vijayawada l wednesday l september 28, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION Nasa’s dramatic smash hit of spacecraft into asteroid The collision was intentional and designed to test whether space rocks that could threaten Earth can be intercepted Impact expected to alter rock’s orbit Scientists to keep tracking dimorphos The US space agency’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) probe smashed into the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, a small body 160 metres in diameter. DART’s camera returned images right up to the moment of impact. Researchers expect the impact to shorten Dimorphos’ orbit by about 1%. Dimorphos orbits a larger 780-metre asteroid called Didymos ■ ■ However, it will take some weeks before scientists on the Nasa mission know for sure whether their experiment has worked Post impact, which happened 11 million km away from Earth, the team will observe Dimorphos using ground-based telescopes to confirm its orbit around Didymos has indeed been altered 22,000 km/hr The speed at which NASA’s spacecraft crashed into asteroid Dimorphos 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 Cong carrot and stick to resolve Raj revolt S h a h i d F a r i d i @ New Delhi farewell, friend Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays respects to former Japanese premier Shinzo Abe during the state funeral, at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday Abe, 67, was assassinated by a gunman on July 8. Modi also had a private meeting with Akie Abe, the widow Abe, at the Akasaka Palace Earlier in the day, Modi had a fruitful meeting with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida, where they discussed various bilateral issues Representatives from over 100 countries, including heads of state and governments, attended the funeral The Congress leadership on Tuesday tried a carrot and stick approach to deal with Ashok Gehlot’s refusal to hand over Rajasthan chief ministership to his detractor and former deputy Sachin Pilot. While on the one hand senior party leaders engaged the chief minister and continued efforts to persuade him to resign and enter the race for the party president’s post, on the other, the ground is being prepared for taking disciplinary action against Gehlot’s closest ministers Shanti Dhariwal and Mahesh Joshi, who spearheaded the rebellion against signing a resolution authorising interim Congress president Sonia Gan- dhi to appoint a new chief minister after Gehlot’s nomination as a presidential candidate. Sources said senior leaders, including Ambika Soni, are still trying to convince Gehlot to take up party presidency after relinquishing the chief minister’s post. He has been told that the party leadership is ready to put the ugly episodes of Jaipur behind and get on with the organisational elections. Party leaders at Delhi have not lost hope of Gehlot acceding to the high command’s wishes. They did not rule out the possibility of Gehlot visiting Delhi to meet Sonia soon to resolve the differences. Gehlot is not averse to giving up chief ministership and entering the presidential race. Gehlot loyalists in firing line Shanti Dhariwal: Minister for Urban Development and Housing. Convened meet of MLAs in Gehlot camp at his home on Sunday ahead of the CLP meet scheduled for 7.30 pm. Their numbers swelled from about 25 around 6 pm to beyond 70 later Dharmendra Rathore Very close to Gehlot. State Tourism Development Corporation chairman. He is a political appointee. Was involved in the show of strength against the high command’s diktat But he does not want Pilot as his successor. He says he would hand over the chief ministership to any one from the 102 MLAs who had stayed loyal to the party when Pilot had walked out, but not the latter. While talks were still on with Gehlot, the party leadership de- Mahesh Joshi: Congress Chief Whip. PWD Minister. Coordinated with loyalist MLAs, asking them to reach Dhariwal's house on Sunday night. Now says AICC observer Ajay Maken misread their actions cided to take disciplinary action against Rajasthan parliamentary af fairs minister Dhariwal, who had called the MLAs to his residence and prevented them from meeting Congress general secretary incharge of Rajasthan Ajay Maken and central observer ED told to release 1,317 acres VANPIC land in AP E x p r ess n e w s S e r v i c e @ Hyderabad The Telangana High Court on Tuesday granted VANPIC (Vadarevu and Nizampatnam Industrial Corridor) Projects significant relief by ordering the Deputy Director, Directorate of Enforcement, Delhi to release the over 1316.91 acres of land in Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam district that it had attached. A bench comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice S Nanda ruled that while the Appellate Tribunal was correct in holding the provisional attachment order and the adjudicating authority’s order, confirming attachment had fundamental flaws rendering them without jurisdiction, it fell short of declaring such orders illegal. It further erred by referring the appellant to the Special Court to seek release of the attached property since this amounts to abdicating its jurisdiction and enabling an illegality to persist, the high court bench ruled. Given this, the court declared that the appellant’s appeal une q u ivo c a l ly n e e d s t o b e accepted. VANPIC Projects filed three petitions seeking to overturn orders made by the Appellate Tribunal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to the limited extent of continuing the attachment of their properties and directing the respondents to release the said properties from PMLA attachment. Since Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is also one of the defendants in the case, he may not interP5 vene, the court ordered.  