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 ■ ■ HYDERABAD WEDNESDAY MAY 01, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 18 LATE CITY EDITION DGCA suspends Vistara vice-prez for lapses in training of pilots DOCTORED SHAH VIDEO The Telugu film industry has given us a superhit film like RRR. Today, the Telangana Congress has given RR tax to the people of the country The soul of KCR seems to have entered Amit Shah. He [Shah] filed a case against me in Delhi. He sent police from Delhi to Gandhi Bhavan Narendra Modi, PM Revanth Reddy, CM PM Narendra Modi at a meeting in Alladurg in Zaheerabad LS segment on Tuesday CM Revanth Reddy takes part in a ‘Jana Jatara’ meeting at Parkal on Tuesday PM: No quota for Battle between Muslims in the TG pride, Gujarat name of religion dominance: CM N A V YA PA V A R T H Y @ Hyderabad M A N D A R A V I N D E R R E D D Y @ Hyderabad PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that he will not allow reservations meant for Dalits, Adivasis and OBC communities to be given to Muslims in the name of religion till his last breath. Addressing a public meeting in Alladurg mandal in Zaheerabad Lok Sabha segment, he said the country’s Constitution is a “religious text” for him. Attacking the Congress over the doctored video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he said that it was done to mislead people and incite societal tensions. In a veiled attack on Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Modi alleged that the money collected in Telangana through “RR tax” is being channelled to Delhi. Tearing into the Congress, Modi alleged that Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first PM, started insulting the Constitution from the first day itself. “His [Rahul Gandhi’s] grandmother [Indira Gandhi] destroyed the Constitution and declared Emergency in the country Access to democracy was curtailed, . lakhs of Indians were jailed, newspapers were shut down,” he added. Highlighting that Rajiv Gandhi brought in an “atrocious” law to scare the media, Modi said that those who are speaking about the Constitution should look into their own actions. Speaking on the occasion, Modi exuded confidence that he will celebrate 75 years of the Constitution on a grand scale in his third term and go to every street to expose the sins of the ConCONTINUED ON P5 gress. CHIEF Minister A Revanth Reddy said that Lok Sabha elections are a battle between Telangana pride and Gujarat dominance. “Telangana pride will not bow down its head,” he thundered. He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was adopting BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao’s policy to harass him. The BRS and BJP joined hands to defeat the Congress candidates in Telangana, he alleged and added: “The recent Assembly elections were the semi-finals in which KCR was defeated. Lok Sabha elections are the finals in which PM Modi and BJP should be defeated.” Responding to the Delhi police notice, he said: “The soul of KCR seems to have entered Amit Shah. He [Shah] filed a case against me in Delhi. He sent police from Delhi to Gandhi Bhavan. If we raise questions, Delhi sultans are registering cases against us. Have I ever been afraid of cases? They are trying to scare the Congress using ED, CBI, I-T and Delhi Police. Even if you send soldiers from the borders, no one CONTINUED ON P5 here will be afraid.” VIDEO UPLOADED FROM REVANTH’S PHONE: NADDA BJP national president JP Nadda accused opposition parties of coming out with a fabricated video. Speaking at Shivamogga, he said, “The sad part of it is that the fake video was uploaded on social media from Telangana CM Revanth’s phone.” 2 held in Guj, 12 more get summons New Delhi: Police in BJPruled Gujarat arrested a Congress leader and an AAP functionary, and Delhi Police issued notices to 12 more people from different opposition parties as the probe into the doctored video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s speech widened on Tuesday . In total, 17 people, including Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, have been issued notices to appear before the Delhi Police’s investigation officer (IO) in connection with the case. Sources, howe v e r, s a i d Rev a n t h i s “unlikely” to join the probe and may send his representative. Revanth and four others of the Telangana Congress unit were served notices on Monday to