BHUBANESWAR TUESDAY MAY 07, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 14 JEYPORE EDITION HAMAS ACCEPTS EGYPTIAN-QATARI CEASEFIRE PROPOSAL TO HALT WAR Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Monday informed Qatar and Egypt that his group accepts their proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza ISRAELI DELEGATION SKIPPED PEACE TALKS BALL IN ISRAEL’S COURT, MORE PRESSURE ON BIBI Details of the proposal were not immediately released. But Egyptian and Hamas officials have said the ceasefire would take place in stages and Hamas would release hostages in exchange for Israel troop pullout from Gaza. There was no immediate reaction from Israel, which did not send a delegation to Cairo for talks, and is opposed to withdrawing its troops from Gaza ■ ■ Hamas’ acceptance of the deal is nonetheless expected to put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, especially if its proposes release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza Also, it would make it more difficult for the Israeli government to justify a ground operation in southern Gaza’s Rafah | P11 1,00,000 PALESTINIANS IN RAFAH WERE ORDERED BY ISRAEL TO LEAVE THE TOWN 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 Stakes high for Kharge, BSY, NCP in Phase 3 BJP sees it as one of consolidation; 30-40 seats to witness triangular contests today RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR AND DEVARAJ B HIREHALLI @ New Delhi/ Bengaluru THE electoral fate of half-a-dozen Union ministers and two former chief ministers will be sealed on Wednesday in the third phase of the general elections is 93 constituencies in 11 states and Union territories. The BJP sees the third phase as one of consolidation as compared to the first two phases. Prominent among the heavyweight candidates in this phase are Union home minister Amit Shah in Gandhinagar, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia (Guna), former Madhya Pradesh chief seats for which minister Digvijaya Singh (Rajgarh), NCP polling will be (Sharadchandra Pawar)’s Supriya Sule (Baramati) and Adhir Ranjan Choudhary held in 11 states/UTs (Berhampur). In Uttar Pradesh, representatives of the Mulayam Singh Yadav clan are contesting in this phase — Dimple Yadav from Maincandidates including around 120 puri, Akshaya Yadav, son of Ram Gopal Yawomen, in the fray dav, from Firozabad and Aditya Yadav, son of Shivpal Yadav, from Budaun. In Karnataka, the last of the 14 seats will go to polls in what is being seen as a highpeople eligible to vote stakes battle for Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. For, most of the seats are Entire Gujarat in North Karnataka, which is regarded as and Goa, 11 seats in his home turf. The elections are equally imMaharashtra, 10 in portant for former chief minister B S YediyUP, 14 in Karnataka, urappa, whose son Vijayendra is the state 7 in Chhattisgarh, 5 in BJP president. Bihar, 4 each in Assam Prominent among those in the fray in and West Bengal to go Karnataka are former CMs Basavaraj Bomto polls mai (Haveri) and Jagadish Shettar (Belgaum), Union ministers Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and Bhagwant Khuba (Bidar), Yediyurappa’s son Raghavendra (Shivamogga) and Kharge’s son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani (Gulbarga SC). According to sources, around 30-40 constituencies in the third phase will witness triangular contests, giving sitting Lok Sabha members a really tough time. Most of the sitting MPs are from the ruling BJP . PHASE 3 FACTOIDS 93 Delhi L-G calls for NIA probe against Kejriwal A S H I S H S R I V A S TA V A @ New Delhi LIEUTENANT Governor of Delhi V K Saxena on Monday recommended a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, citing an allegation that his Aam Aadmi Party received funding from the banned pro-Khalistan group, Sikhs for Justice. The L-G’s recommendation comes amid the Supreme Court’s indication that it may consider giving bail to Kejriwal in view of the Lok Sabha polls. In a letter written to the Union home ministry, the L-G said his recommendation is based on a complaint he received about the AAP receiving $16 million from Khalistani groups for facilitating the release of Devendra Pal Bhullar, who was convicted for his You are invited to BJP govt’s BJP daydreaming of oath-taking on June 10: PM coming to power: CM 1,300 11 crore India’s med support for Paris Olympics: Sleep therapist, physios and recovery room S W A R O O P S W A M I N AT H A N @ Mumbai PM Narendra Modi addresses the gathering at a public meeting at Berhampur on Monday | DEBADATTA MALLICK B I J O Y P R A D H A N @ Bbhubaneswar EXUDING confidence of a strong performance by his party in Odisha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said he had come to invite the people to the swearing-in ceremony of the state’s first BJP government which will be held in the state capital Bhubaneswar on June 10. Addressing a mammoth election rally at Kanisi on the outskirts of Berhampur city, Modi said that two Yagnas were being performed in Odisha - one for making a strong government in the country and the other for a BJP-led government in the