chennai l wednesday l may 08, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l late city EDITION Xi appoints senior diplomat Xu Feihong as new envoy to India The appointment comes after a long delay of 18 months amid frozen relations between the two countries over the military standoff in Ladakh To take charge before poll results come Post lying vacant since October 2022 While there is no official announcement yet, the Chinese foreign ministry has confirmed that Xu, former Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan and Romania, has been appointed as China’s new envoy in India, PTI reported on Tuesday. Reports indicate that Xu, 60, will travel to New Delhi soon and will assume charge before the Lok Sabha election results are declared ■ Xu will succeed veteran Chinese diplomat Sun Weidong, who completed his tenure in India in October 2022. Sun, who was China’s envoy to Pakistan before his India stint, is currently China’s vice-minister for foreign affairs ■ A posting to New Delhi is considered prestigious and highly sought after among Chinese diplomats because it could lead to faster career progression 1976 The last time there was such a long gap in the posting of a Chinese envoy in India 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 Haryana govt in a minority as 3 Inds exit H a r p r e e t B a j w a @ Chandigarh The Nayab Singh Saini-led Haryana government was on Tuesday reduced to a minority as three Independent lawmakers withdrew their support, triggering a political crisis. Technically the government , will not fall immediately since there has to be a gap of six months between confidence votes. The last trust vote was on March 12 after Saini replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as CM. However, the Congress went for the BJP’s jugular, demanding President’s rule. The three Independents are Sombir Sangwan (Dadri), Randhir Gollen (Pundri) and Dharampal Gonder (Nilokheri). They said they will support the Congress during the LS polls. The trio made the announcement at Rohtak in the presence of the Leader of Opposition and for mer Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Haryana Congress president Udai Bhan. “We took the decision because of various issues, including those related to farmers. Till Khattar was CM, we supported the BJP Sadly he is . , not in power,” Gonder said. The Independents were disgruntled after being denied berths in the Saini cabinet. Average turnout rd again in 3 phase Overall voting percentage 63.53%, says EC P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Marking another dip in voter turnout, the third phase of the Lok Sabha election on Tuesday recorded average polling of 63.53% across 93 seats in 11 states and Union territories. The same 93 seats had polled 67.33% in 2019. While Assam had the highest turnout at 77.06%, Goa came second at 75.13% and West Bengal at 73.96%. UP witnessed the lowest at 57.34%, while Bihar polled 58.16% Gujarat 57.62%, Maharashtra 61.44%, Chhattisgarh 70.05%, Karnataka 69.65% and MP 66.05%. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were among those who exercised their franchise in Gujarat. In the third phase, stakes are high for the BJP as it had won 71 of the 93 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. While the BJP is looking to repeat its stunning 2019 performance, the states in focus will be Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat. All 26 seats in Gujarat, 14 PM Narendra Modi shows his ink-marked finger after his casting vote | PTI seats in Karnataka and 11 seats in Maharashtra are up for grabs in the third phase. The BJP is facing a crucial test in Karnataka, where it won 27 of 28 LS seats in 2019. However, the party lost the assembly elections in 2023. As BJP is facing heat over the alleged sex scandal involving Prajwal Revanna, the Hassan candidate of BJP-JD(S) alliance, the contest in 14 seats is being keenly watched to see if the controversy will impact the BJP . The NDA had won 7 out of 11 seats in Maharashtra in 2019. Analysts say the split in NCP and Shiv Sena may not augur well for NDA. Plan on to link 200 waterbodies to save Chennai from flood, drought S G U R U VA N M I KA N AT H A N @ Chennai To prevent flooding in Chennai and surrounding areas and to improve the city’s water storage capacity the wa, ter resources department (WRD) has planned to link 200 tanks in Adyar and Kovalam river basins. According to WRD officials, the initiative is aimed at preventing flooding during monsoon in Chennai, particularly in places such as Tambar- am, Mudichur, and Mannivakkam. A senior official said 90% of city’s rainwater flows into the sea due to lack of adequate storage structures, and linking of waterbodies will help address the issue. Another official said 134 of 196 tanks in Adyar basin and 66 of 120 tanks in Kovalam basin have been identified for interlinking through ‘cut and cover’ method based on a survey of the two basins spread across Chennai, Kancheepuram, and Chengalpattu districts. Under the ‘cut and cover’ method, instead of acquiring land for building open channels or to restore encroached canals, covered structure will be built below the ground level to carry excess water from one tank to another. Since the structure would be covered, the possibility of encroachment of water channels would be eliminated. This would also help reduce cost and speedy execution of the project, sources said. P5 express read Four killed as car rams stationary truck in TN Ariyalur: Four people from Thanjavur returning from a temple event in Perambalur in a car died after the vehicle rammed into a stationary truck on the Ariyalur-Thanjavur NH in Ariyalur district on Tuesday evening | P2 Maya removes nephew Akash as successor Lucknow: BSP chief Mayawati on Tuesday said she is divesting her nephew Akash Anand of his responsibilities as the party’s national co-ordinator and her successor, barely five months after she had anointed him Maratha stir to upset poll calculations in Beed S U D H I R S U R YAWA N S H I @ Mumbai the contest in Maharashtra’s Beed Lok Sabha constituency, the bastion of the Munde family, is all set to go down to the wire on May 13 as a confluence of factors is threatening to upset conservative electoral calculations. Beed has been repr e s e n t e d by t h e Munde family since 2009. This time, the BJP has denied ticket to sitting MP Pritam Munde, daughter of late popular leader Gopinath Munde, and instead fielded her sister Pankaja Munde, who is facing tough challenge from Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP)’s candidate Bajrang Sonwane. Pankaja was a minister in BJP-led government in Maharashtra from 2014 to 2019, but she lost the 2019 assembly elections to her cousin Dhananjay Munde, who is now a minister in the NCP (Ajit Pawar) government in Maharashtra. Interestingly, Dhananjay is Pankaja’s star campaigner in 2024. As for Sonwane, he lost the Illustration: Mandar Pardikar Pankaja Munde vs Bajrang Sonwane 2019 LS election to Pritam Munde by 1.5 lakh votes. He believes he has a better chance this time as the Maratha quota issue is fast emerging as a deciding factor. The Maratha voters are said to be backing Sonwane while Pankaja has a better connect with the OBCs. “Maratha voters’ polarisation was always an issue but the fragmentation helped Munde family by triggering consolidation of OBC communities. But in 2024, it’s different,” said a local journalist. Expressing similar views, a political observer said the challenges before Pankaja are formidable.
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