The New Indian Express Wishes its readers vijayawada l monday l march 25, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION At least 137 abducted School children freed in Nigeria abductions put pressure on president The Nigerian Army claimed the children were freed during a rescue operation on Saturday. President Bola Tinubu, under pressure to end abductions which has become common in the conflict-hit northern region of the country, had vowed to rescue them without paying ransom. Sources said the abductors were hiding in the region’s vast and ungoverned forests They were abducted over two weeks ago from their school in Nigeria’s northwestern state of Kaduna by a band of motorcycle-riding gunmen over 280 students were taken: teachers ■ ■ It is not clear how many students were kidnapped. Teachers have said over 280 pupils between the ages of eight and 15 were taken. The government had initially said all of them had been freed Bandit gangs routinely attack communities and carry out mass kidnappings for ransom in northwest and north-central Nigeria | P9 1,400 Students have been kidnapped from Nigerian schools since 2014 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 INDIA bloc to hold mega rally over Kejriwal arrest Oppn parties’ joint protest on March 31 in Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan PREETHA NAIR @ New Delhi of Conduct being in place. Now the Congress’s accounts have UPPING the ante against the been frozen, so they won’t be arrest of Delhi Chief Minister able to run a campaign for the Arvind Kejriwal, the Opposi- polls,” Rai added. tion INDIA bloc said on Sunday Hitting out at the BJP, Delhi that it will hold a mega rally at Congress leader Arvinder Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on Singh Lovely exhorted the pubMarch 31 to protest against the lic to join the proposed rally . BJP government’s alleged tarThe Opposition leaders also geting of political rivals using alleged Kejriwal was arrested federal agencies. after the State Bank of India Announcing the decision at a was forced to reveal the donajoint press conference in Delhi, tions the BJP received through Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader electoral bonds. One of the apand Delhi minister provers in the Delhi Gopal Rai said all INliquor policy case got DIA-bloc parties will bail after sending monhold the rally to safeey to the BJP, they Democracy and guard the country’s inalleged. terests and democracy the country are in . “There’s no levelTop leaders of several danger. All INDIA playing field for the opbloc parties will opposition parties inposition parties anytake part in this cluding the Congress, m o re. O u r l e a d e r ‘maha rally’ to TMC, CPI(M), Shiv Rahul Gandhi has safeguard the Sena (UBT), and Sama- country’s interests been trying to save the jwadi Party are expectdemocracy and we will and democracy ed to attend the rally . stand by the AAP to AAP leader Gopal Rai save the CM,” said “The Prime Minister has been acting like Lovely adding that a dictator and suppressing de- they are hopeful that the aumocracy to arrest Delhi CM thorities would allow them to Arvind Kejriwal. Whether it is hold the rally . Hemant Soren in Jharkhand or CPI(M) leader Rajiv Kunwar Tejashwi Yadav in Bihar or the said the fight is against the dicCM of West Bengal, all are be- tatorial rule of the Modi ing slapped with fraudulent government. cases to silence them ahead of Rallying behind Kejriwal, the Lok Sabha polls,” said Rai. several leaders including ConHe alleged AAP leaders are be- gress, TMC, and CPI(M) of the ing prevented from holding INDIA bloc had met the Elecprotests and Kejriwal’s family tion Commission on Friday and has been placed under house submitted a memorandum on arrest. “Our party office was the instances of central agensealed despite the Model Code cies targeting them. Delhi CM issues 1st order from custody: AAP A n u p v e r m a @ New Delhi The Aam Admi Party (AAP) on Sunday said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal issued his first order from Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody, instructing Delhi water minister Atishi Marlena to solve water and sewer problems in some areas of Delhi. “I might be in jail, but people of Delhi shouldn’t be inconvenienced,” he wrote in the order as per Atishi. However, the issuing of the order has raised legal questions. The ED has taken cognisance of Atishi’s statement. The ED will probe if the directions were in line with the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court’s order issued to the ED. Another question raised by Kejriwal’s order is whether he can continue as CM now that he is in