Vol. 67 No. 115 | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 12, 2024 | 22 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only Quality at Value www.freepressjournal.in EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Nashik, Konkan, Indore, Bhopal, E-paper cbc 22201/13/0263/2324 KIARA AND SIDHARTH’S ANNIVERSARY Power couple marks their first year with a grand celebration in Delhi EDIT POLITICAL MESSAGING OF BHARAT RATNAS DIRECT TAX COLLECTION RISES 20.25% TO RS 15.60 LAKH CRORE 1 crore 30 lakh Guara antee SAJJAD HUSSAIN AND M ZULQERNAIN ISLAMABAD, LAHORE W put further pressure on Gen Munir to reach out to Imran. The three main political parties in Pakistan, meanwhile, intensified their efforts for the formation of a coalition government after it became clear that the coup-prone country faced a hung Parliament. Pakistan Army chief General Munir would have THE FP MAIN HALDWANI ACCUSED IS HELD T NETANYAHU’S PLAN FOR RAFAH P M Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said that his government was working on a plan to  evacuate people from the city of Rafah in southern Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive there against Hamas, as allies voiced concern about the ground assault. “Victory is within reach,” Netanyahu said, a phrase he has used several times in the past week. “We are going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah, which is the last bastion,” he said, adding, “We are going to do this while providing safe passage for the civilian population.” any day preferred its stooge, former prime minister and the Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz supremo Nawaz Sharif, but Imran Khan’s stunning performance may mark a paradigm shift in a country where leaders who run afoul of the powerful military rarely find electoral success. Theoretically speaking, to form a majority government, a party must have at least 169 seats in the 336-seat National Assembly The Pakistani Con. stitution mandates that the National Assembly or lower , house of Parliament, convene within 21 days of an election to elect its leadership and subsequently the prime minister. Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz President Shehbaz on Saturday met senior PPP leaders Asif Ali Zardari and his Bilawal Bhutto on Friday night and discussed the future coalition. CONTD. ON NATION NEW FACES IN BJP RS LIST T he BJP on Sunday released its list of candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections which are scheduled to take place on February 27. The votes for the 56 seats will be counted the same day RPN . Singh, a former Congress leader who crossed over to the BJP in 2022, has been nominated from Uttar Pradesh. Others names from UP are: Sudhanshu Trivedi, Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, Sadhna Singh, Amarpal Maurya, Sangita Balwant and Navin Jain. The state has the highest number of vacancies of 10 seats. In Bihar, which has six seats, the BJP , which is again in alliance with Nitish Kumar's JDU, has named Dharmsheela Gupta and Bhim Singh. Notably Sushil Kumar , Modi's name is missing in this list. Scan for more S info formation MLA merry-go-round, Nitish floor test today DHEERAJ KUMAR / PATNA Amid intense speculation over prospects of crossvoting, the newly formed NDA government will face a high-octane floor test on the first day of the assembly’s budget session on Monday . Nitish had formed a new government with the BJP by snapping ties with the ‘Grand Alliance’ as he took oath as chief minister for the record 9th time on January 28, switching sides for the 5th time in little over 10 years. Since then, all major parties of the state have left no stone unturned to ensure that their MLAs do not shift their loyalty to other parties during the trust vote; under duress, all parties have issued whips to their MLAs to be present during the floor test. The stakeholder MLAs have also been sequestered in resorts to prevent poaching. While the Congress – to ward off overtures – moved its 16 out of total 19 MLAs to a resort in Hyderabad, RJD leader and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav has cooped up all his 78 MLAs at his own residence. All Congress MLAs have since returned to the state capital from Hyderabad. After the arrival, the party's Bihar chief Dr Akhilesh Prasad Singh said, "All our MLAs are with us, and they all will be present in the Assembly tomorrow." On the other hand, the BJP ferried its MLAs to Bodh Gaya, ostensibly to participate in a training camp. The BJP MLAs also returned to the state capital late evening on Sunday . Preparations were made to accommodate all JD(U) MLAs at Hotel Chanakya in Patna.  JD(U) chief whip Shravan Kumar has the responsibility of mobilising the MLAs.  per sources, the parAs ty's central leadership was engaged in contacting MLAs who are unreachable by phone. Instructions have been issued to reach out to such MLAs under any circumstances.  