MONDAY 15 APRIL 2024 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 Twitter.com/thestatesman Facebook.com/thestatesman KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR WARRANTY OF JUMLAS: CONGRESS ON BJP'S MANIFESTO NAIDU PRE-PLANNED ATTACK ON JAGAN, ALLEGES YSRCP P4 WEATHER Partly cloudy sky. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 38 °C and 27 °C respectively. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 87 % TEMPERATURE Max: 37.9°C (+2) Min: 26.8°C (+1) SUN RISES SUN SETS 05:17 hrs 17:57 hrs MOON RISES MOON SETS 09:40 hrs 23:54 hrs Full Moon on 24 April THUMBNAILS A priest offers prayers to the idols of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Laxmi on the occasion of the Bengali New Year, in Kolkata on Sunday.  ANI Sarabjit Singh's killer shot dead in Lahore: One of the accused in the brutal killing of Indian national Sarabjit Singh in Kot Lakhpat jail in 2013 was gunned down by two unidentified men in Lahore's Islampura area, Pakistani media reported on Sunday. Aamir Sarfaraz alias Tamba succumbed to his injuries after two suspects on a motorcycle entered his residence in Lahore's Islampura area and fired four bullets at him on Sunday morning. P6 STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 14 APRIL rime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the BJP’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections reinforces the four pillars of a developed India – youth power, women empowerment, farmers, and the underprivileged. The BJP advocates realisation of the vision of one nation, one election, and views the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) as imperative for the nation's welfare, the prime minister said after the release of the BJP manifesto. Mr Modi launched the manifesto ‘BJP's Sankalp – Modi's Guarantee 2024’ for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections at the BJP’s Central Office Extension in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister and BJP Manifesto Committee Chairman Rajnath Singh, party’s national president JP Nadda, and Union Finance Minister and Manifesto Committee Convenor Nirmala Sitharaman. The BJP manifesto has a special focus on the wel- POLL PROMISES P STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 14 APRIL ZAMINDARS can exert all thr might but Bengal’s SPRIT of RESISTANCE will never waver.” Mr Banerjee is scheduled to hold a conference of party functionaries at Haldia on Monday and he was supposed to travel to East Midnapore in the helicopter. (PG3)  People above 75 years of age and transgenders will be brought under the purview of Ayushman Bharat Yojna. The limit of loans under MUDRA Yojana will be increased to Rs 20 lakh from Rs 10 lakh.  If re-elected, the BJP will expand the Vande Bharat Trains to every corner of the country. Three models of Vande Bharat train --Vande Bharat Sleeper, Vande Bharat Chair Car and Vande Bharat Metro~-- will run across the country.  The BJP will work towards realising the idea of One Nation, One Election in the next five years.  PM said that Uniform Civil Code is necessary in the interest of the country and the BJP will bring the UCC.  Prime Minister said that in the next five years, the BJP will work towards reducing the electricity bills of crores of families to zero. A solar rooftop scheme in this regard has already been announced. fare of senior citizens, the poor and the middle class. The party said that it has decided to bring the transgender community and senior citizens above 70 years of age, whether poor, middle-class or upper middle-class, under the ambit of Ayushman Bharat scheme. Among other key poll MUMBAI, 14 APRIL Unidentified persons opened fire outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan's Bandra home around dawn on Sunday, an action later claimed by the Lawrence Bishnoi mafia outfit. The Mumbai Police Crime Branch has launched an investigation after at least three-four bullets were fired at the actor’s Bandra West home early this morning, officials said. The attack was carried out at least two unidentified persons sporting helmets who came speeding on a motorcycle and fired at least four shots in the direction of Galaxy Apartment, before zooming off on the dark and deserted road. Anmol Bishnoi, the brother of the jailed Lawrence Bishnoi who is based in the USA, later put up a post on Face- promises, the party said the existing free ration scheme for the poor will continue for the next five years. The BJP's manifesto also promised 'One Nation One Election' and "single electoral roll". "We have set up a High Powered Committee to examine the issues of conducting simultaneous elections and will work towards the implementation of the recommendations of the Committee," the party said. The manifesto also promises institutional reforms which include combating corruption and bringing in an Uniform Civil Code. “BJP believes that there cannot be gender equality till such time Bharat adopts a Uniform Civil Code, which protects the rights of all women, and the BJP reiterates its stand to draw (up) a Uniform Civil Code, drawing upon the best traditions and harmonising them with the modern times," the party said. While pledging to Will boost farming infrastructure and irrigation facilities, the BJP also said its government would continue timely hike in Minimum Support Price for crops. SILIGURI, 14 APRIL Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today reached out to the people at Chalsa in Jalpaiguri by celebrating Bengali New Year and Bangla Diwas with them. Hundreds of folk artistes especially Adivasi boys and girls and local artistes took part in a colourful programme there. Miss Banerjee joined hands with the folk artistes, performed with them and played some musical instruments amidst tight security. State power minister Aroop Biswas accompanied Miss Banerjee. The chief minister will start her third round of campaigning from Cooch Behar tomorrow. In Siliguri, under the leadership of Siliguri Mayor Goutam Deb, local artistes took out a colourful procession to mark the Bengali New Year as well as Bangla Diwas in the morning. On the other hand, candidates for Lok Sabha polls belonging to Trinamul Congress , Bharatiya Janata Party and others