SOLVE KASHMIR ISSUE THROUGH TALKS: TURKEY Islamabad: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday said that the Kashmir issue should be resolved through dialogue between India and Pakistan, with due consideration for the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. “The Kashmir issue should be addressed according to the UN resolution through dialogue and keeping in mind the aspirations of the people of Kashmir,” he said HYDERABAD  FRIDAY  FEBRUARY 14, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 38  LATE CITY EDITION 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 Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Donald Trump, US President Don announces tariffs as Modi begins US visit J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi HOURS before his crucial meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on all trading partners—without any exception. However, the reciprocal tariffs won’t take immediate effect, to give nations time to negotiate new trade terms with the US. The meeting between Modi and Trump is to take place in the wee hours on Friday (Indian time). Modi, who arrived in Washington on Thursday for a twoday state visit, began the day with a series of meetings. After arriving at Blair House, the President’s Guest Tulsi calls House, Modi met the Director on Modi of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Thereafter, he had a The newly discussion with US National appointed Security Adviser Michael Director of Waltz. The meeting was also National attended by External Affairs Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, Minister S Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval. called on Terming Waltz a great friend Modi soon of India, Modi said there is a after he strong potential for cooperalanded in US tion in sectors like AI, semiconductors, space and more. Later, Modi met Tesla CEO Elon Musk and political figure Vivek Ramaswamy . During his meeting with Trump, Modi is likely to explore a defence industrial framework, nuclear cooperation—especially small modular reactors—and stepping up critical technology collaboration. Decision after failure to evolve consensus on the new CM Assembly placed under suspended animation President’s rule imposed in Manipur M U K E S H R A N J A N & P R A S A N TA M A Z U M D A R @ New Delhi/Guwahati PRESIDENT’S rule was imposed in strife-torn Manipur on Thursday and the state Assembly put under suspended animation days after Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned, leading to a political vacuum in the state. Singh had resigned on February 9 after meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The decision to impose President’s rule was taken after Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla sent a report to President Droupadi Murmu. A notification by the Ministry of Home Affairs on behalf of Rashtrapati Bhavan said, “In exercise of powers Security forces in Manipur are on high alert following President’s rule | PTI conferred by Article 356 of the Constitution, I assume as President all functions of the government of Manipur.” The decision comes as the BJP failed to find a consensus chief ministerial candidate despite hectic parleys between the party’s northeast in-charge Sambit Patra and MLAs. Patra had met Governor Bhalla be- fore Thursday’s decision. Patra had met Governor Bhalla before Thursday’s decision by the central government. The governor has already declared the seventh session of the 12th Manipur Legislative assembly, which was to commence on February 10, as null and void. The last session of the assembly concluded on Au- gust 12, 2024. Singh’s tenure was marked by ethnic violence that erupted in May 2023 between the majority Meitei community in the Imphal Valley and the Kuki-Zo tribal groups in the surrounding hills, resulting in over 250 deaths. Singh’s response to the violence included a public apology in December 2023. In February, a new controversy erupted when audio tapes allegedly featuring Singh were leaked, in which he was purportedly heard discussing how the ethnic violence was instigated with his approval. His resignation preceded the Supreme Court asking for a sealed-cover report on the authenticity of the audio tapes. MANIPUR AND ARTICLE 356 This is the 11th instance of President’s Rule in Manipur, the highest in the country Longest was from October 17, 1969 to March 22, 1972 The last time it was under President’s Rule was from June 2, 2001 to March 6, 2002 Rishang Keishing was the first CM to complete a full term Ibobi Singh is second CM to complete a term, not one but three (2002-17) GOVT YIELDS WITH CORRIGENDUM ON JPC WAQF REPORT IN THE RS P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi I-T BILL INTRODUCED IN THE LOK SABHA Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday tabled the Income Tax Bill, 2025 in the LS. It was referred to the select committee for review | P12 AMID a massive showdown in both Houses of Parliament over the alleged redaction of certain portions of the dissent notes in the joint parliamentary committee report on the Waqf Amendment Bill, the government on Thursday tabled a corrigendum in the Rajya Sabha. For a short while, there were two versions of the bill, one with redaction in the Rajya Sabha and the other in the Lok Sabha till the corrigendum made them identical. The Opposition erupted in protest as soon as the panel report was tabled in the Upper House with Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge leading the attack on the alleged deletion of dissent notes. However, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju vehemently refuted the charges, charging that the Opposition was indulging in the politics of appeasement. While the first half saw heated debates between the treasury bench and the Opposition, in the post-lunch sitting, BJP MP Medha Vishram Kulkarni tabled a corrigendum in Appendix 5 of the report, prompting Opposition to say they had forced the government’s hand, adding it proved the House was misled by a minister earlier. Speaking to this newspaper, Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain said only 40-50% of the redacted portions of the dissent notes were restored in the new version. “The basic requirement of conducting a clauseby-clause discussion has not been fulfilled. The panel redacted that demand,” he said. SHAH STANCE The new version of the JPC report with annexures was tabled in LS at 2 pm with home minister Amit Shah asserting the BJP has no objection to the dissent notes being included without redaction. He asked the speaker to decide as per procedure Microsoft to set up AI centre in TG E N S @ Hyderabad CHIEF Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday announced that Microsoft will set up an AI centre in collaboration with the Telangana government to develop cloudbased infrastructure, including an AI knowledge hub. Revanth Reddy along with , IT and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu, inaugurated Microsoft’s new office building at Gachibowli. The stateof-the-art 1.1 million sqft LEED-certified building will house 2,500 additional employees. Speaking on the occasion, Revanth Reddy said, “It is imperative to acknowledge that the future belongs to artificial intelligence and Microsoft and the state government are partners in launching ADVANTA(I)GE TELANGANA, which includes an AI Foundation Academy. With this partnership, Telangana and Microsoft will introduce AI education in 500 government schools and also use AI for good governance and public services.” The CM described the opening of another new facility by Microsoft in Hyderabad as a proud moment. Having the second office building of the company in Hyderabad is a milestone in the development of the IT sector, he added. CONTINUED ON P2 AICC LIKELY TO APPOINT NEW TG IN-CHARGE | P4