HYDERABAD MONDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 12 LATE CITY EDITION BAREST OF MARGINS: NEERAJ FALLS AGONISINGLY SHORT IN DL FINAL Two-time Olympics medallist Neeraj Chopra came second in Brussels Diamond League with 87.86 m throw, 0.01 m behind Anderson Peters (87.87) CHOPRA ENDS SEASON WITH 2ND PLACE FINISH AFTER GROIN, HAND INJURY ADD TO WOES In his last event of the season, the 26-year-old Indian came close to winning the Diamond League crown before missing it by just one centimetre to finish as runner-up for the second consecutive year in the season finale. Peters took the top prize while Germany’s Julian Weber finished third with a 85.97 m throw ■ ■ On Sunday, Chopra revealed that he took part in the Diamond League final with a fracture in his left hand which happened during an injury at practice earlier in the week Having already been struggling with a groin injury, the Paris Olympics silver medallist will use the off season to recuperate | P11 89.49 m WAS CHOPRA’S SEASON BEST. HE ACHIEVED IT IN LAUSANNE DL 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 Slew of projects in Modi 3.0 In infra sector, projects worth 3 lakh crore approved, most of them on roads, railways, ports and airways Approved Wadhavan Mega Port in Maharashtra at a cost of 76,200 crore Approval of construction/ upgradation of 62,500 km of roads and bridges to connect 25,000 villages Junior doctors take part in a protest march to Swasthya Bhavan in Kolkata on Sunday | PTI CBI GETS CUSTODY OF RG KAR’S FORMER PRINCIPAL GHOSH S U L A G N A S E N G U P TA @ Kolkata A court on Sunday remanded former principal of Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital Sandip Ghosh and Station House Master (SHO) of Tala Police Station Abhijit Mondal in CBI custody till Tuesday in connection with the rape-murder case of a trainee doctor at the hospital. The two were arrested by the CBI on Saturday night. They have been charged with tampering evidence. Mondal is also accused of delaying the registration of FIR in the case. “We have got their custody for three days till September 17. Now, both will be questioned together. The duo played vital roles in the RG Kar case,” the CBI said. Both Ghosh and Mondal tried to “downplay the incident” as well as “shield” the heinous crime, the CBI told the Sealdah court. The arrests are the first by the CBI in connection with the rape-murder case. Ghosh had already been arrested by the CBI in connection with financial irregularities at the RG Kar Hospital and is currently in judicial custody . Meanwhile, junior doctors on Sunday took out a mega protest march in the Salt Lake area demanding justice for the victim. FOLLOWING internal deliberations, the BJP has decided to boycott the Praja Palana Day celebrations on September 17, the day on which the erstwhile Hyderabad state merged with the Union of India in 1948. Asserting that there was no change in their stance, saffron party leaders said the BJP has been celebrating Liberation Day for almost 30 years. They recalled that the BJP state leadership had convinced the Union government to officially declare September 17 as Telangana Liberation Day through a gazette notification on March 12 this year. However, recently , the state gover nment announced its decision to observe September 17 as the Praja Palana Day . The BJP contends that the state government has no right to change the name as the Cen- 0 DAYS 2 lakh crore PM package announced to promote employment and skill development among the youth 1 crore youth will receive internships at top companies, along with allowances and one-time assistance Employees earning up to 1 lakh will benefit from the government’s contribution to EPFO Employers to get reimbursement of 3,000 per month for 2 years for every new employee with an income up to 1 lakh Free insurance of up to 5 lakh to all senior citizens aged 70 years and above Waqf (Amendment) Bill aimed at reducing conflicts | MORE ON P7 Will step down in a couple of days, name successor Early poll jumla? 1 Advancing polls to Nov may not be possible as EC will have 2 months to prepare 2 In any case, the EC will come into play only after the Delhi CM dissolves the assembly and formally requests for advance polls 3 Only a new CM can call a Cabinet meeting to take a decision on dissolving the assembly A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday sought to take the high moral ground by saying he will not occupy the chief minister’s chair until he gets a fresh mandate of honesty from the voters in the national capital. Seeking to wash the taint of corruption as two law enforcement agencies alleged he was the prime beneficiary of the Delhi excise scam, Kejriwal said he will resign as CM in a couple of days and name a successor. He also demanded snap polls along with the Maharashtra assembly elections in November. But the election process can