cargo for pak n-programme seized The ship was carrying a dual-use Computer Numerical Control machine vessel from China madurai l sunday l march 03, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 28 l late city EDITION Customs officials alerted defence authorities about the Maltaflagged merchant ship. The cargo was halted on January 23 for inspection. Investigation showed that it was shipped by Taiyuan Mining Import and Export and was meant for Cosmos Engineering in Pakistan 22,180 kgs is the weight of consignment seized in mumbai 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 tough bargain on as dmk allies seek more seats S KUMARESAN @ Chennai WITH THIS ISSUE Seat talks in the DMK alliance seem to be facing some headwinds as the Congress and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) are demanding more seats than what they got in the last Lok Sabha polls, sources said. But both the parties, amid a stalemate in discussions, told reporters on Saturday that a seatsharing pact would be signed with the DMK soon. While Congress got 10 seats (including Puducherry) in 2019, VCK was given two seats. Rumour of displeasure among VCK leaders was rife after its scheduled talks with the DMK’s seat-sharing panel did not happen on Saturday VCK functionaries, led by its found. er Thol Thirumavalavan, were instead huddled in a separate meeting. “Who said they (DMK) are unwilling to allot seats to us? We will soon finalise the numbers,” TN Congress chief K Selvaperunthagai told reporters. When asked to specify the number of seats offered to the party he shot back say, ing all 40 seats were Congress seats. P7 Pay Attention PLUS 12 PAGES Modi, Shah in first BJP list of 195 candidates RA J ESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and defence minister Rajnath Singh were among the 195 candidates the BJP announced in its first list for the Lok Sabha polls. Modi, Shah, and Singh will seek repeat mandates from Varanasi, Gandhinagar and Lucknow, respectively . There was a major shake-up in the Delhi list as the party dropped four of its five sitting MPs. The party fielded Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj from New Delhi, Kamaljeet Sehrawat from West Delhi, MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri from South Delhi, Praveen Khadelwal from Chandni Chowk. The most interesting candidature was of Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala where Shashi Tharoor is the sitting Congress MP. Contrary to speculation, the BJP stayed with Smriti Irani from Amethi. The first list has 47 candidates who under 50 years in age besides 28 women. BJP’s national general secretary Vinod Tawade said 57 of the 195 candidates belong to OBCs, while 27 to the SC and 18 to the ST communities. Anil Antony — son of Congress stalwart A K Antony — who joined the BJP from the Congress, has been fielded from Pathanamithitta in Kerala. Union minister V Muraleedharan will enter the fray from Attingal. Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan will enter the fray from Vidisha while Jyotiraditya Scindia will contest from Guna. In all, 34 Union ministers figure on the first list. Tripartite agreement to solve Tripura tribal issue P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @ Guwahati THE Centre on Saturday signed an agreement with the Tripura government and the state’s principal opposition party the , TIPRA Motha, towards finding a solution to the problems faced by the state’s indigenous tribal population–Tiprasa. The pact was signed in New Delhi after a series of meetings between the Centre, TIPRA Motha and other stakeholders. It was agreed to resolve all issues relating to history land and political rights, eco, nomic development, identity culture and , language of the indigenous people. It was also agreed to form a joint working group to work out and implement the mutually-agreed points in a time-bound manner. Till then, all stakeholders will refrain from resorting to any form of protest or agitation in order to maintain a conducive atmosphere. e x p r e ss read s ta l e m at e i n p o l l pa c t Union home minister Amit Shah, who was present during the signing of the agreement, said it was a historic day for Tripura. “With this agreement, we have honoured history corrected mistakes in , history and accepted the realities of today,” Shah said. Chief Minister Manik Saha was also present when the tripartite agreement was signed. “Nobody can change history but we can always move forward by learning from mistakes and keeping in mind today’s realities. I am happy that TIPRA Motha and all tribal parties played a constructive role in this direction,” he said. Saturday’s signing of the agreement followed TIPRA Motha chief Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma’s fast-untodeath stir. He was giving a speech on Wednesday during a stir demanding “Greater Tipraland” state, when he got a call from Delhi inviting him for talks. Canada visa delay puts Pragg, 3 others in a fix 5 AP students feared drowned in TN Chennai: Four of the five Indian chess players to have qualified for the Candidates event are yet to know about their Canadian visa status. Both R Vaishali and R Praggnandhaa, the brothersister duo, are among those who are affected by the delay. Vidit Gujrathi, D Gukesh and Koneru Humpy are the other Indians to have qualified | P15 Chennai: Five college students from Andhra Pradesh, who were on a trip to Mahabalipuram, may have drowned in the sea on Saturday, police said. While body of one of the victims has been retrieved, search is on for the other four | P7
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