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 ■ ■ HYDERABAD MONDAY JULY 22, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 12 LATE CITY EDITION BIDEN QUITS U.S. PRESIDENTIAL RACE Endorses Kamala Harris as the new nominee; first prez to abandon campaign for re-election over concerns of mental acuity A G E N C I E S @ Washington AFTER ignoring calls to quit the presidential race for weeks, US President Joe Biden on Sunday dropped out of the presidential election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s new nominee. The dramatic announcement came less than a month before the Democratic National Convention, set to start on August 19. The 81-year-old was under tremendous pressure from Democrats following a disastrous debate perfor mance. Biden’s decision to leave the race, though not unexpected, would force Republican candidate Donald Trump to change his strategy . “While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden said in a letter on X while recovering from Covid at his beach house in Delaware. Biden said he would “speak to the nation later this week in more detail about my decision.” He later added that he was backing Harris — who is the first female, Black and South Asian vice president in US history and , will now be aiming to become its first female commander-in-chief. “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,” Biden said on X. “Democrats - it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.” Biden is the first president in US history to pull out so late in an election race, and the first to bow out because of concerns over his mental acuity and health. Budget session to be stormy as Oppn, allies raise heat RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi DROPPING hints that the Budget session of Parliament starting Monday is going to be stormy, the all-party meeting on Sunday saw Opposition parties demanding discussion on a number of contentious issues, including the NEET fiasco, the UP government’s order to eateries on the Kanwar Yatra route, among others. Misuse of central agencies, Centre-state relations, and Lok Sabha deputy speaker post were among the other issues the Opposition parties wanted discussion on. But what will put the BJP-led government in a tricky situation is the demand by the Opposition as well as some BJP allies JD(U) and LJP for special status NEET, Kanwar yatra pleas in SC today The SC will on Monday hear a batch of petitions related to the NEET-UG 2024. The apex court will also hear a petition against the Uttar Pradesh government’s order that eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route must display the names of their owners for states. The JD(U), the BJD and the YSR Congress Party demanded the status for Bihar, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, respectively As many as 55 leaders from 44 parties attended the meeting. In a bid to signal its political outreach, the government had invited a number of smaller par- Economic Survey to be presented today The Economic Survey 2023-24 will be presented in the Lok Sabha at 1 pm and in the Rajya Sabha at 2 pm on Monday. The survey gives details about the economic progress the country made in the previous year. The Union Budget will be presented on Tuesday | P10 ties, including some having only one MP. While most opposition parties participated in the meeting, the Trinamool Congress chose to skip it. At the meeting, which lasted for over three hours, the Congress batted for the post of deputy speaker in the Lok Sabha for Opposition while the AAP B’desh SC dials down govt job quota behind deadly unrest BONALU TIME Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on his way to the Ujjaini Mahankali temple in Secunderabad to participate in Bonalu festival on Sunday | SRI A G E N C I E S @ Dhaka THE Bangladesh Supreme Court on Sunday pared back the contentious quotas for government jobs after days of clashes between students and security forces that have killed at least 155 people. Protests erupted after a lower court last month ordered that a scheme, that reserved 56% of government jobs for select applicants, be brought back. It had been scrapped by the Sheikh Hasina government in 2018 amid protests by youngsters. Critics accused the government of using the scheme to stack public jobs with loyalists to Hasina’s ruling Awami League. The Supreme Court on Sunday decided that the lower court’s order to reintroduce the scheme was “illegal”. The court curtailed the number of reserved jobs from 56% to 7%. It reserved 5% of all government jobs for the children “freedom fighters” who took part in the 1971 liberation war, down from 30%. One percent is reserved for tribal communities, and another one percent for people with disabilities. The remaining 93% posts would be decided on merit, the court ruled. raised serious concerns against the alleged misuse of central agencies such as ED and CBI. Defence minister Rajnath Singh, who chaired the meet, appealed to all parties for the smooth conduct of Parliament. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government is willing to discuss all issues in accordance with the rules. Most Opposition parties criticised the Uttar Pradesh government’s fiat that eateries and shops along the Kanwar Yatra route must display owners’ names, terming it ‘communal and divisive’. The Budget session will have 19 sittings till August 12 when the government is expected to present six bills, including the one to replace the 90-year-old Aircraft Act. LOGANATHAN VELMURUGAN CM to invite Rahul to crop loan waiver celebration meet E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad CHIEF Minister A Revanth Reddy who , arrived in Delhi on Sunday is scheduled , to meet Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and invite him to a public meeting to be held in Warangal to celebrate the implementation of the crop loan waiver scheme. The state Congress is planning to hold the meeting in the third week of August. The ruling party seeks to project the fulfilment of the crop loan waiver promise made by Rahul Gandhi nearly two years ago as a landmark event. It may be recalled that at the Farmers’ Declaration rally in Warangal, Rahul promised to implement loan waiver if the Congress came to power in Telangana. Within seven months of assuming office, Revanth Reddy managed to overcome financial challenges to mobilise approximately `32,000 crore for waiver of crop loans. The Revanth government credited first tranche of `6,000 crore towards waiver of crop loans of farmers up to `1 lakh. In the next phase, the government aims to waive loans up to `2 lakh, with plans to complete the scheme implementation by August 15. In addition to the loan waiver, the Congress government has been proactive in delivering on other pre-poll promises, the six guarantees. It is implementing free transportation for women, providing gas cylinders at `500, supplying free electricity up to 200 units to the poor apart from enhancing the Aarogyasri health insurance coverage to `10 lakh. 2 washed away as rain continues in state A A R T I K A S H YA P @ Hyderabad Light rain till July 27 TWO persons were washed away in streams in erstwhile Adilabad district and first warning was sounded at Bhadrachalam as water level in the Godavari rose to 44 feet following continuous rains in the state on Sunday Mulugu recorded 120.3 . mm rainfall followed by Hanamkonda at 82 mm, as per a TGDPS report. Minimum temperatures dropped by 40 C with incessant rains for the past 72 hours in several districts. Irrigation projects continued to receive copious inflows. Medak recorded the lowest minimum tempera- Light to moderate rains will continue in the state till July 27 and IMD has issued a yellow warning for thunderstorms accompanied with lightning and gusty winds of around 30-40 kmph till July 23 in many districts. Water level rises rapidly in Godavari at Bhadrachalam on Sunday ture of 19.60 C, according to the IMD data. Light to moderate rains with thunderstorms and surface winds of around 40 kmph were recorded in Bhadradri-Kothagudem, Hyderabad, Jagtial, Janagaon, Jayashankar-Bhupalapally, Kamareddy, Karimnagar, Khammam, KumurambheemAsifabad, Mahabubabad, Mahubnagar, Mulugu, Nagarkurnool, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Peddapalli, Rajanna-Sircilla, Rangareddy , Sangareddy Siddipet, Surypet, , Vikarabad, Warangal, Hanamkonda, Yadadri-Bhuvangiri CONTINUED ON P2 districts. Trump quickly reacted, saying Biden had not been “fit to run” or “fit to serve” as president. House Speaker Mike Johnson also called for Biden’s resignation. “If Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president. He must resign immediately he said. ,” Biden spent more than three weeks resisting calls to step down following the shock of the June 27 debate, at one point insisting that only the “Lord Almighty” could convince him to back out. To show he was up to the job, he gave a number of interviews, but P9 made further gaffes. WHAT NEXT With Biden stepping aside, Democrats will technically begin an open convention next month Biden has endorsed Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee. She must work to win support of 4,000 delegates and 700 super delegates Given Harris’ strong support among Black women, analysts say it would be risky for Democrats to pass her over for a white nominee Others that could be considered are: Governors Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer and Josh Shapiro MAHA CAMPAIGN In rare attack on Pawar, Amit Shah calls him ‘ringleader of corruption’ S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai UNION home minister Amit Shah on Sunday launched an unusually blistering attack on Opposition leader Sharad Pawar, calling him the ‘sargana of corruption’ (ring leader of corruption). Shah’s attack drew an equally sharp response from the NCP (SP), which called the BJP, “a washing machine” that legitimises corruption. Shah was speaking at the BJP’s state convention in Pune, kick-starting the party’s elections campaign for the upcoming assembly elections. “They (Opposition) talk about corruption, but the biggest leader of corruption in Indian politics is Sharad Pawar and I have no confusion when I say this. Sharad Pawar institutionalised corruption in many governments of this country Shah ,” alleged. Shah also said whenever Sharad Pawar’s government comes to power, Maratha reservations go out. “Therefore, if we want Maratha res- ervations, Sharad Pawar should not be voted to power,” Shah added. He said Rahul Gandhi has become arrogant after the Opposition’s surprisingly strong performance in the Lok Sabha polls. “Once we win... assembly polls later this year, Rahul Gandhi’s arrogance will be crushed,” Shah said. Responding to Shah’s attack on Pawar, NCP (SP) spokesperson Clyde Crasto said, “They accuse political leaders of corruption, and then once those who they accuse join BJP, they are all given a clean chit.”
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