HYDERABAD FRIDAY MAY 10, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 38 LATE CITY EDITION NEERAJ’S OLYMPIC BUILD-UP BEGINS IN DIAMOND LEAGUE All eyes will be on the javelin ace as he takes on some of the big names of the sport in the competition that begins in Doha on Friday STIFF CHALLENGE AWAITS THE INDIAN STAR ASIAD SILVER WINNER JENA TO MAKE DEBUT Neeraj, the reigning world and Asian Games champion, will be up against the likes of former world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist, Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic, in the first leg of the Diamond League one-day meet series. Neeraj had won the top prize in Doha last year | P13 ■ ■ Asian Games silver medallist and Neeraj’s compatriot, Kishore Jena, will also be in the fray as he makes his Diamond League debut. His personal best is 87.54 m and he’ll be hoping to make an impression European champion Julian Weber of Germany, fourth in the Olympic Games and World Championships, will also compete 89.94 M CHOPRA’S PERSONAL BEST IS ALSO THE NATIONAL RECORD 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 will start rule by Rahul’s promises don’t filling 30L posts: Rahul last till sunset: Shah Pic: Sri Loganathan Velmurugan M A N DA RAV I N D E R R E D DY @ Hyderabad EXUDING confidence that the INDIA bloc would form the government on June 4, former AICC president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday announced that the first task of the new dispensation would be to begin the process of filling 30 lakh vacancies in various government departments. Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of waiving loans worth lakhs of crores taken by corporates but not of farmers, Rahul also announced that the INDIA regime will start its innings by waiving farm loans. The Congress MP also reiterated his party’s commitment to bringing a law on Mininum Support Price (MSP) for crops. Addressing Jan Jatara public meetings in Narsapur of Medak constituency and Saroornagar A SESHACHARYULU @ Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri Congress MP Rahul Gandhi speaks at Saroornagar on Thursday in Hyderabad, Rahul said that the INDIA government will increase MNREGA wages to `400 per day and double the salaries of ASHA and Anganwadi workers. Stating that BJP leaders like Modi and Shah, and organisations like the RSS were openly saying that they will change the Constitution, he said that only the Congress and INDIA bloc can protect it. CONTINUED ON P6 Modi worked for people like Adani. We are going to do historic and progressive work which no one can even expect Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP STATING that Prime Minister Narendra Modi implements what he says, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that the guarantees given by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi do not even last “until sunset”. “Rahul Baba promised to waive farm loans up to `2 lakh but he did not do that. He assured to give farmers `15,000 but he did not keep that promise,” he said at a public meeting here. He alleged that the Congress also failed to implement other assurances in Telangana. Exuding confidence that Telangana would contribute to Modi’s goal of 400 Lok Sabha seats for the NDA, Shah said the election was between voting for jihad and voting for development. “This election is about Rahul’s Chinese guarantee and Modi’s Indian guarantee,” he said. Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Bhongir on Thursday Claiming that the Congress, AIMIM and BRS have formed a “triangle of appeasement”, Shah alleged that these parties wanted to rule Telangana “based on Shariah and Quran”. “Modi stopped Naxalism. Can Congress and BRS prevent the MIM? It is the ABC of appeasement where the A stands for Asaduddin Owaisi, B for BRS and C for Congress,” the home minister said. CONTINUED ON P6 This election is between jihad & development, it is about Rahul Gandhi’s Chinese guarantee and Modi’s Indian guarantee Amit Shah, Union Home Minister Poll jitters grip Dalal Street, Sensex sheds 1.5% V O L AT I L I T Y I N D E X A R S H A D K H A N @ New Delhi India Volatility Index (India VIX) measures the market expectations of near-term (30 days) volatility. The index portrays the rate and magnitude of changes in prices and is a widely recognised proxy of risk. It is computed by the NSE based on the order book of Nifty options. Best bid-ask quotes of near and nextmonth NIFTY options contracts traded on F&O segment are used for this THE lower-than-expected voter turnout in the first three phases of Lok Sabha elections has a section of market players worried that the winning margin of the Narendra Modi-led NDA may not be as impressive as initially thought. The nervousness is weighing down heavily on the markets as is evident from the sharp rise in the volatility index and the collapse of equity benchmarks. India VIX, which reflects volatility and investors’ sentiments for the near term, hit a fresh 52-week high of 19.17 on Thursday before closing 6.56% higher at 18.20. It has gained for the 11th consecutive session and is now up 88% from April lows. Meanwhile, the Sensex and Nifty crashed on Thursday despite no major negative global cues. The BSE Sensex closed the Thursday session 1,062.22 points, or 1.46%, lower at 72,404.17 while the NSE Nifty 50 declined 345.00 points, or 1.55%, to settle at 21,957.50. In the past five sessions, Nifty and Sensex have corrected by around 3.5% each. On Thursday alone, investors lost a whopping `7.34 lakh crore as the market cap of