THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l tuesday l april 30, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l late city EDITION Centre to permanently deploy CISF in ED offices in select cities The decision was taken in view of a threat assessment report by the Intelligence Bureau after the Sandeshkhali mob attack Initial deployment in seven cities SC’s poser on Bengal govt’s plea The force will be deployed at the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) offices in Mumbai, Jalandhar, Kolkata, Jaipur, Ranchi, Raipur, and Kochi for now. Highlevel talks are on to weigh deploying them in more cities, sources in the Union home ministry said. A mob linked to a local Trinamool Congress leader attacked ED officers in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali on January 5 ■ ■ The SC on Monday asked the Bengal govt why it has come in as petitioner for “protecting the interest” of some private individuals in the Sandeshkhali case, alluding to the arrest of Shahjahan Sheikh It was hearing the state’s plea against CBI probe into allegations of crimes against women and land grabbing in Sandeshkhali 500+ cases registered every year by the ED over the past 10 years 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 u.p. Diaries Kashi: A Date With The Present Antiquity aside, various modern ages seem to coexist Santwana here. Baba Vishwanath’s Bhattacharya temple has an expansive, spanking new, 21st century Editor corridor. Its high walls, with stone cut in rectangular patterns, also strangely remind Varanasi: In the mind of you of Soviet architecture. India, Varanasi or Kashi is The Banaras Hindu Univeran ancient space suspended sity exudes a century old in an unbroken continuum, Indo-Gothic charm. The Gynot a project under construc- anvapi mosque’s 17th cention. Its life is in the cultural tury architecture, of course, imagination, entwined with is often the subject of frontcenturies-old personal socio- page headlines. Negotiating religious histories—cycles its place under the scorchof birth and death—embed- ing sun, caught between ded far more deep than Ayo- Hindutva and high-rises, dhya. The locals breathe this Varanasi balances itself beair too. Real antiquity is a tween an old-world raison historical detour d’être and a newwhen you keep enfound VIP-ism, like countering the rea trapeze artist. frain: Paanch hazIt’s an uneasy aar saal purana cohabitation. The sheher. Navigating new tourism boom between those ‘five has steadily enthousand years’ and croached upon the First of A the five-year cycles old spiritual amof modern democ- Four-part series bience, which is racy is, then, the peslowly fading culiar fortune of Kashi. away Just like a lot of old In. It’s 2024, and elections to dia. In a 15-minute walk up the 18th Lok Sabha are ap- from Dashaswamedh ghat proaching. A different kind alone, about 300 new guestof continuity unfolds here houses have come up to catoo, of course—a prime min- ter to the new rush of reliister is going for his third gious tourists—a good win. A sense of assuredness number of young among spreads up from the ghats, them—from Pune, Rajkot, as it were, which stand like Meerut, Coimbatore, even watchful sentinels of a lived Seoul. Evening time, they experience. Lifted up into settle on plastic chairs to the city proper, you are witness a Gang a aarti thrown headlong into a bus- through bulb-lit bamboo tling desi lifescape in all its arches. This new spiritualicontemporary variety Here, ty is not quiet: mantras, . what you find is continuity bhajans and then the Maha in conversation with change Tandav Aarti ring out from a t m a n y t a l k a t i v e modern music systems. Continued on: P9 streetcorners. WaPost names former RAW official in Pannun assassination plot in US Report claims India-based official passed on the New York address of the Khalistani leader Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi THE Washington Post on Monday disclosed the identity of ‘CC-1’, the New Delhi-based Indian official who allegedly forwarded the details of Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, including his New York address, to Nikhil Gupta, an alleged middleman who was enlisted to hire a contract killer. The Post named Indian intelligence official Vikram Yadav in the ongoing investigation in the US against the plot to kill Pannun. This is the first time the name is made public. “Yadav’s identity and affiliation, which have not previously been reported, provide the ‘Pressure to eliminate’ The report claims that ex-RAW chief Samant Goel was under “extreme pressure to eliminate... Sikh extremists overseas”. It says US agencies also assessed the role of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval but there was no proof. most explicit evidence to date that the assassination plan — ultimately thwarted by US authorities — was directed from within the Indian spy service,” the report claimed. The US indictment unsealed in November 2023 had withheld the name of the Indian official who allegedly conspired to kill Pannun, referring to him as CC-1. “The assassination is a priority now,” the Post report quoted Yadav as saying to Nikhil. The US newspaper report also claimed that Yadav’s mission was approved by the then RAW chief Samant Goel. The report says Yadav was a CRPF officer who was deputed to RAW He was sent back to the . CRPF after the case unravelled. When asked for comment, CRPF