begin only after the chief minister dissolves the assembly and writes to the Election Commission of India. Expecting it to be held in November might be way too optimistic. In the normal course, Delhi will be due for polls in February . Just a couple of days ago, he had walked out of Tihar Jail after getting bail from a Supreme Court bench in connection with the excise policy scam. But WHISKEY ICE CREAM Cafe lodges plaints against excise officials stringent bail conditions set by a coordinate bench disallow him from visiting the Chief Minister’s Office and the Delhi Secretariat. His signing of files in his capacity as CM was also restricted. Kejriwal made the surprise announcement while addressing party workers. “I will go to every street, I will go to every house. Until the public gives its verdict that Kejriwal is honest, I will not sit on the CM’s chair,” he claimed. As for his successor, the AAP said a meeting of the legislative party in the next two-three days will take the call. However, Kejriwal ruled out his former deputy as his successor. “The same things were said about him as were said for me. Sisodia also says that he will take over the post of Deputy CM and education minister only when the people say he is honest. It’s up to the people to take the call about me and him,” the AAP chief said. The buzz is on Kejriwal’s wife Sunita getting the baton, as she has been active on ground since the Lok Sabha elections. B’desh, Rohingya infiltrations major threat to J’khand: Modi M U K E S H R A N J A N @ Ranchi AHEAD of the Assembly elections in Jharkhand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) of playing vote bank politics by supporting Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators. Addressing the ‘Parivartan Maharally’ of the BJP in Jamshedpur, Modi charged that ‘the infiltrators’ have managed to gain influence over the JMM and are “usurping tribal land and forests”. “Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators have become a major threat to Santhal Parganas and Kolhan regions. The demography of these regions is changing fast. The tribal population is on the decline. The infiltrators are establishing control of the panchayat system, grabbing land, and committing atrocities against the daughters of the state. Every Jharkhand resident feels unsafe,” Modi said. Training his guns on the Congress, Modi called it one of the state’s three enemies, the JMM and the Rashtriya Janata Dal being the other two. He said the JMM is possessed by the ghost of the Congress. “When the ghost of Congress enters any party appeasement , tre has already declared September 17 as Telangana Liberation Day . Responding to the invitation for Praja Palana Day celebrations, Union Coal and Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy who , is also the state BJP unit chief, wrote a strongly worded letter to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Sunday, stating that he “cannot be part of an insincere ritual that blatantly attempts to erase the truth from the people”. “The state government’s intent seems to be to deflect the people’s attention from the core aspects of the struggle, which is evident in the very name given to the day. To describe the liberation of Hyderabad as just another transition of power from a monarchy to a democracy not only subverts the heroic struggle but also propagates further the politics of appeasement,” he said. CONTINUED ON P4 OVER a week after officials registered a case against Ariko Cafe, an ice cream parlour in Jubilee Hills here, for allegedly selling whiskey-infused gelato, the cafe’s management has accused them of filing a false case for refusing to pay a bribe. The company alleged that they were “trapped” by the Excise police and filed complaints with the ACB, NHRC and law & order police against five officers. Meanwhile, the Excise director has denied the allegation and highlighted the department’s unwavering stance against false accusations from “unethical businesses”. Speaking to TNIE, the founder of Ariko Cafe, Sharath Chandra Reddy Gattu, who is also accused of being involved, insisted that the product was not on their menu. “Back in 2018, we called in a chef from Italy and tried to experiment using non-alcoholic flavour in gelato as part of our brand KIARO. However, it was only for a week and we discontinued the product after that,” Gattu said. CONTINUED ON P5 becomes the only agenda of that party Modi said. ,” Continuing his attacks on the Congress, he said the JMM leaders were taking lessons on corruption from the ‘Congress school of corruption’. He called the Congress family as the most dishonest in the country . “All the streams of corruption originate from there,” he said. The prime minister accused the JMM of not fulfilling the promises it made to the people ahead of the 2019 Assembly elections. “JMM had promised to pay unemployment