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 ■ ■ COIMBATORE l wednesday l september 10, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l LATE city EDITION Cross-vote bounty as Cpr wins 452-300 P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi OLI AND OUT Aerial view of Nepal’s parliament complex in Kathmandu set on fire by a rampaging mob on Tuesday | pti Nepal PM quits after protesters storm his residence Oli’s house, parliament set ablaze toll climbs Army takes charge of security T mobs on the rampage Mobs set Oli’s house on fire, torched homes of ex-PMs Sher Bahadur Deuba and J N Khanal, burnt ex-FM Ramsaran Mahat’s house as also the SC building Media house torched Protesters set fire to a high-rise housing Kantipur Publications, the largest media house in Kathmandu. It publishes Kantipur and The Kathmandu Post Modi’s appeal for peace In a late night message, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to all in Nepal to support peace. He said stability, peace and prosperity of Nepal are important to India Advisory to Indian citizens Indians in Nepal have been advised by the MEA to stay in their current places of residence, avoid going out and be cautious he night of September 8, 2025, will be remembered as one of Nepal’s darkest. Nineteen young lives were lost, more than 500 people were injured, and the entire nation was left in shock. A peaceful rally led by Nepal’s Gen Z was met with bullets, killing children and youth wearing their school and college uniforms. The next day, young people defied the curfew, taking to the streets in growing numbers. Their persistent pressure forced several ministers in K P Sharma Oli’s Cabinet to resign — and finally, on September 9, around 2 pm, Prime Minister Oli himself stepped down. Namrata Sharma The Army is the only effective instiSenior journalist and tution in the country now. Army chief women rights advocate Ashok Raj Sigdel is expected to address and can be reached at the nation soon. As per Nepal’s constinamrata1964@yahoo.com tution, the President is a ceremonial @NamrataSharmaP figure, but the Army is under his control. Both the President and the Army chief urged the Gen Z to come for dialogue. The Army later said it will take charge of security from 10 pm. But what began as a peaceful demand for justice soon spiralled into vandalism. Media footage showed mobs attacking the residences of former prime minister and president of Nepali Congress Sher Bahadur Deuba and Foreign Minister Arzoo Rana Deuba, pulling out sacks of money and throwing them into the streets — not pocketing it, but rejecting it in symbolic defiance. Now, there are reports that some top leaders, fearing mob attacks, are planning to flee the country This escalation was never part of Gen Z’s . plan, yet the movement has triggered a political storm unlike anything Nepal has seen. September 8 was a sleepless night for most Nepalis. Parents and grandparents who lost their children — and those who did not — felt the pain. The killing of 19 young people will remain a stain on Nepal’s history The overall toll is . expected to cross 30. The government’s response was not dialogue but suppression — imposing curfews, banning social media, and ordering security forces to shoot. Social media has since been restored, but the lives lost cannot be recovered. These youth were not protesting merely because Facebook messenger, or WhatsApp was blocked. They were marching against decades of corruption, the widening inequality between political elites and ordinary citizens, and the lack of opportunities that forces many young Nepalis to leave the country . COntinued on: p9 NDA’s nominee C P Radhakrishnan was on Tuesday elected as the next Vice President of India, defeating the Opposition’s joint candidate, Justice B Sudershan Reddy, by a margin of 152 votes. While Radhakrishnan secured 452 votes, Reddy managed to poll only 300. Radhakrishnan, a BJP veteran from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra Governor, has served as a two-term member of the Lok Sabha from Coimbatore during the tenure of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The NDA has projected him as an untainted leader with rich political and administrative experience for the vice president’s office. While the NDA victory was on expected lines, the Opposition INDIA block suffered a major setback, as it witnessed cross-voting by at least 14 MPs. The vote tally suggested some cross-voting in favour of Radhakrishnan as the BJP claimed that at least 15 Opposition members voted for the NDA. Earlier, after the voting got over, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had claimed that the opposition stood united with all of its 315 MPs turning up to vote. The BJP-led NDA has 427 MPs across the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and with the support of YSR Congress’s 11 MPs, it was hoping to garner 438. The Opposition was hoping to secure at least 324 votes for Justice Reddy as he was supposed to pick up 12 from the AAP, though it is not part of the INDIA bloc anymore. AAP convener and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had extended support to Justice Reddy after the INDIA bloc nominated him as their candidate. Speaking to this paper, an Opposition leader, who did not want to be named, said the numbers suggest that AAP may not have voted for Justice Reddy . express read HC bins arrest order on DSP in SC/ST Act case Chennai: Madras HC on Tuesday set aside the order of a Kanchi court remanding DSP Shankar Ganesh in an SC/ST Act case. It ordered the HC vigilance wing registrar to hold an inquiry | p4 PM announces relief for Punjab, Himachal New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a financial assistance of `1,600 crore for flood-hit Punjab and `1,500 crore for Himachal Pradesh. AVALANCHE kills 3 soldiers Three soldiers lost their lives when an avalanche struck Siachen base camp in Ladakh on Tuesday | P10 Sengottaiyan meets Shah for ‘AIADMK unity’ E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Coimbatore Senior AIADMK leader K A Sengottaiyan, who was stripped of his party posts after his call for unity on Tues, day said he had met Union Ministers Amit Shah and Nirmala Sitharaman in Delhi on Monday and apprised them on the need to unify and strengthen AIADMK by bringing back expelled leaders into the party . The AIADMK veteran said the current political situation in Tamil Nadu was discussed during his meeting with the senior BJP leaders. “Everyone should come together, unify, and the party should be strengthened and based on this objective, opinions were conveyed,” SenEveryone has democratic rights and expressing one’s opinion is welcome —K A Sengottaiyan gottaiyan told reporters at Coimbatore airport on Tuesday afternoon. The Erode strongman had stated on Monday that he was going on a spiritual trip to Haridwar but later, reports said that he had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi that night. Upon returning to Coimbatore by flight on Tuesday, Sengottaiyan confirmed his meetings with Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in New Delhi.  P7 pointed strike : A videograb shows smoke billowing after explosions — caused by Israeli strikes targeting leaders of Hamas — in Doha on Tuesday | AFP | P11