FREE PRESS - VOL. XXXIX NO. 8 | INDORE | THURSDAY | JUNE 16, 2022 | PAGES 16 WWW.FREEPRESSJOURNAL.IN EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE Oppn bats for Pawar but latter opts out FOR 24X7 UPDATES PRESIDENTIAL POLL: MAMATA’S EFFORT COMES TO NOUGHT DIDI SUGGESTS names of Gopal Krishna Gandhi & Farooq Abdullah OUR BUREAU New Delhi Maratha leader and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar remained adamant on Wednesday declining to , be the Opposition's Presidential mascot, as requested by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee at a meeting of the opposition parties. This was his official stand at the meeting, urging all not to make him a butt of joke by repeatedly floating his name despite his refusal, not once but so many times. Why pester him still, he asked, feeling hurt at comments that his "no" means "yes." In an earlier meeting with the NCP leaders at his residence, he told them that he does not want to fight "a losing battle" and the most important task before him is to ensure the ruling alliance of Maharashtra led by the Shiv Sena completes its full 5year term. At the meeting of the 17 parties, he bluntly asked the leaders to look for some other candidate, asserting that "even at the age of 81, I still have an active political ." innings to play Mamata, who had con- Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and AIADMK leader Thambi Durai during a press conference after the opposition leaders meeting PTI EDIT A DOSE OF JOSH FOR THE ARMED FORCES Though the agenda at the Opposition meeting convened by Mamata Banerjee was to find a consensus candidate for the presidential election, the meeting witnessed much din over a resolution that Mamata was accused of foisting on the parties without notice. The Bengal chief minister told reporters later that the opposition needed to sit together to discuss "the bulldozing taking place in the country." Mamata had invited 22 parties but 16 attended the meeting. Curiously, while Mamata’s arch rivals in the State – the Congress and the Left -- attended the meeting, leaders like Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao - who had earlier joined hands with the Bengal CM over their common goal to unseat the BJP -- decided to boycott it. The Akali Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also opted out, protesting against the Congress' presence. AAP said it will "consider the matter only after the Presidential candidate is declared". The TRS said there was "no question of sharing any platform with the Congress." Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi (77), the Mahatma grandson of Gandhi, and National Conference supremo and former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah (84). CONTD. ON P6 ONLINE DESK Jabalpur Three persons drowned at New Bhedaghat, tourist spot in Jabalpur district on Wednesday afternoon. Body of a 17-year-old girl was recovered while a search operation for the remaining persons was on, the police said. Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Rajnath reaches out to key Oppn leaders NEW DELHI The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday began the consultation exercise on evolving a consensus name for the presidential election with senior party Singh Rajnath leader speaking to a number of key opposition leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee and Yadav, Akhilesh sources said on Wednesday . Singh made the calls to Kharge, Banerjee and Yadav besides some other leaders on a day when leaders of 17 opposition parties met here to build a consensus on a joint opposition candidate. ONLINE DESK / Bhopal News Brief IAF officer kills self in hostel A 25-year-old Indian Air Force (IAF) officer on Wednesday allegedly committed suicide by hanging from a ceiling fan in his hostel room in Gwalior city, police said. Polio virus detected Eight years after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared India as polio-free country, germs of the polio virus have been detected from the gutter waters in a pocket in Kolkata. However, so far there has been no report of any child being affected by the virus. Kalyani Singh Sippy Sidhu DAUGHTER OF JUDGE FACES MURDER RAP RAJESH MOUDGIL/Chandigarh Making headway in the over high-profile six-year-old case of the murder of nashooter level tional Sukhmanpreet Singh aka Sippy Sidhu in Chandigarh, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested the daughter of the acting chief justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. CONTD. ON P6 Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said soldiers recruited under the central 'Agnipath' government's scheme will be given preference in police recruitment in the state. The Centre on Tuesday unveiled a transformative scheme--'Agnipath'-- for the recruitment of 'Agniveers' , (soldiers) in the Army Navy and the Air Force largely on a four-year short-term contractual basis, in a major overhaul of the decades-old selection process to bring in fitter and younger troops to deal with future security challenges facing the nation. CONTD. ON P6 Now, Uma Bharti throws cow dung at liquor shop AGENCIES Bhopal Continuing her agitation against the liquor shops in Madhya Pradesh, former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Uma Bharti threw cow dung at a liquor shop in Orchha town in Niwari district. Bharti has been demanding total prohibition in the state for quite some time. Earlier, she threw stones at a liquor shop in Bhopal and recently she also sat in