FREE PRESS The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms VOL. 13 NO. 223 | BHOPAL | THURSDAY | JANUARY 25, 2024 | PAGES 16 `3 - EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE TWIN SETBACK FOR I.N.D.I.A WOOD IS AN IMPACT BUILDER, THREE SPINNERS PICKED BECAUSE OF CONDITIONS: STOKES SPORTS MONEY SENSEX SURGES 690 PTS TO RECLAIM 71K LEVEL Will go alone in No AAP-Cong Bengal for LS alliance in polls, says didi Punjab: Mann KOLKATA In a major setback to the opposition INDIA bloc, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday announced that her party has decided to go alone in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Banerjee's comments came a day before Congress leader Rahul Gandhiled 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' will enter West Bengal. "I had given them (Congress) a proposal (on seatsharing), but they refused it at the outset. Our party has now decided to go alone in Bengal," Banerjee said amid the seat-negotiation tussle between the Congress and the TMC. The surprise announcement caught the grand old party off guard. Reacting to Banerjee's statement, the party said, "No one can imagine the existence of the opposition INDIA bloc without West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee." Congress General Secre- AGENCIES Chandigarh No info about Nyay yatra in state On the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', which is scheduled to enter West Bengal on Thursday, she claimed that the Congress did not inform her about the Yatra's itinerary in the state. "As a gesture of courtesy, did they (Congress) let me know that they are coming to Bengal for the Yatra? I am not aware of it," she said. tary Jairam Ramesh said in a press conference in Assam that Banerjee's party Trinamool Congress is an "important pillar" of the opposition alliance. "The INDIA bloc will fight the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal and all (partners) will participate," he said. CONTD. ON P8 Denying reports that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said his party will not enter into an alliance with the Congress in the state for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, reiterating that the AAP will win all 13 seats. Mann's statement comes on a day West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee announced that her party will not ally with the Congress for the parliamentary polls in that state. The AAP is part of the 28party INDIA bloc along with the Congress, TMC and the CPI(M)-led Left Front. The Punjab chief minister made the statement at a time the AAP and the Congress are locked in talks over seat sharing in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Goa and Gujarat for the general elections. However, the AAP has entered into an alliance with the Congress for the become hero in country Punjab willthewill wina and the AAP 13-0 in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls Chandigarh mayoral poll. Replying to a question on his party's alliance with the Congress, Mann said he has said many times that "Punjab will become a hero in the country and the AAP will win 13-0 in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls". Asked about the AAP's alliance with the Congress for the Chandigarh mayoral poll and the chief minister saying that his party will win 13 seats in Punjab, Mann said, "Then you can make it 14," indicating that the AAP could also contest the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat. CONTD. ON P8 DIGGI QUESTIONS EVM RELIABILITY ‘Poll results should be declared by counting VVPAT slips only’ OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in NEWS BRIEF Top court attains full strength NEW DELHI: Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale was on Wednesday appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court, according to a government notification. Once he takes oath, the top court will attain its full strength of 34 judges, including the Chief Justice of India. Justice Varale is the third sitting apex court judge from a Scheduled Caste community. The others are Justices B R Gavai and C T Ravikumar. The saffron party has formed governments not because of votes cast by people but because of EVMs, former chief minister Digvijaya Singh told media persons here on Wednesday. He raised doubts on the reliability of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and demanded that VVPAT slips be handed over to voters for dropping them inside the ballot box. “Election results should be declared by counting these slips only,” said Singh, prompting the BJP to retort that Singh was questioning the victory of his party in Karnataka and Telangana as well as his son in Madhya Pradesh assembly polls. VVPAT DEMONSTRATION Digvijaya Singh and a Gujarat-based computer engineer Atul Patel gave what they claimed was a demonstration of how VVPAT records votes. If the button is pressed for a longer period, it records multiple votes and not to symbol that people have actually voted for, they claimed. During the demonstration, 10 votes were cast in favour of imaginary symbols like Banana, Apple and Watermelon. While Banana polled four votes, Apple got five and Watermelon got one, they said. CONTD. ON P8 FUSS TO REMAIN IN LIMELIGHT: VD SHARMA BJP state president VD Sharma flayed Digvijaya Singh, stating, “Just to remain in the limelight, Digvijaya Singh always creates a fuss. This time he targeted the EVM. He is countering the EVM, and when the ECI challenged to hack the machine, where was he? And now he is claiming that the machine can be hacked.” Sharma also wanted to know from the former CM, if they (Congress) had won the elections in Karnataka, Himachal, and Telangana by hacking the EVMs. CONTD. ON P8 He claimed that they had sought information through RTI related to software and hardware of EVM, but ECI passed the question to the companies in place of giv- After initial no, England’s Bashir gets visa to travel to India KLONDON/HYDERABAD England's spinner Shoaib Bashir has eventually received his Indian visa after the initial refusal from New Delhi. The player is set to travel to India and join up with the team by this weekend, informed England Cricket on Wednesday . "We're glad the situation has now been resolved," the board added. The issue hogged limelight as the ‘Expect India to treat British citizens fairly’ England