tirupati l thursday l february 06, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION U.S. will ‘take over’ Gaza Strip, redevelop it: donald Trump Trump made these remarks on Tuesday during a joint press conference in the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gaza bet worth pursuing, says netanyahu Appalled U.S. allies, foes reject idea Trump said he envisions a redeveloped Gaza like “the Riviera of the Middle East.” “We’ll own it and dismantle all unexploded bombs ... level the site, create economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs.” Netanyahu, when asked about the US taking over Gaza, said, “I think it’s something that could change history. it’s worth pursuing this avenue.” ■ ■ Egypt, Jordan and other American allies rejected Donald Trump’s idea of relocating more than 2 million Palestinians from Gaza. Australia said it supports a two-state solution in the Middle East | P9 Democratic senator Chris Coons said, “This risks the world thinking we are an unreliable partner as our president makes insane proposals” 40 mins length of the presser where Trump got the gaza brainwave 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 largest Pollsters see BJP ‘Capital gain’ India is 2ndAltman AI market: P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Holy dip Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Sangam during the Maha Kumbh Mela, in Prayagraj on Wednesday | PTI Action against 18 ‘non-Hindu’ TTD employees E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Tirumala With the high-stakes assembly election in Delhi coming to a close on Wednesday, several pollsters predicted the return of the BJP to power after 27 years, with a clear majority. Exit poll predictions often go awry, but they get it right this time around, it will be a huge setback for the ruling AAP, which is seeking a third consecutive term in office. As for the voter turnout, it stood at 60.42% as of 11 pm, creeping towards the 2020 figure of 62.59%. Seven of 10 exit polls predicted anywhere 39-50 seats for the BJP and 20-25 for AAP. Seven pollsters predicted not more than three seats for the Congress, which is fighting for revival in Delhi. In the 70-member Delhi assembly, 36 is the majority mark. While People’s Pulse gave a sweeping 51-60 seats for t h e B J P - l e d N DA , Chanakya Strategies predicted 39-44 to it. The P-Marq exit poll predicted 39-49 seats for the BJP and @ Vijayawada IT and HRD Minister Nara Lokesh has challenged YSRCP President and former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to a debate to discuss the investments the State secured over the past five years under the previous regime, compared to the last eight months under the TDP-led NDA government. Speaking to the media in Delhi on Wednesday, Lokesh said he was ready for a discussion with Jagan. In response to Jagan’s remarks that Jagananna 2.0 would focus on protecting and supporting party workers, Lokesh retorted, “People are still reeling from the atrocities of Jagan 1.0. They have not forgotten the attacks, land encroachments, various scams, and the physical and mental torture inflicted on all sections of society He pointed out that .” @ New Delhi People after casting votes during the Delhi Assembly elections, at Jamia Nagar in Okhla, New Delhi, on Wednesday | PTI Exit poll predictions Source AAP BJP+ Cong Chanakya Strategies 25-28 Total seats 36 Halfway mark 2-3 DV Research 70 39-44 26-34 36-44 0-0 JVC 22-31 39-45 0-2 Matrize 32-37 35-40 0-1 Mind Brink 44-49 21-25 0-1 P-Marq 21-31 39-49 0-1 People’s Insight 25-29 40-44 0-2 Peoples Pulse 10-19 51-60 0-0 Poll Diary 18-25 42-50 0-2 WeePreside 46-52 18-23 0-1 Poll Of Polls 30 39 1 Jagan vows to protect interests of YSRCP activists in Jagananna 2.0 Vijayawada: YSRCP President and former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has made it clear that Jagananna 2.0 will function differently, focusing on protecting and supporting every party activist. Jagan strongly criticised the harassment of YSRCP cadre under the NDA government | P4 State govt constitutes 17-member board to manage APSRTC for 2 yrs Vijayawada: The State government on Wednesday constituted a board of directors to manage the APSRTC for a tenure of two years. The new board, comprising 17 members, will be responsible for making decisions to ensure smooth operation of the public transport department | P3 h a r p r e e t b a j w a @ Chandigarh rangements were being made to send all deportees to their homes following background checks, an official said. Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal, who met some deportees at the airport, appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene on behalf of Indians facing deportation in the US. Jaspal Singh from Hardorawal in Gurdaspur reached home late in the evening and told local television channels that he had paid `30 lakh to an agent to reach the US through the ‘donkey route’. “US authorities kept me in a camp. We were handcuffed and put on a plane back to India,” he said. IT Minister N Lokesh taking blessings of former PM HD Deve Gowda | Express investigations into the alleged liquor, mining, and sand scams are ongoing, and action will be taken against those responsi- retained under scor express read 19 women among 104 deportees in first batch from the US arrive A US air force aircraft carrying 104 Indian immigrants from different states landed in Amritsar on Wednesday the , first such batch of Indians deported by the Donald Trump dispensation as part of his crackdown against illegal immigration in that country . Of the deportees, 33 each are from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh, sources said. The deportees include 19 women and 13 minors. The US action comes just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington. The C-17 Globemaster landed at the Amritsar airport at 1.55 pm, where a posse of police personnel were deployed, flanked by some anxious relatives of those who were sent back. All deportees were questioned inside the airport by government agencies, including officials from Ministry of External Affairs and Home Affairs. Ar- Express News Service TWO years after dismissing India’s AI potential as ‘hopeless’, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Wednesday acknowledged that India has grown to become the second biggest market for his firm’s flagship product, the ChatGPT, after the US. Altman, while discussing India’s