47 killed in Pak mosque blast The blast during afternoon prayers in the high-security zone in Peshawar left over 100 people, most of them policemen, injured Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP or Pakistani Taliban), has claimed responsibility for the attack, carried out by a suicide bomber The outfit said the bombing was to avenge the killing of one of its leaders in August last year | AFP | P9 chennai l tuesday l january 31, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l vellore EDITION 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 CM: ‘At Home’ participation to uphold democracy, Assembly motion for dignity E X PR E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (second-left) with CPI’s D Raja (from left), National Conference’s Omar Abdullah, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and others, during a public rally at the end of his 145-day Bharat Jodo Yatra amid heavy snowfall, in Srinagar on Monday | ani Aimed to save liberal, secular ethos: Rahul united with love and affection against them,” Rahul said. Congress leader Rahul GanAmid heavy snowfall, Rahul dhi on Monday said the aim of said while the BJP has shown a his 4,000 km long Bharat Jodo path of politics, the Congress Yatra was to save the liberal wants to show the country a difand secular ethos of India. ferent route — of dignity, love Addressing a rally here to and affection. mark the end of the yatra, he Rahul said he was warned called for the end of violence in that if he walked in Kashmir, he the Valley, saying phone calls could be attacked. “However, I announcing deaths of loved walked for four days. I thought ones — whether of a those who hate me, let soldier, a CRPF jawan me give them an oppor‘End these o r a ny K a s h m i r i , phone calls’ tunity to change the should stop. “No child, colour of my white Tmother, son or any oth- Rahul said, “I can shirt to red...Kashmiri understand the people did not give me er family member should take this phone pain of Kashmiris a hand grenade but as I have seen call. My aim is to stop g ave me love and the violence.” He warmth,” he said. this call,” he said. Striking a bond with recalled when he The rally was to be a was informed Kashmiris, he said show of strength for they gave him hearts about the killing the Opposition, but of his grandma full of love and not many could not make hand grenades, adding (Indira) and dad it due to bad weather. (Rajiv) over no BJP leader can Apart from the Conwalk like he did, as phone, adding he gress leaders, Farooq wanted to end they are scared. and Omar Abdullah of such calls “I have not done this National Conference, yatra for Congress but Mehbooba Mufti of for the country. Our aim is to PDP D Raja of CPI, RSP’s Prem, stand against the ideology that chandran, and leaders from wants to destroy foundation of DMK, JMM, BSP, VCK and this country. We should stand IUML participated in the rally . F aya z W a n i @ Srinagar express read 80 yrs on, SC residents enter temple in T’malai Tiruvannamalai: After eight decades, the SC residents of Thenmudiyanur village in Thandrampattu taluk entered the Sri Muthumaariamman temple for the first time. They took out a procession in the presence of Collector B Murugesh | P2 Brawl over Khalistan referendum in Australia Melbourne: Two persons were injured and as many Sikh men were detained when brawls broke out between Khalistani activists and pro-India demonstrators here on Monday during the ‘Punjab independence referendum’, Australian police said | P9 Four days after Chief Minister MK Stalin and a section of ministers attended the ‘ t Home’ recepA tion hosted by Governor RN Ravi, the DMK party president clarified he took part in the Republic Day fete to uphold the dignity of democracy.  The participation was no act of political backtrack or compromise, he said on Monday in an 11.37-minute question-and answer-video titled ‘Ungalail Oruvan Pathilgal’ (answers from one amongst you). Stalin added the resolution moved by him in the Assembly on January 9 was not against the governor but was to ensure the latter’s address — prepared by the state government — was on record. “My resolution is that the address which was prepared by the (state) government should go on Assembly records without any changes. The resolution was adopted and the dignity of the house and the principles of the democracy were upheld.” Stalin’s reasoning for his participation in the governor’s SC to hear EPS plea on AIADMK post on Feb 3 Guj court convicts ASARAM IN 2nd RAPE CASE S h r u t i K a kk a r @ New Delhi D i l i p S i n g h K s h at r i ya @ Ahmedabad THE Gandhinagar sessions court on Monday convicted self-styled godman Asaram in a rape case filed by a Surat-based woman