FP FREE PRESS The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms VOL. 13 NO. 271 | BHOPAL | THURSDAY | MARCH 14, 2024 | PAGES 16 WASN’T SATISFIED WITH DECISION TO BAT AT ONE DOWN, SAYS BABAR AZAM SPORTS `3 - r Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE MONEY INDIA PERFORMS BETTER THAN CHINA ON KEY GLOBAL INTEGRATION PARAMETERS 34.00c. 17.20c r RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 DIDI BANKS ON DIDI NO.1 STAR TO WOO WOMEN VOTERS NATION AGENCIES / Mumbai The Maharashtra government on Wednesday rechristened Ahmednagar town as 'Ahilyanagar' in memory of the legendary Queen of Indore Rani Ahilyabai Holkar, besides renaming seven suburban railways stations of Mumbai, officials said here on Wednesday . Similarly, Pune district's Velhe taluka has been renamed as 'Rajgad' after the historic fort which was the first capital of the Maratha Empire founded by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj for 27 years. The state cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde also has accorded approval to rename seven suburban stations on the Central Railway and Western Railway WEATHER AHMEDNAGAR IS NOW AHILYANAGAR Sunrise : 06.37 Sunset : 06.35 with a modern identity . They are: Curry Road station shall be renamed as Lalbaug station, Sandhurst Road station as Dongri station, Marine Lines as Mumbadevi station, Charni Road as Girgaon station, Cotton Green as Kalachowki station, Dockyard as Mazagaon station, Kings Circle as Tirthankar Parshvanath station. After the approval of the Maharashtra Legislature, the 5 UNION MINISTERS ON BJP’S 2ND LIST NEW DELHI NEWS BRIEF CAA: MHA to launch helpline numbers NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Wednesday that helpline numbers will be launched soon to assist applicants for Indian citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA-2019). According to MHA, the applicants will be able to get information related to CAA-2019 by calling free of cost. Bhutan PM on 5-day visit to India NEW DELHI: Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay will pay a fiveday visit to India beginning Thursday in his first foreign trip after assuming the charge of the top office in January. Tobgay will hold wideranging talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and call on President Droupadi Murmu, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, announcing the Bhutanese leader's visit from March 14 to 18. 3.6 magnitude quake hits Seoni BHOPAL: A mild earthquake of 3.6 magnitude on Richter Scale struck Seoni at 8:02 pm on Wednesday. On seeing the household items shaking, people came out of their houses for safety purpose. There was a chaos for a while as people were in the state of panic. Till the filing of the story, there was no information of any kind of damage due to the earthquake. The meteorological department officials said that earthquake was of mild nature and it wasn’t harmful. UCC in U’khand gets President's assent, becomes law DEHRADUN: The Uniform Civil Code Bill, passed by the Uttarakhand Assembly on February 7, has become a law with President Droupadi Murmu giving her assent to it. Uttarakhand is the first state in the country after Independence to adopt the UCC. "It is a moment of great joy and pride for people of the state that the Uniform Civil Code Bill passed by our government in the Uttarakhand Assembly has been approved by the Honorable President Smt Droupadi Murmu," Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said in a post on X. The President gave her assent to the Uniform Civil Code, Uttarakhand, 2024 under Article 201 of the Constitution of India on March 11, a gazette notification said. P8 Releasing its second list of 72 names for the Lok Sabha elections on Wednesday, the BJP has fielded five Union ministers from various states, including Piyush Goyal, who is set to make his electoral debut. His colleagues on the list are Nitin Gadkari, Anurag Thakur, Pralhad Joshi and Rao Inderjit Singh. Goyal, who has been a three-time Rajya Sabha member, has been fielded from the Mumbai North seat, which has been held since 2014 by Gopal Shetty of the BJP. The minister - who holds the commerce and industry, textiles, and food and consumer affairs portfolios - joins health minister Mansukh Mandaviya and junior IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, among others, who will be making their Lok Sabha debut. The decision is in line with the BJP's strategy of making as many ministers as possible contest the Lok Sabha polls and win, instead of making their way into the Cabinet through the Rajya Sabha. The choice of Nitin Gadkari as the candidate from Nagpur, seen as important also because it is home to the RSS headquarters, should not be sur- prising because the Road Transport And Highways Minister has been elected from the seat since 2014. Tongues had, however, begun to wag when Gadkari's name was not in the first list of 195 candidates released on March 2, which had featured other party heavyweights like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray had even asked the minis- ter to join hands with the opposition if he was "being insulted" by the BJP. Gadkari had, however, rejected the INDIA bloc leader's invite and dubbed it "immature" and "ridiculous". Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur's name is one of two released for the four seats of Himachal Pradesh. He will contest from Hamirpur, a constituency he has won since 2008 and was also held by his father, Prem Kumar Dhumal, before him. CONTD. ON P10 22,217 electoral bonds WHERE'S THE sold, 22,030 redeemed EVIDENCE: NZ T TOTAL OF 22,217 electoral bonds purchased from Apr 1, 2019 to Feb 15, 2024: SBI to SC he SBI was supposed to submit the data by March 12. They have given us the details in time. I will go back and look at the data (and) would definitely disclose it in time The State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that a total of 22,217 electoral bonds were purchased by political parties between April 1, 2019 and February 15 this year, out of which 22,030 were redeemed. In a compliance affidavit filed in the apex court, the SBI said as per the court's direction, it has made available the details of electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India before the close of business hours on March 12. It said details, including date of purchase of each electoral bonds, names of the purchaser and the denomination of the bonds purchased have been furnished. The affidavit, filed by SBI's chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara, said the bank has also furnished to the EC details like date of encashment of the electoral bonds, the names of political parties which received the contributions and the denominations of the bonds. CONTD. ON P10 AGENCIES New Delhi n RAJIV KUMAR, CHIEF ELECTION COMMISSIONER decided to disown him and cut off all relationship with him n MAMATA BANERJEE, WEST BENGAL CM KOLKATA: TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday disowned her younger brother Babun Banerjee after he expressed displeasure over the party re-nominating Prasun Banerjee from Howrah Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal. She made the remark while speaking to reporters in Jalpaiguri. Asked about media reports that he might join the BJP the West Bengal CM , said, "He can do whatever he wants to. The party stands by its official candidate Prasun Banerjee." Babun Banerjee, who is presently in New Delhi, however, denied speculations that he might switch over to the BJP but said he , is pondering over contesting "Lok Sabha polls from the Howrah seat as an independent." "I am not happy with the selection of the candidate from Howrah Lok Sabha seat. Prasun Banerjee is not the right choice. There were many capable candidates who Shankar fielded from Indore, Firojiya from Ujjain OUR STAFF REPORTER Bhopal The BJP announced candidates for the rest of the fives in Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday. Now, the party declared contestants for all the 29 seats. Tickets were again given to two present MPs, Shankar Lalwani from Indore and Anil Firojiya from Ujjain. Party fielded Savitri Thakur from Dhar, Bharti Pardhi from Balaghat and Vivek Sahu from Chhindwara. Two present MPs - Dhal Singh from Balaghat and Chhatar Singh Darbar from Dhar - were denied tickets. The party counted on a local candidate against former chief minister Kamal Nath's son and present MP from Chhindwara, Nakul Nath. Sahu lost the assembly election against Kamal Nath. The candidate from Dhar won the Lok Sabha election in 2014, but last time she was denied a ticket. The party again gave a ticket to her. CONTD. ON P10 ANIL FIROJIYA BHARTI PARDHI SAVITRI THAKUR VIVEK BANTI SAHU SHANKAR LALWANI ‘Rumours’ remain rumours There were chances that Shankar Lalwani and Anil Firojiya would not be given tickets. Urban Development Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya even declared that Lalwani would not get a ticket. W BROTHER SOFTENS TONE AFTER SNUB ith Mamata Banerjee threatening to sever all ties with her brother for planning to fight the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls independently, Swapan Banerjee a.k.a. Babun, softened his stand dramatically within a few hours. After claiming in the morning that he might contest as an independent candidate from the Howrah Lok Sabha constituency, the CM’s younger brother withdrew his threat in the afternoon. were overlooked," he said. "I can never forget the insult that Prasun hurled at me," he said. CONTD. ON P10 Accused shopkeeper taken into police custody after viral video surfaces FP NEWS SERVICE Barwani A shocking incident unfolded in Barwani where one tribal couple was allegedly assaulted by a shopkeeper in the busy market area near the bus stand. The incident, which occurred on Tuesday evening around 6 pm, gained significant attention after a video of the assault went viral on Wednesday morning. According to reports, the altercation started when the couple had a dispute with the shopkeeper, identified as Ritesh