vijayawada l monday l april 22, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION 18 children among 22 killed in israeli strikes on Rafah Two separate overnight attacks on the southern Gaza city came even as the US approved billions of dollars of additional military aid to Israel PIC: afp attacks continue amid calls for restraint U.S. weighs sanctions against IDF unit Despite international calls for restraint, Israel is continuing its near-daily air raids on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. A man, his wife and their 3-year-old child were killed in one of the strikes overnight on Saturday. Another attack killed 17 children and two women as per hospital records ■ ■ In West Bank, Israeli troops killed two teenagers on Sunday after they allegedly attacked a checkpoint with knife and gun The US, which is Israel’s principal backer, is mulling sanctions on a unit of the Israeli army over human rights abuses in the West Bank, a move that could widen the schism between the two allies | P11 $26 bn size of military aid to Israel CLEARED by the U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 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 Jailed leaders take centre stage at Oppn rally Kejriwal and Soren’s messages read out at Ulgulan Nyay Rally; will throw BJP out of power, say INDIA bloc leaders Chidambaram vows to repeal CAA, if elected M U KESH RA N JA N @ Ranchi THE leaders of the Opposition-led INDIA bloc on Sunday said that democracy in India is in danger and that the BJP should be thrown out of power to save the country Holding a . mega rally in Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi in a show of strength ahead of the remaining phases of Lok Sabha polls, the leaders lashed out at BJP for “converting ED (Enforcement Directorate) and CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) its extended department” and oppressing opposition leaders. Leaders from 28 parties took part in the ‘Ulgulan Nyay Rally’ but Congress leader Rahul Gandhi did not attend the event due to ill health. In his speech, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said Modi keeps saying that his government made a tribal the President of the country. “You (Modi) have done this not for the welfare of the tribals, but for the vote bank. You did not give jobs to the poor. You had talked about providing jobs to the youth, but this did not happen…. there was talk of doubling the income of farmers, but it also did not happen,” said Kharge. Notably, two empty chairs were kept on the stage for two jailed leaders—Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party and Hemant Soren of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. Cynthia Chandran & Preetha Nair @ T’puram/New Delhi Leaders of Opposition INDIA bloc hold hands during ‘Ulgulan Nyay Rally’ in Ranchi on Sunday | PTI Their spouses read out their messages. Reading out Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s message, his wife Sunita Kejriwal said INDIA bloc is seeking votes to make the country better. “Arvind ji is a very brave. He is like a lion. The only thing he has in his mind is how to make lives of this country better,” she said. She also listed out the six guarantees including free electricity to the poor, government schools in every village to provide free education, multispecialty hospitals in every district, and fair prices for farmers. “If you give a chance to INDI Alliance, then we will make this country better and stronger,” she added. Reading out Hemant Soren’s message, Kalpana Soren alleged central agencies such as the ED and CBI are being misused to suppress the opposition’s voice. A day after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan attacked the Congress for being silent on the CAA in its manifesto, the party switched to a damagecontrol mode on Sunday, with senior leader P Chidambaram asserting that the controversial law will be repealed if INDIA bloc wins power. The former Union minister said, “I have a list with me, of a large number of laws, in which we have mentioned that five laws would be repealed. One of the five laws is CAA. Why we dropped the list in the manifesto is because it was already too long. This manifesto is 46 pages and it is a long list of 40 to 50 laws. I am the chairman of the manifesto committee, take it from me. CAA will be repealed.” Speaking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram, Chidambaram added, “We will repeal, amend, and review the following sets of laws— CAA 2019 is at the top of the list.” TNIE had reported though ‘repealing and amending of CAA’ figured in the original draft of the Congress manifesto, the top leadership of the party decided to drop any mention of it in the document. Instead, the manifesto said it would repeal all anti-people laws passed by the NDA. TDP changes candidates for 5 Assembly segments S V i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada The TDP, which is contesting 144 of the total 175 Assembly constituencies and 17 of the 25 Lok Sabha segments as part of the