China-baiter Lai Ching-te wins Taiwan’s presidential elections Ruling party candidate Lai Ching-te emerged victorious in Taiwan’s presidential elections on Saturday. His opponents conceded defeat | P9 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l Sunday l january 14, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l late city edition Beijing candidate Hou Yu-ih trounced At stake is peace and stability of the island that Beijing claims as its own. Lai and incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen reject China’s sovereignty claims over Taiwan, a former Japanese colony that split from the mainland amid civil war in 1949. Beijing was believed to favour Hou Yu-ih, candidate of Nationalist party, KMT 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 Kharge named INDIA chairperson, Nitish playing hard to get Oppn meeting proposes JD(U) chief as bloc convenor, but party claims he is not in the race for the position P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi ‘Ayodhya, Kashi, Mathura as important to Hindus as Mecca, Madina to Muslims’ P4 WITH THIS ISSUE Dweep Blue Sea PLUS 12 PAGES Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was named chairperson of the Opposition INDIA bloc on Saturday after leaders of its 14-party coordination committee held a virtual meeting to discuss seat sharing for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Though Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar’s name was proposed as convenor, a final decision will be taken after consulting all parties, sources told this newspaper. At least 10 leaders of the bloc met virtually and discussed various aspects of the alliance and the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections, due in April-May. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, SP head Akhilesh Yadav and Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Uddhav Thackarey skipped the meeting. Speaking to this newspaper, CPI general secretary D Raja said all parties were in agreement that the Congress should hold the position of chairperson since it is the largest party within the bloc, while the convenor post should go to a non-Congress leader. “All the leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi suggested Nitish’s name as convenor. It was unanimous,” said Raja, adding that the final call would be taken after consulting Mamata and Akhilesh. Apart from Raja, Sonia, Rahul, Kharge, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal and CPM’s Sitaram Yechury and a few others attended the meet. According to a leader, JD(U)’s Sanjay Jha and Lalan Singh said leaders from other parties should be considered for the post of convenor as Nitish is not an aspirant. “Nitish suggested the name of RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav for the convenor post. Kharge will consult Akhilesh and Mamata and arrive at a decision soon,” said the leader. Nitish’s reluctance to accept the convenor post surprised many as the party had been pressuring the bloc for it. Speaking to the media, Pawar asserted that there was no dispute among the INDIA bloc over appointing its convenor, but said there was no need to project any face for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. According to Raja, allies were advised to conclude seat sharing as early as possible. “There is a sense of urgency as we are aware that time is running out. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said seat-sharing talks will be done in the state after Pongal,” said Raja. EXPRESS READ ‘No marriage will be cancelled on Jan 17’ Kochi/Thrissur: Amid the confusion created by misinformation campaign on social media, the Guruvayur Devaswom has clarified that no marriage will be cancelled on January 17 in view of the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the temple. P5 Kejriwal gets 4th ED summons New Delhi: The ED has issued its fourth summons to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, asking him to appear before the probe agency on January 18 for questioning in connection with the money laundering case related to the nowscrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22, officials said on Saturday. US launches another strike on Houthis Washington: The US military on early Saturday struck another Houthicontrolled site in Yemen that it had determined was putting commercial vessels in the Red Sea at risk, a day after the US and the UK launched airstrikes targeting Houthi rebels. P9 1 out of 10 new vehicles in state is EV According to MVD data, out of the 7,57,114 vehicles registered in the state in 2023, 75,650 were electric | P2 Probe against firm owned by CM’s daughter E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ T’Puram/Kochi The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has ordered a probe against Exalogic Solutions Pvt Ltd, an IT company owned by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter T Veena, in connection with the monthly payments it received from a firm allegedly without providing any services. The Aluva-based Cochin Minerals and Rutiles Ltd (CMRL), which made the payments, and the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (KSIDC), which has a 13.4% stake in CMRL, will also come under the investigation. According to the order issued by MCA joint director M D Shakeel on January 12, a three-member team comprising Karnataka Deputy Registrar Varun B S, Chennai Deputy Director K M Shanker Narayan and Pondicherry Registrar A Gokulnath will carry out the investigation. The team has been asked to submit its report to the Union government within four months. In August 2023, the Income Tax Interim Settlement Board released a report saying that Veena and her company received `1.72 crore over the last three years as monthly payments from CMRL though there is no evidence of any services provided in return. The MCA order pointed out that the Registrar of Companies, Bengaluru, had conducted a probe based on a complaint received regarding the payment allegations. “The inquiry conducted under the provisions of Section 206(4) of the Companies Act unearthed various violations and offences. The report also recommended an investigation into the affairs of the company the ,” ● More on P5 order said.  Docu ‘evidence’ points to K-FON irregularities E x p r ess N e ws S e r v i c e @ KOCHI Documents submitted in the Kerala High Court have pointed to alleged irregularities in awarding contract in the multi-crore K-FON (Kerala Fibre Optic Network) project, leading to a loss of `400 crore to the state exchequer. According to the documents submitted by Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan along with his petition, the contract was awarded to a consortium, despite it quoting a price which was 58% higher than the estimated amount. The documents also claimed that M Sivasankar, the then IT secretary, acted in undue haste in awarding the contract to the consortium. The government’s K-FON project promises to provide free internet connections to 20 lakh poor families. On December 26, 2018, a consortium of two central PSUs Bharat Electronics Ltd and RailTel Corporation of India, and two private companies viz, SRIT (Sobha Renaissance Information Technology Pvt Ltd) and LS Cable India Pvt Ltd, was chosen for the K-FON project with a quote of `1,628.35 crore, which was 58.5% higher than the estimate amount, according to the documents.  ● More on P5