progress in AI alongside Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw at an event in Delhi, said Open AI has tripled its users in India in the past year. Praising India’s rapid optimisation of the new technology, he said: “The innovation that’s happening, what people are building [in India], it’s really incredible. We’re excited to do much, much more here, and I think it’s (the Indian AI program) a great plan.” During his first visit to India in June 2023, Altman had termed the country’s ability to develop a foundational model similar to ChatGPT “totally hopeless”, suggesting that India would be better off without FinMin asks staff not to use ai apps The finance ministry has directed its officers not to use AI tools/ apps such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek in office devices or computers, saying they pose confidentiality risks to data and documents | P10 trying to create its own model. He later claimed his words were taken out of context. Altman says training AI models is still expensive but it is becoming increasingly feasible, so India can take the lead in AI development. His shift in tone comes in the wake of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek creating a foundational model at a fraction of the cost of OpenAI’s offerings. The rise of DeepSeek has put pressure on OpenAI and other Western firms to lower prices to remain competitive. Lokesh challenges Jagan for debate on investments Express News Service The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has taken disciplinary action against 18 employees, who were allegedly practising non-Hindu faiths, on Wednesday They . have also been barred from attending all religious and spiritual events conducted by the temple body . TTD Executive Officer J Syamala Rao issued a memo stating that 18 non-Hindu employees were participating in non-Hindu religious activities while also taking part in Hindu festivals and functions organised by the TTD. This has compromised the sanctity and sentiments of millions of Hindu devotees. Despite disciplinary action, these employees continued to engage in non-Hindu religious practices, tarnishing the prestige of the TTD. According to TTD officials, these employees had sworn an oath to follow Hindu religious practices. However, it has come to light that they have been actively engaging in non-Hindu rituals, which has raised concerns about the impact on the sanctity of the temple and the sentiments of devotees. Consequently the TTD has barred these , employees from participating in its religious functions until further notice and directed them not to participate in any TTDrelated religious prog rammes. Furthermore, the TTD EO instructed department heads not to assign these employees to temple or religious programme-relatP4 ed work.  its allies, 21-31 for AAP and 0-1 for the Congress. However, two surveys — Wee Preside and Mind Brink — predicted a sweeping victory for the AAP According to Wee Pre. side, AAP is expected to get 4652 seats, restricting BJP to 18-23 seats. The Mind Brink survey predicted 44-49 seats for AAP and 21-25 for the saffron party . If most of the pollsters get it right, it will be a body blow for the Congress — which was hoping to rise like a Phoenix — after the reverses in Haryana and Maharashtra. The gloves were off as the Congress and the AAP both IN, DIA bloc allies, unleashed an all out war against each other during the election campaign. However, most of the other constituents of the bloc, including the Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) extended support to the AAP They also endorsed TMC . chief Mamata Banerjee for the leadership of the bloc. For the Congress party it is a battle for , survival in the Capital city it ruled for 15 years in a row. The C-17 Globemaster at Amritsar | PTI Since 2020, US has detained 1,70,000 Indians attempting to cross the border illegally. They are all subject to deportation Shashi Tharooor, Congress MP on X 132-yr Waltair Div to be renamed as Vizag Division U s h a P e r i @ Visakhapatnam In a significant move, the Railway Board has issued an official order retaining the 132-year-old Waltair Railway Division in a truncated form, renaming it the Visakhapatnam Division. This decision forms part of the restructuring of the South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone, headquartered in Visakhapatnam, which will now consist of four divisions: Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, and Guntakal. According to the official order, a portion of the existing Waltair Division, covering approximately 410 km, will be incorporated into the new Visakhapatnam Division under SCoR. This section includes the railway lines between Palasa - Visakhapatnam - Duvvada, Kuneru - Vizianagaram, Naupada Junction - Paralakhemundi, Bobbili Junction - Salur, Simhachalam North - Duvvada bypass, Vadalapudi - Duvvada, and Visakhapatnam Steel Plant - Jaggayapalem. The remaining portion of the Waltair Division, covering about 680 km, including sections such as Kottavalasa - Bacheli/ Kirandul, Kuneru - Theruvali Junction, and Paralakhemundi - Gunpur, will be reorganised into a new division headquartered in Rayagada under East Coast P4 Railway  . 2ND JUDGE blockS Trump’s BID to end birthright citizenship US District Judge Deborah Boardman issued a preliminary injunction blocking Trump’s order from going into effect as planned on February 19 ble once the inquiries are complete. He added, “In fact, initiating probes into these issues was also a promise made by the alliance partners (TDP, JSP, and BJP) during the polls.” Lokesh highlighted that several poll promises have already been fulfilled, such as the establishment of Anna Canteens, provision of free gas cylinders, and a hike in pensions. The Minister also reiterated that the government is on track to provide 20 lakh jobs to youth over five years, with four lakh jobs expected to be generated once the investment commitments received thus far are realised. He stated that Jagan has no moral authority to question whether the poll promises have been fulfilled, as he failed to implement key promises during his tenure, including the abolition of the Contributory Pension Scheme and the complete prohibition of liquor. People are still reeling from the atrocities of Jagan 1.0. They have not forgotten the attacks, land encroachments, various scams, and the physical & mental torture inflicted Lokesh on Jagan 2.0