BENGALURU WEDNESDAY JULY 03, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 26 LATE CITY EDITION DEUBA, OLI STRIKE POWER-SHARING DEAL TO OUST NEPAL PM PRACHANDA Nepali Congress and CPN-UML have inked a deal to form a new ‘national consensus government’ to replace the coalition govt led by Prachanda CHINA’S MAN OLI TO BE PM FOR NEXT 1.5 YRS PRACHANDA NOT TO QUIT, FACE TRUST VOTE Under the deal, Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba (78) and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist chairman K P Sharma Oli (72) will share the PM post on a rotational basis. The two leaders will share the premiership for one-and-a-half years each. Under the deal, Oli, known for his pro-China stance, will lead the government in the first phase ■ Nepali Congress, the largest party in the House of Representatives (HoR), has 89 seats, while CPN-UML has 78 seats. Their combined strength is 167, which is sufficient for a majority of 138 seats in the 275-member HoR | P15 ■ Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda (69) has refused to resign, saying he will rather face a trust vote 13 NUMBER OF GOVERNMENTS NEPAL HAS HAD IN THE PAST 16 YEARS 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 117 DEVOTEES DIE IN U.P. STAMPEDE SCORES INJURED IN MISHAP AT RELIGIOUS EVENT IN HATHRAS WOMEN, KIDS AMONG DEAD FIR REGISTERED AGAINST ORGANISERS PAST STAMPEDES AUG 27, 2003: 39 dead during Kumbh Mela in Nashik JAN 25, 2005: 340 trampled to death at Mandhardevi temple in Maharashtra’s Satara AUG 3, 2008: 162 dead, 47 injured at Naina Devi temple in Himachal’s Bilaspur SEPT 30, 2008: 250 devotees were killed at Chamunda Devi temple in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur MARCH 4, 2010: 63 killed at Ram Janki Temple in UP’s Pratapgarh district JAN 14, 2011: 104 killed in a stampede when a jeep crashed into Sabarimala pilgrims at Pulmedu OCT 13, 2013: 115 killed during Navratri festivities in MP’s Datia district JUL 14, 2015: 27 died at a major bathing spot at Godavari river in Rajahmundry, AP JAN 1, 2022 : 12 died at Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in J&K N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow AT least 117 people, including women and children, died due to suffocation and fatal injuries after a stampede broke out at a religious congregation in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district on Tuesday afternoon. Officials said the toll may go up as scores of people were seriously injured in the melee. HATHRAS The accident happened in Phulrai village of Ratibhanpur locality UTTAR under SikanPRADESH drau tehsil area of Hathras district around 3 pm Bodies of victims of the stampede lie in a bus, at Sikandra Rao in Hathras, Uttar The district where on Tuesday . Pradesh on Tuesday | PTI the satsang was According to being held Etah SP Rajesh KuWHO IS BHOLE BABA mar Singh, as soon as A former official with the intelligence wing of Uttar Pradesh Police, Suraj Pal turned the satsang (prayer meeting) Narayan Vishwa Hari Bhole Baba took voluntary retirement to pursue his spiritual call. got over, people who were packed in He conducts weekly prayer meets at various places every Tuesday, attracting many. Not a small hall rushed out. They fell a follower of any guru, he claims to have got divine vision straight from God over each other, leading to stampede. Aligarh Range IG Shalabh Mathur confirmed 117 deaths, DIFFERENT VERSIONS ON HOW IT HAPPENED while unofficial reports put the According to some reports, the tragedy may have happened when devotees tried to get number at 130. a glimpse of the Bhole Baba and collect some soil from around the baba’s feet. After the Police officials say a huge gathersatsang ended, the baba got up to leave. The place where he sat is considered sacred by ing of around 15,000 people had devotees. Many devotees rushed to the spot to collect soil, leading to stampede thronged the venue to attend the Modi slams Rahul with BJP SEEKS CBI PROBE Nothing wrong in his ‘balak buddhi’ barb MUDA allocating sites to wife: CM P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi IN a strong pushback against Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s fiery speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the country would not forgive the Congress MP for centuries for his hurtful comments about Hindus. Replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to President’s address in the Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister said, “People will not forgive them for centuries… Hindus are tolerant. A conspiracy was hatched to falsely accuse Hindus. It was said Hindus are violent. This is your character, thinking, and hatred.” Rahul had on Monday alleged that BJP leaders claim to be Hindus, but they talk only of violence and hatred. Many of his comments were later expunged by the Chair. In his more than two-hourlong speech, Modi repeatedly took potshots at Rahul and the Congress. Asserting that the Grand Old Party delivered its third worst performance in the general election and failed to reach the 250-mark after the 1984 polls, he said, “The country is telling him that you are not up to it.” The Lower House saw utter chaos throughout the speech as the Opposition staged protests and trooped into the well, raising slogans of ‘justice for Manipur’. Taking a swipe at Rahul, Modi called him ‘balak buddhi’ E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bengaluru REVISED NORMS ON OATH TAKING With AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi’s saying ‘Jai Palestine’ after taking his oath as a Lok Sabha member, the Speaker on Tuesday revised the guidelines, barring MPs from