MEA slams Munir, says India will not give in to nuclear blackmail Nuclear sabre-rattling is Pakistan’s “stock-in-trade”, the MEA said, in a strong response to the Pak Army Chief Asim Munir’s nuclear threat. Munir, currently on a visit to the US, made the threat while addressing the Pakistani diaspora in Florida’s Tampa. “We are a nuclear nation. If we think we are going down, we’ll take half the world down with us,” Munir said. The MEA said it is regrettable that these remarks were made from the soil of a friendly third country bengaluru l tuesday l august 12, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 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 US trade talks on track; India draws red lines Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress president BJP’s cowardly dictatorship will not work! This is a fight to protect people’s right to vote, a struggle to save democracy Sushmita Dev (left) and Mahua Moitra (second from left), both Trinamool Congress MPs, scale a police barricade during a protest march by INDIA bloc MPs from Parliament to the Election Commission of India’s office in Delhi on Monday; (R) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attends to TMC’s Mitali Bag after she fainted at the protest venue | PTI High drama as Bihar SIR stir spills on to Delhi’s streets Opposition members of Parliament barred from reaching the ECI office, briefly detained Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief It’s not the first time fingers have been pointed at the EC. In UP polls, the SP raised issues multiple times Dharmendra Pradhan , Union minister You can’t adversely impact PM Modi’s leadership, people’s mandate, constitutional system via fear poll row: BJD set to go to HC Eight months after complaint to the ECI about irregularities in 2024 Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Odisha, the BJD will escalate the matter to the Orissa HC | P5 Focus on 50 countries to boost exports P U S H P I TA D E Y & J aya n th J a c o b @ New Delhi This fight is not political; it is aimed at saving Constitution... We want a clean, pure voter list P r eetha Nai r @ New Delhi In a day of high drama, the Opposition’s protest against the ongoing voter roll revision in Bihar spilled onto the streets with the Delhi Police detaining several top leaders of INDIA bloc, including Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, during their march to the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) headquarters in the capital. While the march led by Rahul began from Parliament House at noon, the MPs were stopped midway as the police had placed multiple barricades on Parliament Street to block them from moving forward. While the police asked the MPs not to proceed further and made an announcement through a loudspeaker that they should send only 30 representatives forward, many MPs sat on the road and raised slogans against the alleged ‘vote theft’ and poll rigging. In the melee, some MPs including SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, TMC’s Mahua Moitra, Sagarika Ghose and the Congress’ Sanjana Jatav and Jothimani, scaled the barricades raising slogans. The protesting MPs were later whisked away by police in buses to the Parliament Street police station. TMC’s Moitra and Mitali Bag fainted while being detained. All of them were released after a brief detention. Later speaking to the media, Rahul said the Opposition is protesting for the right to vote for every Indian and demanding a “clean and pure” voter list, asserting that the issue of alleged irregularities pointed out by him will ‘explode’ soon as it is not related to a single constituency but the whole country . Indicating that he would not submit a signed affidavit as sought by the Election Commission, Rahul asserted that the data analysed by the Congress to provide proof of ‘vote theft’ was taken from the EC’s website. “They cannot talk as the truth is before the entire nation. This fight is not political; it is aimed at saving the Constitution,” said Rahul. Meanwhile, a war of words broke out between the EC and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who said that he had written to the EC requesting a meeting to collectively hand over a memorandum. The ECI said Jairam had acknowledged its invitation for a meeting with 30 MPs but later “changed his tone”. The EC rebutted Jairam’s claim that he has urged the panel to allow Opposition MPs to collectively hand over a memorandum and not for just a delegation. Rajanna sacked after his comments anger Cong Amid growing uncertainty over the future of trade negotiations with the US, this newspaper has learnt that the visit of the US delegation in the last week of August is on schedule. “There has been no change in the plans of the US delegation visit to India as scheduled on August 24,” confirmed