14 JANUARY 2024 www.thestatesman.com INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC Twitter.com/thestatesman Facebook.com/thestatesman KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR LAI CHING-TE WINS TAIWAN PREZ POLLS BHUTAN ELECTIONS P6 WEATHER MAINLY CLEAR SKY. DENSE FOG IN THE MORNING. COLD WAVE CONDITIONS AT A FEW PLACES. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 19 AND 04 DEGREE CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 97 % Max: 18.1 °C (-2) SUN RISES 7:15 hrs MOON RISES 10:14 hrs TMC welcomes Kharge’s appointment AGENCIES THUMBNAILS STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 13 JANUARY T Body of ex-model Divya Pahuja found: The m body of former model Divya Pahuja, who was shot dead at a hotel in Gurugram earlier this month, was recovered from a canal in Haryana's Fatehabad district 11 days after the murder, police said on Saturday. “Divya was shot dead in room number 111 of the City Point Hotel 2 January.According to the police, Divya and Abhijeet Singh, the owner of the City Point Hotel, were in a relationship and the latter killed her in a fit of rage after she refused to delete some of his objectionable photos from her mobile phone. (Page 2) 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. ed) 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 seatsharing as 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 KOLKATA, 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 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 (Unit- KOHLI’S RETURN ADDS FLAIR AS INDIA EYE SERIES WIN P4 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.’’ In response to a question on appointing Mr Nitish Kumar as convenor, Mr Raja said: “He (Kumar) just said that he was not an aspirant.” Earlier in the day, JD (U) leader Sanjay Kumar Jha claimed that Mr Kumar wanted that the convenor of the INDIA bloc should be from the Congress only. Meanwhile, Mr Kharge in a post on X wrote: “Leaders of INDIA coordination committee today met online and had a fruitful discussion on the alliance. Everyone is happy that the seat sharing talks are progressing in a positive way. We also discussed joint programmes in the coming days by INDIA Parties.” P12 EAM: Ties with China won’t get normal until border row is resolved Leaders of the Opposition alliance held a nearly 2-hour-long virtual meeting Min: 03.6 °C (-4) SUN SETS 17:45 hrs MOON SETS 21:01 hrs A white blanket of snow covers the Tulail area after a fresh snowfall, in Bandipora on Saturday. ANI P9 Cong chief Kharge to be INDIA chairperson Min. 69 % TEMPERATURE CENTRE ORDERS PROBE AGAINST FIRM OWNED BY VEENA VIJAYAN 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 stand-off 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 tranquility along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Mr Jaishankar said China violated bilateral agree- 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 AmirAbdollahian and hold discussions on bilateral, regional and global issues, the MEA added. ments by deploying troops along the LAC in 2020 during the Covid pandemic. This transgression resulted in the Galwan Valley incident in June 2020 that led to skirmishes between the Indian and Chinese troops. Even today, the forces on the two sides are deployed face-to-face, he added. 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”. “Salaam from Mirpur, the heart of the UK and Pakistan’s people-to-people ties! 70 per cent of British-Pakistani roots are from Mirpur, making our work together crucial for diaspora interests. Thank you for your hospitality!” said the diplomat on her visit.
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