KOCHI l monday l September 26, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l LATE city EDITION Chandigarh airport to be named after Bhagat singh Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced the decision in his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio broadcast A tribute to the freedom fighter: Modi ■ Sept 28 end to years-long dispute over name The prime minister called it a “tribute to the great freedom fighter”. Naming the airport after Bhagat Singh has been a long-pending demand of the Punjabis. “Finally our efforts paid off. On behalf of entire Punjab, we welcome the decision of naming the Chandigarh airport after Shaheed Bhagat Singh ji,” Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann tweeted ■ Modi’s announcement follows years of controversy over naming the international airport, which serves both Punjab and Haryana While Punjab mooted Bhagat Singh’s name, Haryana had wanted to honour late RSS ideologue Mangal Sein. It was only last month that they agreed to name the airport after Bhagat Singh Bhagat Singh’s 115th birth anniversary 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 Gehlot loyalists revolt against high command Refuse to pass resolution paving way for Sachin Pilot as successor Congress MLAs loyal to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot taking a bus to go to Assembly Speaker C P Joshi’s residence, in Jaipur on Sunday | PTI Ra j e s h A s nan i @ Jaipur The Rajasthan Congress on Sunday night witnessed a fullblown rebellion against the high command, with the faction loyal to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot refusing to accept the decision to anoint Sachin Pilot as the successor. The unwilling Gehlot has been directed to step down as he is the Gandhi family’s choice for the party’s national presidentship, nominations for which began on Friday . Instead of attending an Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting called at 7.30 pm at Gehlot’s residence to decide on the change of guard, they trooped to the house of Assembly Speaker C P Joshi to ‘tender their resignation’. The high command had deputed AICC observers Ajay Maken and Mallikarjun Kharge to oversee the meeting. “102 MLAs are with us. Will they listen to us or the other 10-15 MLAs?” Gehlot loyalist and minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas asked. While Gehlot lobbied for C P Joshi as his successor, both Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gahdhi-Vadra insisted on picking Pilot instead. To facilitate the decision, the CLP meeting was expected to issue a one-line resolution authorising the party president to name its new leader. But Khachariyawas said, “Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi should understand the sentiments of MLAs. The proposed resolution is not accepted to them. When the government was in crisis, everyone supported it. But now MLAs are not being heard. That’s why they are angry .” Minister Mahendrajit Singh Malviya said, “Gehlot should remain CM.” Independent MLA Sanyam Lodha said the new CM should be one from 102 MLAs who stayed in hotels for 38 days to save the Congress government two years ago. Alluding to Pilot, he said, those who tried to topple the Congress gover nment and parked themselves in a Manesar resort during their rebellion cannot be accepted as CM. The Congress has 108 members in the 200-member Assembly It also has the support of 13 . Independents. Late in the night, Khachariyawas and a few others met both Kharge and Maken to convey their sentiments. Later, Maken said he and Kharge will meet every MLA individually to ascertain their views. Cong’s master tactician, seasoned trade union leader bids adieu at 87 Lower airfare to B’luru drives flyers to Kochi E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e Aneesh S, a Thiruvananthapuram native working in Bengaluru, has stopped taking flights from his hometown. Instead, the techie travels all the way to Kochi by train and boards a flight to Bengaluru from here. Reason: This costs him at least `1,000 to `5,000 less. “There is a huge difference in airfare to Bengaluru from the two airports. The trip from Kochi costs `2,000 to `3,000, while from Thiruvananthapuram, it costs between `4,000 and `8,000,” said Aneesh, 27. “For my last few trips, I have been going to Kochi, which is just four to five hours by train, and then flying to Bengaluru from there,” he said. Aviation experts attribute this difference in fare and the lower rates purely to competition between airlines. “Right now, it’s just business tactics by the airlines. IndiGo, which operates more flights than others, holds 60% of the market share and Air India is competing with it,” said Biji Eappen, national president of IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) and chief coordinator of Air Passenger Rights ● More on P5 Forum.  @ Malappuram Veteran Congress leader and former minister Aryadan Muhammed passed away on Sunday. He was 87. He was under treatment for age-related illness at a hospital in Kozhikode. His body was kept for the public to pay homage at his residence in Nilambur and at the District Congress Committee (DCC) office in Malappuram. Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi and state Congress chief K Sudhakaran were among the leaders who paid their last respect at his residence. The burial will be held at Mukatta Valiya Juma Masjid at 9am on Monday . A three-time minister and eight-time MLA, Aryadan was a master strategist and was instrumental in A K Antony and Oommen Chandy emerging as top leaders capable of challenging the mighty K Karunakaran in the Congress factional feud. His deep knowledge in legal and economic affairs helped him stand out from other political leaders of his generation. Aryadan was born to Unneen and Kadiyamunni in Nilambur on May 15, 1935. He chose a path different from most of his family members who showed allegiance to Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). He completed education from the Govern- Aryadan Muhammed 19352022 ment Manadevan High School, Nilambur, where he was the captain of the football team. The political leader in him matured through trade unionism. He worked for the rights of plantation workers in Nilambur. “He is one of the senior trade union leaders from Malappuram. He earned lots of life experiences and knowledge in economics through trade union works,” said V Mohammed, a senior Congress leader in Malappuram. In 1959, he became the president of the Wandoor Farka Congress committee. In 1960, he was elected secretary of the Kozhikode DCC. He became a member of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee in 1962. He was elected the Congress’ Malappuram district president when the new district was ● More on P4 formed in 1969.  A IS H W A R YA PR A B H A K A R A N @Kochi Cops up pressure on PFI with raids, arrests E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Kochi/T’Puram The crackdown on Popular Front of India (PFI) continued on Sunday with the police searching shops and establishments allegedly linked to the front in Kannur, besides arresting eight PFI workers from Kochi and Kozhikode in connection with the widespread violence unleashed during the hartal on September 23. The arrest of 274 detainees was also recorded on the day, taking the number of nabbed PFI workers to 1,295. So far, 308 cases have been registered in connection with the violence. Data provided by the Police Headquarters said 834 people have been taken into preventive custody across the state. The crackdown continued a day after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who had come under criticism from Opposition parties over the “police’s failure” in preventing the violence, had termed the disturbances as “unprecedented and Rohatgi declines Centre’s offer to make him AG E x p r e ss N e ws Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Opposition leaders O P Chautala, Sharad Pawar, Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav, Sitaram Yechury and Sukhbir Singh Badal being garlanded at a rally to mark the birth anniversary of former deputy PM Devi Lal in Fatehabad on Sunday | PTI Forge main front, says Bihar CM as Oppn leaders come together date. There is also no question of a third front. There should be one front, including the Prominent Opposition Congress and the Left,” he leaders on Sunday gave a fresh said, adding that they had unity call ahead of the 2024 even requested the Congress general election at a to participate in the Trinamool, massive rally organrally . TRS, DMK ised by the INLD in Not just the Conno-show H a r ya n a ’s Fat e gress, major parties habad to commemolike Telangana Rash“Since West rate the birth anni- Bengal and Tamil tra Samithi and Triversary of the namool Cong ress Nadu CMs party’s founder Devi Mamata Banerjee gave the rally a miss. Lal. However, NCP patriand M K Stalin Bihar Chief Minarch Sharad Pawar, skipped it, ister Nitish Kumar RJD leader Tejashwi Telangana CM K urged the OpposiYadav, CPI (M)’s SitaChandrashekar tion to build a ‘main Rao felt it wasn’t ram Yechury and front’ of all parties, important enough SAD boss Sukhbir including the Con- to participate,” a Singh Badal particigress, to defeat the party source said p a t e d . P a w a r, ruling BJP while Yechury and Badal ruling out a third front. echoed Nitish saying the need He also stayed in denial on of the hour is for everyone to entering the prime ministeri- come together to dislodge the al race. “I am not a PM candi- BJP . E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi