KOttayAM l monday l October 21, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Female cheetah to soon give birth to cubs at Kuno National Park Veera, one of the South African cheetahs at the park, is pregnant and is expected to deliver soon, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said Boost for Project Cheetah, says MP CM Lowest survival rate among felines “Happiness is coming to Kuno… A female cheetah is soon going to give birth to cubs at the KNP. This news is a symbol of the great achievement of the Cheetah Project. The project started under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi is proving to be continuously improving the ecological balance,” Yadav wrote in a post on social media platform X while sharing the information ■ ■ ■ In September 2022, the prime minister released five female and three male cheetahs brought from Namibia into the Kuno National Park In February 2023, 12 more cheetahs were translocated from South Africa According to wildlife literature, among all feline family cubs, cheetah cubs have the lowest survival rate with only 5% reaching adulthood 17 Number of Cubs born in the Kuno park in the past two years; 12 have survived CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Brinkmanship as Uddhav’s Sena, Cong bicker on 15 Both refuse to yield; grand old party looks to contest from more if push comes to shove as early as Monday . “The party leadership told us While the BJP announced its that the Congress should prefirst list for 99 candidates for pare to contest 150 to 160 seats the assembly elections on Sun- as a contingency plan if push day, politics of brinkmanship comes to shove. We were ready played out in the Opposition for 110-120 seats; now we have Maha Vikas Aghadi between to expand our horizon and look the Congress and the Uddhav for potential candidates. We Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, par- have started tapping Congress ticularly over 15 seats in the Vi- aspirants from other constitudarbha region and elsewhere. encies to get a sense of their Since the Congress winning potential,” the has a better strike rate RJD may go leader said, requesting it alone in anonymity. in Vidarbha, it does not want to yield. But Ud- Jharkhand Another Congress dhav is equally stub- With the rift in leader claimed that the born and the dispute Uddhav Sena neither the ruling has reached Delhi. has presence in these INDIA bloc After the Congress’ widening over 15 seats nor does it have refusal, Uddhav called candidates, yet they are seat sharing, a meeting of his senior the RJD said it adamant about them. party leaders to weigh may go alone “If the Uddhav Sena his options and decide in the assembly eventually contests on the next steps. Earfrom these seats, all of polls in lier in the day, his son Jharkhand. The them would easily fall Aditya and Anil Parab party wants to into the ruling Mahaymet former Union min- contest 18-20 uti’s pocket. The Sena ister Sharad Pawar to seats but has (UBT) should underfind a middle ground to stand the gravity of the been offered resolve the situation. situation and back off,” just 4-5 | P8 A meeting of the he said. Congress election and screenHowever, a Sena (UBT) leader ing committee scheduled in accused the Congress of being Delhi on Sunday got cancelled a habitual offender in not giv, due to the stalemate. But for the ing space to its allies. “It should impasse, the party was expect- learn lessons from the Haryana ed to announce its first list of debacle. We are expecting this candidates after the meeting. issue would be resolved soon in A senior Congress leader the larger interests of the from the state who is in Delhi state,” he said. for the meeting, said they were Uddhav has also asked the advised not to return as the Congress not to stretch things next meeting could take place beyond the breaking point. S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai sonia to campaign for Priyanka in Wayanad Road show on Wednesday Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul will take part in a roadshow in Kalpetta on October 23. E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Kalpetta Sonia Gandhi will campaign for her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is making her electoral debut in the Wayanad Lok Sabha by-election. Priyanka will be joined by her brother Rahul Gandhi and Sonia on October 23, when the Congress candidate will file her nomination papers. The trio will be part of a roadshow in Kalpetta earlier the same day . This will be Sonia’s first visit to Kerala in many years. She last campaigned in the state 10 years ago, for the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Sonia had then chaired a special convention of the party’s state unit and held discussions with the local leadership on grassrootslevel strategies. Despite subsequent invitations by the KPCC leadership, concerns over her health always stood in the way. But, Priyanka’s election foray proved a deciding factor this time round. Congress workers in Wayanad are enthused by the prospect of having all three for the campaign. According to the local leadership, Priyanka will stay in Wayanad for 10 days after submitting her nomination papers. “The schedule of Priyanka’s visit is yet to be confirmed. The presence of Rahul and Sonia will energise party workers as well as the people of Wayanad who are going through a tough time after the landslide,” Wayanad party president N D Appachan said. Campaigning has already started in the assembly segments. Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan and KPCC chief K Sudhakaran are also active with UDF conventions Mysterious blast outside CRPF school in Delhi, multi-agency investigation on U J WAL J ALALI @ New Delhi A mysterious blast occurred near a CRPF school in Delhi’s Rohini area on Sunday morning, sparking a security alert in the national capital. The blast, which appeared to be triggered by a crude bomb, partially damaged the school’s wall and some cars parked nearby. Nobody was injured. Delhi Police personnel reached the spot soon after the explosion. The National Security Guard and National Investigative Agency also sent their teams to inspect the blast site. Investigators lifted fragments of some white powder from the spot, which indicated the usage of a crude bomb having chemical mixture of ammonium nitrate and ammonium chloride. “As of now, we don’t think any improvised explosive device was used as no metal-like substances, shrapnel or ball bearings were found at the National Security Guard personnel inspect the blast site outside the CRPF school at Prashant Vihar in Rohini area of New Delhi on Sunday morning | Parveen Negi site,” a senior official told this newspaper. DCP (Rohini) Amit Goel said the police was alerted about the blast at 7.50 am. He said the police personnel who rushed to the spot reported foul smell emanating from the area. “The glasses of a nearby shop and some cars parked nearby were shattered. However, no one was injured,” the DCP said. A video of the incident, possibly recorded by some locals, showed thick plumes of smoke billowing from the blast site. “A multi-agency probe is on. I am keeping a constant watch on the progress of the investigation and assure that the guilty will be brought to book. I appeal to all to maintain restrain and not indulge in fear mongering,” Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena said. Official sources said there was no intelligence input about any possible disruption. Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi blamed the Centre for the blast. “The bomb blast exposes the deteriorating security situation in Delhi. The BJP-led Central government is responsible for law and order in the city However, they spend . their time obstructing the efforts of the elected Delhi government rather than fulfilling their responsibilities. This neglect has resulted in Delhi resembling the 1990s Mumbai underworld era, with shootings, extortion, and rising criminal confidence,” she said. Doc, 6 migrant workers shot dead in J&K’s Ganderbal dist Oz citizen booked for ‘unintentionally taking’ brass bowl from temple F AYA Z WANI @ Srinagar E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @T’Puram IN the second targeted attack within three days in the Kashmir Valley, terrorists on Sunday shot dead a doctor and six migrant labourers working in a key infrastructure project at Gagangir area of Sonmarg in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district. A few others were injured in the terror attack. Sources said the terrorists fired from close range towards a group of migrant workers at Gagangir area of Sonamarg. The workers were part of a construction team working on key Z Morh tunnel, which connects Gaganeer to Sonamarg in Kashmir’s Ganderbal district. Of the six workers who died, three were from Bihar, one from Madhya Pradesh, and one hailed from Jammu. The identity of one is yet to be established. The doctor was from Kashmir. Sources said the attack took place near the workers’ mess. Confirming the militant attack, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah wrote on X: “Very sad news of a dastardly & cowardly attack on non-local labourers at Gagangir in Sonamarg region. These people were working on a key infrastructure project in the area... I strongly condemn this attack on unarmed innocent people & send my condolences to their loved ones”. Immediately after the militant attack, a joint contingent of police, CRPF, and Army rushed to the area and launched a combing and search operation to track down the militants. The Fort Police probing the loss of an antique brass bowl from the high-security zone of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram arrested an Australian citizen of Indian origin on Sunday and recovered the artifact from him. However, he was charged under ‘dishonest misappropriation of property’ — a lighter section — after it was found that the bowl, which has a huge antique value, was not stolen, but rather “inadvertently taken away” by Gangesh Jha during his visit to the temple along with his wife and a friend. Jha, 52, was taken into custody from Gurugram with the help of Haryana Police and brought to Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday His wife . and their friend also came along though they were not arraigned in the case. Jha was later released as the section charged was bailable. The police said during the interrogation it was revealed that Jha did not steal the brass bowl, which was used for purification rituals in the temple. The bowl reportedly belonged to the 15th century AD and had Tamil Seer samman Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets Kanchi Shankaracharya Vijayendra Saraswati Swamigal at an event to inaugurate the RJ Sankara Eye Hospital, in