protest in front of a liquor shop in the state capital. However, this is the first time she has expressed her anger outside Bhopal. Barti had earlier warned that she will take her agitation against liquor and use of drugs across the state. Bharti in a tweet claimed the shop was not approved for the spot where it was located, and that it was a crime to open such an outlet in the holy town of Orchha. CONTD. ON P6 Vet called to check on animal, then kidnapped, forcibly married PAKADWA VIVAH is quite common in parts of Bihar, J’khand & UP BEGUSARAI A veterinarian, called in to check on a sick animal, was kidnapped by three people and forcibly married in Be. gusarai in Bihar on Tuesday "He was called around 12pm to check on a sick animal, after which 3 people kidnapped him. Everyone in the house was worried after which we went to the police," a relative of the victim said, as quoted by ANI. Following the incident, the father of the veterinarian lodged a complaint with the police. "The Father of the boy (veterinari- an) had given a written complaint to the police sta- Shivesh Singh Baghel said that the incident occurred around 1 pm. Around eight students, residents of Vijayraghavgarh, Kanti came here to visit New Bhedaghat. The girl, Khushboo Singh Khangar slipped from the rock and fell into the water. Two more persons jumped into the water to save the girl but they also did not come back. On get- THREE BOYS DROWN IN UJJAIN DIST Ujjain: Three teenage boys drowned in a water-filled pit while playing at a village in Ujjain district on Wednesday, police said. The incident occurred near Matana village under the limits of the Narwar police station in the afternoon, an official said. Five boys, all residents of Matana village located on the Dewas Road, had gone to bathing at a water-filled pit near their village on Wednesday afternoon. While playing, three of them slipped into the pit and drowned," said Narwar police station in-charge Krishnakant Tiwari. ting information the about the incident, the po- lice team along with divers reached the spot AFTER THREE DAYS, 30 HOURS OF QUESTIONING... Rahul Gandhi gets a day's rest, to be grilled again on Friday NEW DELHI CM: State to give preference to Agnipath soldiers in police recruitment Former CM and Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kamal Nath with his party’s mayoral candidate Sanjay Shukla at the city party office on Wednesday PHOTO BY ANANAD SHIVRE SEE PAGE-2 THE KHILADI WOMANIYAS Pg-16 `3 QUALITY AT VALUE WEATHER 35.20c. 23.40c Sunrise : 05.42 Sunset : 07.13 Two paramedical students, their teacher drown in Narmada DIDI SPRINGS LAST-MINUTE RESOLUTION vened the meeting, proposed Pawar's name despite him declining the invite during a meeting with her at his residence on Tuesday evening. Sources said she has suggested two other options -- former RNI No. 38281/83 Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; tion. We've asked the SHO and other officials to conduct an investigation into the matter. Strict actions will be taken," said Yogen, dra Kumar, SP Begusarai. Groom kidnapping or 'Pakadwa Vivah' is quite common in parts of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh wherein bachelors are forced to marry while being held at gun point. CONTD. ON P6 After being grilled by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for three consecutive days in connection with the National Herald case, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will not be questioned by the agency on . Thursday An ED source said the agency will question Rahul . Gandhi again on Friday "He has been given a day's rest," the source said. On Tuesday, the threemember team recording his statements questioned Rahul Gandhi till past 10 p.m. following which the Congress leader left the ED headquarters at around 11:45 p.m. , On Monday his questioning had ended at about 9 p.m. However, since he reportedly wanted to correct a few parts of his state- Police stop Congress workers during a protest outside the AICC office against summoning of party leader Rahul Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the National Herald case in New Delhi on Wednesday ments, he had to wait for a few more hours at the ED headquarters here. Gandhi was reportedly questioned about a few by made transactions Kolkata-based Dotex Mer- chandise Pvt Ltd. Sonia Gandhi, who is presently admitted to the hospital for Covid related health issues, has also been summoned on June 23 in the same case. and started the rescue operation, Baghel added. Another girl accompanying the group, Dhaneshwari Soni said that they had reached Jabalpur from Vijayraghavgarh a day ago to take admission. After having the admission paramedical in course of a private college, they went to visit New Bhedaghat place. CONTD. ON P6 5G roll-out by July, to be 10 times faster than 4G OUR BUREAU New Delhi The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved e-auction of 5G spectrum, paving the way for private operators to operate 5G networks. Following the decision, the Department of Telecom lost no time in issuing a notice inviting applications for auction of 72 GHz of spectrum, with the goal of rolling out 5G internet services by July end; 5G is expected to be 10 times faster than 4G. The notice of auction is for 20 years and the bidders will be given an option to surrender the spectrum after 10 years with no liabilities. The cabinet also said that for the very first time "there is no mandatory requirement to make upfront payment by the successful bidders."