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 ■ ■ BHUBANESWAR l thursday l december 11, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l JEYPORE EDITION India produced a brave-heart performance to nullify a two-goal deficit to beat Argentina 4-2 and secured a bronze, in Chennai on Wednesday | Ashwin Prasath | P11 resume Want to remove all US gives mixed signals as trade talksAmazon to invest $35 bn infiltrators: Shah more in India P U SHPITA D E Y @ New Delhi j ayan t h j a c o b @ New Delhi A combative Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday hit out at the Opposition in the Lok Sabha for its campaign against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging that the Opposition wanted to keep infiltrators on the voter list. The Narendra Modi government’s policy, Shah said, was unambiguous — “detect all aliens from the rolls and throw them out of the country Shah .” said that the Opposition had raised the issue only because it could no longer win elections through “corrupt practices,” asserting that “the Congress’ repeated poll defeats stemmed from its leadership and not from EVMs or vote theft.” Intervening in the debate on electoral reforms, Shah rebutted the Opposition’s charges. His 90-minute speech saw frequent interruptions from Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who challenged him to a debate on his three press conferences alleging “vote chori” by the BJP. The heated exchanges eventually led to an Opposition walkout. Seeking to corner the Congress, Shah claimed three episodes of “vote chori” involving party icons, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. He said Nehru became Prime Minister in 1947 despite having fewer internal votes than Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel; that Indira Gandhi An outstanding speech by Home Minister Amit Shah Ji. With concrete facts, he highlighted diverse aspects of our electoral process and also exposed the lies of the Opposition —Narendra Modi, Prime Minister granted herself immunity after her election was set aside by courts. He said the dispute of the third “vote chori” has just reached the civil courts on how Sonia Gandhi “became a voter before becoming a citizen of India,” a remark that invited sharp reactions from the Cong ress benches. Shah said SIR was a long-standing administrative exercise to maintain integrity of elections. No party, he said, had opposed SIR between 1952 and 2004. He listed revisions carried out under former Prime Ministers Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shatri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao, A B Vajpayee and even during the Manmohan Singh government. Shah also accused the Opposition of attempting to “normalise and formalise” infiltrators by resisting SIR in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaks in the Lok Sabha | PTI Oppn seeks poll reforms Opposition MPs on Wednesday sought machinereadable voter lists, a rollback of the 45-day CCTV wipe-out rule, access to EVMs, and changes to laws that allow ECI officers to act with impunity | P7 AS the US and India look to finalise a broader bilateral trade agreement, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has said that India’s offers are “the best Washington has received”, though challenges remain in getting New Delhi to open up its agriculture sector. “There is resistance in India for certain crops and meats and products. They are a difficult nut to crack… but they have been quite forward leaning. The types of offers they have been talking to us about are one of the best that we have ever received as a country ,” said Greer while speaking at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing in Washington, DC. The comments came as the US trade negotiation They have been a tough nut to crack... but they have been quite forward leaning. The type of offers they have been talking to us about have been the best US team during negotiations with Indian officials in New Delhi on Wednesday | X US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer team led by Deputy Trade Representative Rick Switzer commenced the two-day talks in New Delhi on Wednesday On the first . day, he held discussions with Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal. Both reviewed the ongoing negotiations for the agreement. Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch is the US’ chief ne- for a mutually beneficial Bilateral Trade Agreement,” the Department of Commerce said. Meanwhile, speaking on the sidelines of the Pravasi Rajasthani Divas in Jaipur on Wednesday, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal reiterated that the ongoing trade negotiations with the US are progressing well. “Talks are continuously progressing. We are moving forward towards a bilateral trade agreement,” Goyal said. gotiator. India’s chief negotiator is Darpan Jain, Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce. India’s former chief negotiator and current Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal will be supervising the progress of the negotiations. “The two sides exchanged views on matters related to India-US trade and economic ties, including on the ongoing negotiations IndiGo to rope in external tech experts for avoiding disruptions never occurs again,” Mehta said in a video messa g e released by INDIGO’s top management IndiGo. has broken its silence on the “On 3rd December, an unlargescale flight disruptions expected chain of events led caused by the airline this to large-scale flight cancellamonth. Late on Wednesday tions... I know how much disnight, the airline’s chairtress this caused. I want to man Vikram Singh Mehta say We are sorry!” he said. , said that external experts The disruptions were due would be roped in to ensure to a combination of internal Vikram Mehta no disruption occurs again. and external events, adverse “The Board will involve weather conditions, congesexternal technical experts to... iden- tion, and implementation of/ and tify root causes and ensure correc- operation under the crew roster tive action so that this disruption rules, Mehta added. E x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi A day after Microsoft committed $17.5 billion investment in India to help build AI capabilities, Amazon said it will invest $35 billion in India over the next five years to expand its businesses in the country from quick commerce to cloud computing and AI. The $35billion investment, the company said, would create one million job opportunities and quadruple cumulative e-commerce exports to $80 billion by 2030. Amazon has 1.7 million sellers in India. Of these, over 200,000 export to more than 200 countries and have generated $20 billion in cumulative exports. Since 2010, Amazon has invested $40 billion in P10 India.  Govt forms panel for resolution of Mahanadi water dispute E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar The Odisha government on Wednesday announced formation of a high-level committee headed by deputy chief minister KV Singh Deo for resolution of the Mahanadi river water dispute between the state and neighbouring Chhattisgarh. The eight-member committee, formed on the direction of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, will examine all relevant aspects relating to Mahanadi river and provide necessary policy direction to the ongoing efforts at the technical and administrative levels in the state. “In view of the ongoing deliberations and proceedings before the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal considering the complexity and emotional significance of the Mahanadi water issue, the government has constituted a high-level committee under the chairmanship of deputy chief minister, KV Singh Deo,” said the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO). Continued on P5