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 ■ ■ HYDERABAD l wednesday l september 02, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l late cITY EDITION Surekha finds support from within Top AICC, TPCC leaders ask high command to change her portfolio, not drop her Ireddy Srinivas Reddy @ Hyderabad For Endowments Minister Konda Surekha, the controversy over her daughter Sushmita Patel’s remarks against Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has opened a difficult chapter. But within the Congress, two AICC general secretaries, two ministers and a top leader have urged the party high command to exercise caution before taking any action against her, including dropping her from the Cabinet. One of the AICC general secretaries, who had earlier served as Telangana in-charge, is understood to have requested AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge to first consult Surekha before taking any decision. The leader had recently facilitated Surekha’s meeting with Kharge in Bengaluru, sources said. The other AICC general secretary has reportedly opposed any severe action against Surekha, warning that removing her from the Cabinet could have political repercussions. This leader is understood to have press clusive conveyed that Surekha could resign if she is dropped, forcing a bypoll which could adversely affect the party in the state. The intervention by the two AICC general secretaries comes at a time when the disciplinary committee’s recommendation against Surekha is being discussed within the party Their . position is not understood to be in defence of Sushmita’s remarks, which party leaders have described as condemnable, but over the manner in which action against Surekha should be handled. The two leaders have, in effect, argued for consultation before any final decision, rather than treating the disciplinary committee’s recommendation as conclusive. According to sources, two ministers have also conveyed their views to Kharge and AICC general secretary KC Venugopal, seeking consultation with Surekha before any decision. A senior Telangana Congress leader has separately conveyed his views on the controversy to Venugopal and other AICC leaders by email.  CONTINUED ON P4 CM talks action with AiCC Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, TPCC chief Mahesh Kumar Goud and several ministers spent the day in Delhi, discussing disciplinary action against Konda Surekha and G Chinna Reddy as well as reshuffle of the Cabinet, sources said. Revanth met AICC general secretary KC Venugopal and other senior AICC leaders | P4 Confront terror funding states, Modi tells SCO J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi SC quashes all FIRs on CJP protesters S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi IN a major relief to students who participated in the Cockroach Janata Party-led protests during July 20-25, the Supreme Court on Tuesday invoked its extraordinary powers to quash all FIRs registered against the protesters across the country prompting the outfit to , call off its September 5 march in Delhi. “Participating in a protest per se would not constitute an offence,” observed a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana while invoking Article 142 of the Constitution, which empowers the court to pass any orders to do complete justice. The bench, however, allowed the government to continue prosecution against 2,873 individuals with serious criminal antecedents who were present in the Jantar Mantar protest. For this purpose, the government proposed to register a single, fresh FIR against them. The bench directed that investigation be limited to offences of bodily harm or destruction of property during the protests. Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured the bench that the government will not pursue FIRs linked to the specified protest incidents or file fresh FIRs for the same incidents. He said the government stands by its assurance on compensation to the families of students who ended their lives over the NEET paper leak and other academic issues. He sought three months time to complete the modalities for the same. CJP co-convener Saurav Das appeared before the bench and read out a statement on behalf of the group. “The CJP deems it appropriate to withdraw the call for the march on September 5 and looks forward to compliance with today’s order,” Das said, describing the order as a ‘historic decision’. prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urged the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to confront countries that use terrorism as an “instrument of state policy” and reject “double standards” in the fight against terror financing and recruitment, in remarks seen as a direct reference to Pakistan, also the next chair of the grouping. Addressing the annual SCO summit in the presence of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other world leaders, Modi called for a united effort to “dismantle the entire ecosystem” supporting terrorism, including financing, recruitment, radicalisation and safe havens. “Terrorism continues to pose a serious challenge to humanity as a whole. In the fight against terrorism, we cannot remain confined to an action-reaction approach,” Modi said in the meet held in Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Russian Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. President Vladimir Putin and Chinese “We must send a President Xi Jinping during SCO Summit | PTI strong messa g e to countries that use terIn many cities, work to rorism as an instruaddress the aftermath of the ment of policy and proRussian attack has been vide safe haven and ongoing since last night – support to terrorists nearly 350 first responders are that terrorism can nevinvolved in Kyiv and the region alone... er be a strategic asset Overall, 12 people were killed, among for anyone,” he added. them an Indian citizen, and dozens Though Modi did not more injured in the attack. My condolences to everyone who has lost name Pakistan, his refamily and loved ones marks were widely seen as a criticism of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainia president Islamabad’s support for various militant groups targeting India. The prime minister also expressed concern over the continuing crisis in West Asia, saying conflicts in one region can have consequences far beyond their immediate borders. “In today’s interconnected world, the scope of security has become even broader. The crisis in West Asia has demonstrated that a conflict in one region does not remain confined to that region,” Modi said. “Its impact is felt across the world, affecting energy security, maritime trade, and supply chains. The countries of the Global South bear the greatest brunt of such disruptions,” he added. No prosecution sanction for slur against Col Sofiya Qureshi | p10 Assault rifles, pistols stolen Anand Sai’s son held from Sec’bad Army storage for hit-and-run death E x p ress N e w s S er v ice @ Hyderabad C hithaluri R e v anth @ Hyderabad Assault rifles, pistols, magazines, ammunition and a passive night-vision binocular have been stolen from a highly secured Army ammunition storage facility of the Madras Regiment in Secunderabad, with the theft coming to light on August 31 morning, Bollaram police said. According to the FIR, five assault rifles, seven pistols, 21 magazines and ammunition, besides a passive night-vision binocular, were missing from the storage facility . The missing weapons include four 7.62x39 mm AK-203 assault rifles with five magazines and one 5.56 mm INSAS 1B1 rifle with three magazines. The stolen pistols comprise six 9 mm Auto 1A pistols with 12 m a g azines and one 6.35-bore civilian pistol with one magazine. The theft was detected around 7.50 am on Monday when the Kote , and Battalion Magazine, where weapons and ammunition are stored, was opened and the locks found broken.  continued on P7 Raidurg police have detained Sandeep Anand, son of TTD board member and art director Anand Sai, in connection with an alleged hitand-run that killed 31-year-old Nanda Kishor Kumar Ray near Khajaguda village early Monday Ray a native of Bihar, was a helper at Shah . , Ghouse hotel in Raidurg. Anand Sai was the principal architect of the Yadagirigutta Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple. Anand Sai has worked on films in Telugu and Tamil and has a close association with AP Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan. Raidurg Inspector Thota Bhupathi said the accident occurred around 4.15 am on Monday . He said Sandeep was taken into custody on Tuesday and is likely to be produced before a local court.  continued on P 7 Battered houses in low-lying areas of Nuwakot, Nepal, are full of slush after the recent flash floods | S V Krishna Chaitanya | Report: P9