reached out to the people and marked the day with the people in this region today. While TMC candidate for Darjeeling LS seat Gopal Lama offered prayer in a Kali temple in Siliguri and started campaigning here, BJP candidate Raju Bista was busy in Darjeeling Hills today to garner votes. Notably, Mr Bista has organised a ‘Meet and Greet’ and interactive sessions with outgoing Union Minister for Youth and Sports Affairs, Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur in Siliguri tomorrow morning. On the other hand, the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Chief Executive Anit Thapa took the opportunity to criticise the BJP as sections of the Hill people were upset as there was no special commitment for Darjeeling in the BJP’s election manifesto. The BJP candidate for Jalpaiguri, Jayanta Roy, started campaigning at Rajganj areas in the morning and left for Maynaguri where movie star Mithun Chakraborty came to join a roadshow for Mr Roy. “West Bengal needs a change,” Mr Chakraborty told reporters here today. While TMC candidate Prakash Baraik and BJP candidate Manoj Tigga were busy in campaigning, taking on each other in Alipurduar, the Trinamul Congress leader and former North Bengal Development Minister Rabindranath Ghosh joined hands with local BJP leaders to mark the Bengali New Year in Cooch Behar today. The police were on the alert to maintain law and order and recovered nearly Rs 9 lakh from a car belonging to a BJP leader in Jalpaiguri today. India calls upon Iran, Israel to exercise restraint amidst West Asia flare-up STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Israel said that 99 per cent of the around 300 drones and missiles launched at its territory by Iran were shot down by its missile defences NEW DELHI, 14 APRIL: India on Sunday expressed serious concern over the escalating tension between Israel and Iran and called for immediate de-escalation, exercise of restraint, stepping back from violence and returning to the path of diplomacy. Hours after Iran launched dozens of drones and missiles at Israel in an unprecedented attack, the Ministry of External Affairs said: “We are seriously concerned at the escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran which threatens the peace and security in the region.” “We call for immediate de-escalation, exercise of restraint, stepping back from violence and return to the path of diplomacy," it said. Iran carried out the attack in response to a suspected Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus on 1 April in which several Iranian Revolutionary Guards personnel, including two generals, were killed. Air India, meanwhile, temporarily suspended flights to Tel Aviv amidst the escalating conflict. The airline operates three weekly flights from Delhi to Tel Aviv. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar later in the day disclosed that he has spoken Salman again targeted; Mumbai cops probe firing at actor’s home AGENCIES P12 CM joins Poila Baishakh On top of BJP agenda: celebrations in Chalsa UCC, simultaneous polls I-T team searches Abhishek’s chopper at Behala flying club Income Tax officials today conducted a search of a helicopter which is used by Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary of the Trinamul Congress, at the Behala flying club this afternoon. Trinamul Congress has condemned the incident and Mr Banerjee on his X handle wrote: “Instead of removing the @NIA_ India DG and SP@ECIVEEP and @BJP4India chose to deploy MINIONS FROM IT to search and raid my chopper and security personnel today, resulting in NO FINDINGS. The P5 BJP manifesto also lays stress on youth, women, farmers, and underprivileged Min. 25 % SALT’S 89 CARRIES KKR TO EIGHT-WICKET WIN OVER LSG CONSCRIPTION LAW book, in which he described the incident as the "first and last warning" for Salman Khan, ominously declaring that the next time "the bullets won’t be fired at walls or an empty home". For the past several years, Salman Khan and his family have been facing death threats from certain Punjab-based mafia groups like the Bishnoi gang. In the past couple of years, he and his father Salim Khan have been issued death threats in different ways, including dropping a letter to the family. It was not immediately known if Salman Khan was at home or not on a weekend holiday just after the Ramzan Eid celebrations. On learning of the incident, a Bandra Police team rushed to the Khan household and launched preliminary investigations, and also tightened security in the vicinity. CMYK with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian as well as Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz to discuss the situation in West Asia. “Spoke to Iranian FM this evening. Took up the release of 17 Indian crew members of MSC Aries. Discussed the current situation in the region. Stressed the importance of avoiding escalation, exercising restraint and returning to diplomacy. Agreed to remain in touch," Mr Jaishankar said on X. On his conversation with the Israeli foreign minister, Mr Jaishankar posted: “Just concluded a conversation with Israel FM @Israel_katz. Shared our concern at the developments yesterday. Discussed the larger regional situation. Agreed to stay in touch.” Following Iran's attack, the Israeli military said it and its allies have intercepted the majority of more than 300 drones and missiles fired by Iran. While 170 drones and 30 cruise missiles were shot down before they reached Israel, a few of the 110 ballistic missiles got through, injuring 12 people. Amidst fears that the attack would widen the conflict inWst Asia, a New York Times report said that Israel decided to carry out a retaliatory attack on Teheran on Sunday morning, but it was cancelled after a phone call took place between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the situation. After Israel successfully intercepted Iranian missiles and drones, the Biden administration cautioned Tel Aviv to avoid escalation. Meanwhile, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Sardar Bagheri, has said that the military operation against Israel has "concluded" fromTeheran's side, while issuing warning to the US against helping Israel in their possible next action. (See Page 9)