chennai l sunday l may 19, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l vellore EDITION advisory to Indian students in Kyrgyzstan capital after brawl India & Pak issued advisories to their students in Kyrgyzstan urging them to stay indoors amid mob violence against foreign students there 28 injured in Friday night clashes Egyptian, Kyrgz students fight in hostel Twenty-eight people, including three foreigners, were injured in Friday night’s clashes, The Times of Central Asia reported. The Indian Embassy in Kyrgyzstan said, “We are in touch with our students. The situation is presently calm but students are advised to stay indoors for the moment and get in touch with the Embassy in case of any issue.” Helpline: 0555710041 ■ A viral video on social media showed medical students from Egypt and Kyrgyzstan involved in a brawl at a hostel on May 13. Since no action was taken, locals gathered on Friday night for a demonstration ■ Police arrested four citizens for incitement and detained three foreigners for hooliganism, after which the crowd dispersed on Saturday morning 15,000 Indian students are said to be in Kyrgyzstan 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 Corrupt tango in Delhi: Modi PM won’t join debate: Rahul Narendra Modi addressing his first rally in New Delhi on Saturday | PTI Rahul Gandhi gestures while addressing a rally in New Delhi | PTI Mocks depletion of the Congress in the capital Seamless alliance with AAP, says Cong leader RA J ESH K UMAR THA K UR @ New Delhi A s h i s h S r i v a s ta v a @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday tore into the Congress-AAP alliance in Delhi, saying the world is watching how one corrupt party is covering for another corrupt party The apparent reference was to the slew of . corruption charges hobbling the AAP government led by Arvind Kejriwal in the national capital. In his first rally in Delhi for the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, Modi alleged that the Congress would go to any extent to pursue vote bank politics. He pointed out that during the 2014 elecI live for tions, the Congress government had democracy and handed over 123 properties spread democracy runs in my veins. It is across prime locations in Delhi to the Modi’s guarantee Waqf Board for votes. to work 24/7 for Describing the Opposition’s INDIA 2047. Keep this in bloc as opportunistic, he recalled how mind while going they had held Delhi hostage for to vote on May 25 months by blocking roads and triggerNarendra Modi ing riots after Parliament passed the the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Mocking the depletion and degeneration of the Congress, Modi said the party that once ruled the country is no longer in a position contest even in four seats in Delhi. “Almost four generations of the Congress ruled Delhi, but today they don’t have the strength to contest on four seats of Delhi. The Congress is not even able to fight from where they have their courts at 10 Janpath!” Reaching out to the slum-dwellers, who constitute a major vote bank, he said, “We are working to regularise unauthorised colonies and them pucca houses.” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday hit the campaign trail in the national capital, saying he would press the button for the AAP and Arvind Kejriwal would vote for the Congress in the forthcoming elections. All seven seats of Delhi will go to polls on May 25. In a show of solidarity within the INDIA bloc, Rahul, in his maiden poll rally in Chandni Chowk, sought to remind voters that the AAP is contesting four seats and Congress three as part of the seatModi is giving non- sharing deal. “As Kanhaiya said earlier, ‘Rahul ji will vote for AAP and Kestop interviews to jriwal ji will vote for Congress’,” he his favourite journalists but he said while welcoming party candidate will not have a Kanhaiya Kumar on the stage. debate with me “We have to come together because because he knows BJP leaders have openly said that they he cannot answer will tear the Constitution,” Rahul almy questions leged, urging people to vote for the canRahul Gandhi didates of the INDIA bloc. Rahul’s vote is in the New Delhi constituency where AAP’s Somnath Bharti is contesting while Kejriwal’s vote is in Chandni Chowk where Congress candidate J P Agarwal is in the fray . Criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul said the former would not hold a debate with him, though he is available for it “anytime, anywhere”. He claimed that the PM would not be able to answer his line of questioning. “The first question would be on his relationship with Adani; the second on electoral bonds; the third on farm laws. I don’t think he can answer them.” express read Ooty train suspended; heavy rain likely in 3 districts today Chennai: The Nilgiris Mountain Rail service between Mettupalayam and Ooty was suspended on Saturday after heavy showers triggered landslides. Coonoor and Mettupalayam recorded 17 cm of rainfall each in 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Saturday. Isolated heavy to very heavy rain with extremely heavy rain at one or two places is likely to occur over Theni, Tirunelveli and Tenkasi districts on Sunday | P4 Green Evolution WITH THIS ISSUE PLUS 12 PAGES Exhume body, do re-postmortem in ‘custodial torture’ case, says HC R SIVA K UMAR @ Chennai The Madras High Court has ordered the re-postmortem of a Dalit worker by exhuming his buried body in an alleged custodial torture case. R Anju, wife of the deceased K Raja, had filed a petition in the HC saying that her husband had allegedly died after being