BHUBANESWAR  TUESDAY  AUGUST 12, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 12  JEYPORE EDITION MEA SLAMS MUNIR, SAYS INDIA WILL NOT GIVE IN TO NUCLEAR BLACKMAIL Nuclear sabre-rattling is Pakistan’s “stock-intrade”, the MEA said on Monday, in a strong response to the Pak Army Chief’s nuclear threat RUDE REMARKS FROM ‘FRIENDLY 3RD COUNTRY’ INDIA TO TAKE UP THE MATTER WITH THE U.S. 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,” Asim Munir said. In an apparent message to the US, the MEA said it is regrettable that these remarks were made from the soil of a friendly third country ■ ■ Munir’s remarks reinforce the well-held doubts that the Pak military is “hand-in-glove” with terrorist groups, the MEA said in its statement Later in the evening, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told the Shashi Tharoor-led Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs that the government will take up the matter with the US 2ND THIS IS MUNIR’S SECOND VISIT TO THE U.S. IN A SPAN OF ONE-AND-A-HALF MONTHS 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 13-year-old girl sets self on fire in Bargarh village, dies Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader M AYA N K B H U S A N PA N I @ Bargarh This fight is not political; it is aimed at saving Constitution... We want a clean, pure voter list 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, 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; and 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 ONTO DELHI’S STREETS Opposition members of Parliament barred from reaching the ECI office, briefly detained P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief It’s not the first time fingers have been raised at the EC. In UP polls, the SP raised issues multiple times M K Stalin, Tamil Nadu CM The BJP has turned the poll panel into its election rigging machinery. We will not watch it happen in silence Dharmendra Pradhan , Union minister You can’t adversely impact PM Modi’s leadership, people’s mandate, constitutional system via fear 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 handover 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 claimed that he has urged the panel to allow Opposition MPs to collectively hand over a memorandum and not for just a delegation. K’taka min sacked for embarrassing Cong 8 BILLS GET NOD SANS DEBATE Parliament passed 8 bills without discussion, including the National Sports Governance Bill, the National Anti-Doping (Amend) Bill and the I-T (No 2) Bill and Taxation Laws (Amend) Bill | P7 KHARGE HOSTS DINNER Hours after the protest march, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge hosted a dinner party for the INDIA bloc leaders. In a sign of thaw, AAP too joined the dinner B A N S Y K A L A P PA @ Bengaluru ON the surface, it seemed like a routine resignation. But behind the calm façade of Cooperation Minister K N 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 the ST community, suddenly resigned on the first day of the legislature session. The timing couldn’t have been more telling. The tipping point was a seemingly offhand comment. A few days ago, he had said that the controversial voter K N Rajanna list in the Mahadevapura assembly constituency which is central to the , Congress’ “vote theft” offensive, had been prepared during the Congress rule. This gave an impression that Congress too did not do anything on the very issue the party is fighting against. For the Congress brass, it was appalling. For Siddaramaiah, it was an embarrassment. Even before Rajanna sent in his resignation, the Chief Minister’s Office forwarded its recommendation for his ouster to Raj Bhavan. The message was clear: it was a purge. BJD to move HC over irregularities in 2024 LS & Assly polls E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bhubaneswar EIGHT months after approaching the Election Commission of India (ECI) alleging large-scale irregularities in 2024 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Odisha, the BJD on Monday announced that it will move the Orissa High Court on the issue as no steps have been initiated by the poll body to satisfactorily address its concerns. Former party MPs Amar Patnaik and Sarmistha Sethi along with Pattamundai MLA Dhruba Charan Sahu told mediapersons that BJD had drawn the attention of ECI to three major discrepancies. They alleged that the number of votes counted in all the 21 Lok Sabha constituencies was more than the votes in the EVMs. Citing some examples, Patnaik said at booth number 57 of Phulbani Assembly constituency under Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat, the difference was 682. Similarly, in booth number booth numbers 165 and 219 of Talsara Assembly segment under Sundargarh parliamentary constituency the difference was 660 and 784 , respectively “This is more less than . true in a majority of booths,” he said. The second was a visible difference in votes polled in a Lok Sabha constituency and the seven Assembly segments within it. The discrepancies ranged from 4,056 votes in Dhenkanal to 3,521 votes in Kandhamal and 2,701 votes in Balangir, according to their memorandum. The third issue raised was 15 to 30 per cent of the polling in different Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies was recorded after the scheduled closure of the voting time. The BJD had submitted a memoramdum to the ECI in this regard on December 19, 2024, urging explanation on the issues and concerns raised CONTINUED ON P5 by the party . @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Monday directed the Delhi government and the civic authorities of DelhiNCR 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 All these animal activists, will they be able bring back who have fallen prey to rabies? 