HUBBALLI MONDAY MAY 20, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 12 CITY EDITION SOUTHWEST MONSOON MAKES ONSET OVER NICOBAR ISLANDS TO REACH MAINLAND INDIA BY MAY 31 As per the weather office, the southwest monsoon has advanced into some parts of the Maldives, South Bay of Bengal, Nicobar Islands and South Andaman Sea on Sunday. The monsoon is expected to reach Kerala on May 31 as against June 8 last year. Large parts of the country are battling a brutal heatwave, which has shattered multiple temperature records | P7 Southwest monsoon made its onset over the Nicobar Islands, India’s southernmost region, on Sunday, the India Meteorological Department said 52% RED ALERT IN THREE KERALA DISTRICTS ■ Last month, the weather office had forecast above-normal rain in the monsoon season in India with favourable La Nina conditions ■ Rain lashed many parts of Kerala on Sunday, prompting authorities to issue red alerts in three districts — Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, and Idukki and orange alerts in four — T’puram, Kollam, Alappuzha, and Ernakulam OF INDIA’S NET CULTIVATED AREA DEPEND ON MONSOON RAINS FOR IRRIGATION 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. D I A R I E S NO PUSHPAK VIMAN FOR THE AYODHYA-WAASI much sway as any grand project of religious-cultural reclamation. SANTWANA For the rest of India, the BHATTACHARYA Ram temple may have held EDITOR out high symbolism, but right in the heart of Ayodhya, what they think about AYODHYA: “Ram maryada while queuing up in the heat purushottam, Rajputo ka wave to exercise their franRajput,” says the man in saf- chise is how to try and turn fron regalia as a throwaway the little epics of their own line, while putting a tika on lives towards small victothose walking towards the ries. The constituency, untemple. Whoever thought of like the district, still bears Ram in caste terms? That the charming but humdrum idiom-like Hindi phrasing name Faizabad, and they combines the old philosoph- have no Pushpak viman that ical ideal with a medican take their ambieval-modern folk twist. tions soaring beyond Ram, the ideal man, the question of roziis also “the Rajput roti, or basic ecoamong Rajputs”. nomic sufficiency . In the polling That acquires booth-bound Ayodsome paradoxical LAST OF A hya of 2024, much of resonance when you it boils down to just FOUR-PART SERIES consider that wheththat. The caste equaer the BJP wins or tions of candidates. The not depends as much on mammoth new temple not- Ram and the Modi and Yogi withstanding, the Ayodhya factor “as it depends on Karl that is voting today is not Marx”. The Lok Sabha conquite the Ayodhya of the test is between sitting MP Ramayana. The various tex- Lallu Singh of the BJP and tual versions of the epic sitting Bikapur MLA Awadwere anyway accessible hesh Prasad of the SP. only to the privileged scholWill Lallu Singh overcome ar. For the ordinary Indian, anti-incumbency and triit was mostly received as umph a third time in a row? oral literature—subject to That could hinge on how the fashion and predilec- many votes Arvind Sen of tions of the day So it figures the Communist Party of In. that, in today’s rendition, lo- dia pulls away . CONTINUED ON: P7 cal caste factors hold as CITYZENS TO THE FOUR Manchester City, nicknamed Cityzens, created English football history as they became the first side to win four league titles in a row. A look... KLOPP’S FINAL GAME CLASSY FODEN HELPS CITY Phil Foden, voted as the PL’s Player of The Year before the match, eased the City nerves with a double strike in the first 20 minutes. West Ham competed gamely but Phil Foden (c) scored a double the City juggernaut as Man City beat West Ham 3-1 wouldn’t be stopped to win the EPL title | AP Elsewhere, Jurgen Klopp’s final game as Liverpool boss formed the backdrop as the Reds were comfortable winners over Wolves SO NEAR YET SO FAR FOR ARSENAL The North Londoners, chasing their first league title since 2004, trailed early on, but got the win they needed. However, they needed City to slip up to pip them. But Manchester City were in no mood to oblige Mentally ill woman spends 3 days with dead mom, dies later E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Udupi A 32-year-old mentally ill woman spent three days with the body of her dead mother before being rescued by the police at Gopadi village in Kundapur taluk of Udupi district. But she, Pragathi Shetty too died on Sat, urday, failing to respond to treatment. Pragathi’s mother Jayanthi Shetty, who was 62 years old, was suspected to have died some time early last week. Late on Thursday night, the neighbours smelt a bad stench coming from the house and called Jayanthi’s mobile phone, but it went unanswered. They then informed Gopady Gram Panchayat president Suresh Shetty who alerted the , police. When the police forced open the door of the house, they found Jayanthi’s body and Pragathi lying unconscious next to her deceased mother. CONTINUED ON: P5 Stakes high for BJP in 5th phase of LS elections today Prominent leaders including Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, Rahul in fray R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi THE fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls on Monday for 49 seats in six states and two Union territories will decide the electoral fate of several prominent