adding any words, expressions, prefixes or suffixes to the prescribed oath or affirmation in the Third Schedule | P9 (an adult with a child’s mind). “A new drama is being played to gain sympathy ‘I have been . beaten’ etc.,” he said, referring to Rahul’s charge that he was targeted in different criminal cases by the Central government. “The fact is that he is out on bail in a corruption case, was convicted for calling an OBC community thieves, and had to tender an apology before the Supreme Court for speaking lies,” Modi said. This ‘balak buddhi’ at times tries to hug someone in the House and sometime winks, he said. On the alleged irregularities in NEET-UG, Modi said his government is taking steps on a war footing to prevent their recurrence, adding the guilty will not be spared. Arrests are taking place across the country he , said. CHIEF Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday maintained that there was nothing wrong with the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) allotting sites to his wife. “The sites were given to us when the BJP was in power in the state. MUDA had developed sites in our three-acre-sixteen-gunta land near the ring road in Kesare (in Mysuru). It was my wife’s land,” he told reporters, responding to a question on alleged irregularities in MUDA. The land was purchased by Siddaramaiah’s brother-in-law Mallikarjuna, who had gifted it to his sister (the CM’s wife). “Knowingly or unknowingly, MUDA developed sites in our three-acre and 16-gunta land and distributed them. They had not acquired the land, but developed the sites,” the CM said. MUDA agreed to give Siddaramaiah’s wife 50% of the developed sites. “We asked them to give us sites as per the law and the government orders. We had made the request when BJP was in power. Since land was not available there, sites of equal measurement were given in another place. What is wrong with that,” the CM asked. He said it was done as per law and the decision to give sites on a 50:50 basis was taken when BJP was in power. The BJP however, demanded a probe into the , alleged irregularities. LoP R Ashoka asked who recommended alternative sites in an area with higher land prices. Terming it a Rs 4,000-crore scam, he sought a probe by the CBI or by a retired judge. Meanwhile, the government ordered a probe by two IAS officers to look into alleged irregularities and transferred top MUDA officials. Ashoka said the government-ordered probe is to cover up the wrongdoings in MUDA. P4 Aditya-L1 completes halo orbit around L1 E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bengaluru ADITYA-L1, India’s maiden mission to the Sun launched on September 2, 2023, has completed its first halo orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrange 1 point, ISRO announced on Tuesday . The observatory satellite was inserted into its targeted halo orbit on January 6, 2024. The spacecraft has taken 178 days to complete a revolution around the L1 point. This extraordinary feat and crucial manoeuvre was possible because of the Aditya-L1 halo orbit SUN EARTH India’s Aditya-L1 solar observation spacecraft took 178 days to complete its first revolution around the L1 point on Tuesday state-of-the-art flight dynamics software developed inhouse at UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) in Bengaluru. Completing the orbit has made the software fully reliable, and validated the capability of Aditya-L1 missions. The spacecraft took a precise threedimensional trajectory The final fir. ing of the thrusters on July 2 placed the spacecraft back in the required orbit. If an accurate firing was not done, the spacecraft would have moved away from the designated orbit. CONTINUED ON: P10 satsang held by Bhole Baba, a popular preacher who has followers in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana. The venue was packed to the brim. “The number of attendees exceeded the administration’s permitted limit at the venue, leading to a stampede during Bhole Baba’s satsang,” a statement by the state government said. An FIR has been registered against the organisers and the baba, who is reportedly absconding. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the government will thoroughly investigate whether it was a ‘tragedy or a conspiracy’ and take action against those responsible. He also constituted a probe team comprising Additional Director General of Police Agra zone Anupam Kulshreshtha and Aligarh Divisional Commissioner Chaitra V to ascertain the reasons for the mishap. He has sought the probe report within 24 hours. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia compensation of `2 lakh to the family of the deceased and `50,000 each to the injured. The Uttar Pradesh government will also give similar compensation to the victims. EXPRESS READ Bengal Guv blames TMC govt for violence Kolkata: West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Tuesday slammed the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in the state and held it responsible for the series of mob attacks that claimed several lives | P10 Bescom ex-AEE gets 3 yrs in jail for graft BENGALURU: The Special Court to deal with cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act sentenced a former assistant executive engineer (AEE) of Bescom to three years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore | P3 6 men drown after coracle overturns VIJAYAPURA: At least six persons, out of eight, were feared to have drowned after the coracle they were in, overturned at the Baluti jackwell in the Krishna river near Kolhar town, around 45 km from Vijayapura city, on Tuesday | P5
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