in 2013. The quantum of sentence is likely to be pronounced on Tuesday . Sessions court judge D K Soni acquitted six other accused, including Asaram’s wife Laxmiben, their daughter, and four disciples who were accused of aiding and abetting the crime, for want of evidence. The complainant, one of Asaram’s former devotees, accused the influential spiritual leader of raping her on several occasions between 1997 and 2006 when she was staying at his ashram at Motera. Notably, the complainant’s younger sister had accused Asaram’s son, Narayan Sai, of sexually exploiting her when she was staying in Asaram’s Jahangirpura ashram in Surat between 2002 and 2005. Sai, too, was booked for rape and has been awarded life imprisonment by a Surat court. The 81-year-old godman is currently serving a life sentence in a Jodhpur jail for raping a minor girl at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013. His two accomplices were sentenced to 20 years in jail by the court in the same case for their roles. adani FPO gets just 4% retail subscription Its public subscription remained muted though Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company said it has confidence in the group that saw a $70-bn rout in market value in just three days | P10 Didi calls on Amartya to express solidarity on Univ land row, announces Z-plus cover P r o n a b M o n d a l @ Kolkata Two days after Visva Bharati, a Central university, directed Nobel laureate Amartya Sen to return part of a plot where his residence is located in Santiniketan, saying he was occupying it illegally, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called on him to express solidarity and announced Zplus security cover for him. Mamata and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee are the only other persons in the state with Z-plus security . During her visit to Birbhum on Monday, Mamata met Sen at his residence and also gave him the original records of his land that were in the government’s possession. “People of Bengal are unhappy with the way Nobel laureate has been humiliated. Allegations of land grabbing against him (Sen) are baseless. It is an attempt to malign his reputation. No one has the right to insult him. We won’t tolerate it. I have collected the original records of his land and handed over to him. Z-plus security will be provided for him,’’ said Mamata after the meeting. The letter to Sen issued by Visva Bharati on January 27 said, “You are in possession of event was age-old ethics. The Chief Minister’s clarification comes in response to charges on social media platforms that the ruling party had compromised with the union government and par ticularly, the Raj Bhavan. As DMK allies boycotted the event, several claimed that the ruling party was unable to follow in line with alliance partners, and instead rushed to the Raj Bhavan to please him after receiving an invitation.  P5 1.38 acre of land which is in excess of your legal entitlement of 1.25 acre. Kindly return the land to Visva Bharati as early as possible since application of the laws of the land will cause embarrassment to you and also t o Vi s va B h a r at i which you endear so much.’’ This was the Visva Bharati’s second letter to Sen asking him to handover the excess leased land in his possession. The chief minister said her government will decide the next course of legal action to protect Sen’s rights once she is back in Kolkata. Timing of the missive curious Visva Bharati’s letter came days after the Nobel laureate’s remark that Mamata has qualities to become the prime minister of the country. Hitting out at the BJP-led Centre, Mamata said, ‘’I want Visva Bharati to run properly instead of attempts at saffronisation.’’ The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea by Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) seeking to direct Election Commission of India (ECI) to take on record his appointment as party’s interim general secretary and abolishment of coordinator post held by O Panneerselvam (OPS) on February 3. Taking into consideration the urgency that has arisen with the Erode (East) bypoll, a bench of justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy on Monday directed EPS to implead ECI as a party . The bench directed OPS and ECI to file their response within three days. “Judgement has been reserved after conclusion of hearing. Urgen- cy has arisen in the wake of elections of which the last date for filing nomination is February 7. ECI may be impleaded as party. Having regard to the circumstances, we allow respondent 1 (EPS) to serve a copy of application on ECI and contesting parties and to file their response within three days,” the bench said in its order.  MORE REPORTS ON: P4, 5