chennai l Friday l may 10, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 40 l LATE CITY EDITION Neeraj’s Olympic build-up begins in Diamond League All eyes will be on the javelin ace as he takes on some of the big names of the sport in the competition that begins in Doha on Friday STIFF CHALLENGE AWAITS the INDIAN STAR Asiad silver winner Jena to make debut Neeraj, the reigning world and Asian Games champion, will be up against the likes of former world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and Olympic and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist, Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic, in the first leg of the Diamond League one-day meet series. Neeraj had won the top prize in Doha last year | P15 ■ ■ Asian Games silver medallist and Neeraj’s compatriot, Kishore Jena, will also be in the fray as he makes his Diamond League debut. His personal best is 87.54 m and he’ll be hoping to make an impression European champion Julian Weber of Germany, fourth in the Olympic Games and World Championships, will also compete 89.94 m Chopra’s personal best is also the national record 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 BRS missing in battle of multi-crorepatis N a v ya Par v at h y @ Hyderabad The polished IT towers of Cyberabad and the arid villages of Vikarabad coexist in the Chevella Lok Sabha constituency With three As. sembly segments almost fully rural (Pargi, Vikarabad and Tandur) and three others mostly urban (Serilingampally, Rajendranagar, Maheshwaram), the constituency stands out among the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana. As one drives through the vast constituency from Madhapur in Serilingampally to the villages of Vikarabad, concrete structures become scant and are taken over by agricultural fields and gulmohar trees in full bloom. Houses become modest and cafes are replaced by tiffin shops. Despite the BRS holding four of these Assembly constituencies and the Congress three, the battle for Chevella seems to be between the BJP and the grand old party with voters mostly , disregarding the BRS. The incumbent Gaddam Ranjith Reddy, elected in 2019 as a BRS candidate, is now seeking a second term on a Congress ticket. The BJP has fielded the erudite Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, who was elected as the Chevella MP in 2014 on a BRS ticket. He also had a brief stint in the Congress, during which he lost to Ranjith Reddy in 2019 by a margin of 14,317 votes. Kasani Gyaneshwar, who was earlier head of the Telangana TDP, is representing the BRS this time. Vishweshwar Reddy, sonin-law of Apollo Hospitals founder Prathap C Reddy, has declared assets worth `4,500 crore, making him the richest candidate in Telangana. Ranjith Reddy has assets worth over `435 crore. The performance of the BJP and its ally Jana Sena Party (JSP) in the 2023 Assembly polls was abysmal in the rural Chevella. In Tandur, for instance, the JSP got only 4,087 votes. Speaking to TNIE as part of Hyderabad Dialogues recently, Vishweshwar Reddy said that the rural belt is at the centre of his campaign. “Our ally Jana Sena got 4,000 votes. My target is 60,000 to one lakh. 65% of my time and efforts go into rural areas. The BJP is anyway strong in the city he said. ,”  Continued on: P7 Konda Vishweshwar Reddy (left) and Gaddam Ranjith Reddy Illustration: Mandar Pardikar Poll jitters grip D-Street, Sensex sheds 1.5% A R S H A D K H A N @ New Delhi the lower-than-expected voter turnout in the first three phases of Lok Sabha elections has a section of market players worried that the winning margin of the Narendra Modi-led NDA may not be as impressive as initially thought. The nervousness is weighing down heavily on the markets as is evident from the sharp rise in the volatility index and the collapse of equity benchmarks. India VIX, which reflects volatility and investors’ sentiments for the near term, hit a fresh 52-week high of 19.17 on Thursday before closing 6.56% higher at 18.20. It has gained for the 11th consecutive session and is now up 88% from April lows. Meanwhile, the Sensex and Nifty crashed on Thursday despite no major negative global cues. The BSE Sensex closed the Thursday session 1,062.22 points, or 1.46%, lower at 72,404.17 while the NSE Nifty 50 declined 345.00 points, or 1.55%, to settle at 21,957.50. In the past five sessions, Nifty and Air India Express Crew ends strike after talks with management The tussle between Air India Express’ management and its senior cabin crew, which saw hundreds of crew members going on sick leave, leading to the cancellation of over 170 flights, came to an end on Thursday after talks at the chief Labour Commissioner’s office in Delhi. The union representing a section of the Air India Express employees