two persons from the Ministry of Commerce. There was speculation about the fate of trade talks after US president Donald Trump recently ruled out talks with India till the tariff issue is resolved. “There has been no communication from the US so far (regarding the cancellation). Their visit is scheduled on August 24 and the meeting has been scheduled in the third week of August,” said an official. The next round of negotiations is to take place in Delhi on August 25—just before an additional 25% tariff on India kicks in, apart from the existing 25% levy . A query sent to the US Trade Representative remained unanswered till the time of filing this express read Ba n sy K a l appa @ Bengaluru On the surface, it seemed like a routine resignation. But behind the calm façade of Cooperation Minister KN Rajanna’s sudden exit from the Karnataka cabinet lies a web of controversy high-stakes power struggles and whispers of betrayal , that have set the state’s political corridors abuzz. The 74-year-old minister, a close confidant of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, part of the latter’s core support group and a key face of ST community resigned without warning on the , first day of the legislature session. The timing couldn’t have been more telling — or more suspicious. Insiders suggest that the tipping point was a seemingly offhand comment — but one that rattled Congress from Bengaluru to Delhi. A few days ago, Rajanna had said that the controversial voter list in the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency part of , K N Rajanna the Bangalore Central Parliamentary segment -- which is central to the Congress’ “vote theft” offensive against BJP had been prepared during , the Congress rule. This gave an impression that Congress too did not do anything on the very issue that the party is fighting against. For the Congress High Command, it was heresy For Sid. daramaiah, who was Rajanna’s political ally since the Janata Parivar era, it was an embarrassment too large to contain. But even before Rajanna sent in his resignation, the Chief Minister’s Office had forwarded its recommendation for his ouster to the Raj Bhavan. A communique from the governor’s office sealed his fate and he was removed from the council of ministers with immediate effect. The message was clear: This wasn’t a resignation, it was a purge. CONTINUED ON P4 Dharmasthala: SIT to use ground radar Mangaluru: The Special Investigation Team (SIT), investigating the Dharmasthala mass burial case, will search for human remains at Site No. 13 with Ground Penetrating Radar | P3 Pak intruder shot dead by BSF in J&K’s Kathua Jammu: A Pakistani intruder was killed by the BSF while attempting to sneak into India along the International Border (IB) in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday | P10 New Income Tax Bill passed in Lok Sabha New Delhi: The new Income Tax Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha amid din without a debate on Monday. The Income Tax (NO.2) Bill will allow individuals to claim TDS refunds even if they fail to file I-T return within due date | P13 Hackers drain `47cr SC orders Delhi-NCR purge of all stray dogs in eight weeks from B’luru fin firm S U C H I T R A K A LYA N MO H A N T Y @ New Delhi E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @Bengaluru Cyber fraudsters allegedly siphoned off a whopping Rs 47 crore after hacking into the bank accounts of a Bengaluru-based finance company lo, cated on Outer Ring Road in Marathahalli. The complaint filed by the senior manager, Prakash M of Whizdm Finance Pvt Ltd, on Sunday stated that during the company’s manual reconciliation process on August 7, several irregular and suspicious fund transfers were detected to certain bank accounts on August 6 and 7 without authorisation. The company immediately instructed the two private banks concerned to freeze debit transactions on those accounts. An internal investigation revealed that the transfers did not originate from within the company or its whitelisted IP addresses. The IP addresses involved were traced to locations outside India. Approximately Rs 47 crore was illegally transferred, the FIR stated. The details of the beneficiary accounts have been obtained. A case has been registered under various Sections of the IT Act and Section 318 (4) (cheating) and 319(2) (cheating by personation) of the BNS. Efforts are under way to trace their locations and identify the culprits. the Supreme Court on Monday directed the Delhi government and the civic authorities of Delhi-NCR to round up all stray dogs at the earliest and put them in dog shelters to be set up by the civic authorities of Gurugram, Noida and Ghaziabad within eight weeks. The ruling by a bench of justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan came on a suo motu case