HYDERABAD THURSDAY APRIL 18, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 18 LATE CITY EDITION SAKSHI AMONG TOP 100 ON TIME’S ANNUAL INFLUENTIAL PERSONS LIST Rio Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik figured in the list for leading a protest against alleged sexual harassment by a top wrestling federation official Sakshi Malik while announcing her retirement in December TOOK ON FORMER WFI CHIEF FOR HARASSMENT ALIA BHATT, DEV PATEL TOO FEATURE Sakshi, along with Tokyo Olympics bronze winner Bajrang Punia and multiple World Championships medallist Vinesh Phogat, spearheaded the protest against beleaguered former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh at Jantar Mantar. They were demanding his arrest for intimidating and allegedly sexually harassing female grapplers ■ ■ Other Indians on the 2024 list include actress Alia Bhatt, Indo-British actor Dev Patel and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella “This fight is no longer only for India’s female wrestlers,” said Sakshi. She quit the day Sanjay Singh, considered Brij Bhushan’s close aide, was elected president of the Wrestling Federation of India | P13 1 THE PROTEST WENT ON FOR ALMOST A YEAR 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 Security forces Fear haunts 2 Cong leaders as ED summons looms have 17 Naxals in cross-hairs I R E D DY S R I N I VAS R E D DY @ Hyderabad They will be neutralised or made to surrender HIT LIST NAME: ACTIVE IN 1 | Muppala Lakmana Rao: Maad area, Chhattisgarh 2 | Nambla Keshav Rao: Maad area, Chhattisgarh 3 | Mallaraji Reddy: Tri-junction bordering Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh & Odisha 4 | Mallajula Venugopal: Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra forests 5 | Misir Besra: Jharkhand 6 | Chandri Yadav: Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh forests 7 | Theepani Thirupati: Chhattisgarh 8 | Akki Raj (Hargopal): Andhra-Odisha border 9 | Kadarat Satyanarayan Reddy: Chhattisgarh border area 10 | Paluri Prasad Rao: Chhattisgarh & Telangana 11 | Modem Balakrishna: Odisha 12 | Ramanna: Chhattisgarh 13 | Sudhakar: Jharkhand 14 | Parvez: Location yet to be ascertained 15 | Asim Mandal: Jharkhand & West Bengal 16 | Hari Bhushan: Chhattisgarh 17 | Mandvi Hidma: Chhattisgarh BJP worker killed In what may be a reprisal for the neutralisation of 29 Maoists, the Naxalites killed a BJP worker in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district, police said on Wednesday. This is the ninth killing of BJP workers by Naxalites since 2023 M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi A day after eliminating 29 Maoists in the Kanker area of the Bastar division of Chhattisg arh, security forces on Wednesday said they have identified 17 dangerous Naxal operatives for neutralisation. The hit list, prepared under Operation Prahar, includes the dreaded Maoist commander Mandvi Hidma, also known as Hidmalu alias Santosh. Born in Purvarti village of South Sukma, Hidma has been associated with Naxalism since 2001 and is considered the most dangerous, officials said. He runs a strong information network in the entire area and is an expert in using AK-47, sources said. The forces have tracked his location to the Sukma forests in Chhattisgarh where he is hiding. Officials said as many as 79 Naxalites have been killed so far this year in separate encounters in the Bastar division of Chhattisgarh, a Maoist stronghold. Of them, 42 Naxal operatives were neutralised in the past 15 days through two major operations. The main objective of Operation Prahar is to hit top Naxal commanders, who brainwash innocent youth and instigate them to join their ranks. Sources said the Naxals “are now feeling the heat and are on the defensive”, adding that the operation will be intensified in the coming days to take it to its logical conclusion. Commenting on the ongoing operation, Union home minister Amit Shah said: “Operations against Naxals will continue... and we will uproot Naxalism from our nation in a very short period of time.” AS the Lok Sabha elections draw closer, two prominent members of the Congress — a former MP who is currently an MLA and a sitting MP — are barely taking part in the campaign as they grapple with the prospect of Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials summoning them in separate cases before voting day . The looming threat of ED action has not only unsettled these two leaders, but has also had an effect on the party, if sources are to be believed. The ED, which initiated a @ Hyderabad IN a bizarre incident, a lorry driver found himself in hot water after hitting a car and subsequently becoming the target of a chase by a group of youths here on Wednesday . The incident unfolded as the lorry driver, Pridhviraj from Suryapet, was en route Vanasthalipuram from Chandrayangutta after unloading a shipment of cement. He accidentally grazed a nearby car, attracting the ire of five men on motorcycles, according to