custody Former Addition. al Solicitor General K C Kaushik said there is no bar on him continuing as CM for now as he has not been convicted yet. IIT student aspiring to join IS, held P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @ Guwahati A student of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and had gone missing, was detained by the police on Saturday as he was reportedly on his way to join the terrorist group. The fourth-year student, hailing from Okhla in Delhi, was nabbed by the Assam Police from Hajo. “Reference @IITGuwahati student pledging allegiance to ISIS—the said student has been detained while travelling and further lawful follow up would take place,” Director General of Police GP Singh wrote on X. Before disappearing from the campus, he had pledged allegiance to the Isl a m i c S t at e through his social media posts. In an email sent to the police, he said he has plans to join the terror group. “We immediately contacted the IIT-Guwahati authorities but they said the student was missing since noon. His mobile phone was also switched off,” ASP Kalyan Kumar Pathak who is a part of Assam Police’s Special Task Force said. A black flag, resembling that of the Islamic State, was recovered from the student’s hostel room and sent for verification. Pathak said the police were trying to find the motive behind sending the email. The incident comes days after the Special Task Force nabbed ISIS India head Haris Farooqi and his associate soon after the duo had crossed over into Assam’s Dhubri district rom Bangladesh. titan-ic victory Gujarat Titans skipper Shubman Gill (centre) kicked off his IPL captaincy chapter with a six-run victory against Mumbai Indians on Sunday | sportzpics BJP names candidates for six LS seats in State E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada The Central Election Committee of the BJP, which met late on Saturday night in New Delhi, has finalised 111 candidates, including six from Andhra Pradesh, to contest the upcoming elections. The party released the list on Sunday . As part of the tripartite alliance with the TDP and Jana Sena in the State, the BJP is set to contest six of the total 25 Lok Sabha seats. They include: Araku, Anakapalle, Rajamahendravaram, Narasapuram, Rajampet and Tirupati. As expected, Kothapalli Geetha is being fielded from the ST-reserved Araku seat and Chintakunta Munuswamy Ramesh, better known as CM Ramesh, from Anakapalle. A former YSRC MP, Geetha had joined the saffron party in 2019 after briefly running her Jana Jagruthi Party which was , formed in 2018. A former Rajya Sabha member, Ramesh joined the BJP in 2019 from TDP It may be point. ed out that there are several cases pending against him. He has also been named as accused number 1 in a `450-crore forgery case. BJP State president Daggubati Purandeswari is set to contest the Rajamahendravaram Lok Sabha seat. She is the daughter of TDP founder and for mer chief minister NT Rama Rao. A former MP and Union min- Naveen Jindal in BJP’s 5th list, two ministers dropped r a j e s h k u m a r t h a k u r @ New Delhi After a week-long discussion, the BJP on Sunday evening released its fifth list of candidates for 111 Lok Sabha seats in 17 states including Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. The BJP retained a majority of its sitting MPs but at the same time gave seats to newly-inducted members for high-profile seats. Kerala BJP chief K Surendran will take on Congress sitting MP Rahul Gandhi and CPI’s Annie Raja in Wayanad. Sandeshkhali’s Rekha Patra, who raised voice against suspended Trinamool muscle man Sheikh Shahjahan, will contest from Basirhat in West Bengal. Former Calcutta HC judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who gave several strong verdicts against the T M C g o ve r n m e n t , will contest from Bengal’s Tamluk. Industrialist and former Congress MP Naveen Jindal on Sunday joined the BJP and was immediately named the party’s candidate for Kurukshetra seat in Haryana. He had represented the seat between 200414. As was reported first by this newspaper, Pilibhit sitting MP Varun Gandhi was dropped and Uttar Pradesh minister Jitin Prasada was fielded from the seat. Varun’s mother and Sultanpur sitting MP Maneka Gandhi will contest from the same seat again. Former law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was fielded from Patna Sahib in Bihar, while Union minister R K Singh was repeated from Arrah. Arun Govil, who played Lord Rama in Ramayana, will fight from UP’s Meerut. Union ministers Ashwini Kumar Choubey , V K Singh, and ex-Union minister Anant Kumar Hegde have been dropped. last February while it stood at 12.66 , MBGL