Telangana in financial distress: Revanth Reddy The state’s financial situation is pretty bad and the government is unable to raise funds as bankers don’t trust it, CM Revanth Reddy said on Monday. He said bankers are looking at representatives of the government as ‘thieves’. The comments came in response to demands from government employees for higher wages tirupati l tuesday l may 06, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l 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 Russian President accepts Modi’s invitation to visit India for annual high-level meeting Putin calls PM, supports fight against terror Japan on same page Visiting Japanese defence minister Gen Nakatani met his Indian counterpart Rajnaand offered “full support” to India’s war against terror Par panel seeks info A parliamentary panel sought details from two ministries on the action they planned against social media platforms that “seem to be working against national interest” stop fund, adb urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a strong pitch to ADB to stop giving funds to Pakistan as it backs terror activities J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday expressed full support to India in its fight against terror, emphasising during a phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that those responsible for the heinous attack in Pahalgam —and their supporters— must be brought to justice. The conversation took place ahead of a closed-door United Nations Security Council meeting requested by Pakistan. “He (President Putin) conveyed deepest condolences on the loss of innocent lives and expressed full support to India in the fight against terrorism. He emphasised that the perpetrators of the heinous attack and their supporters must be brought to justice,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. “Both sides emphasised the need for an uncompromising fight against terrorism in all its forms,” said the readout from Russia. Highlighting the “strategic nature of Russian-Indian relations as a special and privileged partnership,” President Putin reiterated that the relationship is not “subject to external influence and continues to develop dynamically across all areas.” Modi invited Putin for the annual summit to be held in India later in the year which was accepted by the Russian leader. Pakistan, currently serving as a non-permanent member of the 15-nation Security Council, called for the meeting amid rising tensions with India. Greece, which holds the Council presidency for May has scheduled the session for the , afternoon of May 5. The meeting is scheduled to start at 12.30 am IST, Tuesday . No interim order on Waqf Act, matter transferred to next CJI S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi All gates of Salal Dam on the Chenab river in Reasi district, J&K, closed | pti hold mock drills, govt tells states R A J E S H K U M A R THA K U R @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a series of high-level meetings with senior government officials after an earlier meeting with Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh amid indications that a military response to the Pahalgam massacre is around the corner. The gover nment has already weaponised the Indus Waters Treaty by shutting a couple of dams on the Chenab after flushing out their silt. The Union home Ministry issued an advisory to several states asking them to conduct mock drills on May 7 for effective preparedness of the civil defence system. The meeting Modi had with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Home Secretary Govind Mohan and senior military officials is learnt to have focused on the final stages of preparedness against the perpetrators of the Pahalgam terror attack. It went on for over an hour. Earlier in the day Modi had , a 40-minute meeting with the defence secretary. Defence chiefs have already briefed the PM individually and jointly on their preparedness for retaliation against rogue elements fostering terror. The home ministry’s advisory to hold mock drills as part of emergency preparedness, indicates India has firmed up some military action against Pakistan that could be executed after May 7, remarked a source. U.N. urges maximum restraint UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday expressed grave concern about the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, saying that the relationship between the two countries has reached a “boiling point” and that tensions are at their “highest in years”. He warned that “military confrontation can spin out of control”. The Supreme Court on Monday said that a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act will now be taken up by a bench headed by Chief Justice of India-designate Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai on May 15. During the hearing on Monday the court said that the Cen, tre has raised some points on registration of Waqf properties, which would require detailed hearing. “I do not want to reserve any judgment, or even interim order, at this stage. This matter will have to be heard on a reasonably early date and this will not be before me. If you all agree, we post it before a bench Express read Vij-Vizag flight ready to take wings from June 1 Vijayawada: Morning flight services between Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam will resume on June 1, Union Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu announced on Monday, calling it a key step toward strengthening regional air connectivity between two growth hubs of AP, The IndiGo-operated ATR flight will depart Vijayawada at 7:15 am and reach Visakhapatnam at 8:25 am. The return service will take off at 8:45 am and land in Vijayawada by 9:50 am. The flight, suspended last month, had been in demand by frequent travellers | P4 Senior advocate Salman Khurshid addresses the media in New Delhi | pti of Justice Gavai,” said, the CJI Sanjiv Khanna, who is set to retire on May 13. All the parties accepted the court’s suggestion to fix May 15 as the next date to hear the batch of petitions. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, senior law officer for the Centre, assured the court that it would neither denotify waqf properties, including ‘waqf by user’, nor make any appointments to the Central Waqf Council and boards till further hearing. The court was hearing five petitions—out of more than 100 filed before it—after noting that it was impossible to hear all the pleas in the matter, as more or less, the prayers were strikingly similar. The Centre on April 25 defended the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025, as valid, lawful exercise of legislative power. “It is a settled position in law that the constitutional courts would not stay a statutory provision, either directly or indirectly and will decide the mat, ter finally said, the Centre, in ,” its reply filed before the top court. Simhachalam wall collapse: Seven officials suspended S V i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada The Andhra Pradesh government has suspended seven officials, including Simhachalam Temple Executive Officer K Subba Rao, in connection with the tragic wall collapse at the temple that claimed seven lives during the ‘Chandanotsavam’ festival on April 30. In addition to Simhachalam EO, temple EE DG Srinivasa Raju, AP Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) EE K Ramana, Simhachalam temple Deputy EE KSN Murthy, APTDC Deputy EE AVBLR Swamy , APTDC AC P Madan Mohan and Simhachalam temple JE K Babji were suspended. A threemember inquiry committee appointed to investigate the incident submitted its report to the State government on Monday . Based on the committee’s report, the government not only suspended the officials but also decided to blacklist the contractor and initiate criminal proceedings against the contractor P4 and two of the officials.