appear before the IO on May 1. The BJP stepped up its attack on opposition INDIA bloc parties, including the Congress, saying that their senior leaders were now posting fake videos as their frustration and depression reached a new level over the prospect of the BJP and the NDA crossing 400 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. Nirmal tops SSC results, Hyd at 30th position S W A R O O P S W A M I N AT H A N @ Chennai A vendor quenches her thirst in Hyderabad on Tuesday | SRI LOGANATHAN VELMURUGAN STATE SIZZLES 46.20C 450C recorded in Nalgonda and Jagtial districts and above recorded in Mulugu, Jogulamba Gadwal, Mahabubabad, Warangal, Jangaon, Peddapalli, Nirmal, Jayashankar Bhupalpally and Kumurambheem Asifabad THE banned CPI (Maoist) on Tuesday suffered fresh reverses, with the elimination of 10 fighters, including three women, in yet another encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh. The gunfight was on when last reports came in. The encounter happened at the Tekmeta-Kakur forested terrain along the borders of the Narayanpur and Kanker districts in south Chhattisgarh. This was the second major blow to the Maoists within 15 days. On April 16, as many as 29 of them were killed. In all, 58 were eliminated this month alone in the state (see box). As many as 91 Maoists have been KILLED IN BASTAR THIS YEAR APRIL 1 1 killed in Sukma district APR 2 13 killed in Bijapur district APR 6 3 killed along C’garhTelangana border APR 16 29 Maoists killed in Kanker APR 21 1 killed in Bijapur district APR 29 1 killed in Sukma district APR 30 10 killed in Narayanpur killed this year in the Bastar region so far. “It was an intelligence-based operation strategically carried out by security personnel. The gun battle ensued in Abujhmad area where a joint team of Special Task Force (STF) and District Reserve Guard (DRG) was out on an anti-Maoist operation around 6 am. Ten bodies, including those of three women cadre of the banned outfit, have so far been recovered besides automatic weapons and ammunition,” Prabhat Kumar, Narayanpur district police chief, told this newspaper. The bodies are yet to be identified. The operation was carried out around 45 km away from the district headquarter of Narayanpur. The DRG took control of the core area of the exercise while the fringe locations close to Kanker border were under the command of STF from different directions. THE Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) erred on the side of caution as they named the 15-member squad tasked with ending a 11-year ICC title drought. Both Rohit Sharma (as captain) and Virat Kohli, t wo o f t h e e ve rpresents in the last five T20 World Cups since 2012, kept their place for the upcoming event in the US and West Indies. Interestingly, the squad is a mix of people who have performed admirably at the ongoing Indian Premier H ea t : w av e e l lo w e d Y su ing is wa r n n ex t fo r s 4 d ay @ Hubballi AS the alleged acts of sexual exploitation of women by Janata Dal (Secular) MP Prajwal Revanna threatened to become a major poll issue ahead of the third phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 7, the regional party on Tuesday swung into damage control mode by suspending him from the party . The decision to suspend the young MP the , grandson of ex-PM and JDS national president HD Deve Gowda and the JDS-BJP candidate from Hassan, was taken at the party meeting in Hubballi on Tuesday with the approval of Deve Gowda. Former Karnataka CM and JDS state president H D Kumaraswamy said Prajwal stands suspended till the Special Investigation Team submits its report. If found guilty , he would be expelled from the party and prosecuted as per law, Kumaraswamy added. Union home minister Amit Shah said the BJP doesn’t tolerate harassment of women. He, however, sought to turn the tables on the Congress accusing the ruling party in Karnataka of failing to act fast and delaying investigation. “The Congress is trying to put the blame on us. But I want to ask whose government is it in Karnataka? The fake video must have come to your notice because it was released on time. Why has the Congress not taken action so far? Law and order is a state subject,” he said while speaking to reporters in Guwahati. NSUI members protesting at Maharani College in Bengaluru | SHASHIDHAR BYRAPPA League (IPL) and a few who have been below par. KL Rahul was expected