tiruchy l thursday l february 29, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION BCCI sends message: No domestic cricket, no central contracts Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan dropped from central contracts for ignoring domestic despite repeated calls from board secretary Jay Shah A+ for Rohit, Virat Captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who skipped the ongoing 5-match Test series against England, retained their place in Grade A-plus along with Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja hardik finds place in Grade A H ardik Pandya, who hasn’t played for India since 2023 ODI World Cup or his domestic side Baroda, however, retained his place in Grade A along with six cricketers. Senior players like Cheteshwar Pujara, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Shikhar Dhawan miss out 30 Iyer, Kishan face music over ranji miss  Kishan pulled out of two-Test series against South Africa last year while Iyer was apparently dropped after second Test versus England earlier this month. Iyer had said he missed Mumbai quarters match due to injury, which the National Cricket Academy refuted saying he was fit | P13 K ishan has not played Ranji this season while Iyer is in Mumbai squad for semis cricketers named in four Grades for the year 2023-24 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 HP budget passed amid high drama Modi: DMK blocking union govt schemes, taking false credit E X P RESS NE W S SER V I C E @ Tirunelveli/Thoothukudi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a full-blown attack on the DMK government, accusing it of blocking the welfare schemes launched by the centre and taking false credit by affixing its stickers on central scheme handouts. Speaking at a BJP rally in Tirunelveli, the PM said the DMK staged a walkout in Parliament during a discussion on Ayodhya Shri Ram temple, and this again proved the party’s hate for people’s faith. “Some people are politicising Hindi and Tamil. Union minis- express read Rajiv case convict dies in hosp due to cardiac arrest Chennai: Santhan @ Suthenthiraraja, one of the seven convicts released in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case by the SC, died in Chennai on Wednesday due to cardiac arrest. He was 55. Santhan had earlier appealed for his return to Sri Lanka to live with his aged mother | P4 ter L Murugan from Tamil Nadu has been elected as MP from a Hindi-speaking state. T he union gover nment’s schemes have brought the people of Tamil Nadu closer to Delhi. Whenever India grows, TN grows,” the PM said. Pointing to an advertisement issued by a minister regarding the inauguration of Kulasekarapattinam spaceport with alleged ‘Chinese flag’, the PM said the DMK is oblivious to the nation’s achievements in space sector. Modi said the DMK has disregarded India’s success in space technology and demanded that the party apologise for featuring China Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonawal hands over Sengol to the PM in Thoothukudi pm lays foundation for Kulasekarapattinam spaceport The PM on Wednesday laid the foundation for India’s second spaceport at Kulasekarapattinam. The spaceport being built on 2,233 acres at a cost of `986 crore will serve as a launch pad for smaller satellites. ISRO chairman S Somanath said the spaceport can handle 24 launches every year | P4 in its advertisement. Earlier in the day, speaking at the inauguration and launch of 36 projects worth `17,400 crore in Thoothukudi, the PM said Tamil Nadu has benefitted from various central government projects implemented by shipping, railway and highway ministries. T he PM also launched India’s first indigenously built hydrogen fuel cell ferry at Cochin shipyard via video conference. “These projects are a result of concerted efforts towards ‘One Barath’ and the role of Tamil Nadu in their development is very important,” the PM said. More reports on p4 RIL, Disney to merge India media biz A r s h a d K h a n @ New Delhi Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries and US-based entertainment giant Walt Disney have signed a definitive agreement to form a joint venture that will combine the businesses of Viacom18 and Star India to create a media behemoth valued at `70,352 crore. The transaction is expected to be completed in the last quarter of 2024 or early 2025. The JV will be controlled by the Reliance group, which will have a 63% stake. RIL will also pump in `11,500 crore into the JV to give it the financial muscles to fight rivals such as Japan’s Sony and Netflix. The development comes a month after Sony terminated its merger with India’s Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Nita Ambani will be the chairperson of the JV with ex, Disney executive Uday Shankar as the vice-chairperson. The JV will create the biggest firm in the country’s $28billion media & entertainment sector with 120 TV channels, two streaming platforms, and an estimated 750 million viewers across India. 15 BJP MLAs suspended; Virbhadra’s son quits state cabinet, later softens stand H a r p r e e t B a j w a @ Chandigarh War clouds hovering over Himachal Pradesh dissipated a bit amid high drama on Wednesday as the Sukhu government passed the state budget after Speaker Kuldeep Pathania suspended 15 protesting BJP members. The assembly was later adjourned sine die. The government was in turmoil after six Congress members cross-voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections the previous day . There was further anxiety as PWD minister Vikramaditya Singh, son of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, put in his papers in the morning saying he was humiliated by the state leadership. By the evening, he softened and said he will not press his resignation. The six rebels — Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Inder Dutt lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma and Divender Kumar — appeared before the Speaker as part of the disqualification proceedings. They left for Panchkula from Shimla before central Congress o b s e r ve r s — B h u p e s h B a g h e l , Bhupinder Singh Hooda and D K Shivakumar — reached the state capital. The rebels and three Independents, who supported the BJP in the RS polls, attended the House but abstained from voting on the budget on Wednesday . PWD minister Vikramaditya Singh Speaker reserves his order Speaker Kuldeep Pathania reserved his orders after hearing the six rebel MLAs. Their advocate argued that they were given the showcause notice and the copy of the petition but not the annexures. He added that MLAs must be given seven days to file their replies. He claimed that party whip does not apply for RS polls joint operation Record drug seizure off Gujarat coast Di l ip Si n g h K s h at r i ya @ Ahmedabad In a joint operation, the Indian Navy and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) seized a record 3,300 kg of narcotics from a fishing boat off Gujarat coast, making it the largest drug haul in recent years. Five foreign nationals onboard the boat have been arrested. The value of the contraband could be `1,300-2,000 crore on the international drugs market, the NCB said on Wednesday. The drugs seized include 3,089 kg of charas, 158 kg of methamphetamine and 25 kg of morphine. The unregistered fishing boat was intercepted on Tuesday morning on the Arabian Sea, around 60 nautical miles from the Indian coast. The packets bore the stamp of ‘Ras Awad Goods Co, produce of Pakistan’, the NCB added. The Navy deployed its P8I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft, marine commandos and helicopters. The drugs originated from Chabahar in Iran. The boat has been brought to Porbandar. Home minister Amit Shah described the operation as a “historic success”.