all BSE-listed fir ms plunged to `3,93,34,896 crore from `4,00,69,409 crore on Wednesday . “We reckon that 400+ seats seem unlikely for the BJP-led alliance,” Phillipcapital India analysts said in their note. They, however, added that the low turnout would not dent the widely expected outcome of BJP returning to power. The markets prefer a strong government at the Centre that can implement pro-business policies. So, a weak poll outcome can spook the markets. Talking to this newspaper, a market veteran said: “Several media articles are quoting lesser numbers for BJP/NDA since the voter turnout has been tepid. I think that is what is causing the ebb and flow.” Another senior analyst said a tight poll result with the BJP in the lead could trigger selling in the short term, but a win for the INDIA bloc would mean a double-digit correction. AIR INDIA EXPRESS Crew ends strike after talks with management E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi/Kochi Shah doctored video case: Delhi police plea rejected JUSTICE CV Bhaskar Reddy of the Telangana High Court on Thursday rejected a plea by the Delhi Police seeking lifting of an order barring the police from taking any coercive action against six members of the TPCC social media wing in the alleged Amit Shah doctored video case. The judge advised the Delhi Police to pursue the matter in a lower court and obtain PT warrants to interrogate the petitioners. Earlier, the TPCC social media team had sought a stay on proceedings following notices issued by the Delhi Police under Sections 91/161 Cr.PC for which Justice B Vijaysen Reddy had barred any coercive action against them while allowing the investigation to continue. Available on Scan the QR code for further details *Basis lab test in controlled environment on protein damaged hair after five washes E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad Published by: Bharatiya Janata Party, 6A, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg, New Delhi THE tussle between Air India Express’ management and its senior cabin crew, which saw hundreds of crew members going on sick leave, leading to the cancellation of over 170 flights, came to an end on Thursday after talks at the chief Labour Commissioner’s office in Delhi. The union representing a section of the Air India Express employees said the crew members who had reported sick will return to work. The airline’s management agreed to reinstate the 25 crew members whom it had sacked earlier in the day for taking part in protest. The management assured the crew members that all issues raised by them would be looked into and resolved, the Labour Commissioner’s office said. Around 300 senior cabin crew members had gone on a mass sick leave since Tuesday night, protesting “inequality, reduction in the contract period from five years to one, and pay cuts of up to 30%”. Discontent has been brewing between the cabin crew and the management ever since the Tata Group began the acquisition of Air India and Air India Express in 2022. “For over one-and-a-half years, the cabin crew had been raising their issues with the management, but no action was taken,” said K K Vijaykumar, a leader of the Air India Express Employees Union. Skyscrapers & thandas: Crorepatis’ battleground N A V YA PA R V AT H Y @ Hyderabad THE polished IT towers of Cyberabad and the arid villages of Vikarabad coexist in the Chevella Lok Sabha constituency With three Assem. bly segments constituting Chevella — Pargi, Vikarabad and Tandur — almost completely rural and three — Serilingampally Rajendranagar, , Maheshwaram — mostly urban, the seat stands out among the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Telangana. As one drives through the vast constituency from Madhapur in Serilingampally to the villages of Vikarabad, concrete structures become scant and are taken over by agricultural fields and gulmohar trees in full bloom. Houses become modest and cafes are replaced by tiffin bandis. Despite the BRS holding four of these Assembly constituencies and the Congress three, the battle for Chevella seems to be between the BJP and the grand old party with , voters mostly disregarding the pink party . Gaddam Ranjith Reddy, elected in 2019 as a BRS candidate, is now seeking a second term on a Congress ticket. The BJP has fielded the erudite K o n d a Vi s h weshwar Reddy , who had won from Chevella in 2014 on a BRS ticket. He also had a brief stint in the Congress, during which he lost to Ranjith Reddy in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by a margin of 14,317 votes. Kasani Gyaneshwar, who was earlier head of the Telangana TDP is , representing the BRS this time. Vishweshwar Reddy son, in-law of Apollo Hospitals founder Prathap C Reddy has , declared assets worth `4,500 crore, making him the richest candidate in Telangana. His main rival Ranjith Reddy has assets worth over `435 crore. The performance of the BJP and its ally JSP in the 2023 Assembly polls was abysmal in the rural areas of Chevella constituency In Tandur, for . instance, the JSP candidate got only 4,087 votes. Speaking to TNIE as part of Hyderabad Dialogues recently, Vishweshwar Reddy said that the rural belt is at the centre of his campaign. “Our ally Jana Sena got 4,000 votes. My target is 60,000 to one lakh. 65% of my time and efforts go into rural areas. The BJP is anyway strong in the city,” he CONTINUED ON P9 said. Konda Vishweshwar Reddy (left) and Gaddam Ranjith Reddy ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR
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