police. According to IS Sadan police inspector M Venkata Ramaiah, the driver, intimidated by the aggressive behaviour of the pursuers, picked up speed in an attempt to evade them. During The Congress MLA is learnt to have got in touch with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in the hope of getting some relief from the ED. Meanwhile, an MP, who defected to the Congress from the BRS, is said to be facing trouble for his alleged involvement in a loan fraud case. case against the MLA during the Assembly elections, is reportedly expediting its investigation. Sources said that a notice might soon be issued to him, summoning him for questioning. This has come at the worst possible time for the MLA as his close aide has been fielded from a Lok Sabha seat. If the grapevine is to be be- lieved, the MLA, in an act of desperation, has reached out to one of his contacts in the BJP — Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. He has maintained close friendship with Sarma from his days in the BJP. His purported discussions with Sarma have raised eyebrows among both Congress and BJP leaders. Meanwhile, legal experts are said to have advised him to exercise caution as the case may fall under the purview of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Nonetheless, the developments have left him and his close associates uneasy as the prospect of summons by the ED looms just before the votes are cast for Lok Sabha elections. Meanwhile, the sitting MP, who defected from the BRS to the Congress, is worried about ED action over his alleged involvement in a loan fraud case. Complaints filed by BRS leaders with central agencies after he dumped the party have add- PTI KCR SERVED NOTICE BY ELECTION COMMISSION for his alleged ‘vulgar, objectionable and derogatory’ comments on Congress | P5 the chase, a motorcyclist was knocked down and thrown off his bike. The panicked driver drove down the road, dragging the motorcycle for a distance of one kilometre. Fortunately the , bike rider safely landed on the roadside. Adding to the drama, one of the pursuers managed to climb onto the lorry demanding that , the driver bring the vehicle to a stop. However, the driver persisted, prompting the man to eventually release his grip. The lorry driver reached the Vanasthalipuram traffic police station and surrendered. EC FLAGS DOWN BENGAL GUV’S POLL-TIME TRIP MUKESH RANJAN @ New Delhi THE Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday asked West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose to cancel his proposed two-day visit to the state’s Cooch Behar district that was to start on the eve of election day, saying it would violate the Model Code of Conduct. Cooch Behar is among the three West Bengal constituencies voting in the first of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections on Friday. “Under the Model Code of Conduct and being poll day, no local programme can be organised for Honorable Governor, as proposed in his issued schedule,” ECI said in its advisory to the governor’s office. The poll panel noted that the entire district administration and the police force would be busy with election management duties on Bose’s proposed 3 SEATS IN FIRST PHASE Three Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal—Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar— are going to polls in the first phase on April 19. A total of 56.26 lakh people are eligible to vote across 5,814 booths travel dates (April 18-19). During this time, providing protocol services and local security cover to the governor will divert them from the time-bound poll-related work, the ECI said in its advisory . The poll panel also cited the “silence period” in Cooch Behar, which came into effect at 6 pm on Wednesday The silence . period brings in a multitude of restrictions and a higher level of enforcement by election authorities. The ECI has issued standing instructions to all district election officers and heads of district police force to ensure that all high-profile persons, campaigners, and political workers, who are not voters of the said election area, shall exit immediately at the beginning of the silence period to ensure free and fair polls. As per Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the silence period for a constituency begins 48 hours before the time fixed for the close of voting there. West Bengal, with 42 constituencies, is one of the handful of states where voting will take place across all seven phases. DMK locked in a gruelling contest to stay as the Raja of the Nilgiris N D H A M O T H A R A N @ Nilgiris IT’S that time of the year when the weather here is balmy, drawing tourists in droves. However, the political temperature has soared in the old mountain ranges as it witnesses an ideological battle between the BJP’s L Murugan, a minister of state in Modi’s ministry, and the DMK’s A Raja, former telecom minister in the UPA-2 ministry , in this reserved constituency . Raja and Murugan are