officials said there is nothing to comment on “an unconfirmed news report”, adding that deputation of security personnel in intelligence agencies is classified. The Post claimed the report is part of its investigation series about “a global surge in campaigns of cross-border repression.” It added that for the India story its reporters spoke , to various sources in New Delhi, Washington, Ottawa, London, Prague, and Berlin. The Washington Post report also says that the Joe Biden administration has so far refrained from pressing charges against Yadav. EXPRESS READ KSEB forced to expedite network-overhaul plans Kochi: With summer peaking and mercury crossing 40 degrees Celsius in several parts of the state, households are on an air conditioner purchasing spree, which has driven power demand to record highs. As the power consumption soars, the KSEB is forced to expedite upgradation of its distribution network, initially planned for 2026. P4 LS poll turnout revised to 71.27% in Kerala T’Puram: The Election Commission on Monday slightly revised the overall voter turnout in the state in the Lok Sabha elections from 71.16% to 71.27%. As per revised figures, 1.97 crore electors reached 25,231 polling booths across the state and voted directly through EVMs. P4 18 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express EP gets state CPM clean chit, to continue as LDF convenor K S S R E E J I T H @ T’Puram Senior CPM leader E P Jayarajan, who put the party in a spot on the day of the Lok Sabha election, will continue as LDF convenor for the time being. In what appears to be an obvious cover-up, the state CPM on Monday gave a clean chit to Jayarajan who admitted to meeting BJP national leader Prakash Javadekar in the presence of controversial middleman T G Nandakumar. A final decision on action against the party veteran will be taken by the CPM Central Committee. Noticeably the CPM also de, cided to launch a counter campaign on the whole issue, projecting it as an example of party leaders’ ideological ca- pacity to withstand attempts by the BJP to woo them over. The party secretariat that met on Monday decided to back Jayarajan’s claims that a section of media along with BJP leader Sobha Surendran and Congress state chief K Sudhakaran hatched a conspiracy against him. At the secretariat meeting, EP presented his version of the story Following this, the secre. tariat decided not to take any action, but directed him to stay away from shady characters. The CPM also directed EP to initiate legal action against Sobha. Later speaking to the media, EP denied allegations raised by Sobha that he went to Delhi to join the BJP . The secretariat witnessed severe criticism against EP for his links with ‘shady characters. Though the state secretariat cannot recommend disciplinary action against EP who’s a central committee (CC) member, the matter will come up for discussions before the state committee. After deliberation in the state committee, the state unit will report the same to the CC. A final decision would be taken at the CC meeting in this ● More on P4 regard. ‘PJ’ supporters launch veiled social media attack on EP E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v ice @Kannur The uneasiness among CPM cadre over the controversy surrounding the E P JayarajanPrakash Javadekar meeting has spilled over to social media with some comparing EP with P Jayarajan, another party stalwart from Kannur. Interestingly, the Facebook page ‘Red Amy’ — formerly known as PJ Army — has a photograph of P Jayarajan with the comment, “Among some individuals who consistently jeopardise the party with their vested business interests, there are those who have achieved nothing”. The comrades have juxtaposed P Jayarajan, who is hailed as ‘unselfish fighter’, with EP who is seen as a ‘leader , who used party platform for personal gains’. Other pro-CPM social media pages such as ‘Chuvappinte Porali’ and ‘Porali Shaji’ have echoed similar sentiments. ‘Chuvappinte Porali’ shared a cryptic post resembling that of the Red Army’s, without explicitly mentioning EP’s name but featuring a photo ● More on P4 of P Jayarajan. Didn’t make any obscene gesture at mayor, says KSRTC bus driver E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v ice @T’Puram Even as he pleaded innocent to the charges levelled against him, temporary KSRTC bus driver L H Yedu who was involved in the altercation with Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran on Saturday night is likely to lose his job. On Monday, the KSRTC vigilance executive director asked the central depot unit head to relieve Yedu of his duties. The controversy surrounding the incident however refused to die down with both parties levelling serious charges against each other. Speaking to TNIE, Yedu refuted allegations that he made sexually coloured gestures at the mayor and her family travelling in a car. He accused the mayor and Arya Rajendran L H Yedu her husband, Balussery MLA Sachin Dev, of attempting to intimidate him. “I didn’t make any obscene gesture,” said Yedu, a resident of Nemom. He said the incident occurred around 10pm when the bus was coming from Pattom. “This car was trying to overtake through the left and there was constant honking from the car driver. Though I gave way, the car couldn’t pass because there was an autorickshaw in front of them. Later, at Pla- moodu, while passing through the one-way traffic, they tried to overtake