to be in the reckoning as a back-up opener and keeper but Sanju Samson has been preferred instead. Samson, who bats in that critical No. 3 position for Rajasthan, w i l l p ro b ably b e asked to finish games if he’s selected on match day . All said, the top seven could be a carbon copy of the line-up that featured at the World Cup in the UAE in 2021, with the only change being Yashasvi Jaiswal for KL Rahul. That being the case, one wonders how they will make room for the likes of Shivam Dube and Samson in the line-up. Rishabh Pant, who last played for India in December 2022, is expected to be the starting keeper while Hardik Pandya, the vice-captain, and Ravindra Jadeja will be the two starting all-rounders. Among the bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj may be expected to start but on spinning surfaces, one of Arshdeep or Siraj could make way for Yuzvendra Chahal. Rinku Singh, Kolkata’s designated finisher and somebody who was groomed in that role by the national selectors, didn’t make the P13 cut. Battle of a different kind in saffron citadel Vidisha A N U R A A G S I N G H @ Bhopal IN Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency, nobody bothers to debate who will win this time. All discussions are about the victory margin of the BJP candidate, former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Vidisha has been a saffron citadel right from its formation, electing Pandit Shiv Sharma of the erstwhile Jan Sangh in its first election in 1967. Since then, the constituency has always chosen right-wing candidates, except in 1980 and 1984 when Congress’ Pratap Bhanu Sharma triumphed. The Congress warhorse is now back in the race to challenge Chouhan, who has won five times from Vidisha. The contest is keenly watched because Sharma, now 77 years, is the only Congress leader to have won ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR 3 women among 10 Maoists killed in C’garh encounter 58 E J A Z K A I S E R @ Raipur EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE DUBE, SAMSON IN; KL, RINKU OVERLOOKED FOR T20 WORLD CUP EXPRESS READ Hyderabad: The State Secondary Certificate (SSC) public examination results for 2024 were announced by the director of government examinations on Tuesday. Statewise, out of 33 districts, Nirmal stood first with 99.05% pass percentage. Vikarabad was at the bottom with a pass percentage of 65.1% while Hyderabad stood at the 30th position with 86.76% pass percentage. A total of 5,05,813 students, including both regular and private, appeared for the exam, marking a significant increase from the 4,91,862 candidates in the previous year. Girls achieved a passing percentage of 93.25%, surpassing boys by 3.81% | P2 Political slugfest as JDS suspends Prajwal the seat in the past 57 years. “Ask anyone from any of the eight assembly segments of the Vidisha constituency, the one liner reply will be Chouhan’s win is a foregone conclusion. The only thing to be seen is how big will Chouhan’s margin be,” says Vidisha-based political analyst Ajay Jain. For BJP workers, the primary goal is to increase voter turnout and give Chouhan a resounding win. “We’re trying to get 80-90% turnout in the constituency, which houses 19.38 lakh voters. Out target margin is 8-9 lakh votes, which will be a record in the country,” says Atul Verma, a BJP worker. BJP supporters in Vidisha believe a record margin will give new wings to Chouhan to begin his stint in national politics. Adding to their hope is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise at a recent poll rally about ‘the big role’ awaiting Chouhan in Delhi. As for the Congress, party insiders concede that Chouhan has a clear edge. So, the strategy is to reduce his margin. Chouhan’s margin was 2.6 lakh votes in 2004, the last time he contested from Vidisha. Eyeing a massive win this time, Chouhan has been campaigning aggressively . Sharma is also travelling extensively braving his advanced , age and rising mercury . Sitting MP Ramakant Bhargava had won by 5 lakh votes in 2019. ExPM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s margin was 1.04 lakh votes in 1991, while former Union minister Sushma Swaraj won Vidisha by 3.89 lakh votes in 2009. The New Indian Express founder Ramnath Goenka had won the seat as a Bharatiya Jana Sangh candidate in 1971 by 32,000 votes.
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