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 action against individuals and organisations in case of obstruction, which might also prompt the court to initiate contempt proceedings. The court said while the order is clear about what should be done, it is for the civic bodies to decide how to implement it. “For this, if they have to create a force they shall do it at the earliest,” the bench said. The court had initiated suo motu proceedings on July 28 following media reports highlighting the tragic death of a sixyear-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. CM Mohan Charan Majhi listening to the problems of a woman at the grievance hearing CM calms peon who threatened suicide over job regularisation E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bhubaneswar AS the state grapples with a disturbing trend of self-immolation and suicides, a threat issued by a peon in the Works department to take his own life if his job was not regularised had Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi in a very discomforting situation. Majhi, though, did not lose his composure and listened to the peon Jagabandhu Panda with compassion and assured that his grievance will be addressed. Panda, who has been working in the Works department on ad hoc basis for over three decades, had come to the Chief Minister’s Grievance Cell to narrate his hardship to the CM. While stating that his service has not been regularised despite repeated assurances by the department authorities, Panda announced in the grievance cell he had lost all hope and there was no other option but to commit suicide. Hearing this, Majhi rushed to Panda and comforted him with the assurance that his grievance will be addressed. “You have come here with your grievance and I am here to resolve your problem if it is genuine. You should not talk about suicide. Have patience, everything will be alright,” Majhi told Panda. The chief minister further advised Panda not to take any wrong step by coming under the influence of others and have faith on the government. Later speaking to mediapersons, Panda said, “I told the chief minister that my existence is meaningless if my problem is not resolved. It will be better to commit suicide. The chief minister assured me to conCONTINUED ON P5 sider my case.” US trade talks on track; India draws red lines OMG! Supreme Court orders Delhi-NCR purge of all stray dogs in eight weeks S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y A 13-year-old girl of Bargarh died hours after an alleged self-immolation bid that left her with over 80 per cent burns, in Phiringimal village under Gaesilat police limits of the district on Monday . Villagers found the minor girl unconscious in a football field with her body almost charred. A bottle of petrol and a matchbox were recovered from the spot. She was taken to VIMSAR in Burla, where she succumbed during treatment. Preliminary investigation points at family disputes, but police are investigating all possible angles. Two persons have been picked up for questioning. The girl is believed to have poured petrol on herself in a nearby field and set herself ablaze around 7.30 am. Villagers rescued her but arranging an ambulance immediately proved a tough ask. She was taken to a private hospital, from where she was shifted to VIMSAR. While the reason behind her taking the shocking step remained unclear, a video captured by locals moments after the incident showed the girl attempting to say something about a person, but her words were incomprehensible. Sources said the girl was staying at her maternal uncle’s place in Phiringimal for the past few weeks since her father, a migrant labourer, works outside while her mother lives with her parents. The 13-year-old was a student at an ashram school in Paikmal block and had come over to meet her mother and celebrate Raksha Bandhan. IG (northern range) Himanshu Lal said the girl was supposed to return to her hostel in a day or two. “We are investigating from various angles, including what happened at her home earlier today and the possible reasons to ascertain the reason behind her extreme step.” Police have formed four teams to investigate the incident. The postmortem and inquest procedure is also underway . Bargarh SP in-charge, Abhilash G confirmed her death and said the family has filed a report that she immolated herself, and based on that, a case of unnatural death (UD) has been registered. “A video she had recorded before her death has also been seized, and we are investigating from all angles simultaneously,” Abhilash said. The incident sent shockwaves across the region, coming close on the heels of the FM College and Balanga cases. The delay in the arrival of the ambulance also triggered resentment, with many claiming the girl could have been saved if she had received medical help on time. P U S H P I TA D E Y & J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi ZELENSKYY DIALS PM AHEAD OF TRUMP-PUTIN SUMMIT With eyes around the globe transfixed on the upcoming Trump-Putin summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a strategicallytimed telephonic conversation to discuss the conflict in Ukraine | P7 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 crossed in the negotiations with and the meeting has been sched- the US. Senior officials, includuled in the third week of Au- ing Foreign Secretary Vikram gust,” said an official. Misri and Commerce Secretary The next round of negotia- Sunil Barthwal, briefed the tions is to take place in panel. Delhi on August 25— Sources said the govjust before an addiernment asserted its tional 25% tariff on uncompromising India kicks in, apart stance on core sectors, from the existing 25% especially agriculture levy . and dairy, while outA query sent to the lining a strategy to US Trade Representacushion the economic tive remained unanblow through export swered till the time of Donald Trump diversification. filing of the report. “ Re d l i n e s we re Meanwhile, the govclearly flagged,” a ernment on Monday told mem- source said, “particularly bers of the Parliamentary against the US demand to open Standing Committee on Exter- India’s agri and dairy sectors. nal Affairs that India has cer- There will be no compromise tain ‘red lines’ that can’t be on these.”