asha parekh wins dada saheb phalke award The 79-year-old veteran actor will be honoured with the award in recognition of her exemplary lifetime contribution to Indian Cinema | P10 Mallikarjun Kharge. Besides, a show-cause notice was issued against the party’s chief whip in the state Mahesh Joshi who failed to make any effort to bring the MLAs together to meet the two central leaders. Dhariwal had also openly accused Maken of trying to persuade MLAs to support Sachin Pilot. He said Maken had come with an agenda to instal Pilot who was considered a “traitor” by a majority of party MLAs because of his earlier bid to form a government with the help of the BJP . Sonia had asked the two central observers to submit a report on the Jaipur rebellion. Maken has already termed the behaviour of MLAs in the Gehlot camp as indiscipline. High oil prices breaking our back: MEA Y es h i S e l i @ New Delhi (Left) YS Jagan Mohan Reddy offering Sare at Gangamma temple in Tirupati. As per the temple history, Krishnadevaraya’s younger brother, Achyuta Deva Raya was the last person to present Sare to the presiding deity in 1529; CM presenting silk robes to Lord Venkateswara on day one of Brahmotsavams in Tirumala | Express Jagan first CM to offer Sare at Gangamma shrine S r i K r i s h n a K u m m a r a @ Tirupati On day one of Srivari Brahmotsavams, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy offered silk clothes to Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala on behalf of the State government. Jagan has also become the first chief minister to formally offer traditional ‘Sare’ to Goddess Gangamma, the presiding deity of Tataiahgunta Gangamma Temple. It is believed that the temple was constructed 800 years ago. The Goddess is not only regarded as the ‘grama devata’ (village deity) of Tirupati, but is also revered as the sister of Lord Venkateswara. Having darshan at the Tataiahgunta Gangamma Temple before offering prayers at Tirumala or celebrating any family occasion has been an age-old tradition in the temple town. It is said that rulers of the Vijayanagara Empire would also of fer prayers and the traditional ‘Sare’ to the Goddess before heading to Tirumala for the Annual Brahmotsavams. According to the temple’s history, Achyuta Deva Raya, Vijayanagara Empire King Krishnadeva r aya ’s yo u n g e r brother, was the last person to offer Sare to the folk Goddess in 1529 after he succeeded his elder brother. Tataiahgunta Gangamma jagan flags off 10 electric buses In a bid to reduce carbon emissions in Tirumala hills and Seshachalam forests, Jagan flagged off the first batch of 10 electric buses between Tirumala and Tirupati to be operated by the APSRTC here at Alipiri. While adults have to pay `110 for one-way travel on the TirumalaTirupati routes in the e-Bus services, the fare for children is `80 Devasthanam chairman Katta Gopi Yadav said after YSRC government came to power, Tirupati MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy strived for the development of the temple and brought back its lost glory . Now, Jagan has revived the age-old custom by offering prayers and Sare to Goddess Gangamma before he presented silk robes to Lord Venkateswara Swamy, he opined. Gopi Yadav said, “When Tirupati and Tirumala were a part of Arcot district in the Madras Presidency Tamilians be, lieved in the tradition of offering prayers at to Goddess P5 Gangamma.”  EXTERNAL Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday told his US counterpart that developing countries are deeply concerned about oil prices as well as supply. Addressing a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken after holding bilateral talks in Washington, he said, “We are a $2,000 per capita economy The price . of oil is breaking our back.” Jaishankar said the energy market is under stress due to the Ukraine war and added that the very availability of oil has become an issue. He also clarified that India is able to service and supply military equipment purchased from Russia despite Western sanctions on Moscow “Where we get our military supplies from is not an issue. We look at possibilities across the berth and exercise a choice which we believe is in our national interest. We have a tradition of multi-sourcing.” On the Ukraine war, he said: “We have taken the position privately publicly confidential, , ly and consistently that this conflict is not in anybody’s interest.”