BHUBANESWAR  MONDAY  FEBRUARY 10, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 12  LATE CITY EDITION TRUMP SAYS HE SPOKE WITH PUTIN ABOUT ENDING WAR IN UKRAINE US President Donald Trump said he spoke to his Russian counterpart to try to negotiate an end to the war ahead of its third anniversary DONALD TRUMP VLADIMIR PUTIN PUTIN WANTS TO END CONFLICT, SAYS DON Trump told the New York Post he believes Vladimir Putin “does care” about battlefield deaths. “All those dead people. They’re like your kids, two million of them – and for no reason,” Trump said, adding Putin too wants to “see people stop dying”. Asked how many times he has spoken to Putin after taking office on January 20, Trump said he better not say Feb 24 KREMLIN REFUSES TO CONFIRM OR DENY TALKS ■ ■ It is not clear when the two leaders spoke. The Kremlin has neither confirmed nor denied the talks were held. Last week, Russia said contacts with the US have “intensified” since Trump took office Trump campaigned on a promise to end the war. He said he has a concrete plan on how to do it. But it’s not clear if Russia is on board MARKS THREE YEARS SINCE RUSSIAN FORCES INVADED UKRAINE IN 2022 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 MANIPUR CHIEF MINISTER BIREN SINGH RESIGNS HOURS AFTER MEETING SHAH Delhi govt to be sworn in after PM returns from US P R A S A N TA M A Z U M D A R & RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR THE BJP government in Delhi will be sworn in once Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns from his visit to France and the United States. Modi will leave for France on Monday, and from there, he will travel to the US, where he is scheduled to meet President Donald Trump. Modi will return to India on Thursday . Sources indicated that the swearing-in ceremony will be a grand event aimed at showcasing the unity within the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The chief ministers of all BJP and NDA-ruled states are expected to attend. On Sunday, BJP president J P Nadda met Union Home Minister Amit Shah to expedite the government formation process. Speculation is rife regarding the next Delhi chief minister. Several names are being discussed, including Delhi MLA Parvesh Verma, BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj, and party leaders such as Vijender Gupta, Rekha Gupta, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Satish Upadhyay, Manoj Tiwari, and Mohan Singh Bisht. Verma and Rekha Gupta are considered to be the frontrunners. Modi held consultations at the BJP headquarters on Saturday, following his victory speech. With the BJP making impressive gains across various regions and communities, the party now has a broad pool of potential chief minisCONTINUED ON P5 terial candidates. Speaker Satyabrata Singh, minister Y Khemchand among front-runners for CM @ Guwahati / New Delhi MANIPUR Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh resigned on Sunday, a day before the start of the crucial Assembly session in which he was to face a no-confidence motion. Singh submitted his resignation to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla in Imphal on Sunday evening, shortly after returning from Delhi where he met Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The governor asked him to continue in office till alternative arrangements are made, the Raj Bhavan said. The names of Assembly speaker T Satyabrata Singh and senior minister Y Khemchand are doing the rounds as Singh’s possible successor. According to sources, it is BJP’s internal politics Biren Singh hands over his resignation to Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla, in the presence of BJP’s Northeast in-charge Sambit Patra and other leaders | ANI that forced Biren Singh to resign nearly two years after the state was torn by an ethnic conflict between Meiteis and Kukis that left over 250 people dead and 60,000 others displaced. Before his Delhi trip on Saturday evening, Singh had called a meeting with NDA MLAs. Only 20 of the 46 MLAs turned up. The 60-member House now has an effective strength of 59. Singh wanted to see how many MLAs were with him given that many of the BJP’s 37 legislators, including five who defected from JD(U), were demanding a leadership change. Two days ago, the Congress announced its plan to move a no-confidence motion against the government. The Congress, which has five MLAs, was hoping to get the support of the BJP rebels to take the number beyond 10 as required for the no-trust motion to stand. Sources said the BJP’s central leadership did not want to risk an embarrassing situation where the disgruntled MLAs might side with the Congress, and so it asked Singh to quit. The ‘leaked audio tapes’, in which a person taking credit for the ethnic violence, may also have worked against Singh as a forensic analysis showed a 93% probability that the vo i c e s a m p l e s w e r e Singh’s. The matter is in the Supreme Court. The BJP was under tremendous pressure from the party’s Manipur MLAs to remove Singh. His resignation appears to be a calculated decision to avert further instability . Sources said the