MADURAI  MONDAY  MAY 13, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 12  LATE CITY EDITION WITH A NEIGHBOUR LIKE CHINA, INDIA MUST LEARN TO COMPETE: JAISHANKAR Boosting domestic manufacturing will help India grow its influence and compete with China, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said ‘DIPLOMACY IS A WORK OF PATIENCE’ Speaking to PTI on the border dispute, he reiterated that there cannot be a normal relationship between India and China, as long as there is no peace and tranquillity at the border. “If somebody is at your front door in an unfriendly manner, you are not going to go out there and act as though everything is normal,” he said, adding that diplomacy is a work of patience ■ 12.87% ADDING MUSCLE TO INDIA’S FOREIGN POLICY ■ On boosting domestic manufacturing, Jaishankar said building strength at home will allow India to pursue a strong foreign policy “If I can build up my manufacturing... I think you are going to find the foreign policy has much more resources and much more tools in its toolkit to actually influence the world,” the external affairs minister explained AVERAGE YEARLY GROWTH OF INDIA-CHINA BILATERAL TRADE BETWEEN 2015 AND 2022 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 Close contests expected in Bihar’s Begusarai and Ujiyarpur, Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi THE electoral fate of Union minister Giriraj Singh, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi, and TMC’s firebrand leader Mohua Moitra will be decided on Monday as the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held across 10 states and Union territories. This phase of polling is keenly watched because a number of political heavyweights, including four Union ministers, are seeking re-election. Giriraj Singh and MoS Home Affairs Nityanand Rai are fighting from Bihar’s Begusarai and Ujiyarpur, respectively, while MoS Ajay Mishra Teni, whose son is an accused in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, is eyeing a hat-trick from the Uttar Pradesh constituency. Another Union minister, Arjun Munda, is looking to keep his seat from Jharkhand’s Khunti. Nityanand Rai, considered to be right-hand of top BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, is pitted against RJD candidate Alok Kumar Mehta in the Kushwaha-Yadav-dominated Ujiyarpur LS seat in Bihar for a third consecutive term. Among the other prominent candidates are actor-turned politicians Shatrughan Sinha (TMC), who is contesting from West Bengal’s Asansol, Asadud- PHASE 4 FACTOIDS Sabha seats going 96 Lokpolls in 10 States/UTs to 17.7 crore 1,717 eligible topeople vote, candidates of which 8.73 in the fray are women All 25 seats in Andhra, 17 in Telangana, 13 in UP, 11 in Maharashtra, 8 each in MP and West Bengal, 5 in Bihar, 4 in Jharkhand, 4 in Odisha, and 1 in Jammu & Kashmir going to polls ANDHRA ASSEMBLY POLLS Voting to take place for all 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, which is facing a triangular contest involving YSRC, Congress-led INDIA bloc, and the NDA comprising BJP, TDP, and Jana Sena Party. Twenty-eight Assembly seats of Odisha are also going to polls din Owaisi who is pitted against BJP’s Madhavi Latha in Hyderabad, and Andhra Congress chief Y S Sharmila (Kadapa). Akhilesh Yadav, who entered the fray at the last minute by replacing his nephew Tej Pratap, is seeking to wrest SP family bastion Kannauj from the BJP TMC’s Mahua Moitra, . who was expelled from the Lok Sabha over the cash-for-query allegations, is seeking re-election from Krishnanagar. The fifth phase of polls will be held on May 20. Heavy rains predicted in TN dists till May 16; mercury may remain high in northern pockets E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai IN what could further bring the heat down in some parts of the state, the Regional Meteorological Centre has predicted heavy rain in isolated places over Tamil Nadu from Sunday until May 16. South Tamil Nadu is likely to benefit most from the heavy rains, with the weatherman predicting downpours in Dindigul, Theni, Virudhunagar, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli, Sivaganga and Kanniyakumari districts, while the western districts of Namakkal, Salem, Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Nilgiris are also expected to see heavy showers on Thursday . Furthermore, light to moderate rainfall is expected in some other parts of the state, while one or two places over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal , area may witness thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds with up to 30-40 kmph speed until May 18, the bulletin added. In the interior districts of the state, temperature will still re- Pawar vs Vikhe Patil clan joust in Ahmednagar S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai WHEN Maharashtra revenue minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil’s son Sujay failed to get the Congress ticket for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he joined the BJP and won the Ahmednagar seat by 2,77,597 votes against the NCP’s Sangram Jagtap. This time, Jagtap is on Sujay’s side since the former is part of the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP Yet, . Sujay is facing a tough contest as his challenger is Nilesh Lanke of Sharad Pawar's NCP. Lanke resigned as NCP MLA from Parner and joined the Sharad Pawar faction to enter the poll fray . The Ahmednagar LS seat has been a BJP bastion for the past 20 years. For the first time, it has been challenged by someone who is well connected at the grassroots level. Known for his simplicity, Lanke is just a phone call away for not just for party workers but the common citizen as well. Although the contest is between Sujay and Lanke, its roots lie