He used to roam around the tribal hamlet on Wayanad’s hillocks deep inside the forest. Born into a community with the highest school dropout rate in Kerala, cultural differences posed hurdles in his pursuit of knowledge. But K P Prasanth, a Kuruma youth, had the fire within to chase his dream. He is among the 250 students who have secured the SC/ST Year SC students ST students 2021-22 126 11 2022-23 110 04 L25 lakh Scholarship amount development department’s scholarship in the past 18 months to pursue foreign education. New Delhi: Hours after he gave a call to build a strong Opposition front that included the Congress, to take on BJP, Bihar CM and JD(U) head Nitish Kumar held talks with Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi here on Sunday. RJD patriarch Lalu Yadav accompanied him. “We have to bring all Opposition parties together to defeat BJP. Congress is in the process of electing its new president and Sonia Gandhi told us that we will meet after the election,” Nitish later said. He said there was broad agreement on Opposition unity but a concrete plan can be formulated only after the Congress polls. Lalu said, “Without the Congress, there would be no alliance. All of us have to come together to remove BJP from the country.” SA team arrives in T’Puram T’Puram: The South African cricket team, led by skipper Temba Bavuma, arrived in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday to face India in the first of the three-match T20I series at the Sports Hub, Greenfield Stadium on Wednesday. Around 73% of tickets for the match have already been sold, said Kerala Cricket Association | P5 India beat Aus, clinch series 2-1 Hyderabad: India beat Australia by six wickets in the third and final T20I to clinch the series 2-1 on Sunday. Australia put 186 for 7 after being invited to bat. India chased down the target with one ball to spare, riding on Suryakumar Yadav’s 69 off 36 balls and Virat Kohli’s 63 off 48 balls | P11 “We’ve implemented several schemes in the past 50 years for the uplift of SC/ST students. They can compete with other communities only through good education and jobs,” SC/ST Welfare Minister K Radhakrishnan told TNIE. “Only 62 students had availed the foreign education scheme until 2021. However, in the past 18 months, we pro- K P Prasanth Wait for Cong polls to take unity talks forward, Sonia tells Nitish, Lalu Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who was expected to make a comeback as the Attorney General of India on October 1, on Sunday declined the Centre’s offer of the post. It was unclear why he turned it down. With incumbent Attorney General K K Venugopal’s term ending on September 30, the Centre, earlier this month offered the post to Rohatgi. Had he accepted the offer, it would have been his second stint as the attorney general. Soon after the Narendra Modi-led Central government came to power in 2014, he was appointed as India’s 14th attorney general. After Rohatgi’s three-year term ended in 2017, Venugopal succeeded him. Venugopal’s first term ended in 2020, after which he was twice given extensions. He had refused to accept further extension, citing “personal reasons”. While turning down the offer, Rohatgi, said that he was grateful that the Centre offered to appoint him as the country’s top law officer. Rohatgi has appeared in several high profile cases in the apex court as well as high courts across the country . E X PR E SS R E A D Foreign edu scheme gives wings to tribal students SCHOLARSHIP premeditated.” The police raided five shops in Kannur town, three in Valapatanam and two in Mattannur as well as establishments of people allegedly no 2nd stint major push M an o j V i s w anathan @Kochi Police raiding a PFI office in Kannur linked with PFI and seized laptops and pendrives. CCTV footage from the shops was also seized. No arrests were made in connection with the raids. “We will inspect the laptops and CCTV visuals and proceed based on the evidence,” said Kannur district police commissioner R Ilango. The eight arrested PFI workers include three from Kochi who pelted stones and damaged a KSRTC bus near Perumbavoor timber m a rke t a n d f ive f ro m ● More on P4 Kozhikode.  vided `25 lakh each to 250 students, 15 of whom hail from ST,” he said. A BCom graduate from St Jo s e p h ’s C o l l e g e D eva g i r i , Kozhikode, Prasanth had applied for MBA at Anglia Ruskin University in England and was planning to apply for educational loan when he learnt about the scholarship. “The department was very supportive and processed my application in 10 days,” he said. ● More on P5 IIT JEE + CBSE + NEET Class 11 & 12 BUY ANY 3 Recorded Video Courses for IIT JEE & NEET GET 5000 worth Test Series FREE Scan the QR code to get the OFFER 9600100090 / 9600100020