leadership was growing impatient with Singh as the ethnic violence had begun to tarnish Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reputation for good governance. INDIA VS ENGLAND Floodlight glitch stops 2nd ODI for 35 mins The floodlight behind the clock tower at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack went off on Sunday | PTI G O M E S H S & TA N M AY D A S @ Cuttack ROHIT Sharma and Saqib Mahmood were in the middle of the Barabati Stadium, Cuttack along with the on-field umpires. The rest of the England team had already started walking off the field. For the second time in five minutes, one of the floodlights at the venue had malfunctioned leading to a stoppage of play during the seventh over of India’s 305-run chase against England in the second ODI on Sunday . First, the lights went off from 6.15 PM till 6.20 PM, and just when Mahmood was about to bowl, the lights went off again. This time, it did not turn back on till 6.45 PM, leading to a cumulative stoppage of almost 35 minutes. It is understood that the generator that supplies power to the par- EXPRESS READ Aero India 2025 to kick-off today Bengaluru: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday termed Aero India a key platform to showcase India’s vision of becoming a self-reliant nation. The event will be held from February 10 to 14 | P7 No eKYC extension beyond Feb 15: Patra Bhubaneswar: After extending the deadline for Aadhaar-based self-authentication of beneficiaries enjoying free ration under national and state food security schemes till February 15, the state government on Sunday made it clear that there will be no further extension | P3 AI FOCAL POINT AT PARIS SUMMIT TODAY The AI Action Summit, co-chaired by President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in France is all set to go underway on Monday. It will focus on development and deployment of AI | P7 Rohit leads from front ticular floodlight malfunctioned. “The generator attached to the floodlight malfunctioned, so the lights were off on that particular stand behind the clock tower. Now we have got the back-up generator on. It took time to change the connection from one generator to the other, which caused the delay,” said an OCA official. The Barabati Stadium is one of the oldest in India having been established in 1958. Once a Test venue, the stadium has lost its charm and is in desperate need of renovation. Pankaj Lochan Mohanty acting presi, dent of Odisha Cricket Association, had told this daily on Saturday the association is in talks with the Odisha governm e n t fo r t h e s t a d i u m ’s renovation. Full story: newindianexpress.com India skipper Rohit Sharma finally came good with the bat, scoring 119 off 90 balls to help India post a four-wicket victory over England. Led by Rohit, India, who took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, chased down a target of 305 with 33 balls to spare. R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi 31 Maoists, 2 cops killed in gun battle in Chhattisgarh E J A Z K A I S E R @ Raipur AT least 31 Maoists, including 11 women, were killed in a fierce gun battle with security forces in the Indravati National Park region of Bijapur in Chhattisgarh on Sunday. The encounter, which took place 450 km south of Raipur, resulted in the deaths of two security personnel and injured two others. Bastar range IG Sunderraj P said troops recovered 31 bodies, which are yet to identified. The injured personnel were airlifted to Raipur, where doctors reported signs of bullet injuries and fractures. Doctors said they’ll have to wait for 24 hours for further updates. The operation was launched based on specific intelligence inputs, with a joint team of security forces comprising the District Reserve Guard (DRG), Special Task Force (STF) and Bastar Fighters, all units of the state police, tracking real-time locations of the Maoists for more than five days. Security forces crossed hilly terrain before launching a massive offensive from different directions, surrounding the Maoists in the Annapur forest in the core national park, some 90 km away from the Bijapur district headquarters, on Sunday . The forces recovered AK-47 rifles, self-loading rifles, INSAS assault rifles and grenade launchers REDS NEUTRALISED THIS YEAR IN HOTBED DATE Jan 3 Jan 5 Jan 9 Jan 12 PLACE CASUALTIES Gariaband 1 Narayanpur 5 Sukma 3 Bijapur 5 BijapurJan 16 12 Sukma border Jan 21 Gariaband 16 Feb 1 Bijapur 8 Feb 9 Bijapur 31 from the encounter location. This year, 81 Maoists have been killed in separate encounters in Chhattisgarh. “In the last 13 months, 282 Maoists have been neutralised, 1,033 arrested and 925 have surrendered in Chhattisgarh”, said chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai. The series of encounters against left-wing extremists is a part of a renewed strategy to free Chhattisgarh from the clutch of Maoists. Shortly after the encounter, Union Home Minister Amit Shah took to X and announced, “...Before March 31, 2026, we will completely eradicate Naxalism from the country.” Shah also condoled t h e d e at h o f t wo s e c u r i t y personnel.