chennai l sunday l may 12, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 30 l late city EDITION Solar storm hits earth, creating light shows in North Hemisphere The Sun emitted two strong solar flares on May 10-11 at 9.23 pm and 7.44 am, US EDT, according to NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory Britain skies witnessed Northern Lights Starlink satellites under pressure The greenish hues, also known as the Northern Lights were prominently on display in Britain on Friday night. The Northern Lights are expected to continue into the weekend and possibly next week. People posted pictures of the Northern Lights on social media captured on their cellphones. The Hanle Dark Sky Reserve in Himalayas reported a crimson glow in Ladakh ■ The US NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit to take precautions. The flares could damage high-voltage transmission lines of power grids and satellites, disrupting navigation and communication services ■ Xinhua reported that communications and navigations in most of China will be impacted in the weekend, adding the country has issued a red alert | P15 11-yr cycle Heightened activity in sun is witnessed as it approaches its peak 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 Modi to stay PM till 2029: Shah E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during a road show at Mehrauli in New Delhi on Saturday | Shekhar Yadav Interview Asserting that Narendra Modi will be the prime minister till 2029, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday clarified that there was no confusion in the party in this regard. He was responding to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s barb on the informal 75-year age cap in the BJP to hold electoral office. Speaking at a press conference here, Shah asserted, “I want to tell this to Arvind Kejriwal and company and the INDIA bloc that you have nothing to be happy about Modiji turning 75. There is no such provision in the BJP’s constitution. Modi will complete this tenure and continue to lead the country in the future. There is no confusion in the BJP .” He alleged that the INDIA bloc leaders knew the NDA would cross 400 seats and had resorted to spreading misconceptions. Shah rubbished al- shah says no change in quota policy legations that the BJP would scrap reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs. Despite full majority in Parliament in the last two terms, the BJP never initiated any steps as alleged by the Congress, Shah said. He added that the BJP priorities were the construction of the Ram Mandir, abrogation of Article 370, reservations for women, and continuing SC, ST and OBC quotas. Responding to recent comments by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, Shah asserted that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir belongs to India. Union home minister and BJP’s chief strategist Amit Shah alleges that Congress wants to snatch away SC/ST and OBC quotas and give them to Muslims, as they did in K’taka | P11 Modi playing the game of 1 nation, 1 leader: Kejriwal 20% TN transformers in use beyond lifespan Claims Mamata, Uddhav, Stalin, Tejashwi could end up in jail as well An u p Ve r m a @ New Delhi Out on a 21-day interim bail ordered by the Supreme Court, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday was scathing in his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP accusing them of , orchestrating a perilous game of ‘one nation, one leader.’ Kejriwal also sought to stir the leadership pot within the BJP, speculating on Modi’s successor as the prime minister. The chief minister alleged that his incarceration was a “Modi move to quell opposition voices as AAP was a potential threat to the BJP”. “Mamata Banerjee, M K Stalin, Uddhav Thackeray and Tejashwi Yadav could face similar suppression if Modi secures victory in the Lok Sabha polls,” he said. In his first press conference after coming out of Tihar jail, the AAP chief cited instances of what he said was the diminishing stature of veteran BJP leaders like L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Manohar Lal Khattar. “Ours is a very small party, it has governments in just two states; it is a 10-year-old party. The prime minister left no stone unturned in crushing it,” he claimed. “Our top leaders have been jailed. If top leaders of big parties go to jail, the sc order cited youth weds survivor, HC acquits him in Pocso case R SIVA K U M AR @ Chennai The Madras High Court has set aside the conviction and 20 years imprisonment awarded to a youth by a trial court for sexual assault of a minor girl in 2021. The court took into account their subsequent marriage, after the girl turned 18, for ordering the acquittal. Justice M Nirmal Kumar passed the orders while allowing an appeal filed by the youth who was convicted by the Special Court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act Case s i n T i r u va n n a m a l a i district in 2023 for penetra- tive sexual assault of the 16year-old girl who was studying Class XI at the time of the incident. The judge cited Supreme Court’s orders and observations in two cases which stated that courts cannot shut their eyes to ground reality