CONTD. ON NATION AAP, Cong decide they don’t need crutches BULLETIN hree days after violence broke out in   Haldwani  over the demolition of an illegally built madrassa, the main accused has been arrested in the National Capital and brought back to Uttarakhand. “He is being questioned by the police," an officer said. A garden, allegedly owned by Abdul Malik, was built around the religious structures. Malik had allegedly encroached upon government-owned ‘nazool’ land. Local intelligence inputs suggest the violence was premeditated. The police is trying to ascertain if a conspiracy was hatched. The Uttarakhand Assembly passed the  Uniform Civil Code Bill  hours before the incident, reports News 18. UDAN scheme Hamara Sankalp Viksit Bharat t IMRAN-ARMY THAW ALONE CAN RETRIEVE SITUATION place in last week's national vote. Section 144 has been imposed in capital Islamabad, allowing police to take legal action against any illegal assemblies and activities. The popular wave of discontent, stemming from the military’s meddling in politics, amid charges of widespread rigging, is bound to HUG DAY Affordable air travel for all Modi S Sarkar ki ith Imran Khan indicating that it is ready to bury the hatchet and let ‘bygones be bygones’, the country’s army chief, Gen. Syed Asim Munir, must now decide whether to have some sort of reconciliation with Khan or bulldoze ahead and hammer a coalition of antiKhan politicians, one that many analysts believe would be weak and unsustainable. In a public statement on Saturday General Munir, too, called , for unity and healing, a sign some read as a willingness to engage with Khan. Meanwhile, the police fired tear gas to disperse supporters of jailed former PM Imran Khan after his party protested outside election offices where they said rigging had taken It is 80% of the revised budget estimates for FY 2023-24 AAP wants all the 7 Delhi LS seats GAURAV VIVEK BHATNAGAR / NEW DELHI FARMERS STIR, SEASON TWO FPJ NEWS SERVICE / CHANDIGARH, NEW DELHI Authorities in Haryana and Delhi fortified borders with neighbouring states at many places ahead of a proposed ‘Delhi Chalo’ march by farmer unions on Tuesday by putting up concrete blocks, road spike barriers and barbed wires and deploying thousands of police personnel, besides imposing prohibitory orders. This comes even as Union ministers Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal and Nityanand Rai are set to meet representatives of farmer unions in Chandigarh on Monday to discuss their demands, which include a legal guarantee for the minimum support price for crops. The ministers had met the farmers in Chandigarh on February 8 but did not make much headway . The police have begun installing cement blocks at Shambhu barrier on GT Road on the Patiala-Ambala border, besides diverting traffic on the national highway and taking similar measures on the highways in Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Fatehabad and Sirsa districts which border Punjab. CONTD. ON NATION Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday accused the Haryana government of creating a border “between Punjab and India”, referring to the concrete blocks, nails and barbed wire placed on roads to scuttle the farmers' proposed ‘Delhi Chalo’ march. The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday quoted party convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal as stating that “the people of Delhi have made up their mind to give 7 out of 7 seats to AAP” in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The announcement by Kejriwal has virtually put an end to the seat sharing talks his party was having with the Congress. The development came a day after Kejriwal said his party would go it alone in the forthcoming Lok Sabha election in Punjab; the reluctance to share political space resonated in the Congress echelons with party president Mallikarjun Kharge boasting that the grand old party will not only go solo but also win all the 13 seats in the northern state. The two parties had two rounds of talks at Congress general secretary Mukul Wasnik’s residence on January 8 and 12. Overall, the two parties were in discussions on seat-sharing in the five states -- Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat and Goa. There are a total of 58 seats in these. Though no official word has come yet on the breakdown of talks, AAP’s announcement has certainly revealed its intent and the roadmap for future. Initially the Congress , leaders had described the discussions as “very fruitful and very meaningful” and stated that they would keep the discussions on till they would agree on the strategies and seats to be contested by each. But as Mamata Banerjee declared in West Bengal that she would not ally with the Congress, many in the grand old party felt that AAP would also not tie with it since it is used to follow Banerjee closely in political matters. CONTD. ON NATION Aussies lift ICC U-19 trophy FPJ NEWS SERVICE / MUMBAI I n the ICC Under-19 World Cup final held in South Africa, the Indian team was mauled by Australia by a margin of 79 runs. This defeat echoed the outcome of the ICC Senior World Cup last