alliance with the BJP and Jana Sena, affected changes to five seats. TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu handed over B-forms to the leaders, who are in the fray for the elections, at his residence in Undavalli on Sunday . As expected, Narsapuram MP K Raghu Rama Krishna Raju was given the B-form to contest from Undi Assembly constituency, while sitting MLA Manthena Rama Raju was appointed as TDP’s Narasapuram Parliamentary president. Similarly, candidates were changed in Paderu, Madugula, Venkatagiri and Madakasira Assembly constituencies. Former minister Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy who as, pired to contest from Pendurthi, could not get the ticket as it was allocated to the Jana Sena Party. However, he has been roped in to contest the Madugula Assembly seat with the TDP dropping Pyla Prasad. From Paderu, former MLA Giddi Eswari was given the BOSS is BACK TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu handing over B-form to his son & Mangalagiri contestant Nara Lokesh | Express ticket after the party dropped Venkata Ramesh Naidu. Disappointed over being denied from contesting the elections, Eswari had announced to contest as an independent candidate. Similarly Suneel Kumar was , dropped from Madakasira constituency and the seat was given to MS Raju. This triggered dissent with the followers of Suneel Kumar, who damaged furniture in the Madakasira TDP office and raised slogans denouncing the leadership of Naidu and party general secretary Nara Lokesh. In Venkatagiri, the TDP has replaced Lakshmi Priya with her father Korugondla RamP4 akrishna. CM Jagan takes part in a roadshow in Visakhapatnam on Sunday | G Satyanarayana Vizagites turn up in large numbers to greet CM Jagan E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Visakhapatnam Scores of people thronged major junctions in the City of Destiny to catch a glimpse of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy who commenced , his ‘Memanta Siddham’ bus yatra from the Chinnayapalem stay point in Anakapalle district on Sunday . On day 20, his first stop was at Pinagadi Junction in Pendurthi mandal. Despite the scorching heat, locals eagerly lined up along the roads to cheer for the YSRC president. After interacting with locals from Pinagadi village, Jagan headed to Visakhapatam. I am speaking on politics after a long time. The reason for it is that my brother Pawan, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, and the BJP have formed an alliance in Andhra Pradesh, which is a welcome development CM Ramesh & Panchakarla Ramesh are contesting from Anakapalle LS and Pendurthi Assembly seats. They are not only good people, but also capable leaders K Chiranjeevi, actor & former minister The cavalcade passed through Lakshmipuram, Vepagunta Junction, Gopalapatnam, and NAD Junction. In the city limits, the roadshow passed through Kancherapalem Mettu, Akkayapalem, Maddilapalem, Venkojipalem, and Hanumantha Vaka and c o n cl u d e d t h e p ro g r a m m e at Endada. The Chief Minister had his lunch before entering Gopalapatnam and reached Kancherapalem Mettu around 6:30 pm. Due to the massive crowd, the roadshow covered just 9.6 km in three P5 hours. Chiranjeevi extending his support to the alliance candidates is no surprise. This development will not change the election outcome, which is the defeat of the TDP and its allies A clarity has emerged on the Andhra Pradesh political scenario, which is that there exists only one leader — YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, and all others are a group of wolves, foxes and porcupines Sajjala Ramakrishna, YSRC general secy ‘Congress selling lies on Constitution to scare voters’ R a j e s h A s n a n i @ Jaipur Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday tore into the Congress party saying it is trying to instill fear among the Dalits, tribals and minorities by spreading lies about the future of India’s democracy, the constitution and reservation. “The Congress sells fear, hunger and corruption in its shop,” Modi said addressing a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara. “But the country is no longer in the grip of fear. That is why their lies are no longer working,” he added. He added that if the Opposition won the election, it would redistribute the wealth of people to Muslims and cited former prime minister Manmo- han Singh’s remark that the minority community had the first claim on the country’s resources. “This urban-naxal mindset, my mothers and sisters, they will not even leave your Mangalsutra. They can go to that level,” Modi said. Earlier, speaking at Jalore, Modi charged that Congress leaders exploited the country and they cannot be entrusted with leading the nation again. “They ruled for 60 years, yet left our mothers and sisters longing for basic amenities like toilets, gas, electricity, and bank accounts. Their legacy of nepotism and corruption has weakened the nation, and they are now facing the consequences,” he said.
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