FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS VOL. 13 NO. 225 | BHOPAL | SUNDAY | JANUARY 28, 2024 | PAGES 16 r Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; `4 r RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 QUALITY AT VALUE www.freepressjournal.in - TATTERED RAHUL POSTERS IRK CONG, TMC URGED TO ENSURE SMOOTH YATRA NATION BOPANNA CREATES HISTORY India cooperating in Nijjar killing probe, says Canada NSA OTTAWA India’s Rohan Bopanna (L) and Australia's Matthew Ebden celebrate with the trophy after victory against Italys Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori during their mens doubles final match of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Saturday Canada's outgoing National Security Advisor Jody Thomas on Saturday emphasised that India is cooperating in the investigation of the killing of India-designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, and called the changing relationship an "evolution", as reported by Canada-based CTV News. Thomas said that Canada has "made advancements in that relationship." In an interview with CTV's Question Period host Vassy Kapelos which airs this Sunday, Thomas said that her discussions with her Indian counterpart have been fruitful. "My discussions with my counterpart in India have been fruitful, and I think they've moved things forward," she said. In September last year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had claimed that there were "credible allegations" that the Indian government may have been involved in the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in Surrey in June 2023. However, India denied the allegations as absurd and motivated. CONTD. ON P8 Kerala Guv angry with police, stages sit-in on road CENTRE provides Z+ security Thousands protest in Quetta QUETTA: A large number of people from parts of Balochistan gathered to participate in the Baloch Yakjehti Committee's (BYC) protest in Quetta on Saturday against Pakistan's atrocities. The BYC, which recently concluded a twomonth protest in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, had called for huge participation from people in the protest. People joined the protest even when Section 144 was imposed by the government in Quetta, the Balochistan Post reported, citing local media reports. Pak seeks USD 2b loan from China ISLAMABAD: Cashstrapped Pakistan has sought financial assistance of USD 2 billion from its close ally China for a year, according to a media report on Saturday. Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar, in a letter, has requested his Chinese Premier Li Qiang to roll over the debt as soon as the deposit time for the loan from China is completed on March 23. Trinamool divided over attack on ED KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress is divided over attack on ED personnel and in supporting the alleged mastermind Trinamool leader Sheikh Shahjahan. State Municipal & Urban Development Minister and Kolkata Municipal Corporation Mayor Firhad Hakim said that Shahjahan has committed a "crime". "I have seen in the media how the government officials attacked and got injured. It was a crime," Firhad Hakim said. Local Trinamool Congress from Sandeskhali Sukumar Mahato said that the Shahjahan has been playing a key role in uniting people. Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan stages a sit-in protest at a tea shop at Nilamel against the polices alleged failure in preventing black flag protests by the Students Federation of India (SFI), in Kollam district, on Saturday THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Hours after Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan staged a sit-in protest for two hours on Saturday against the ‘lapse’ on the part of Kerala Police, the Centre intervened in the matter by placing him under Z+ security cover of the CRPF. This was disclosed by the office of Khan through his social media account. On Saturday morning, Khan was enroute a function about 70 km from here. When his motorcade reached Nilamel, about two-dozen SFI members were seen on the roadsides, waving black flags and raising slogans. Seeing this, Khan stopped his car and walked towards the protesters, expressing his anger against the police. He then sat on a chair that was brought from a roadside tea stall and asked his Secretary Mohan to immediately call the Commis- WAR SO WHAT? Thousands of youths willing to go Israel to earn and save families BISWAJEET BANERJEE Lucknow Despite the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, thousands of young individuals from Uttar Pradesh are willing to sioner of Police . “If not, call the Prime Minister. You (pointing his fingers at the police officers present there) are responsible for this, I will not go from here. You are giving them (the protesters) protection. You are breaking the law. If not you (the police), who will uphold the law,” asked a fuming Khan. Khan was peeved as the police did not arrest the protesting SFI activists before his motorcade passed through. Khan said that if such an act took place while the Chief Minister was passing by, the police would have immediately arrested the protesters. Khan also made his position clear that unless the protesters were taken into custody he will not move. , After almost 90 minutes, the police informed him that they have registered a case against the protesters under non-bailable charges and they have been taken into custody CONTD. ON P8 . WORLD ISRAELI ARMY KILLS 174 AMID ICJ RULING WEATHER EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE 24.00c. 10.0c Sunrise : 07.08 Sunset : 06.10 POPE DEFIES INDIA WITH GRITTY TON SPORTS CM NITISH MAY SACK RJD MINS, INDUCT BJP FACES PATNA Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will sack ministers belonging to alliance partner and Lalu Yadav's party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) tomorrow, sources told NDTV today . The BJP and Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), have also finalised a seat-sharing agreement for the Lok Sabha election due in three months. All BJP MLAs in Bihar have already given letters of support to Nitish Kumar, sources have said. These developments indicate the JD(U) chief - who dumped the BJP to join the Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance in August 2022 - has crossed the point of no return in running the alliance government with the RJD and the Congress. Nitish Kumar, 72, is in direct talks with Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to work out the fine details of his latest coup, sources said. The Bihar Chief Minister will host a lunch tomorrow of JD(U) and BJP MLAs at his home, after which the MLAs of both the parties will go to the Governor to give their letters of support, sources said. Nitish Kumar is likely to replace the sacked ministers from the RJD with BJP faces, sources said. He will have a major say in selecting a new Deputy Chief Minister, they said, allud- BIHAR BJP CHIEF MEETS MANJHI RJD supporters gather outside party leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadavs residence amid Bihar political crisis, in Patna, on Saturday EFFORTS ON TO KEEP INDIA BLOC UNITED: KHARGE KALABURAGI: AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said that efforts are on to keep the constituents of opposition bloc INDIA united. Talking to reporters at the Kalaburagi airport, Kharge said he had written letters to all in the bloc in this regard including West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. PATNA: Amid political uncertainities in Bihar, state BJP president Samrat Choudhary reached the official residence of Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular (HAM-S) patron Jitan Ram Manjhi in Patna on Saturday afternoon. He was welcomed by Santosh Kumar Manjhi, national president of HAM-S. NITISH WAS BEING ABUSED BY ALLIES: JD-U MLA PATNA: Amidst speculations that Nitish Kumar is likely to exit ruling Mahagathbandhan and return to BJP-led NDA, JD(U) MLA Gopal Mandal claimed that the Bihar Chief Minister was being abused and was not respected by his allies.Mandal, however, said that Kumar will be "finished" if he changes the alliance again. "Nitish Kumar is our undisputed leader of the party. I go wherever he goes. I will stay with him," Mandal said. RJD NOT TO WITHDRAW SUPPORT FROM GOVT Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Saturday decided not to withdraw support from the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar. The decision was taken in a meeting held at the official residence of deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav located at 5 Circular Road in Patna where all MLAs unanimously decided not to withdraw support from Nitish. government. DEKHI ZAMANE KI YARI BICHHADE SABHI BARI-BARI When Rahul Gandhi did his first (Bharat Jodo) yatra, Congress lost in 3 states. Now, he is conducting his yatra from east to west. Their INDI alliance partners- TMC in West Bengal, AAP in Punjab said that they will contest the election alone. Earlier BSP also announced the same in Uttar Pradesh. So I believe that the current situation within the INDI alliance could be termed as, Dekhi zamane ki yari bichhade sabhi bari-bari SUDHANSHU TRIVEDI, NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON ing to the possible exit of Nitish Kumar's current deputy and Lalu Yadav's son Tejashwi Yadav. In the medium term, after 2025, Nitish Kumar may get a high-profile role in the Centre, sources said. CONTD. ON P8 NEW DELHI A guided-missile destroyer of the Indian Navy has responded to an SOS call by a merchant ship struck by a missile in the Gulf of Aden, the navy said in a statement today. There are 22 Indians and a Bangladeshi on board. INS Visakhapatnam took the distress call of the merchant vessel Marlin Launda after it reported a missile hit. The vessel caught fire. The Indian Navy said INS Visakhapatnam is helping with firefighting on the cargo ship. "Indian Navy remains steadfast and committed towards safeguarding merchant vessels and ensuring safety of life at sea," the navy said in the statement. The missile strike comes amid growing concerns over Houthi militants stepping up attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea amid the IsraelHamas conflict. Admiral R Hari Kumar issued instructions to firmly deal with such maritime incidents. On January 18, a merchant vessel with Indian crew members came under attack by drones in the Gulf of Aden. After receiving a distress call, India deployed INS Visakhapatnam, which intercepted the vessel and gave assistance. Liberian-flagged MV Chem Pluto, with 21 Indian crew members, was the target of a drone attack off India's west coast on December 23.CONTD. ON P8 BRO VS BRO: Lakhsman opens Mahendra Singh is BJP's LS poll in-charge, Upadhyay his deputy front against Digvijaya Says there is no problem in EVMs and hints at setting up a new Congress OUR STAFF REPORTER BHOPAL Former legislator Lakshman Singh has opened a front against his elder brother and former chief minister Digvijaya Singh. At a function in the Kumbhraj