Verma, over some issue. The situation quickly escalated, leading to a physical altercation. Eyewitnesses said that the husband was beaten in the middle of the market while his wife was pushed by Ritesh Verma when she tried to intervene. In response to the incident, the police team from Pati police station swung into action and arrested two accused, Ritesh Verma and Mukesh Kushwah. Pati police station incharge Rohit Patidar confirmed the arrests. He stated that Ritesh Verma is considered the main accused in the case, who runs a paan shop in the market area. CONTD. ON P10 n More than 100 people were stuck in Industry House of Indore for two hours. Many of them rushed to terrace to save themselves from flames and smoke. n Fire broke out in an office on fourth floor. The flames spread to upper floors electric cable n A spark following short circuit in an IT firm's office is suspected to be the cause of fire. n Fire fighters used about 2 lakh litres of water to douse off the flames n Fire brigade SI Santosh Dubey said that the firefighting system installed in the building was old and not functioning ONLINE REPORT Amid the diplomatic faceoff between India and Canada over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations of an India role in the killing of a Khalistani terrorist, a key ally of Ottawa has questioned the lack of evidence of New Delhi's involvement. Winston Peters, New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, said during an interview that Canada has not shared any evidence that establishes its allegations. At the centre of the diplomatic row between India and Canada is the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar (45), chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force and one of India's most-wanted terrorists. Nijjar was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Canada's British Columbia in June. Tribal couple beaten up publicly FIRE IN INDUSTRY HOUSE AT INDORE, 100 SAVED AFTER 2 HOURS DEPUTY PM ON NIJJAR KILLING DIDI DISOWNS BHAIYYA efore every election, he like people. I don't believe in dynasty Bthatgreedygive him ticketcreates a problem. I don't politics I will in elections. I have proposal for these name-changes shall be sent to the Union Home Ministry and Railways for clearance and implementation. Last year, the state government had renamed Aurangabad to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv, and the latest name-changing spree comes ahead of the Model Code of Conduct for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. QUALITY AT VALUE www.freepressjournal.in CM to Sagar MLA: Fire broke out on fourth floor of Industry House in Indore on Wednesday evening and (inset) a woman cries after being rescued by fire fighters PIX: PINTU NAMDEV LURING YOUTHS TO FIGHT RUSSIA’S WAR You've held one finger BJP corporator’s son & are trying to grab all… detained, Congress demands strict action Jain reaches OUR STAFF REPORTER Bhopal stage with a list of demands Chief Minister Mohan Yadav pulled up local legislator Shailendra Jain at a meeting in Sagar on Wednesday . When Yadav was addressing the meeting, Jain reached the stage with a list of demands. The meeting that Yadav was addressing was held to inaugurate the digital system of Avanti Bai Lodhi University by pressing a button. From the stage, Yadav said to Jain, "Don't be greedy Enough has been done. . I can neither see anything nor hear anything more." "You have caught one finger, then two, and now, you are trying to catch all the fingers. Wait for a while. Don't hurry, because it is not my last visit; I will come again and again," Yadav said. Yadav made some announcements on the recommendations of Jain, but when the latter went to the stage to get all the demands fulfilled the Chief Minister pulled him up. Just before the incident, when Jain was addressing the crowd, he said he had no hesitation to demand anything for the public. CONTD. ON P10 FP NEWS SERVICE / Dhar Suyash's father Ramakant Mukut works as a Delhi-based company --general physician. RAS Overseas FoundaResponding to the alletion – accused of luring gations, BJP's Dhar disyouths into fighting for trict president Manoj SoRussia against Ukraine mani said that the law has a Dhar and BJP link. would take its own Mukut is ascourse. He ne of the sociated with said that the individuals the foundaparty had detained in tion, which nothing to do connection with this allegedly sent with Suyash case is Suyash Mukut, 180 youths to Mukut. whose mother Anita Russia, priDuring the Mukut is a BJP marily on sturecent assemcorporator from dent visas. bly polls, Dhar Ward No 4 in Dhar However, afmunicipality ter reaching president Russia, these youths were along with Anita Mukut coerced into joining the had campaigned for indewar. Free Press efforts to pendent candidate Raju reach Anita Mukut for Yadav. Latching on the iscomment went in vain. sue, state Congress presiThe Mukut family, origident Jitu Patwari claimed nally from Indore, has that it was not a one off settled in Dhar, where case. CONTD. ON P10 O