cricket team in December had announced its squad for the five-match Test series in India, giving enough time for the visa processing of the players. CONTD. ON P8 "We have been clear that we expect India to treat British citizens fairly at all times in its visa processes. We have previously raised the issues British citizens with Pakistani heritage have experienced. We've raised the issues about their experience of applying for visas with the Indian High Commissioner in London, said British PMO official. ing the answer. “In our country future of 140 crore , people kannot be handed over to people who are using power for their benefits. CONTD. ON P8 Nitish targets Lalu over dynasty politics PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday targeted Lalu Prasad Yadav over dynastic politics during a rally held at Patna Veterinary College ground to celebrate 100th birth anniversary of former chief minister of the state Jannayak Karpoori Thakur. He said that he has learnt from Karpoori Thakur not to promote any of my family members in politics. He said that Karpoori Thakur was the veteran leader of Bihar but did not promote his family members. CONTD. ON P8 Monkey visits Ram temple, people say it is Hanuman AYODHYA The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust has claimed that a monkey allegedly entered the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, where the idol of Ram Lalla resides, on the day the temple was thrown open to the public. In a post on X, the trust said that around 5:50 p.m. on Tuesday, a monkey entered the temple through the southern gate and made its way to the vestibule. It then approached the Utsav idol, an older idol of Ram Lalla that used to be housed in a tent before the new temple was built. Security personnel stationed nearby, concerned about the idol's safety, rushed towards the monkey . However, the monkey calmly retreated and moved towards the northern gate, which was closed. It then exited through the eastern gate, passing through the crowd of devotees without causing any harm. The trust said that the security personnel reported- r Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; ly viewed the monkey's visit as a divine blessing, believing it to be Lord Hanuman himself coming to see Ram Lalla. This perception is further fuelled by the recurring association of monkeys with Hanuman, devoted to Lord Ram and a central figure in the Ramayana. CONTD. ON P8 WEATHER FP 23.40c. 09.90c Sunrise : 07.09 Sunset : 06.09 DGCA imposes Rs 1.10 cr penalty on AI for safety violations NEW DELHI: The aviation watchdog, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has imposed a penalty of Rs 1.10 crore on Air India after an airline employee alleged safety violations on flights operated on certain longrange terrain critical routes, an official said on Wednesday. According to the aviation regulator, pursuant to the receipt of a voluntary safety report from an airline employee, the DGCA conducted a comprehensive investigation into the alleged violations. “Since the investigation prima facie revealed noncompliance by the airline, a show cause notice was issued to the Accountable Manager of Air India Limited,” said the DGCA. “The response to the show cause notice was duly examined with respect to the laid down stipulations under the relevant statutory provisions and the performance limits stipulated in critical documentations laid down by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM),” it said. “Since the said operations of the leased aircraft were not in line with regulatory/OEM performance limits, DGCA has initiated enforcement action and imposed a penalty of Rs. 1.10 crore on Air India,” said the Director General of DGCA, Vikram Dev Dutt. r RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 QUALITY AT VALUE www.freepressjournal.in KHARGE’S AIDE JOINS BJP IN K’TAKA NATION Russian plane with 65 PoW crashes near Ukraine, all dead MOSCOW A Russian IL-76, a heavylift military transport aircraft crashed with 65 Ukrainian Prisoners of War (POWs) in the Belgorod region of Russia, which borders the region. The POWs were being transported for an exchange in swap. Russia said there are no survivors in the plane crash. A video of the crash, shot from a distance, showed the aircraft rapidly losing altitude and heading straight toward the ground, the IL-76 was out of the pilot's control and crashed near a residential area. The aircraft crashed on its right wing and was up in flames. "On board were 65 captured Ukrainian army servicemen being transported to the Belgorod region for exchange, six crew mem- bers and three escorts," it said. Meanwhile, Russia has claimed that the plane was carrying POWs but AFP, quoting local media in Ukraine, reported that its defence forces downed the aircraft as it was carrying missiles for the S-300 surface-air defence system and not POWs. Russia's parliament speaker, Vyacheslav Volodin, has accused Kyiv of shooting down the plane carrying Prisoners of War. "They shot their own soldiers in the air. Their own," Volodin told lawmakers in a plenary session. "Our pilots, who were carrying out a humanitarian mission, were shot down." The crash occurred in the Korochansky district, northeast of the region's capital, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram. CONTD. ON P8 ASI report to be given to both sides in Gyanvapi case: Court AGENCIES Varanasi A Varanasi district court, on Wednesday, agreed to make the Archaeological Survey of India's (ASI) scientific survey report on the Gyanvapi Mosque complex available to both the Hindu and the Muslim sides. The concerned parties will have to submit an affidavit in this regard. The development comes over a month after the ASI submitted its report on the Gyanvapi Mosque complex before the Varanasi District Court in a sealed cover on December 18. After the report was submitted in the court, Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi survey case, filed a petition before the court to make the ASI report public, arguing that the report "cannot be filed in a sealed cover." However, the ASI had sought the postponement of the release of its Gyanvapi Survey report to the public domain. The panel had urged a Varanasi district judge to delay the disclosure, fearing that the report's content to the public would be inappropriate and fuel rumours and misinformation. CONTD. ON P8