area in Guna district, Singh said there were no glitches in EVMs. A few machines may have gone out of order, but it is not correct to say that Feels sad on 'Bantadhar' remark all EVMs malfunction, Singh said. He also criticized Digvijaya's attempt to demonstrate that EVMs could be hacked. Digvijaya recently held a demonstration where he claimed that there was something wrong with the EVMs. But his brother refuted Digvijaya's claim. Lakshman said the Congress had brought the EVMs. CONTD. ON P8 Alliance with Cong off to good start: Akhilesh LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said that his party's alliance with the Congress is "off to a good start" with 11 "strong" Lok Sabha seats in the state for 2024 Lok Sabha polls. "Our cordial alliance with Congress is off to a good start with 11 strong seats. This trend will move forward with the winning equation. 'INDIA' team and the 'PDA' strategy will change history," Akhilesh Yadav posted on X. The state sends 80 members to the Lower House of Parliament and Lok Sabha elections are set to take place in the coming months of 2024. Earlier this month, Akhilesh Yadav held a meeting in Lucknow with party leaders that included former MPs, former MLAs, and former MLCs. Lakshman Singh has also said he feels sad hearing that his elder brother is named 'Mr Bantadhar.' He wanted to know the reasons for calling Digvijaya Singh 'Mr Bantadhar,' although he served the people in different capacities. He also wanted to know the reasons for BJP getting votes by calling Digvijaya 'Bantadhar.' The reason is that the agents do not want to leaveDigvijaya, and only agents are being made MP's representatives. Woman killed in tiger attack BHOPAL: A tigress attacked two women, killing one on the spot, in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve on Saturday morning. Sources in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve said that it was around 10 am that two women went inside Chansura chamber number Reserve Forest (RF) 451 in Panpatha beat to gather firewood. All of a sudden, a tigress attacked them. Bhuri Bai, 50, wife of Mijaji Kol was killed in the attack. The injured woman, Tirasi Bai, 35, wife of Rambahor Kol, was admitted at Community Health Centre, Manpur. The forest officials are looking for the big cats with the help of elephants. OUR STAFF REPORTER BHOPAL The BJP announced the names of its in-charges for the Lok Sabha election of different states. A former minister from Uttar Pradesh Mahendra Singh has been made incharge of MP. Former president of the Delhi's state unit Satish Upadhyay has been appointed assistant incharge. Union Ministers Bhupendra Yadav and Ashwini Vaishnaw were appointed in-charges for the assembly election in MP. In-charge Moralidhar Rao almost all the workers who are lined up for interview and skill training told this reporter. “At least there is money,” said Akhilesh Kannaujia, an aspirant from Bahraich, a city 140 km southeast of Lucknow. If selected, each worker would get Rs 1.36 lakh per month plus other benefits. Uttar Pradesh is one of the states to respond to the request of Centre asking states to send skilled workers to Israel to work as construction worker. Uttar Pradesh is set to dispatch over 16,000 skilled workers to Israel next month to address the scarcity caused by the on- has not yet been removed. Both Singh and Upadhyay may soon visit the state where they will camp during the Lok Sabha election. At present, Singh is an MLC in UP. During the assembly election, the party appointed Vistaraks and Singh was also given responsibilities. Upadhyay has worked for the party in MP. Former BJP worker, wife killed in Ujjain BHOPAL: A former Sarpanch and his wife were allegedly killed by some unidentified persons at their residence in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain, police said on Saturday . The shocking incident came to the fore after a neighbour visited the couple’s house and found them lying in a pool of blood on Saturday Subsequently the . local area police was in- BEROZGAR MEN TURN KHATRON KE KHILADI IN UP work as construction workers in the war-torn country , aiming to alleviate the scarcity caused by the hostilities. People have lined up at the recruitment centre in Lucknow – some ready to go for their children while others are ready to risk their lives because they are “berozgar’. “Khatra to yahan bhi hai” (danger persists here too),” Navy responds as merchant ship with 22 Indians hit by Houthi missile going conflict between Israel and Hamas. State Labour Minister Anil Rajbhar told this reporter that in the first phase, 10,000 skilled workforce would be sent from the state, though a list of 16,000 workers has been finalized so far. "The Government of India has opened a centre in Lucknow where screening and recruitment of artisans are going on,” formed. Upon receiving information, the police recovered a middle-aged couple in a pool of blood and sent the bodies for postmortem. The deceased were identified as Ramniwas Kumavat and his wife Munni Kumavat. As per the report, Ramniwas was associated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and he was a former mandal adhyaksh of the party CONTD. . IF SELECTED, each worker would get Rs 1.36 lakh per month plus other benefits Rajbhar said and added: “Following Israel's request to fast track the arrival of Indian workers to the country amidst the war with Hamas, UP Government responded to the Centre's call of providing manpower requirements to Israel and are conducting skill tests”. CONTD. ON P8