SATURDAY 11 MAY 2024 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC Twitter.com/thestatesman Facebook.com/thestatesman INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR CORNERED, PM SEEKING HELP FROM ADANI-AMBANI: RAHUL ‘HYDERABAD TO BE UNION TERRITORY IF BJP WINS’ P7 SENSEX 72,664.47260.30 WEATHER Generally cloudy sky. Rain/Thundershower likely to occur towards Evening/ Night. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 32 °C and 24 °C respectively. RAINFALL: 5.3mm RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 98 % TEMPERATURE Max: 30.4°C (-5.3) SUN RISES 04:59 hrs MOON RISES 06:28 hrs P5 NIFTY 22,055.2097.70 P4 GOLD 73,090930 ` vs $ 83.14 Min: 21.9°C (-4.9) SUN SETS 18:7 hrs MOON SETS 20:41 hrs Full Moon on 23 May THUMBNAILS Customers at a jewellery shop at Karol Bagh on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, in the Capital on Friday. SNS Security forces kill 12 Maoists in Chhattisgarh: Security forces in Chhattisgarh killed at least twelve Maoist insurgents in a fierce encounter in the dense jungles of Pidiya in the Gangalur area, located in southern Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, on Friday. Following the operation, the bodies of the insurgents were recovered. Two security personnel from District Reserve Guards and Special Task Force sustained injuries and have been airlifted to Raipur for treatment. he Supreme Court on Friday ordered the release of Delhi Chief Minister and the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal for 21 days, till 1 June, to allow him to participate in the ongoing elections to the Lok Sabha. Granting interim bail to Mr Kejriwal, who was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement on 21 March, a bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta ordered that he will not attend his office or go to the Delhi government secretariat during this period. The court ordered that Mr Kejriwal would surrender to jail authorities on 2 June 2024. Mr Kejriwal, the court said in its order pronounced by Justice Khanna, “shall furnish bail bonds in the sum of Rs.50,000/- with one surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of the Jail Superintendent” and “he shall not visit the Office of the Chief Minister and the Delhi Secretariat.” The order further stated that Mr T Need to save country from dictatorship, says Kejriwal after walking out of Tihar STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 10 MAY Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, after walking out from Tihar Jail following his release on interim bail, said that everyone must come together and "fight dictatorship", as AAP supporters burst crackers and beat drums in celebration. Addressing the large gathering standing on the sunroof of a vehicle, Mr Kejriwal said that he felt very good about being among them. He said that Lord Hanuman’s blessings he is here and thanked everyone for their support and blessings. In an appeal to people, he requested everyone to come forward to save the country. Mr Kejriwal further invited people to come and join him in large numbers at the historic Hanuman Temple in Connaught Place at 11 a.m. on Saturday. Kejriwal “shall be bound by the statement made on his behalf that he shall not sign official files unless it is required and necessary for obtaining clearance/ approval of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.” BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 83.670.21 EC pulls up Kharge after he alleges discrepancies in LS poll voting data STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, MAY 10: Kejriwal prohibited from attending office, going to Delhi secretariat NEW DELHI, 10 MAY P12 SILVER 87,7002,500 SC allows Kejriwal interim bail till 1 Jun PARMOD KUMAR Min. 71 % KKR LOOK TO SEAL PLAY-OFFS BERTH AGAINST MUMBAI PUNE COURT SENTENCES TWO TO LIFE TERMS FOR DABHOLKAR’S MURDER The court stipulated that Mr Kejriwal will not make any comment with regard to his role in the present Delhi excise policy case and that he will not interact with any of the witnesses and have access to any official files connected with the case. The court clarified that the grant of interim bail to Mr Kejriwal will not be treated as an expression of opinion on the merits of the case arising from his challenge to his arrest and the subsequent remand that is pending before the bench. The court brushed aside the ED’s opposition to the grant of interim bail to Mr Kejriwal on the grounds that no separate category of ‘politicians’ could be created for the grant of interim bail and that he should approach the trial court for interim bail. Observing that at this stage, it is not possible for it to either conclude the arguments or finally pronounce the judgment, the court in its order said: “However, there is an intervening factor which has prompted us to consider and pass the present order, namely, 18th Lok Sabha General Elections, which are in progress.” The Election Commission of India on Friday pulled up Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and rejected his allegation of discrepancies in voting data released for the first and second phase of Lok Sabha polls. The poll panel also advised him to exercise caution and refrain from making any such statements. On Tuesday, Mr Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, wrote a letter to the leaders of INDIA parties, alleging discrepancies in the voting data released by ECI and non-publishing of registered voters. In a strongly-worded letter to the Congress president, the ECI said: “The very premise that voter turnout data was released late is devoid of facts as it has always been available on the Voter turnout app. The Commission outrightly rejects the allegation of the so-called glaring mismanagement. The allegations made by you are unwarranted and reflective of a biased and deliberate attempt to spread confusion on credibility of the electoral steps as they unfold in the conduct of elections.” “As a senior parliamentarian, a very seasoned politician, with experience of 52 years in electoral politics and electoral processes, and as the head of a prominent national political party, you must be aware that ECI follows the most transparent process of preparation of electoral roll and well designed and well tested participation of the political parties/candidates at every stage of the process, and thus the fact that all political parties know number of electors at every stage repeat at every stage of the election process,” it said. The poll panel pointed out that utterances from the president of a national political party “attacking the very credibility of the electoral steps and processes can have a negative impact on voter participation and can be seen as a means to deter an elector from exercising their franchise and/or demoralising the huge number of election staff and machinery which is main- ly drawn from the respective state governments.” The ECI said it has found Mr Kharge’s communication placed in public domain in the middle of the ongoing election process “highly undesirable and one that appears designed to create confusion/misdirection to the conduct of smooth, free and fair elections.” Reacting to the ECI's letter, Congress general secretary in-charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh wrote on X: “The response of the ECI to the issues raised by the Congress president in his letter to the INDIA parties is simply beyond description. "The EC is a Constitutional body entrusted with the responsibility of being an impartial body that ensures, and is seen to ensure, a level-playing field to all political parties. Both the content and intent of the letter will be a permanent blot on the reputation of an institution that can boast of luminaries like Sukumar Sen, TN Seshan, JM Lyngdoh and others. “The Congress president had raised perfectly legitimate issues, on which there have been widespread concern and comment. The approach of the EC to addressing these issues is deeply regrettable,” he said. Delhi court orders framing of charges against ex-WFI chief New Chinese envoy Xu Feihong arrives in Delhi Cong agenda anti-development & anti-national: Modi in Telangana AGENCIES STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 10 MAY A Delhi court on Friday ordered the framing of charges against BJP MP and former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on the sexual harassment allegations levelled against him by several women wrestlers. The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Priyanka Rajpoot, while passing the order, said there is sufficient material against Mr Singh to proceed with charges of sexual harassment of five women wrestlers and with the offence of outraging the modesty of women. The court found sufficient material to proceed against Mr Singh under sections 354 and 354 A (IPC). Charges have also been framed against him under section 506 (part 1) of the IPC on the allegations of two women. However, the court discharged Mr Singh from the allegations made by the sixth wrestler. The court also framed charges against the second accused Vinod Tomar under section 506 (part 1) of the IPC on the allegation of one woman and discharged him in connection with the remaining allegations made against him. The court has now listed the matter for official framing of charges on 21 May. NEW DELHI, 10 MAY Amid tension between India and China over the protracted military stand-off in eastern Ladakh, newlyappointed Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong arrived here on Friday to assume office. “Arrived at dawn in Delhi today. Thanks for the warm greetings from MEA official, Dean of Diplomatic Corps H.E. Ambassador Alem Tsehaye Woldemariam of Eritrea to India, and my colleagues from the Embassy. Look forward to working hard with all for China-India relations,'' Mr Xu wrote on 'X' soon after his arrival. Mr Xu is the 17th Chinese Ambassador to India. The last Chinese Ambassador to India was Sun Weidong, who left in October 2022, after serving three years in Delhi. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recently stated that both India and China are confident of successfully resolving the matter. Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s Pakistan remarks stir controversy STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 10 MAY Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has caused another embarassment for his party after an old interview of his, in which he had stated, “India should give respect to Pakistan as it has an atom bomb”, was widely circulated on social media. The Congress has distanced itself from Mr Aiyar’s remarks and said the party totally disagrees with what he had said. The latest controversy came days after Sam Pitroda created a storm with remarks in an interview to The Statesman that were attacked as racist, following which he resigned from the post of Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress. Notably, in December 2017, Mr Aiyar was suspended from the party for his “neech aadmi” remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His suspension was revoked later. In a post on X, Congress’ Chairman of Media and Publicity Department Pawan Khera said: “Indian National Congress dissociates itself completely from and disagrees totally with some remarks made by Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar few months back which have been revived today by the BJP in its attempt to deflect attention from Prime Minister Modi’s daily goof ups. Mr Aiyer does not speak for the party in any capacity whatsoever.” “The Indian National Congress and indeed the entire nation recalls with pride that in December 1971 Pakistan was broken and an independent Bangladesh emerged thanks to Indira Gandhi's decisive and determined leadership and the valour of our armed forces," he stated in a series of posts. Mr Khera further said: "Almost exactly 50 years ago on May 18, 1974 under the leadership of Indiraji, India's nuclear capability was announced to the world. The Indian National Congress has always believed that our decision making should be guided by supreme national interest.” CMYK HYDERABAD, 10 MAY Stepping up his attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday alleged that its agenda was anti-development and antination and recalled the serial blasts of Dilsukhnagar in Hyderabad to accuse the Opposition party of opting for a soft attitude towards terrorism during its tenure. Mr Modi addressed two consecutive rallies today, first in Mahabubnagar, followed by Hyderabad in the last leg of his campaign in Telangana where polling will be held on 13May for 17 Lok Sabha seats. Accusing the Congress government in Telangana of lining their own pockets with central funds, Mr Modi said it has become a photocopy of the BRS and a manufacturing hub of fake videos. He then urged voters not to waste their vote on the BRS since it would only help the Congress, particularly as the latter would not be able to form government at the Centre. His speech in Mahabubnagar was liberally peppered with allegations that the “Congress was out to make Hindus second class citizens in their own country” and that the Opposition party “hates Hindus”.