leaders, including several Union ministers. BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, Piyush Goyal, and Rajiv Pratap Rudy are in the fray as are several other prominent figures including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah. Among the Union ministers, Rajnath Singh is eyeing a fourth term from Lucknow, where he is locked in a fight against Samajwadi Party’s Ravidas Mehrotra. Smriti Irani is seeking a second term from Amethi, while Piyush Goyal is contesting from Mumbai North. Goyal has so far been elected to the Upper House of Parliament but this time, the BJP has filed him against Bhushan Patil of the Congress. PHASE 5 FACTOIDS 49 seats in 6 states & 2 UTs 8.95 cr eligible voters, of which 4.26 cr are women 9.47 lakh polling officials across 94,732 polling stations 14 seats of Uttar Pradesh, 13 of Maharashtra, 7 of West Bengal, 5 seats each of Odisha and Bihar, 3 of Jharkhand, and 1 seat each in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will go to polls 35 Assembly Constituencies of the Odisha Legislative Assembly will also go to polls on Monday NEXT PHASE OF ELECTIONS TO BE HELD ON MAY 25 Union ministers Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti are contesting from Jalaun and Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh, respectively . The stakes are high for the BJP as the party had won 32 of these 49 seats in 2019. Rahul Gandhi, who has contested from Wayanad in Kerala, is also in the fight for Rae Bareli. Among other candidates, Union ministers Shantanu Thakur and Kaushal Kishor are contesting from Bangaon (West Bengal) and Mohanlalganj (Uttar Pradesh, respectively). In Ladakh, Congress candidate Tsering Namgyal, BJP’s Tashi Gyalson, and Independent candidate and NC rebel Haji Hanifa Jan are locked in a keen contest. Voting will also be held in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha, where BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is among the candidates. Patnaik is contesting from two assembly segments -- Hinjili under the Aska Lok Sabha seat in Ganjam district and Kantabanji under the Bolangir parliamentary constituency . Polling for 23 states and Union territories and 379 seats has been completed so far. The sixth phase of polls will be held on May 25. AI Exp flight catches fire mid-air, all safe E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bengaluru ALL the 179 passengers, including two infants and 6 crew members on board an Air India Express flight from Bengaluru to Kochi, had a miraculous escape when one of its engines caught fire after taking off from the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on Saturday night. The flight, IX 1132 -- which took off at 10.49 pm, returned to Bengaluru and had an emergency landing on the South Runway at 11.12 pm. All the passengers were evacuated safely. An emergency was declared at the airport and the South Runway was shut for over three hours. According to a spokesperson of Bangalore International Airport Ltd, “On May 18, IX 1132 made an emergency landing at Bengaluru airport at 11.12 pm due to a reported fire in one of the engines. A full-scale emergency was declared and the fire was promptly extinguished on landing. All 179 passengers and six crew members have been successfully evacuated from the aircraft.” In the rush to get out of the aircraft after landing, at least 15 flyers suffered cuts and bruises. Many were taken by ambulance to the Aster Medical Centre on the airport premises and administered first-aid. A source said the engine of the Airbus A320 aircraft caught fire after the plane flew for a few minutes. CONTINUED ON: P5 INTERVIEW BJP will win more seats than in 2019: J P Nadda R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi THE Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win more seats in this election than it did in 2019 and will reach its target of 370 seats, a confident party president J P Nadda told this newspaper in an interview. He said the party will win many seats in south India this time as a result of its systematic electioneering and the works done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in the last 10 years. “We are getting massive support from across the nation. We are going to break certain myths about the BJPs’ prospects in the southern states,” he said. He claimed that INDI alliance will not cross the 150 mark. The people are voting to give Modi a record third term to see the ‘Viksit-Bharat’ by 2047, he said. Nadda claimed that in the four phases of elections held so far, the BJP has won 270 seats and more will be added in the fifth phase taking place today . Nadda said the Modi government has brought down inflation to below 5% and created enournous job opprotunities. He rejected Kejriwal’s claim that Modi will step down once he reaches 75 years of age next year. “There is no such provision in the BJP’s constitution,” he said. P8 CHOPPER CARRYING IRAN PREZ CRASHES P9 State govt completes 1 yr today D E V A R A J B H I R E H A L L I @ Bengaluru AS the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government completes one year in office on Monday it has big challenges , ahead to tackle, especially stopping alleged corruption in the government and lack of coordination between ministers and party MLAs. Though a milestone, the government is not celebrating the