destroy bunkers and ammunition dumps THE FLARE-UP F AYA Z W A N I @ Srinagar AHEAD of the onset of winter and forecast of two-day snowfall in the upper reaches of Jammu & Kashmir, the Line of Control witnessed heavy shelling on Friday as Pak troops violated the ceasefire agreement in multiple sectors, killing five Indian soldiers and 6 civilians and injuring a few others. Eight Pakistani soldiers were reportedly killed in retaliatory firing by Indian forces. The Army later released videos showing immense damage to Pakistani infrastructure along the LoC including bunkers, ammunition dumps and terrorists’ launch pads. Baramulla Deputy Commissioner Ghulam Nabi Itoo told TNIE that Pakistani troops breached ceasefire in the Uri sector in the afternoon and targeted army positions and civilian areas. They resorted to heavy firing and mortar shelling in different sectors of Uri including Kamalkote, Charanda, Sultan Daki, Balakote, etc. Some of the shells landed in civilian areas, causing casualties and damage to property . “This was the worst shelling in the Uri sector in the last five to six years,” the DC said. Pak troops resorted to intense shelling on Friday morning after Indian soldiers foiled an infiltration attempt of militants in the Keran sector. This was the second infiltra- +VE NEWS FOR TS No rise in Covid cases during festive season D O N I TA J O S E @ Hyderabad IN a record low, Telangana witnessed only 997 cases of Covid-19 on Thursday despite 42,163 tests conducted. With this, health officials have deduced that there has been no adverse spread of the disease even though Bathukamma and Dasara were recently celebrated. In fact, a spike in cases has not been observed in the last 18 days. “It is by appropriate behaviour that we could tide over mass social gatherings during the two festivals. But caution has to be maintained in the remainder of the festive season as more gatherings are likely,” Director of Public Health Dr G Srinivas Reddy said. CONTINUED ON P7 Gurez PAKISTAN OCCUPIED KASHMIR LIGHTING HOPE Keran Sultan Daki Uri Balkote Haji Peer SRINAGAR LoC J&K tion attempt by militants at the LoC within a week. On Sunday , three army men were killed in action in the Machil sector. Friday’s intense artillery firing caused panic among border residents and many fled to safer places to escape shells. Apart from the Uri sector, Pakistan troops breached border ceasefire in Dawar, Keran, and Naugam sectors, too. Defence spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said Pakistani troops used mortars and other weapons and deliberately targeted civilian areas. “Our troops also gave a befitting response. We caused substantial damage to Pakistan Army’s infrastructure and inflicted heavy casualties on them,” Colonel Kalia said. An army official said Pakistan is attempting to push as many as militants into J&K before closure of infiltration passes by snowfall in the winter to foment trouble in the P9 militancy-hit region. Devotees light earthen lamps on the banks of the Saryu river during Deepotsav on the eve of Diwali, in Ayodhya on Friday | PTI A RAJASHEKAR RAO & R I D H I M A G U P TA @ Hyderabad THE gloom on Friday morning over not being able to celebrate Diwali by bursting firecrackers gave way to excitement, though a little muted, by afternoon when the Supreme Court stepped in. The Apex Court modified the ban orders issued by the State government on the direction of the Telangana High Court on Thursday When the State gov. ernment had issued the ban orders, traders cried foul and the people expressed their frustration. But the Supreme Court, later in the afternoon, allowed the implementation of the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) orders issued on November 9, which allow the use of EXPRESS READ Support govt by endorsing welfare schemes: KTR’s appeal to people Hyderabad: Ahead of the forthcoming election to Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao has appealed to the people to encourage and support the government by endorsing its welfare schemes and development works. “When the time arises, they should reciprocate positively with their giving blessings to the government,” he said on Friday | P5 BUZZ ON BJP NAMING DALIT LEADER AS DY CM the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya on November 9, AMID buzz that the BJP may 1989 — as part of the Sangh opt for veteran Dalit leader Parivar’s social engineering. Kameshwar Chaupal as the He coined the slogan ‘Ram with new deputy chief minister in- Roti’, melding faith with stead of incumbent Sushil Ku- livelihood. mar Modi, the Bihar NDA held However, Chief Minister Nitits first meeting after ish Kumar may not be the elections on comfortable with a Friday . new deputy. “Sushil T he speculation Modi may not have a strengthened