in a decades-old feud between Sharad Pawar and the Vikhe Patil clan spanning three generations. Sujay’s grandfather Balasaheb Vikhe Patil and Sharad Pawar were locked in a tussle over controlling co-operative sugar factories in the region. In 1991, the then Congress leader Sharad Pawar denied Balasaheb the Ahmednagar ticket. Ahead of 2019 polls, Radhakrishna—who was then Pravaranagar in Ahmednagar district. Besides, Sujay has a vast network of medical and engineering colleges in the district. The Ahmednagar Lok Sabha constituency has six assembly segments, two of which elected BJP MLAs, one is held by Ajit Pawar’s NCP and the rest by the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP . For Sujay, his father Radhakrishna’s constituency Rahat falling in the Shirdi Lok Sabha seat is a disadvantage. He also committed the blunder of mocking Lanke’s lack of fluency in English and Hindi. It was seen as an affront by the Marathi speaking masses. Lanke craftily turned it into a rich versus common citizen narrative. Besides, Lanke’s free Covid relief centres at Parner have good recall value. Sujay is banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma, the party’s electoral machinery and his own network for his reelection. When the poll verdict is announced on June 4, the Ahmednagar outcome would be keenly watched. Ahmednagar goes to polls on May 13. EXPRESS READ Annamalai to be prosecuted CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu government has given nod to prosecute BJP state president K Annamalai under various sections of the IPC, by the order of the governor, following a recent complaint from a Salem resident that was forwarded by the district collector | P4 Goondas Act on ‘Savukku’ CHENNAI: YouTuber ‘Savukku’ Shankar was detained under the Goondas Act by the orders of Chennai city police commissioner Sandeep Rai Rathore on Sunday. The order was served to the YouTuber who is presently imprisoned at Coimbatore jail | P4 IIT JEE + CBSE + NEET Demo Before You Decide! Try the Unique Learning Methodology Developed by Expert Teachers E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Mysuru FREE LESSONS On Crucial Topics Physics, Chemistry, Maths & Biology Class 7 to 12 Each lesson has Concept Video Lecture fr Learn om s In dia’ BEST ers Teach Solved Video Example Practice Question Skill Development Exercise Available on Scan the QR code for further details *Basis lab test in controlled environment on protein damaged hair after five washes REGISTER NOW! KEJRIWAL KI GUARANTEE Good education and health facilities, 24X7 power supply, two crore new jobs every year, ending Chinese occupation of Indian land are among 10 guarantees announced by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal | P7 with the Congress—had lobbied hard for Sujay’s nomination from Ahmednagar. But Pawar refused to let the constituency go to the Congress and fielded Jagtap. Both Sujay and Radhakrishna then defected to the BJP . Sujay has a powerful family legacy His father is a minister, as was . his grandfather. His great grandfather Vithalrao started Asia’s first co-operative sugar factory at Nilesh Lanke (left) and Sujay Vikhe Patil Alleged victim in HD Revanna case says she was not kidnapped IN a major twist in the sexual assault case in which JDS MLA HD Revanna was arrested, a video clip has surfaced on social media, in which a woman said to be the victim, says was not kidnapped and Revanna and his son Prajwal Revanna are innocent. The woman was a domestic help at Revanna’s residence when she was allegedly sexually assaulted. The video comes a day ahead of Revanna’s bail plea is to be heard in a special court on Monday In the short clip, . the woman says she had visited her relative’s house in Hunsur for a few days. But when she saw the news on TV channels that her son Raju had filed a police complaint against Revanna, his close aide Satish Babu and Prajwal, she was shocked, she claimed. “I was worried why my son had filed a complaint when I was not kidnapped by anybody. I want to clarify that Revanna, Prajwal Revanna and Babanna (Satish Babu) did not harm me. They have looked after me very well. I have no connection to the video (sleaze video of Prajwal RevanHD Revanna na) released on mobile phones. Nobody harmed me. I have not done anything wrong. I was shocked after news was aired regarding my son filing the police complaint,” she said. The woman also assured the family members she is fine and will return home soon. “Nobody should panic. I am in a safe place. I request the police not to harass my family members by visiting our house. As there are small children in our house, they will get scared. As we are labourers, our neighbours will see our family in low light if the police regularly visit our house. Leave us alone. If we face any problem, we will approach the police station. But right now, we have no problem. If my family members suffer any problem, then the police will be responsible. My son had filed a complaint in panic as I was away in a relative’s house,” she said. main 2-3°C above normal, likely hitting 40-41°C in isolated pockets over the plains of the north interior districts, and 37-39°C over the plains of the rest of the state, and 34-37°C over coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal. , For Chennai, light or moderate rain is predicted in some areas for the next 48 hours (starting Sunday afternoon). Maximum and minimum temperature are likely to be 35-36°C and 29-30°C, respectively . On Sunday, Devakkottai in Krishnagiri received 3.2 cm of rainfall, Yercaud got 1.7 cm, Salem 1.3 cm, and Tirupattur 1.2 cm. ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR Poll fate of four ministers to be sealed today Scan the QR code for the Registration 9600100090 9600100020