state. “Take it from me. June 4 is clearly written as the expiry date of the BJD government. Today is May 6. The party will decide its chief minister on June 6, who will take oath of office on June 10 in Bhubaneswar,” Modi said. “I promise you, I will make Odisha the number one state I promise you, I will make Odisha the number one state in the next five years. I have come here to seek blessings from all of you Narendra Modi, PM in the next five years. I have come here to seek blessings from all of you. Today if Ram , Lalla is sitting in the grand temple in Ayodhya, it’s because of the power of your vote,” he added. In an apparent dig at Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the Prime Minister said, “Odisha needs a CM who understands Odia language and takes pride in its culture so that the problems of the people will be addressed quickly .” The prime minister said, Odisha has plenty of water, fertile land, mineral resources and a vast sea coast. Still, the people of this ‘rich’ state have remained poor. “Who is responsible for this sin? The answer is Congress and BJD,” he said. He said Congress looted the state for a long time and now BJD is on a looting spree. Even small leaders and workers of t h e B J D h ave m a s s ive bungalows. Modi said the BJP has proudly given the highest post in the country to the daughter of Odisha, Droupadi Murmu. “Undoubtedly it is a matter of , pride for every person living in this state. It is my good fortune that President Droupadi Murmu Ji keeps updating me about the areas in Odisha that need special attention of the central government. I feel that I would be able to do the best for Odisha under her guidance,” he said. In a frontal attack on the BJD government for appropriating some welfare schemes of the Centre while not implementing others for political reasons, he said, “I have not seen a chief minister like Naveen Patnaik who pastes his photo on schemes like free ration and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.” He pointed out that the people of Odisha have been deprived of the free medical treatment initiative that according to him, have benefitted over six crore people across the country This was because . the BJD government did not allow the Ayushman Bharat Yojana to get implemented in Odisha, the prime minister CONTINUED ON P5 said. CM Naveen Patnaik addressing an election meeting in Kalahandi | EXPRESS B I J AY C H A K I @ Bhubaneswar HOURS after Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that a BJP government will be sworn in on June 10 in Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik came out with a stinging rebuttal terming it a daydream of the saffron party for many years. The chief minister’s response came after 5T ch a i r m a n a n d BJD leader VK Pandian informed him about the BJP’s claim of forming gover nment in the state while the two leaders were on their way from Bhawanipatna to address an election meeting at Khariar. “The BJP is day dreaming since a long time,” he said. Pandian shared the video of the chief m i n i s t e r ’s re a c t i o n o n Instagram. While addressing an election meeting at Berhampur, the Prime Minister had asserted that June 4 is the expiry date of the BJD government in the state. The BJP government in Odisha will be It’s Modi factor vs Biju legacy in Kendrapara B I J AY C H A K I @ Kendrapara WHEN BJP’s national vicepresident Baijayant Jay Panda was named the party candidate for the Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat, the question on everyone’s mind was if he could make it this time. Panda had won twice from the seat in 2009 and 2014 as a BJD candidate. But electoral success seems to have deserted him after he joined the saffron party Once a close confidant of . Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Panda switched over to the BJP in 2019 after a bitter fallout with the BJD chief. He contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election as a BJP candidate but was trounced by Odia film star Anubhav Mohanty fielded by the BJD. This time, Panda is locked in a triangular contest with Anshuman Mohanty of the BJD, ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR THE Indian Olympic Association (IOA) have made elaborate plans to take a battery of support staff including a sleep therapist and a small army of physiotherapists to help the Indian contingent at the Paris Games. Unlike in the previous Games, they will also get a full-fledged recovery room. The advantages include cryotherapy chambers and ice baths to help athletes recover faster in their quest for Olym- Dinshaw Pardiwala, head of Centre for Sports Medicine at Kokilaben Dhirubhai pic glory . “This year,” Dinshaw Pardi- Ambani Hospital in Mumbai wala, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the delegation, you have 10000 athletes and 12 said, “the IOA took the deci- ice baths.” He was very elabosion to have a proper medical rate when speaking about the team like some of the bigger need for a sleep therapist in squads (Germany US and Ja- the modern world. At least , pan). What used to happen is some of it has to do with the our physiotherapists used to Paris