subjected to torture at the Villupuram Taluk Police Station. Justice R Sakthivel passed the order in a special sitting on Friday . The judge directed that authorities, including Villupuram collector, ex- hume Raja’s body and a team of two doctors with master’s degree in forensic medicine, one each from Madras Medical College and Tiruchy KAP Viswanatham Government Medical College, conduct the repostmortem. The judge said X-ray examination shall be done to find out antemortem injuries, if any on , the body of the deceased. He also directed the authorities to preserve the CCTV footage of the Villupuram Taluk Police Station recorded between 6am on April 4 and 6pm on April 10. Continued on p3 Would Modi’s ‘Hanuman’ get blessings? R a m a s h a n k a r @ Patna For Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan, merely winning the Hajipur (SC) Lok Sabha seat his legendary father Ram Vilas Paswan held for decades, would be a disgrace. He wants to register victory with an eye-popping margin so as to establish himself as the political heir of the Ram Vilas legacy . Chirag’s party is an ally of BJPled NDA. He is l o c ke d i n a straight fight with former state minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s trusted lieutenant Shiv Chandra Ram. Unlike in 2019 when he lost to Chirag’s uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras from this seat, Ram, 53, is posing a stiff challenge to Chirag, 41, this time around. Chirag’s decision to shift from Jamui — which elected him twice to the Lok Sabha — to Hajipur put him on a collision course with Paras. Whether or not the sulking Paras would damage Chirag’s prospects remains to be seen. “This time Chirag is set to create history by registering his victory by a record margin. He has his father’s legacy on the one hand and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s blessings on the other. Modi’s ‘Hanuman’ will be put to test in the true sense,” said Deoki Nandan Singh, 65, a resident of Bidupur in Vaishali district. RJD leader Tejashwi Shiv Chandra Ram (left) and Chirag Paswan Illustration: Mandar Pardikar Yadav had lampooned Chirag as Modi’s Hanuman recently . At a recent rally Modi had lavished , praise on Chirag, saying he considers him his son. “Chirag is a true representative of Bihar, the future of Bihar. He is also a successful MP. If you vote for Chirag, it will directly go to Modi’s account,” the PM said. Making a similar pitch, Tejashwi had told his party at a recent campaign address, “If you want to see me as chief minister, then ensure victory of Shiv Chandra Ram from Hajipur.” It was a clear message to RJD workers to rally around Ram. If social activist Navneet Kumar’s opinion is anything to go by people in , general are discussing local issues but it is the caste factor that will overshadow everything. The caste arithmetic in Hajipur is interesting. Ram is banking on the Muslim-Yadav vote bank of the RJD plus that of his Ravidas community As for the NDA, it is wooing . the non-Yadavs, OBCs, EBCs and Dalits, particularly Paswans, the caste Chirag belongs to. Modi stoking clash among states, says CM ‘Modi Has anti-poor mindset’ Stalin said the PM’s claim about free bus ride scheme for women affecting patronage of metro train services reveals his anti-poor mindset. The CM also accused the PM of scuttling the metro train work in Chennai by not releasing funds to TN E X PRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of picking up a “cheap strategy” of stoking confrontation between states through “hate speeches” and “lies” as his “propaganda of communal hatred” has not helped him win votes. In a statement, the DMK president voiced concern over the alleged inaction by the Election Commission of India, stating that the country was watching with shock and anguish as PM Modi delivered irresponsible speeches without intervention from the ECI. Stalin said the PM’s allegations about leaders of southern states including Tamil Nadu (INDIA bloc constituents) speaking in a derogatory manner about the people of Uttar Pradesh are “Modi’s imaginary tales and bags of lies”. The PM had alleged in a recent poll rally in Uttar Pradesh that Samajwadi Party and the Congress’s southern allies insulted Uttar Pradesh and Sanatana Dharma but the two parties remained mute spectators. The DMK chief alleged that it was the BJP that supported and encouraged fake news such as false claims made by “YouTubers like Manish Kashyap” of assault on guest workers in Tamil Nadu. Such fake claims were hate propaganda aimed at creating divisions in society, Stalin said. Continued on p3 Delhi Police arrest Kejriwal PA Bibhav Uj w a l j a l a l i @ New Delhi Bibhav Kumar Arvind Kejriwal’s close aide Bibhav Kumar was on Saturday arrested from the chief minister’s residence here in connection with the assault on Swati Maliwal. Kumar is accused of molestation and assault of the AAP Rajya Sabha MP at the CM’s residence on May 13. A medical report from AIIMS said Maliwal has suffered bruises on her left thigh and right cheek. An FIR was registered at the Civil Lines police station. Police reached Kejriwal’s residence in the morning after they got know to that Kumar was present there. He was taken to the Civil Lines police station where he was arrested. Reacting to his aide’s arrest, Kerjiwal, in a televised address, accused the BJP of targeting AAP by arresting its leaders. He announced that he would visit the BJP headquarters on Sunday along with all his MLAs and MPs. “You can put in jail whoever you want…,” Kejriwal said.
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