year, where India, despite being strong contenders, suffered a loss to Australia on their home ground. Australia, batting first after winning the toss, set a challenging target of 254 runs for India. The innings was anchored by Harjas Singh, who scored a crucial half-century (55 runs), marking his first fifty of the tournament. Contributions from captain Hugh Weib- gen (48), Oliver Peake (46), and Harry Dixon (42) propelled Australia to their highest total in an Under-19 World Cup final. India, aiming for a record sixth title in the Under-19 World Cup, entered the final unbeaten in the tournament. Their path to the final included victories against Bangladesh, Ireland, USA, New Zealand, Nepal, and a tense semi-final against hosts South Africa. In the final, Indian pacer Raj Limbani emerged as the most effective bowler, claiming three wickets for 38 runs in his allotted ten overs, while Naman Tiwary chipped in with two wickets. CONTD. ON NATION BJP CHANGES TACK, NO TRUCK WITH AKALIS FPJ NEWS SERVICE CHANDIGARH In an interesting sidelight, the talks for an alliance between the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Punjab, too, have failed, according to reports. The change in strategy came after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal announced that it would contest all the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab and one in Chandigarh. “In the next 10–15 days, AAP will declare its candidates in all of these 14 seats. You have to ensure AAP sweeps all these 14 seats with a majority Kejriw,” al, the Delhi Chief Minister, said at an event in Punjab. This also comes against the backdrop of SAD exerting pressure on the BJP regarding the issues of farmers and the release of Sikh prisoners. SAD’s late patriarch and former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal broke ranks with the BJP in 2020 against the back- FORCED TO SAY ‘JAI SHRI RAM’ drop of the farmers’ protest against the now-repealed farm laws. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP and Akali Dal had contested together and won 4 out of 13 seats. The BJP had contested three seats and bagged two. The Akali Dal had contested 10 and had also won two seats. TAILPIECE Chembur family attacked by mob on train Hopes rise for ‘bountiful monsoon’ E AISHWARYA IYER / MUMBAI A Chembur man, his wife and daughter who were returning home by train from their village in Kankavli, Sindhudurg, were allegedly beaten up and harassed by a right-wing mob who forced them to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. The incident was first reported to Panvel Railway Police Station on January 20 by Jasmin Shaikh, the wife of Asif Ahmed Shaikh. According to Jasmin, 27, they were seated on the Madgaon-LTT Express train, when a group of 30 to 40  ‘stu- dents’ travelling in the same coach, began chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Jasmin, who was wearing a burqa, was told to repeat the slogans, and so was Asif. When they wouldn’t respond, Jasmin said the group started misbehaving and even threw a cup of tea at their child. “My husband and I begged them with folded hands to stop, but they couldn't care less. They started to hit the three of us,” said Jasmin, in her written statement to the Panvel Railway Police (the FPJ has a copy of the statement). Later, because of the jurisdiction, the matter was transferred to Kankavli Police. The Shaikh family was called to the Kankavli police station to give their statements. They went back to Kankavli, to their house to freshen up before returning to the police station. Asif was sitting outside his house when a mob of at least 15 to 20 people came up to him asking about the police complaint and asked him to withdraw the case. “They asked me how I had dared go against their leader by registering a police complaint. CONTD. ON NATION FPJ NEWS SERVICE / NEW DELHI l Nino conditions are set to dissipate by June this year, after a warm 2023, raising hopes of a “bountiful monsoon”, according to meteorologists. The warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean or El Nino, which impacts weather across the world, has started to weaken and there is a probability of La Nina conditions setting in by August, according to two global climate agencies. La Nina is the cyclic counterpart to El Nino. There is a 79 per cent chance that El Nino will transition to ENSO-neutral by April-June and a 55 per cent chance of La Nina developing in June-August, the US' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said last week. El Nino has started weakening, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service confirmed. If La Nina conditions set in by June-August, it could lead to bountiful monsoon rain, according to weather scientists in India. There is a good probability of La Nina developing by July, according to Madhavan Rajeevan, a former secretary in the Ministry of Earth Sciences. “Even if El Nino transitions into ENSO-neutral conditions, the monsoon this year should be better than the last year,” he said. CONTD. ON NATION