again. When I didn’t yield, their ego was hurt. They made a scene by parking the car in front of the bus and threatening me,” Yedu said. Meanwhile, new CCTV footage has pushed the mayor-MLA couple onto the back foot. The visuals showed the mayor’s car parked across the road on the zebra line, blocking the bus. Arya’s fresh allegation that the driver was under the influence of intoxicants could not be proven in the medical test carried out immediately after the incident. She had earlier said the bus was not obstructed. However, footage from cameras near the shopping complex at Palayam ● More on P4 spoke otherwise. Rahul may contest from Rae Bareli P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi parched... Bharathapuzha wears a parched look around 100m away from the checkdam, from where drinking water is supplied to Shoranur and nearby areas in Palakkad | Praveesh Shoranur India Meteorological Department confirms heatwave condition in Palakkad district on Monday Orange alert issued for Palakkad and Yellow alert for Thrissur and Kollam districts, where the mercury has breached 40 degrees Celsius The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority has urged the people to avoid outdoor work between 11am and 3pm as it may cause sunstroke Voters split down the middle in Baramati’s Pawar vs Pawar contest S UD H I R S UR YAWAN S H I @ Mumbai THE contest in Maharashtra’s Baramati Lok Sabha constituency is one of the most highprofile fights that is going to be keenly watched. This time, three-time MP Supriya Sule, daughter of veteran politician and NCP founder Sharad Pawar, is facing tough challenge from her cousin Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra, who is contesting for the first time. Baramati is a traditional NCP stronghold and Sharad Pawar used to end his election campaign with a rally in this city However, this time the con. test is so close that senior Pawar is not taking any chance and is spending every second day in Baramati to ensure victory for his daughter. On the other hand, Ajit Pawar is also leaving no stone unturned to get his spouse elected to the Lok Sabha. The stakes are also high because this is the first election after the NCP split last year. According to sources, Sharad Pawar is using his experience and connections to win over the voters, while Ajit Pawar is putting his power and influence to use to turn the tide. However, things are complicated on the ground. “Ajit Pawar now works with his past political rivals. But on the ground, party workers are not ready to bury past animosity Ajit Pawar may face . vote transfer during polling,” said an NCP(SP) leader. As for Ajit Pawar, he doesn’t mince words so that the message is clear. “If any one goes against me, development will be stopped. Funds will not be released. If you want development, then choose my side,” he said bluntly in one of his speeches while campaigning. A local journalist said businessmen are under pressure. “Small businessmen, whose livelihood is at stake, and big businessmen, whose business can be easily destroyed Illustration: Mandar Pardikar by the government machinery , are rallying behind Ajit Pawar,” he added. A political observer said voters are split down the middle. “Those who got some tender work with the blessings of Ajit Pawar are standing with him. These are mostly middle-aged men. But the young crowd who are yet to taste power are with Sharad Pawar. So are those above 50 years, who grew with Sharad Pawar’s politics and development in Baramati,” he said. The Baramati Lok Sabha segment has six assembly seats, where Ajit Pawar has the support of four BJP, NCP MLAs. Supriya Sule has the support of two Congress MLAs. In the past three elections, Ajit Pawar was handling all election machinery on the behalf of Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule. This time, Sule and her father don’t have that structural advantage. Sharad P aw a r ’s g r a n d nephew and young NCP MLA Rohit Pawar donning that role this time. Sharad Pawar was not much active in past poll campaigns as his nephew Ajit Pawar was doing it on his behalf, though the latter’s brazen nature was often a topic of discussion. THE Congress is likely to field Rahul Gandhi from Rae Bareli and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may not contest in this year’s Lok Sabha elections, sources in the party said, amid continuing suspense over who would get the Rae Bareli and Amethi nominations. It was widely speculated that Rahul would contest from Amethi. However, sources said the party may field late Congress leader Sheila Kaul’s grandson in that seat. Kaul, a sister-inlaw of Jawaharlal Nehru, was a five-time member of Parliament and Union minister. Sources said who contests from Rae Bareli is important for the Congress as it has been a party bastion since 1951. After serving four consecutive terms as the Rae Bareli MP, Sonia Gandhi vacated the seat to become a Rajya Sabha MP. However, Priyanka’s unwillingness to fight the elections and the BJP’s constant attack on the Gandhis for turning away from the “family bastions” has put the party in a spot. “As Priyanka is unwilling to contest, the party has no other option than fielding Rahul Gandhi. The seat was held by for mer PM Indira Gandhi three times and Indira’s husband Feroze Gandhi also represented the seat in 1952 and 1957,” said a party leader.
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