initiated by it over the spike in incidents of dog bites leading to rabies. The bench also directed that the dog shelters should have sufficient personnel to sterilise and immunise the dogs, aside from looking after them. The centres would be under CCTV surveillance to ensure the dog remains in the facility, the court added. The bench held that the situation is so grim there is no room for sentiments. It warned of strict ac- tion against individuals and organisations in case of obstruction, which might also prompt the court to initiate contempt proceedings. The court had initiated suo motu proceedings on July 28 following media reports highlighting the tragic death of a six-year-old girl in Delhi due to rabies following a dog bite. The bench posted the matter for hearing after six weeks and asked the authorities to file a status report. Will all these animal activists be able to bring back those who have fallen prey to rabies? Supreme Court report. Meanwhile, the government on Monday told members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs that India has certain ‘red lines’ that can’t be crossed in the negotiations with the US. Senior officials, including Foreign Secret a r y Vi k r a m M i s r i a n d Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal, briefed the panel. Sources said the government asserted its uncompromising stance on core sectors, especially agriculture and dairy while , outlining a strategy to cushion the economic blow through export diversification. “Red lines were clearly flagged,” a source said, “particularly against the US demand to open India’s agri and dairy sectors. There will be no compromise on these.” The Centre is working on measures to boost India’s exports, including targeting 50 countries, an official said on Monday. The 50 countries account for 90% of India’s exports. Trade ties between the two countries are passing through a difficult phase and the government is taking measures to deal with the fallout — Official Upper castes tie ST youth to tree, beat him up E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Belagavi A Scheduled Tribe (ST) youth was tied to a tree and beaten up, while another was assaulted at his home reportedly by upper caste people for allegedly teasing a minor girl at Godachi village of Ramdurg taluk in Belagavi district. The incident occurred on August 5, but came to light only now. The victims, Iranna Vitthal Naikar (18) and Lakshman Mallappa Chipallkatti (18), are both residents of Godachi. The first few days after the incident, the victims or their families did not file a police complaint and took up the matter up before village elders. But when a video of the incident went viral, the police asked them to file the complaint. An FIR was A screenshot of the viral re g i s t e re d at t h e video showing the assault Katkol police station on an ST youth at Godachi on August 8. village in Belagavi district The FIR named seven persons -- Iranna Pakanatti, Basangouda Patil, Pradeep Pakanatti, Mahantesh Pakanatti, Sachin Pakanatti, Ningaraj Pakanatti, and Sangappa Pakanatti. The police arrested Iranna, Sachin and Mahantesh, while the search is on for the remaining accused. The minor girl’s family too filed a countercomplaint on the same day (August 8) against the two victims, accusing them of teasing her. Both cases are now under investigation. After the assault, Iranna and Lakshman were treated at a local hospital and discharged. Flagging demand, Hubballi flag unit stares at 75% dip in profits A m it S U padhye @Hubballi Just a handfull of women work at the flag manufacturing centre in Bengeri | D Hemanth Come August, the only BIScertified khadi Tricolour manufacturing centre in the country based in Hubballi, would be , bustling with women employees stitching national flags throughout the day. But this year, the unit is wearing a deserted look and the number of workers too has reduced, despite it being the peak season ahead of Independence Day . The Kar nataka Khadi Gramodyoga Samyukta Sangh of Bengeri in Hubballi, which runs the flag unit, is staring at a 75% depletion in its profits this year. Ahead of Independence Day, the Sangh used to earn around Rs 2.7 crore, but with four days to go for the big day, it has received orders worth only Rs 49 lakh. The Sangh has been staring at losses ever since the central government allowed polyester flags to be flown as part of the 75th year Independence Day. The move immensely helped polyester companies from Gujarat which have captured the market and are making big profits over the last two years. As the central government’s also amended the national flag code, many government buildings and institutes too have started flying polyester flags, shunning khadi flags, which are priced higher. Though khadi flags have a longer life, they are losing demand swiftly P5 .