this February with a variation is 3.74 MBGL. Rayalaseema recorded a drop of 4.25 MBGL with groundwater level at 6.79 MBGL last February as against 11.04 MBGL this February . Prakasam has been identified as the severely-affected district. Groundwater table in the region EXPRESS ILLUSTRATION Candidate Araku (ST) Kothapalli Geetha Anakapalle CM Ramesh Rajahmundry Daggubati Purandeswari Tirupati (SC) Varaprasad Rao Rajampet N Kiran Kumar Reddy Narsapuram Bhupathi Srinivas Varma ister, Purandeswari joined the saffron party in 2014. She was also appointed as the BJP Mahila Morcha Prabhari. For Narsapuram Lok Sabha constituency the BJP has nom, inated Bhupatiraju Srinivas Varma, the party’s State secretary Varma has been with the . After Holi, State set to witness Kangana Ranaut, various political hues with rallies State records drop in groundwater level Groundwater levels in the State have dropped by 2.27 metres below ground level (MBGL) this year compared to last year. Besides the deficit rainfall, experts have cited over exploitation of groundwater as the reason for the situation. As per statistics of the Andhra Pradesh Water Resources Information and Management System (APWRIMS), the State recorded 9.56 MBGL this February, compared to 7.28 MBGL last February. The depletion of groundwater level was more pronounced in both Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra Pradesh districts this year. The groundwater table in coastal Andhra Pradesh was 8.92 MBGL Segment BJP for a long time. He had unsuccessfully contested Narasapuram MP seat on a BJP ticket in 2009. The BJP has fielded N Kiran Kumar Reddy for the Rajampet Lok Sabha seat. The former chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh joined the BJP in April-2023. Following bifurcation of the State, Kiran Kumar quit the Congress and launched his own party in 2014. However, he returned to the grand old party in 2018. In the SC-reserved Tirupati Lok Sabha seat, the saffron party has zeroed in on V Varaprasad Rao, who quit the YSRC and joined the BJP on Sunday morning. The Gudur MLA had won as MP from Tirupati in 2014. 111 candidates alarming situation S G u r u S r i k a n t h @ Vijayawada in the fray has depleted by a staggering 8.24 MBGL. Last February groundwater , level in the district was 10.62 MBGL, as a g ainst 18.86 MBGL this February . The second worst-hit district is Sri Sathya Sai. Groundwater level was 6.33 MBGL last year as against 13.57 MBGL this year, a drop of 7.24 MBGL. In Anantapur district, groundwater table depleted by 5.42 MBGL from 5.98 MBGL. Kurnool, Nandyal, and Annamayya districts witnessed a drop of more than 4 and less than 5 MBGL, while Tirupati reported the lowest drop of just 0.72 MBGL. In coastal districts, only Palnadu district saw a dip in groundwater levels by 4.78 MBGL, while other districts recorded less than 2 MBGL P4 drop. E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada PK to begin Varahi Yatra next week Jana Sena Party (JSP) chief Pawan Kalyan will commence the ‘Varahi Yatra’ next week from Pithapuram, the Assembly constituency he will contest from. The dates for the actor-politician’s campaign are yet to be finalised. Villages and towns in Andhra Pradesh are set to witness the various hues of politics as leaders of the three main parties are set to launch their election campaign soon after Holi. While YSRC president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is set to take up his ‘Memanta Siddham’ bus yatra from March 27, TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu will kick off the ‘Praja Galam’ public meetings on the same day. After conducting ‘Siddham’ meetings in four locations, the Chief Minister will cover 21 Parliamentary constituencies during his bus yatra, which will begin from Proddatur in YSR district on March 27. Jagan is preparing the ground to cover the State from Idupulapaya to Ichchapuram during the bus yatra. As for Naidu, he is scheduled to first visit his citadel Kuppam for two days from March 25. He will then launch his campaign from Palamaner in Chittoor district on March 27. Naidu will address public meetings and conduct roadshows in three to four Assembly constituencies a day till March 31. He will visit Palamaner, Nagiri and Nellore Rural constituencies on March 27, and Raptadu, Singanamala and Kadiri in the erstwhile Anantapur district the next day He is . scheduled to attend meetings at Srisailam, Nandikotkur and Kurnool on March 29 and in Mydukur, Proddatur, Sullurupeta and Srikalahasti Assembly constituencies on March 30. He will visit Kavali, Markapuram, Santhanuthalapadu and Ongole on March 31.
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