thrissur l Sunday l may 05, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l city edition air india cuts cabin baggage allowance for domestic flights No change for business class fliers The airline offers three price slabs in the economy class — Comfort, Comfort Plus and Flex. For Comfort and Comfort Plus, the free baggage allowance has been cut to 15 kg from 20 kg and 25 kg. But Flex passengers can have 25 kg baggage. Business class fliers can continue to carry 25-35 kg baggage depending on the route. New baggage rules kicked in on Thursday For the lowest economy fare ticket, only 15 kg of free baggage will be allowed henceforth by the airline, down from the earlier 20 kg upper limit Flex fare comes with a lot of benefits ■ Last year, the company introduced a menu-based pricing model. The price difference between Comfort Plus and Flex fares would typically be around `1,000 in a domestic sector like Delhi-Mumbai, the airline said ■ Explaining the new rules, the spokesperson said the Flex fares would provide 10 kg extra baggage, zero fees for cancellation and more loyalty points May 16th Air India to resume flights between Delhi-tel aviv with five weekly flights 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 u.p. Diaries The City That is No Longer Allahabad has appeal in a constituency that has 4.5 lakh savarna voters — majority Brahmin Santwana Bhattacharya at that. That’s why the contest beEditor tween two dynasts for the Allahabad seat — Neeraj Tripathi (BJP), son of late PRAYAGRAJ: The city that Keshari Nath Tripathi, has been renamed Prayagraj former Governor of West lives in nostalgia and denial. Bengal, and Ujjwal Raman Denial about its lost signifi- Singh (Congress), son of cance on the political map of Kunwar Reoti Raman Singh Uttar Pradesh and, by that — could well be settled by stretch, of India. As if it’s go- the Modi factor. ing through a slow unravelNo irony there. No one ling — a crisis of identity A raises the issue of dynastic . century ago, it was a melting politics in a city whose claim pot of nationalistic ferment, to fame is its association the nursery of future prime with the Nehru-Gandhi famministers. Indeed, the first ily Their old homes, Swaraj . social-political-cultural Bhawan and Anand Bhahub of modern UP The . wan, are now given slide from that was over to a trust. That long but irreversible. legacy has no politiBut it’s evident in cal pull left, though. the changed crowd “They’ve no connect at the coffee house, with Allahabad or its in the inarticulate people any more. second of A anger of the youth. Four-part series Even when Rahul or The nature of disPriyanka Gandhi course too reflects grey con- come here, they drive , temporary realities. straight to Anand Bhawan Witness that mutation in and simply disappear,” says the political vocabulary, M P Dubey former professor , from overarching tropes to of Political Science, Allaa more caste-based analysis habad University . of elections, even as metaA contrasting anecdote is phor. Not surprising that recounted about Lal Bahadur someone in this city — re- Shastri and how he used to duced to basics amidst reach out to people and even brash, hypermodern shop- opponents at streetcorners. ping arcades — explains The Nehru family’s concomplexities thus: “Naren- nect with the city broke with dra Modi may be from an Indira Gandhi’s passing. OBC community, but comes Their political hold was over across as a savarna, where- when Rajiv Gandhi’s apolitias Mamata, a Banerjee cal friend famously entered Brahmin, does her politics and exited politics through like a subaltern.” This is by this city . Continued on: P9 way of explaining why Modi No bail, Revanna in SIT custody Arrested after a court rejects JDS leader’s anticipatory bail petition in an abduction case P r a veen k u m a r @ Bengaluru Beleaguered JD(S) lawmaker H D Revanna was on Saturday arrested by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in a kidnap case after a court rejected his anticipatory bail petition. The SIT picked up Revanna from his father and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda’s house here. He was whisked away in a SUV and brought to the SIT’s office in Palace Road. The arrest happened after Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat refused to grant him interim anticipatory bail after hearing arguments by senior counsel Murthy D Naik representing Revanna and Special Public Prosecutor Janata Dal (S) MLA H D Revanna (left) in SIT custody in an abduction case in Bengaluru on Saturday | pti B N Jagadeesha. Two FIRs have been registered against Revanna. The first is based on a complaint of sexual harassment filed by one of the victims in Hassan dis- C y n t h i a C h a n d r a n @ T’ Puram A week after the Lok Sabha election got over in the state, three Congress candidates came down heavily on the party machinery for lapses in campaigning. Senior leaders K Muraleedharan, M K Raghavan and Adoor Prakash, who contested from Thrissur, Kozhikode and Attingal, respectively, expressed their resentment during the party’s review meeting on Saturday . Meanwhile, the leadership, which was once confident of making a clean sweep in the poll, observed that the contest was tough in constituencies like Attingal, Thrissur and Palakkad. The state Congress re- S we t h a vi m a l a M @ Hyderabad view meeting saw Muraleedharan and Raghavan criticising their party colleagues. According to party sources, Muraleedharan was particularly critical of Thrissur DCC president Jose Valoor and former MP T N Prathapan for their “lack of wholehear ted support”. The duo was caught off guard when Muraleedharan pointed at the skyrocketing election campaign expenses. His remark that “certain leaders’ greed for money was really shocking” created a stir among those present. Muraleedharan’s sister Padmaja Venugopal, who recently joined the BJP camp, too had cast similar as- Illus: Mandar Pardikar From left, T Padma Rao Goud, Danam Nagender and G Kishan Reddy Rao is a four-time MLA and former state minister; and Nagender is a six-time MLA. Internal surveys of the parties currently place Kishan slightly ahead of Nagender, with the BRS candidate a close third. In the Secunderabad and Musheerabad assembly segments, there is support for the BRS with some voters even calling it a fight between the BJP and the pink party . “Danam has been switching parties every now and then. He was in Congress, then TDP, then Congress again, then BRS, now back in Congress,” said Satyanarayana, a 