said the crew members who had reported sick will return to work. The airline’s management agreed to reinstate the 25 crew members whom it had sacked earlier in the day for taking part in protest. The management assured the crew members that all issues raised by them would be looked into and resolved, the Labour Commissioner’s office said. Around 300 senior cabin crew members had gone on a mass sick leave since Tuesday night, protesting “inequality, reduction in the contract period from five years to one, and pay cuts of up to 30%”. Discontent has been brewing between the cabin crew and the management ever since the Tata Group began the acquisition of Air India and Air India Express in 2022. “For over oneand-a-half years, the cabin crew had been raising their issues with the management, but no action was taken,” said K K Vijaykumar, a leader of the Air India Express Employees Union. more on: P4 express read Attack on Shankar: HC refuses to order probe Chennai: The Madras HC on Thursday refused to order a judicial probe into the alleged custodial violence against jailed YouTuber ‘Savukku’ Shankar. Meanwhile, the YouTuber underwent examination at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital and was treated for fracture on his right forearm. Speaking to reporters, his lawyer S Gopalakrishnan said X-ray showed Shankar had two fractures in right hand | P4 Available on WIT H T H IS ISSUE CHENNAI’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 40 PAGES, INCLUDING 24 OF INDULGE (TABLOID) Scan the QR code for further details *Basis lab test in controlled environment on protein damaged hair after five washes 5 more Indian sailors released by Iran The markets prefer a strong government at the Centre that can implement pro-business policies. So, a weak poll outcome can spook the markets. Talking to this newspaper, a market veteran said: “Several media articles are quoting lesser numbers for BJP/NDA since the voter turnout has been tepid. I think that is what is causing the ebb and flow.” Another senior analyst said a tight poll result with the BJP in the lead could trigger selling in the short term, but a win for the INDIA bloc would mean a double-digit correction. V o l at i l i t y i nd e x India Volatility Index (India VIX) measures the market expectations of near-term (30 days) volatility. The index portrays the rate and magnitude of changes in prices and is a widely recognised proxy of risk. It is computed by the NSE based on the order book of Nifty options. Best bid-ask quotes of near and nextmonth NIFTY options contracts traded on F&O segment are used for this 10 killed in firecracker unit blast in Sivakasi H ar i n i M @ Virudhunagar E x pr e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ New Delhi/Kochi As dog days and drought-like condition grip Tamil Nadu, TNIE takes a look at crops and farmers battling for survival. The first report today brings you the story of betel vine ravaged by heat and water shortage in thousands of acres in TN New Delhi: Five more Indian sailors who were on board MSC Aries cargo vessel seized by Iranian forces on April 12 were released on Thursday. “These five sailors on MSCAries have been released and on their way to India,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Thursday Sensex have corrected by around 3.5% each. On Thursday alone, investors lost a whopping `7.34 lakh crore as the market cap of all BSE-listed fir ms plunged to `3,93,34,896 crore from `4,00,69,409 crore on Wednesday . “We reckon that 400+ seats seem unlikely for the BJP-led alliance,” Phillipcapital India analysts said in their note. They, however, added that the low turnout would not dent the widely expected outcome of BJP returning to power. About 100 people were working at Shri Sudharsan fireworks at the time of the blast. Many fled the spot | express Ten workers, including six women, were killed and at least 10 others were hospitalised with severe injuries after an explosion at a firecracker unit at Sengamalapatti near Sivakasi on Thursday Four of the . deceased — M Avudayammal (75), M Muthu (52), V Lakshmi (47), and K Jeyalakshmi (25), — of Sivakasi belong to same family sources said. , The other deceased were identified as C Ramesh (31), K Alagarsamy (35), and S Veeralakshmi of Mathiyasenai; G Kaleeshwaran (47) of V Chokkalingapuram; Vijayakumar (30) of Chinnayapuram; and S Vasanthi (50) of Gopuram Colony The injured are . being treated at Sivakasi GH. According to sources, the explosion at Shri Sudharsan fireworks happened around 2.30pm when the workers were engaged in cracker production. Three fire and rescue service teams of 21 personnel and multiple fire-tenders from Sivakasi and Virudhunagar rushed to the spot and the blaze was doused after nearly two hours. continued on: p5