after wide vote bank but he hundreds of supportis well experienced in ers of Chaupal raised running ministries slogans demanding like finance,” some his elevation as depu- Kameshwar Chaupal NDA leaders opined. ty CM, upon his arAs for Sushil Modi, rival at the Patna airport. the speculation is he could be Chaupal is one of the 15 mem- sent to the Rajya Sabha on the bers of a trust set up on the di- seat that fell vacant after the derections of the Supreme Court mise of LJP founder Ram Vilas to construct a Ram temple at Paswan. Propping up Chaupal Ayodhya. He was also accorded could also help the BJP build a the rare honour of performing Dalit vote bank to occupy the the first Shilanyas — laying the space vacated by LJP chief first brick in the foundation for Chirag Paswan. R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ Patna NDA meeting on Sunday Kameshwar Chaupal said he had no official word on any new assignment within the government or the party. Later in the day, Nitish, who may not be comfortable with a new deputy, submitted his resignation. An NDA meeting on Sunday will take the process of govt formation forward Poet, 2 others up for nomination to Council @ Hyderabad THE Telangana State Cabinet, which met at Pragathi Bhavan here on Friday has cleared the , names of poet-singer Gorati Venkanna, former Minister B Saraiah and B Dayanand for nominating them to the Legislative Council under the Governor’s quota. It has sent the names to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan for approval. Contrary to expectations, the Cabinet did not renominate Karne Prabhakar, whose tenure ended on August 17, to the Council. The TRS government has not considered the relative of former Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy, whose ter m completed on June 19, either. Nayani passed away recently and it was expected that his son-inlaw would be nominated to the Council. Additionally, though there was talk in political circles that CONTINUED ON P4 SC restores Diwali glitter in State, allows green crackers HANDPICKED EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE AN ordinance will be issued amending the existing Revenue Act for regularising Sada Bainamas (agreements on plain paper) and uploading details of non-agricultural properties on the Dharani portal. The Telangana Cabinet, which met at Pragathi Bhavan on Friday , reportedly decided to make amendments to the Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act, 2020, which came into existence on October 29. Though the State government has decided to regularise Sada Bainamas, the High Court recently objected, asking how it would do it as per the old Revenue Act. There are no provisions to regularise Sada Bainamas in the amended Act. The HC had also pointed out that the existing Act allows to only upload details of agricultural land on Dharani. There is no law to support the government’s action to upload details of non-agricultural land, it had observed. In this backdrop, the Cabinet reportedly decided to make amendments to the TS Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act. former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao’s daughter Vani Devi would be nominated, the Cabinet did not consider her either. It was expected that the Chief Minister’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Desapathi Srinivas Rao, may be sent to the Council but this too did not happen. The third vacancy was created as S Ramulu Naik demitted the office on March 2. CONTINUED ON P7 Karne left out The Cabinet did not renominate Karne Prabhakar, whose tenure ended in Aug, to the Council. Meanwhile, it has sent the names to the Governor for approval green crackers in cities where pollution levels are not alarming. As Hyderabad falls in the category of ‘moderate’ air quality the sale and use , of green crackers began by evening as people queued up to make last-minute purchases. Though the orders were for green crackers, many traders did not have enough stock and the people, too, did not know much about these products. This resulted in merchants in some areas allegedly selling conventional crackers on the sly . The SC bench, while issuing the interim direction, said: “All concerned in the State of Telangana must comply with the Tribunal’s directions in its letter and spirit. We are conscious of the fact that the respondents are not represented today nor they have been served but in the peculiar situation and urgency involved, the impugned order stands modified to bring in line with the NGT directions issued on November 9, 2020.” On Thursday the High Court, , hearing a PIL filed by advocate P Indra Prakash, directed the government to immediately ban the sale and use of fireworks during Diwali in view of CONTINUED ON P3 Covid.