Varanasi on Sunday. Run by the Kanchi Math, the hospital aims to cater to the needs of people in 20 districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh as well as those in the border areas of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh | PTI Ahead of Sabarimala season, KSRTC rolls out ‘Ayyappa Charitha’ package K r i s h n a K u m a r K E @Kochi With the Sabarimala season set to commence in a few weeks, the KSRTC Budget Tourism Cell (BTC) has rolled out a u n i q u e Ay y a p p a Charitha pilgrimage package. The package includes a pilgrimage circuit connecting four temples having a mythological connection to the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple, a senior BTC official told TNIE. “Devotees can visit the temples at places that are associat- ed with various life-stages of the Lord, as cited in the legends,” the official said. The temples included in the circuit are Kulathupuzha Sree Dharma Sastha Temple, Aryankavu Sree Dharma Sastha Temple, Achankovil Sree Dharma Sastha Temple (all in Kollam district), and Pandalam Valiya Koyikkal Sree Dhar ma Sastha Temple (Pathanamthitta district). The Kulathupuzha temple is dedicated to Bala Sastha (Ayyappa as a boy). According to the legend, the infant who later became Lord Ayyappa was found from the forest area at Kulathupuzha by the Pandalam king. Similarly, the Aryankavu temple is connected with the Lord’s teenage, and the famous Achankovil temple is associated with ‘Grihastha Ashrama’ (the lord is depicted as a family man). The last destination is the Valiya Koyikkal Sree Dharma Sastha temple, the family temple of the Pandalam royal family It is believed that . the Lord spent his childhood ● More on P4 there.  ADM’s death departmental probe report likely to be submitted in two days Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple and Malayalam inscriptions on it. Police sources said when Jha was waiting in the queue for darshan on October 13 — Vijaya Dashami day — he collapsed and a tray he was carrying fell on the floor along with the pooja offerings in it. Seeing this, some of the devotees standing nearby helped him get up, collected the offerings from the ground, and put them in another bowl, which was lying outside the place of darshan, the officer said. The officer said Jha did not even know that the bowl belonged to the temple. He was of the feeling that it belonged to one of the devotees, who had helped him. The officer said Jha told the police that he considered the bowl as a gift from god and took ● More on P4 it with him.  Speaking to reporters in Thrissur on Sunday, Revenue Minister K Rajan praised Naveen as an “excellent officer” and confirmed the report’s imminent submission | P4 in the constituency The Waya. nad by-election was necessitated after Rahul resigned from the seat in favour of Rae Bareli after the April general election win in both constituencies. In the 2019 LS election, Rahul won Wayanad by a margin of 4,31,770 votes. This, however, declined to 3.64 lakh this year. The UDF leadership is confident of increasing the margin to over 5 lakh in the by-election. Meanwhile, the NDA candidate for Wayanad, Navya Haridas, will hold a roadshow in Kalpetta on Monday . 25 more Indian flights receive hoax bomb threats S h ek h a r S i n g h @ New Delhi Hoax bomb threats continued to disrupt the aviation sector for the seventh consecutive day on Sunday, grounding planes and unnerving passengers. As many as 25 flights across major carriers—IndiGo, Vistara, Air India and Akasa Air— were forced into emergency security measures after receiving hoax threats. Since October 14, over 90 Indian flights have been af fected by similar bomb scares. Though these threats turned out to be fake, the fallout is real: delayed flights, disrupted schedules, and mounting anxiety among passengers and airlines. “We received security threats on six of our flights,” a Vistara spokesperson said, listing major international routes — Delhi to Frankfurt, Singapore to Mumbai, Bali to Delhi, Singapore to Delhi, Singapore to Pune, and Mumbai to Singapore. Six of the affected IndiGo flights included those on the Delhi-Istanbul, Mumbai-Istanbul, Jeddah-Mumbai, Kozhikode-Dammam in Saudi Arabia, Pune-Jodhpur, and Goa-Ahmedabad sectors. Akasa Air said six flights — Ahmedabad to Mumbai, Delhi to Goa, Mumbai to Bagdogra, Delhi to Hyderabad, Kochi to Mumbai and Lucknow to Mumbai — received security alerts. “The Akasa Air Emergency Response teams were in touch with security and regulatory authorities,” said an airline spokesperson. Sources said six Air India flights, too, faced a similar situation though its officials did not share the number. They, however, confirmed that some flights were subject to security threats received on social media. “Following the laid down protocols, relevant authorities were immediately alerted, and all security procedures strictly adhered to, as per guidance from the regulatory authorities and security agencies,” said an official. express read UDF urges Anvar to withdraw candidates T’Puram: The UDF has approached estranged LDF MLA P V Anvar, urging him to withdraw his candidates to the Palakkad and Chelakkara assembly by-elections. It has dawned on the Opposition front’s leadership that minority votes will be key to its chances in both seats, and that Anvar’s candidates can spoil plans by capturing a good chunk of this crucial vote base. P4