allowance, but none of them got any allowance,” Modi said. CM warns against attacks on Cong workers, says BRS ‘provoked us’ E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad IN an indirect reference to recent tensions between MLAs Arekapudi Gandhi and Padi Kaushik Reddy Chief Minister , A Revanth Reddy on Sunday issued a stern warning to those attempting to attack Congress workers. “They (BRS leaders) said they would come to our home, but our people went to theirs. Now they claim they have been beaten. Why did they provoke us in the first place?” he questioned. He was speaking after handing over the reins of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Comm i t t e e ( T P C C ) t o n ew ly appointed president Bomma Mahesh Kumar Goud. Senior Congress leaders, ministers and le gislators were also present at the event. Citing the trend of ruling parties securing two consecutive terms in office, Revanth expressed confidence in the Congress’s ability to stay in power for 10 years. He called upon party members to work towards winning all 17 seats in Telangana in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. “Winning the previous [Assembly] elections was Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy hands over the party flag to MLC B Mahesh Kumar Goud, who assumed charge as TPCC president at Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad on Sunday. Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka is also seen | VINAY MADAPU like a semi-final. The real victory will come when we defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2029 and make Rahul Gandhi the PM,” the chief minister said. He echoed a similar sentiment expressed by for mer TPCC president and current Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, who urged party cadre to work like soldiers to make Rahul Gandhi the prime minister in 2029. Lauding Mahesh as a soft- FISHING BY A NATIONAL HIGHWAY spoken yet dedicated leader, Revanth said he would always be available to support the new TPCC chief when needed. He mentioned that he had recommended to the party high command that they appoint leaders who could commit themselves fully to party affairs. The chief minister further stated that both he and Mahesh would work together to secure victory for Congress in the upcoming local body elections. CONTINUED ON P4 Simultaneous polls on agenda of government RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi S W E T H A V I M A L A M @ Hyderabad BJP rejects invite to Praja Palana Day fete, calls it ‘appeasement’ @ Hyderabad PROJECTS WORTH 15 LAKH CRORE LAUNCHED WITHIN THE FIRST 100 DAYS OF MODI’S 3RD INNINGS AS PM MUDRA loan limit increased from 10 lakh to 20 lakh KEJRIWAL PLAYS RESIGNATION CARD MoS Bandi Sanjay inaugurates a photo exhibition on Liberation Day at Parade Grounds on Sunday M A N DA RAV I N D E R R E D DY 8 new railway line projects approved generating 4.42 crore man-days of employment Minimum support price for kharif crops increased Approved Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh with an allocation of 12,100 crore Tax relief to the salaried class 1 3 crore houses approved under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana PICS | SRI LOGANATHAN VELMURUGAN While a week has passed since heavy rains in Telangana, the National Highway-163 by Katakshapur lake remains inundated. A man can be seen fishing by the road in Hanamkonda district Despite being the only major road leading to Ramappa Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mulugu district, from Hyderabad and Warangal, it is riddled with potholes filled with water WITH the Modi 3.0 completing its first 100 days, highly-placed sources said the government will implement the ‘one nation, one election’ initiative during its current tenure. The buzz in political circles of the national capital is that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has struck an agreement with its coalition partners on this matter. “Definitely, it will be implemented in this tenure itself. It will be a reality a source said. ,” Modi mentioned the initiative during this year’s Independence Day address. “What more is there to say when the prime minister has already shown his commitment? Wait for it as it is becoming a reality,” remarked a source within the government. Modi, in his August 15 address from Red Fort, called for national unity in support of the one nation, one election concept. He urged all parties to collaborate in this initiative. “The nation has to come forward for one nation, one election,” Modi had said.
Express Network Private Limited publishes thirty three E-paper editions of The New Indian Express newspaper , thirty two E-paper editions of Dinamani, one E-paper edition of The Morning Standard, one E-paper edition of Malayalam Vaarika magazine and one E-paper edition of the Indulge - The Morning Standard, Kolkatta.