anniversary in a big manner as the Model Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha elections is still in force. The plan is to hold the celebrations after the general election results on June 4. But old issues may surface again to haunt the government and it is interesting to see how the CM will tackle them, said political analysts. A couple of months before the Lok Sabha polls, former minister H Anjaneya had alleged that Siddaramaiah’s present government is not as effective as his first tenure between 2013 and 2018 as he has no free hand. P4 Rahul’s victory margin is the point of interest in family bastion Rae Bareli P R E E T H A N A I R @ Rae Bareli FROM keeping the six-decade-long tryst with the Nehru-Gandhi family to handing defeat to Indira Gandhi, Rae Bareli has played a part in shaping major political events in the country With the Con. gress fielding Rahul Gandhi from the seat this time, his election is considered a done deal. The only question is about the margin of victory . Considered a ‘safe seat’ for the Congress, Rae Bareli has been its citadel in the worst of times, barring Indira’s defeat in 1977. For the same reason, the Congress’s main rival, the BJP, has been attacking Rahul for running away from another family pocket borough, Amethi. However, the Congress has been projecting the family’s emotional connect and legacy as the reasons for his contest from Rae Bareli, which was represented by his mother Sonia Gandhi for two decades from 2004. As for the BJP its candidate and , state minister Dinesh Pratap Singh is fighting for the second time from Rae Bareli. Singh lost to Sonia in the 2019 polls. While the BJP’s campaign was focused more on the Ram temple and the Modi government’s welfare schemes, rebellion from the party’s Rae Bareli Sadar MLA Aditi Singh was an internal challenge. “Some leaders have been bickering over ticket distribution. Dinesh Singh is also facing trouble from his constituency over land deals. The party should have fielded a stronger candidate,” said a BJP leader. The Congress ran a high-octane campaign steered by party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi to build ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR the narrative around the NehruGandhi family’s 100-year connection to Rae Bareli. Sonia’s speech also struck a chord with the people. “It was an emotional speech. This is a Gandhi family stronghold and the result is a foregone conclusion. We expect that Rahul will win by a margin of 5 lakh votes,” says , says Monu Misra, who runs a tea shop. Another resident Jitendra Yadav talks about the development works by the Gandhi family. “They brought a Rail Coach Factory, National Thermal Power Corporation, AIIMS, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology Indira Gan, dhi Rashtriya Udan Academy and Footwear Design Development Institute among others,” he says. Samajwadi Party leader Y P Yadav, who contested the 2022 Assembly polls, says: “Workers from both parties are working to ensure a record victory for Rahul.” The Gandhi family’s association with the constituency began in 1952, with the election of Feroze Gandhi, Indira’s husband. Later Indira and Sonia represented it in the Lok Sabha. Rahul Gandhi (left) and Dinesh Pratap Singh WHEN IT POURS A tree fell on a house during heavy rain as pre-monsoon showers continue to lash Malnad and plain areas in Chikkamagaluru district on Sunday. No one was injured in the incident | EXPRESS Liquid nitro paan puts hole in 12-year-old’s stomach R I S H I TA K H A N N A @ Bengaluru IN a reminder of the hidden dangers behind trendy foods, a 12-year-old girl was hospitalised in HSR Layout after consuming a liquid nitrogen-infused paan at a wedding reception in Bengaluru recently The hos. pital diagnosed her condition as perforation peritonitis — a hole in the stomach. The patient underwent an exploratory laparotomy with intraoperative OGD scopy where an endoscope , was used to examine the oesophagus, stomach and duodenum. During the surgery, an unhealthy patch measuring approximately 4x5 cm was found on the lesser curvature of the stomach. A sleeve gastrectomy was performed and a portion of the stomach was removed. Following the surgery the patient was admit, ted for two days in the ICU and was discharged after a six-day stay at the hospital. Dr Vijay HS, Operating Surgeon, Surgical Gastroenterology at Narayana Multispeciality Hospital, said , multiple such cases have been reported from various parts of the country and it is crucial to take these isolated incidents seriously before they become a pattern. EXPRESS READ Murder victim Anjali’s sister attempts suicide Hubballi: Days after Anjali Ambiger (20) was brutally murdered by a youth at her residence in Hubballi, her younger sister Yashodha (18) tried to commit suicide by consuming toilet liquid cleaner late on Saturday night. She was rushed to KIMS hospital where doctors said she is out of danger. 2 crushed under chariot during fair in Gadag dist Gadag: Two persons were crushed to death under the wheels of a chariot during the annual Veerabhadreshwar fair at Ron town on Saturday evening. Heavy jostling while collecting ‘prasad’ led to three people falling in front of the chariot. While devotees dragged out one person, two others came under the chariot.
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