Games’ desire to be carbe there, we did have a physi- bon-neutral. “It’s also going to cian who would help with be important because the s e r v i c e s b u t we Games have decided didn’t have a full CLUSIVE that they won’t have (medical) team. air-conditioning in Whenever somebody the Village as they had an injury, they would do would like to go green.” an MRI and contact me here. India, like some of the other But it’s difficult to do it contingents, are planning to online.” take their air cooling units The well-equipped recovery but the sleep therapist will act room will be a first-of-its-kind as a backstop in case this plan for Indian athletes. “When doesn’t work out. “The procyou are doing high-level ess is going on, we have resports, you require a full sup- quested ACs. If that doesn’t port system,” Pardiwala, who happen, we will have to manhas mended the bones of al- age our own air cooling sysmost every medal-winning In- tems. In case there’s a heat dian Olympian in the 21st cen- wave, it will be difficult to adtury, said. “Although the just at the last minute. So, we Olympic Village has a poly- have taken that factor into clinic and some physiothera- consideration also (to have a py services, it’s difficult when sleep therapist).” role in the 1993 blast in Delhi. The complaint mentioned by the L-G was filed by Ashoo Mongia, the national general secretary of the World Hindu Federation, referring to a video in which Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun mentioned that the AAP took money from pro-Khalistani groups between 2014 and 2022. Saxena also mentioned a letter written by Kejriwal to activist Iqbal Singh in 2014, saying his government has recommended to the President to release Bhullar. Hitting back, AAP called him a BJP’s agent. “The BJP is losing all the seven seats in Delhi, hence it is upset,” a senior AAP leader said. From left: Jay Panda (BJP), Anshuman Mohanty (BJD), Siddharth Swarup Das (Cong) the son of Nalini Kanta Mohanty a former min, ister and close aide of Biju Patnaik, and Siddharth Swarup Das of the Congress, a new face with no experience of fighting election at this level. As one traverses through Kendrapara, the election fervour seems to be conspicuous by its absence. There is no perceptible tilt, but scratch the surface and there is a simmer for change, particularly in the rural parts. “No doubt, the BJD and its leaders have done good work in the constituency But we should . also examine what other political parties are offering. Baijayant Panda is a known leader nationally,” said Biraja Das, a paan shop owner at Chhapali square under Mahakalapada Assembly segment. The sentiment was echoed by another voter. “The time has come for a change. The same party has been ruling for too long. Development is too slow,” said Sadasiv Patra of Pospura. Basic issues such as roads, water, hospitals, schools, and unemployment are on top of voters’ mind. However, voting behaviour is more inclined to emotion and attachment, where problemsolving becomes secondary As . a youth in Kendrapara town put it — the fight is between the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Biju legacy. The legacy has held strong since former CM and Naveen’s father Biju Patnaik made Kendrapara his seat and won it thrice in 1977, 1980 and 1984. The baton was passed on to the BJD, which has held it since 1998 after it came into being. Can Panda breach the BJD bastion and help the BJP gain a foothold in coastal Odisha? The BJD government will be sworn in for the sixth time in Odisha on June 9. The new govt will be sworn in between 11.30 am and 1.30 pm VK Pandian, 5T chairman swor n in on June 10, he stated. In a direct counter to the announcement of the Prime Minister, the 5T chairman said at the Bhawanipatna meeting that a BJD government will be sworn in for the sixth time in Odisha on June 9. The new government will be sworn in between 11.30 am and 1.30 pm, he added. Pandian said the chief minister has the blessings of Lord Jagannath because of which he is serving the people of the state without any self-interest and will continue to do so. “The chief minister will create a history by leading the government for the sixth consecutive time. Odisha will create a new history,” he CONTINUED ON P5 said. EXPRESS READ Nor’wester relief from heat torture in Odisha Bhubaneswar: A nor’wester hit the state capital, bringing with it rain and relief from the blistering heat and humid conditions, on Monday. Neighbouring regions such as Puri, Nayagarh, Khurda and Ganjam were lashed by a hailstorm. The rain and gusty wind brought down night temperature while humidity dropped, bringing much-needed relief to people | P2 NIA radar on Khalistani terrorists in Canada New Delhi: Amid a diplomatic row between New Delhi and Ottawa, intelligence and investigative agencies have prepared a list of pro-Khalistan terrorists and gangsters living in Canada or having links with them. These terrorists and gangsters are wanted by the NIA. The ties between India and Canada has witnessed an all-time low after Ottawa accused New Delhi’s involvement in Nijjar killing | P9
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