and disturb the happy family life of appellant as well as the victim-girl in Pocso cases. “The conviction and sentence imposed on the appellant is set aside. He is acquitted of all charges,” the HC order said. With the acquittal, the ‘stigma of criminal case and conviction’ no longer existed, Justice Nirmal Kumar said. P9 party is seen as finished,” said Kejriwal. “He (PM) thought that AAP would be finished, but this is not a party but a thought, the more they (BJP) try to finish it, the more would it grow.” The AAP leader also alleged a ‘war of succession’ involving UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Modi. “It is Yogi’s turn. If Modi wins the election, he will change the UP CM within two months,” he claimed. “Many people ask me: ‘Who is the PM candidate of the INDIA bloc’? I ask the BJP: who will be your PM? Modi ji turns 75 in September next year. Modi ji made a rule that whoever is aged 75 years will retire. So, I want to ask the BJP, who is your PM candidate after next year?” said Kejriwal. S GURUVA N M I K A N ATHA N @ Chennai The recent fire accident at the Pattabiram substation near Avadi on the outskirts of Chennai has brought into focus the need for Tangedco to replace many of its substation transformers that are being used beyond their lifespan. The accident triggered power outage WITH THIS ISSUE An Infinity of Promise PLUS 12 P AGES Kharge counterpunch at Election Commission P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi The war of words between Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and the Election Commission (EC) continued on Saturday as the former shot off another letter in response to the poll body’s strong rebuttal on voter turnout data. In a post on X, Kharge said it was surprising how the EC responded to his “open letter” while ignoring other complaints. “The open letter is addressed to our alliance partners and not to the Commission. Surprisingly the EC wanted to respond to this letter , while ignoring several other complaints given directly to it,” Kharge wrote. Kharge also expressed his misgivings about the language of the letter by the poll body and said he will not press on the issue as the agency is under pressure. BJP sees red as Left tries to grab Begusarai RA M ASHA N K AR @ Patna Illustration: Mandar Pardikar Begusarai, once known as the Leningrad of Bihar, dramatically took a right turn in the past two Lok Sabha elections, riding on the back of the Modi wave. This time, however, the Communist Party of India (CPI) is working overtime to wrest its stronghold from the BJP . Unlike 2019, it’s going to be a direct contest between the BJP and the Opposition bloc. The BJP has fielded Union minister and its fire brand leader Giriraj Singh (71) as its candidate again. He is locked in a tough fight with CPI’s Awadhesh Kumar Rai (72), two-time MLA from Bachhwada assembly constituency in Begusarai district. Rai is the joint candidate of the Opposition INDIA bloc comprising the RJD, the Congress, and three Left parties. The candidature of Rai, a Yadav by caste (OBC), shows the Left party’s intent to tap the RJD’s solid MY (Muslim-Yadav) support base. In the 2019 election, Giriraj had won the seat by defeating CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar (now with the Congress) by a margin of over 4 lakh votes. This time, the CPI’s optimism stems from two factors -- anti-incum- Awadhesh Kumar Rai and Giriraj Singh (R) bency against Giriraj and the Opposition’s joint fight against the BJP. In 2019, the RJD, a major regional party , had also fielded its candidate, Tanveer Hasan, who polled 2 lakh votes, splitting the anti-BJP votes. “Giriraj is facing the ire of voters. He has done nothing for the welfare of the people in the past five years. All he did was to raise the banner of ‘Hindutva’ without missing any opportunity to hurl abuses on Muslims. Will the people of Begusarai vote for him for this?” asks Randhir Kumar Singh, a resident of Rosera. Randhir, who owns a departmental store in the sub-divisional town, says that even those belonging to Giriraj Singh’s caste (Bhumihars) are not happy with him. Randhir’s anger against the BJP nominee is corroborated by Vijay Kumar Singh, a retired government employee of Begusarai town. “Giriraj mainly is relying on ‘Modi magic’ to win the election this time again,” he remarks. for 30,000 consumers for an entire night and plunged the area into darkness. While the nor mal lifespan of 16 Megavolt Ampere (MVA) transformers widely used by Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) in substations is 20 years, about 20% or 800 of them have crossed their lifespan. About 4,000 transformers are currently in use at 1,949 substations across Tamil Nadu, sources said. A senior Tangedco official said while distribution transformers cost anywhere between `5 lakh and `20 lakh, substation transformers cost `30 lakh to `1 crore apiece. Procuring new substation transformers to replace the 20% old ones may cost anywhere between `240 crore and `800 crore. “We have nearly 200 substation transformers in stock. Whenever necessary, we replace the old ones,” the official said. CONTINUED ON P9
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