70-year-old resident of Khairatabad. For his part, Nagender told this newspaper, “My career started in the Congress. People recognise my service and will give a befitting reply to the BJP Despite .” his party-hopping, Nagender, appears to enjoy the support of the minorities. For instance, a Muslim voter in Nampally said his vote would go to Nagender. “I’ll vote either for patang (kite) or Congress. The constituency is home to over 20 lakh voters, 27.4% of whom are Muslims. Another voter, Rajesh (40), a juice vendor in Musheerabad, said, “There is anti-incumbency against the BJP and Danam might ● More on P7 benefit from it.” ‘India waiting for info on arrests in Nijjar case’ B i j o y P r a d h a n @ Bhubaneswar A day after Canada police claimed to have arrested three Indian nationals over the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said India is waiting for details from Canadian government or the police on the development. In an interaction with the media during his two-day visit to state, Jaishankar said the three arrested persons were apparently Indians from the house and was taken into custody . The entire drama outside Deve Gowda’s house was videographed by the SIT. The operation was supervised by Superintendent of Police Suman D Pennekar, one of the two women IPS officers who are part of the SIT formed to probe the rape, kidnap, sexual harassment cases against Revanna and Prajwal. Revanna was charged under Section 364(a) (kidnapping for ransom), 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person) and 34 (the acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. Cong candidates fume at party No more spot booking colleagues over campaign lapses for Sabarimala darshan Union minister, two MLAs from same party in rare tricornered contest In the narrow lanes and bylanes of Secunderabad, there are striking black-and-gold engravings that read: “Foundation stone laid by T Padma Rao Goud; Guest of Honour: G Kishan Reddy”. While the latter is the sitting BJP MP from Secunderabad, the former is a BRS MLA from the Assembly segment bearing the same name. In the Lok Sabha elections in Secunderabad, Goud, Reddy and BRS MLA Danam Nagender are locked in a tricor nered contest. Nagender, who won on a BRS ticket from Khairatabad Assembly segment in the December 2023 Assembly polls, jumped ship — but hasn’t yet resigned as a legislator — and is now contesting on a Congress ticket. All the three candidates have years of political experience. Kishan Reddy is the state BJP president and a Union minister; Padma trict on April 28. The second FIR was filed following a kidnap complaint lodged on May 2 by another victim’s 20-year-old son in Mysuru district. Revanna has been arrested in the Mysuru case. Revanna’s confidant Satish Babanna is already under custody . SIT officers were trailing Revanna for four days. They had kept a hawk’s eye on him to ensure he did not escape anywhere considering that his son and party MP Prajwal scooted to Germany using a diplomatic passport this week. Officials had to wait for 45 minutes outside Deva Gowda’s residence before arresting Revanna as the doors were shut. Finally Revanna emerged , From left: Karan Brar, Karanpreet Singh and Kamalpreet Singh arrested in Canada in the Nijjar murder case | PTI having some kind of gang background. But he was yet to get any details. “We have never been given any proof by the Canada govern- ment. In fact, we have repeatedly told them if they have something, share with us. I am waiting for the Canada police to tell us more (about the persons they have arrested),” he said and added that they must produce proof if they do not have any political agenda. Jaishankar said, “One of our major concerns is that they (Canada) have allowed organised crime from their soil. They have given political legitimacy to Khalistani elements and underground gangsters for vote bank politics.” persions against these two leaders and ex-MLA MP Vincent before the Lok Sabha election. Speaking to reporters aft e r t h e rev i ew m e e t i n g , Muraleedharan, however, denied raising the issue. If Muraleedharan named some leaders, Raghavan claimed that a legislator from Wayanad and his loyalists stayed away from actively campaigning for him. He, however, did not name the legislator. Meanwhile, Adoor Prakash highlighted organisational lapses in his pursuit towards clinching a victory from Attingal which saw an intense three● More on P6 cornered fight. road rage row Mayor, MLA booked after court directive EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @T’Puram In a major setback to Mayor Arya Rajendran and her husband Sachin Dev, MLA, in the road rage controversy the Can, tonment Police on Saturday registered a case against the duo and three others who travelled with them. The case was registered following a directive from the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court Thiruv a n a n thapuram on a petition filed by KSRTC driver H L Yedu seeking action against the Arya Rajendran mayor and MLA. It’s lear nt that the charges imposed against them include unlawful assembly, Sachin Dev public nuisance, obstructing public transport and obstruction in public way . Earlier, despite complaints by the driver, the police had refused to register a case against the mayor and MLA. On Saturday H L Yedu also moved the court alleging police inaction. The court will consider the petition on Monday . In his petition before the court, Yedu had accused the mayor of obstructing his official duty and the MLA of trespassing into the bus and ● More on P6 threatening him. E xpress N ews S ervice @ T’Puram In a major decision aimed at crowd control at Sabarimala, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has decided to do away with the spot booking facility. Instead, booking through virtual queue will be allowed. It has also been decided to permit a maximum of 80,000 pilgrims to the hill shrine per day . TDB president P S Prasanth told TNIE that the decisions WITH THIS ISSUE were taken in view of the difficulties faced by the devotees during the last pilgrimage season. Going by the new decisions, only those who book through the virtual queue system can visit the temple. The bookings will start three months before the commencement of the pilgrimage season. In another significant move, the board decided not to appoint people from other states for Sabarimala duty on a daily ● More on P6 wage basis. Truth Be Retold PLUS 12 PAGES
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