locked in a fierce three-cornered battle with Lokesh Tamilselvan of the AIADMK, son of P Dhanapal who was speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly for nearly 10 years up to May 2021. A native of Namakkal, Murugan was actively involved in the ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) in his college days and later joined the RSS. Between 2017 and 2020, he served as Vice Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC). During this period, he closely worked with people belonging to the SC community. In March 2020, he became the state president of the BJP the second person from a , Dalit community to hold the post after S P Kirubanidhi. ed to the MP’s woes, complicating matters for both him and Congress leaders. The situation has diverted attention away from the election campaign, with booth in-charges closely monitoring the movements of these two leaders. The Congress cadre are wary of working for the victory of these two leaders or their aides as they fear that there is no guarantee that these embattled politicians would not switch sides to save themselves in case the situation deteriorates. With the elections looming, the focus has now turned to how the Congress will overcome this unexpected challenge. forehead idol at Ram temple in Ayodhya on Wednesday to mark RAM TEJAS Sunlight beingItdirected onto the tilak | of the Ram Lallaperformthe Sitarama kalyanam at Bhadrachalam temple (Right) Priests Sri Ram Navami. was called Surya Lorry driver drags bike for one km EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MLA SEEKS HELP OF ASSAM CM HIMANTA In the 2021 TN Assembly election when the BJP was in an alliance with the AIADMK, Murugan contested from the Dharapuram reserved constituency and lost to DMK’s N Kay- ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR alvizhi Selvaraj, who went on to become state minister for Adi Dravidar Welfare, by a slim margin of 1,393 votes. Within a month, he was rewarded for his party work and inducted into the Union cabinet. Like Coimbatore, the BJP has won the Nilgiris seat twice in 1998 and 1999, after the infamous 1998 Coimbatore serial bomb blast incident. In 1998, contesting as part of an alliance with the AIADMK, BJP candidate M Master Mathan defeated Tamil Maanila Congress candidate S R Balasubramanian. A year later, this time contesting as part of the DMK alliance, he defeated Congress’s R Prabhu. This is why the BJP fancies its chances of victory here. In fact, Murugan once said Nilgiris was one of the nine Lok Sabha constituencies in the state where the party has a good chance of winning. It is for this reason that he started his poll-related works here quite early by setting up election offices, frequently visiting the district to meet party cadre and interacting with the public. In February, when the BJP nominated him to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh, there was speculation that he might not enter the Lok Sabha poll fray Yet, to the surprise of . many he was fielded as the BJP , candidate here. Given that the AIADMK won four of the six assembly segments under the Nilgiris Lok Sabha constituency in the 2021 Assembly polls, Murugan hoped its support would take him to Parliament from here. However, the AIADMK snapped ties with the BJP. Nonetheless, the constituency has a sizable Hindu vote bank in places like Mettupalayam, Coonoor and Ooty, which is believed to help him. Raja, a native of Perambalur where he won thrice in 1996, 1999 and 2004, moved to Nilgiris in 2009 after his own constituency was converted into a general category one following deCONTINUED ON: P5 limitation. FOOD POISONING Class 6 student dies, dad calls for action against officials A S E S H A C H A R Y U L U @ Nalgonda A class 6 student of the Social Welfare Boys’ Residential School in Bhuvanagiri, Ch Prashanth, 12, died after battling for life at a private hospital in Hyderabad where he was admitted for food poisoning a few days ago. He was among the 15 students of the school who had fallen ill after eating contaminated food at their hostel on April 11. While Prashanth and another student, Krishna, were shifted to a private hospital in Uppal for better treatment as their condition had turned critical, others were disCh Prashant charged the same day from a local hospital at Bhuvanagiri. After Prashant’s health further worsened, he was shifted to Rainbow Hospital where he was put on a ventilator. He breathed his last on Tuesday night. While the boy’s father Mahesh is a borewell rig driver, his mother Parijatha is a dailywage worker at Jablakpally of Bhoodan Pochampally mandal i n Ya d a d r i - B h u v a n a g i r i district. Parijatha, who was disconsolate on seeing her son’s body , regretted her inability to visit her son for Ugadi as per his wish. Mahesh alleged that his son died because of delay in taking him to hospital immediately after he suffered from food poiCONTINUED ON P3 soning.
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