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 ■ ■ vijayawada l friday l january 05, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Amid spat with allies, Cong to begin seat talks Sharmila joins Cong, ready to work in AP Express news Service @ Vijayawada/Hyderabad War of words between TMC and Congress over seats in West Bengal for Lok Sabha polls P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Amid g rowing rumblings among INDIA bloc partners in various states over seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress on Thursday said it will begin talks with its allies soon. The development came hours after the Congress and Trinamool got into an ugly spat over seats in West Bengal. Earlier in the day, state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury hit out at TMC chief Mamata Banerjee for offering just two of the state’s 42 seats to the grand old party. A furious Chowdhury said his party doesn’t need Banerjee’s alms and can win more seats on its own. In response, the TMC said ‘bad mouthing alliance partners and seat-sharing can’t go hand-inhand.’ In Punjab also, the Congress and AAP leaders have been issuing statements against each other over the ED’s summoning of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. Later in the evening, the Congress’ National Alliance Committee (NAC), which was set up to facilitate seat-sharing agreements with INDIA partners, met party president Mallikar- New name for Rahul’s Yatra The Congress on Thursday renamed Rahul Gandhi’s East to West yatra as Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which will be flagged off from Manipur on January 14. Earlier, the yatra was called Bharat Nyay Yatra. The party will invite all members of INDIA bloc to join the yatra along its route jun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi, and submitted a detailed report outlining potential state-wise alliances. Speaking to the media, NAC head Mukul Wasnik said statelevel talks with allies will start soon. Other members of the panel include former Union minister Salman Khurshid, former CMs Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel, and senior leader Mohan Prakash. “We have submitted our report to Congress leadership based on the feedback from state unions on the feasibility and prospects of forming alliances with various parties in different states. Now, discussions with INDIA bloc allies will begin without any delay We are aware . that it has to be done on a priority basis,” he said. Airfares set to drop as market leader IndiGo cuts fuel charge Congress leader Rahul Gandhi welcomes YS Sharmila, daughter of YS Rajasekhara Reddy, into the grand old party in New Delhi on Thursday | Shekhar Yadav The Congress is the largest secular party of our country. It has always upheld the true culture of India and has built our nation’s foundations – YS Sharmila After protracted negotiations, YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) president and daughter of the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy, YS Shar mila, on Thursday merged her party with the Congress and declared her readiness to work for the grand old party, whether in Andhra Pradesh or the Andamans. Sharmila, sister of YSRC chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy joined the , Congress fold in the presence of party president Mallikarjun Kharge and former president Rahul Gandhi at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi. Her move comes in the wake of the Congress victory in the recent Assembly elec- tions in Telang ana and breathes new life into the party that was uprooted in Andhra Pradesh following the bifurcation of the state in 2014. Speaking on the occasion, Sharmila was effusive in her praise of the Congress. “Today I am very happy to be , merging YSRTP into the Congress party It . gives me immense joy that the YSRTP is going to be a part of the Indian National Congress from today onwards,” she said, adding that the Congress is still the largest secular party in the country Recalling her fa. ther’s desire to see Rahul Gandhi as the prime minister, she said she would work towards realising his dream like a soldier of the party . CONTINUED ON P4 Ayodhya temple 84-second muhurat set n a m i ta b a j pa i @ New Delhi The throne for Ram Lalla is ready in Ayodhya. He will ascend the throne just past noon on January 22 with the priests having a very short window of 84 seconds to complete the consecration ceremony. For, the auspicious time that day begins at 11.51 am and ends at 12.33 pm under the Abhijeet Muhurat in Mrigashira Nakshtra. The time was set by Vedic acharyas in Kashi. The actual Pran Pratishthha (consecration) of the Ram Lalla will be between 12.29.08 pm and 12.30.32 pm that is just 84 seconds. According to the temple trust general secretary Champat Rai, this short time span for the Pran Pratishthha was chosen as 10 out of 16 qualities of this muhurat are good. India bounce back with shortest Test G o m e s h s @ Chennai Courtesy CALL Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy meets former Telangana CM and BRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao at his residence in Hyderabad on Thursday | express India and South Africa were on a new land in Newlands, literally 642 balls. 107 overs. Four. and-a-half sessions. This is how the second Test panned out in Cape Town. As the visitors conjured a seven-wicket win to level the two-Test series, there were quite a few records too. It is the shortest in terms of number of balls — two of the next five on the list are from 19th century. Lowest in terms of match aggregate (442) for a Test involving India and South Africa. If Jasprit Bumrah was the India and South Africa share the Freedom Trophy after levelling the series 1-1 | AP star on Thursday, Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada shared the spoils on Wednesday. This Test will be talked about for the way Newlands surface behaved. It was mischievous as 23 wickets fell on Day One and 10 on the next were testament to that. Rohit said as much after the match. He said there are no complaints before adding, “...as long as everyone keeps their mouth shut in India and don’t talk too much P11 about Indian pitches.”