13092024-TTC-01.qxd 9/13/2024 12:40 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 8 NO. 254 | 18 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 BLINKEN ENDS EUROPEAN TOUR AMID UKRAINE’S REQUEST FOR ARMS WORLD /thetribunechd RASHID TO BACK INDIA BLOC IF IT VOWS TO RESTORE ART 370 J&K RETAIL INFLATION RISES CONTROVERSY ERUPTS MARGINALLY TO 3.65% OVER PM’S VISIT TO CJI’S RESIDENCE BACK PAGE IN AUGUST BUSINESS friday | 13 september 2024 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Docs don’t turn up, Didi offers to quit Nominations end,rebel worrystaysinHaryana Cong, BJP to reach out to dissenters for withdrawal Geetanjali Gayatri SCRUTINY TODAY Tribune News Service West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee waits to meet doctors protesting over the RG Kar rape-murder, at Nabanna in Howrah. As doctors didn’t turn up, she offered to resign from the CM’s post. PTI INSIDE Respect LAC for normal relations, NSA tells China Adani’s $310 mn in Swiss banks frozen: Hindenburg New Delhi, September 12 India has reiterated to China that ensuring “peace and tranquillity” and “respect” for the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are essential for normalising bilateral relations. NSA Ajit Doval conveyed New Delhi’s concerns during a meeting with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the BRICS NSAs’ meeting. Doval’s statements on the ongoing military standoff along the LAC in Eastern continued on page 9 No truth in report, says Indian conglomerate NewDelhi, September 12 A Swiss investigative news website on Thursday reported that the Swiss authorities had frozen more than $310 million in funds across multiple bank accounts as part of a money laundering and securities forgery investigation into Adani, dating back as early as 2021. US short seller Hindenburg, which has been accusing the Gautam Adani-led conglomerate of alleged “stock price manipulation and financial irregularities”, shared a link to the website Gotham City on its X handle. “Prosecutors detailed how an Adani frontman invested in opaque BVI/Mauritius & Bermuda funds that almost exclusively owned Adani stocks, according to newly released Swiss criminal court records reported by Swiss media outlet @news_gotham,” said Hindenburg in the post. continued on page 9 Chandigarh, September 12 With nominations for the 90 seats of the Haryana Assembly coming to a close today, rebels of the Congress and the BJP are likely to play spoilsport in a direct contest between the two national parties in a majority of the seats. The polling will be held on October 5 while the result will be declared on October 8. While the scrutiny of the nomination papers will be carried out tomorrow, September 16 is the last date for withdrawal of candidature after which the final tally of those left in the fray will be known. The two regional parties — the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and its splinter group, the Jannayak Janta Party — which are struggling ■ Scrutiny of nomination papers to be carried out on Friday ■ September 16 last date for the withdrawal of candidature ■ On last day of nominations, INLD joins hands with Gopal Kanda's Haryana Lokhit Party to stay relevant in the state politics, have entered this poll in an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), respectively. The INLD, on the last day of nominations, also joined hands with the Haryana Lokhit Party of Gopal Kanda and extended support to him. The Congress-Aam Aadmi Party talks for an alliance failed to mature over sharing of seats since leaders of the Congress in the state were adamant on going it alone in the elections. The BJP is also contesting the elections without any pre-poll alliance. In the 2019 elections, the party was forced to forge an alliance with the JJP to form the government again. However, the rebels of the two parties could upset their calculations in the seats which are headed for a direct contest. While the BJP has fielded over 45 per cent fresh faces in this poll, the Congress has chosen not to repeat nearly 50 per cent of its candidates from the 2019 elections. However, the real concern for the two parties comes from the rebels who have threatened to contest as Independents after being denied the ticket. The BJP saw a major revolt after its first list of 67 candidates continued on page 9 MUSLIMS OFFER TO RAZE ILLEGAL PORTION OF SHIMLA MOSQUE ■ In what may defuse the ten- sion in Shimla, a Muslim delegation on Thursday offered to demolish the illegal portion of the controversial mosque in Sanjauli ■ The submission from the community leaders came a day after several Hindu outfits held a massive protest in Sanjauli, demanding the demolition of the mosque Today’s issue is of 18 pages, including four-page Jalandhar Tribune. c m y b ■ “We have proposed that the portion the MC finds illegal should be sealed... and if allowed, we are ready to demolish the illegal portion ourselves,” they said INSIDE Yechury, the leading light of Left, no more Shubhadeep Choudhury Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 12 Veteran Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury passed away on Thursday at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, following a prolonged respiratory illness. The 72-year-old CPM general secretary, who bid an early farewell, is survived by wife and senior journalist Seema Chisti, son Daanish and daughter Akhila, who teaches history at the University of Edinburgh. Sitaram’s second son Ashish died of Covid in 2021. Tributes poured in from all quarters for the senior Communist leader, who resisted the allurement of a jet-set academic career to serve the nation. After cutting his teeth on student politics at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Yechury was a member of the CPM Politburo for 34 years, instrumental in changing the vision of his party across several periods of political transition. In 2015, he rose to the position of party general secretary, the most powerful position in the party, suc- AUG 12, 1952-SEPT 12, 2024 Remained CPM Politburo member for 34 years, and in 2015 became party gen secy ceeding Prakash Karat. Yechury’s most iconic image — where he is seen reading out demands to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as JNU Students’ Union chief — was today shared on X by Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, who bid farewell to the late leader with the words “Goodbye tovarish (Russian for comrade)”. “Immediately following the announcement of the results of the March 1977 Lok Sabha elections, a delegation led by continued on page 9