14 JANUARY 2024 www.thestatesman.com INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 Pages 16 |` 5.00|LC Twitter.com/thestatesman Facebook.com/thestatesman KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR WEATHER Mainly clear sky very likely. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 22 °C and 12 °C respectively. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 96 % TEMPERATURE Max: 22.0°C (-3) SUN RISES 06:19 hrs MOON RISES 07:59 hrs Min. 44 % Consensus on Kharge as INDIA chairperson Leaders of the Opposition alliance held a nearly 2-hour-long virtual meeting TMC welcomes Kharge’s appointment Min: 12.6°C (-1) SUN SETS 17:11 hrs MOON SETS 19:14 hrs AGENCIES THUMBNAILS STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 13 JANUARY op leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on Saturday proposed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s name for the chairperson of the Opposition bloc. The alliance leaders held a nearly two-hour virtual meeting, which was convened by Mr Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Among the leaders who attended the meeting were T Maldives president: In comments seen as alluding to the row that erupted after some of his ministers made disparaging remarks against PM Narendra Modi, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu on Saturday said his country might be small, but it does not give anyone the licence to "bully" them. Mr Muizzu was also quoted as saying the Indian Ocean does not belong to a specific country. Trinamul Congress has welcomed the decision to appoint Mallikarjun Kharge as the chairperson of INDIA bloc, which was taken during the virtual meeting of the oppo- sition parties on Saturday. “This is what Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said before. There was (no) point in stirring up the matter for such a long time,” the Trinamul Congress spokesman Kunal Ghosh said. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief M K Stalin and CPI general secretary D Raja. However, no official announcement was made after the meeting. During the meeting, the leaders also discussed seat sharing for the Lok Sabha elections and holding joint programmes, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, which is scheduled to kick off from Manipur on Sunday. The NCP chief later said it was suggested during the meeting by some of the leaders that the alliance should be headed by Mr Kharge and everyone agreed. “We had a discussion that we all will take a decision on seat-sharing as KOLKATA, 13 JANUARY Full Moon on 25 January The Tulail area shrouded in white after fresh snowfall, in Bandipora on Saturday.  ANI EAM: Ties with China won’t get normal until border row is resolved soon as possible,” Mr Pawar said. CPI general secretary Raja said: “It was a good meeting. The meeting discussed seat-sharing. It has been suggested to all the constituents of the INDIA alliance to conclude the seat-sharing negotiations as early as possible. There was a brief discussion on Rahul’s Nyaya Yatra.” He further said: “ There was a discussion on the question of chairperson and convenor.” “The name of Mr Kharge was proposed as chairperson, it was agreed upon. But, a suggestion was made that it should be communicated to the Trinamul Congress (TMC) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) and should be announced after that. Then, it was suggested to Mr Kharge to inform them about the proposal and take their consent.’’ Jaishankar to visit Iran STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 13 JANUARY STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 13 JANUARY External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday reiterated that relations with China can't normalise until the ongoing military standoff in eastern Ladakh is resolved peacefully. At an event in Nagpur, Mr Jaishankar said that he has made it clear to his Chinese counterpart in no uncertain terms that unless a breakthrough is made with regard to the border row, Beijing should not expect normalisation of ties with India. The minister pointed out that the relationship with China has not been good over the past few years since Beijing violated agreements between the two countries aimed at maintaining peace and tran- Amidst the ongoing IsraelHamas war and the USled coalition's attacks on Houthi military targets in Yemen, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is leaving here on Sunday on a two-day visit to Iran. The visit is part of regular high-level exchanges between the two sides, the Ministry of External Affairs said. Mr Jaishankar will meet Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and hold discussions on bilateral, regional and global issues, the MEA added. quility along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Mr Jaishankar said China violated bilateral agreements by deploying troops along the LAC in 2020 during the Covid pandemic. India lodges protest with UK over its envoy’s visit to PoK STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 13 JANUARY India has strongly objected to the recent visit of UK High Commissioner to Pakistan Jane Marriott to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), saying such infringement on this country's sovereignty and territorial integrity was not acceptable to it. Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra lodged a strong protest with British High Commissioner in India Alex Ellis in this regard, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Saturday. “The Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are, have been and shall always remain an integral part of India,” the MEA asserted. The British envoy to Pakistan visited Mirpur in PoK on 10 January along with a UK Foreign Office official. She justified her visit saying “70 per cent of British Pakistani roots are from Mirpur, making our work together crucial for diaspora interests”.