Vol. 67 No. 174 | MONDAY | APRIL 22, 2024 | 24 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only Quality at Value www.freepressjournal.in MEMBER: AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATION JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2023 EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Nashik, Konkan, Indore, Bhopal, E-paper SHREYAS TALPADE’S NEXT People haven’t seen Lord Shiva in such a cute avatar ever EDIT KEEP FAITH IN VOTING MACHINES DIRECT TAX COLLECTIONS EXCEED ESTIMATES IN FY24 ‘Act against PM, and Shah first’ he Jai Vakeel Foundation focuses on helping those with intellectual disability live with dignity in the mainstream. Turn to the Mumbai Page to read how they do this. FPJ NEWS SERVICE / JAIPUR It was a day’s reprieve for Rahul Gandhi as PM Modi directed his barbed comments at Sonia Gandhi, remarking with obvious sarcasm that those who cannot win elections have “fled the field” and sneaked into the Rajya Sabha from the backdoor. Though the prime minister refrained from mentioning Sonia by name, the oblique reference to Rajasthan, from where Sonia was elected to the upper house, left little room for doubt. THE FP BULLETIN TRAIN TRAVEL AN ORDEAL: GANDHI C ongress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday attacked the BJP regime at the Centre and said that travelling in trains has become a "punishment" for people. He alleged that trains were in a poor state and said that the government wanted to prove railways were inept so that it would have an excuse to sell it off to its cronies. The Congress MP also shared a video on X which showed people sitting inside toilets and on the floor while travelling by train. In his post, Rahul Gandhi said, "Train journey has become a punishment under Narendra Modi's rule! Passengers of every category are being harassed by the government, which is promoting only elite trains by reducing general coaches in common man’s trains.” Rahul pointed out that people are not able to sit in the comfort of their seats despite having confirmed tickets. REPOLL TODAY IN 11 MANIPUR HUBS R e-polling will be conducted at 11 polling stations in the Inner Manipur Lok Sabha constituencies on April 22, the chief electoral officer of the state said after the Election Commission declared the initial polls held on April 19 null and void. The re-polling will affect several locations within the Imphal district. There were allegations of booth capturing in a region that saw a voter turnout of 72 per cent. The Manipur Congress had demanded repoll at 47 stations BJP’S HYDERABAD NOMINEE BOOKED T he Begum Bazar police of Hyderabad on Sunday booked BJP candidate for Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat Madhavi Latha for allegedly outraging the feelings of a particular community during Rama Navami shobha yatra held on Wednesday. The case was registered based a complaint of one Mohd. Irfan. At an election rally, Latha had pretended to draw and fire an arrow while near a mosque. The clip online showed the mosque at the point she fires the 'arrow'. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had slammed the "vulgar, obscene, and provocative" action. Based on the complaint, the police booked her under section 295A of the IPC and 125 of the Representation of the People (RP) Act. KALPESH MHAMUNKAR / MUMBAI S hiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Uddhav Thackeray has informed the media that the Election Commission of India had sent him a notice directing him to remove the word ‘Hindu’ and ‘Bhavani’ from the party’s promotional song. The promotional was released last week. Uddhav has vehemently opposed the notice, saying the election commission never dared to act against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had appealed to voters in the name of ‘Bajrang Bali’ in the Karnataka elections. Likewise, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had tried to entice Madhya Pradesh voters with a free tour of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. A defiant Uddhav made it clear he would fight the notice and not remove these two words from the promotional song. At the press meeting, Uddhav shared the two videos of Modi and Shah, wherein both of them were seen luring the voters. Uddhav said, ‘‘I am seeing that basic issues in campaigning have been set aside while baseless issues are being promoted. No one is talking about what the PM did in the last ten years.’’ Further, he said, ‘‘Bhavani is the ‘Kuldevi’ of entire Maharashtra. She had blessed Shivaji Maharaj. Even, ‘Jai Bhavani’ and ‘Jai Shivaji’ are inspiring slogans regularly used in Maharashtra during rallies. CONTD. ON NATION Even as the prime minister was holding forth at a rally in Rajasthan about infighting within the INDIA formulation, a scuffle was reported between workers of the Congress and the RJD, stemming from a dispute over the Chatra Lok Sabha constituency which both allies had been eyeing. The workers of both parties hurled chairs at each other, leaving several injured, it is claimed. According to reports, the supporters of RJD and the Congress candidate from Chatra, K N Tripathi, clashed when INDIA bloc leaders were present on the dais during the rally Tripathi’s brother Gopal . suffered serious injuries in the clash, sources claimed. Securi- Didi doesn’t ‘feel safe’ ARITRA SINGHA / KOLKATA A day after Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari warned of a "big explosion on Monday which will shake the TMC and its top brass," Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the ruling BJP of conspiring against her and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee and said that they "do not feel safe". The TMC supremo also claimed that the BJP was targeting her and the TMC General Secretary . “Those who are claiming that they will drop bombs, I ty personnel intervened and brought the situation under control. Tripathi, who had been a minister in the Jharkhand cabinet, claimed that 1015 outsiders had entered the venue with an intention to create disturbance. But that was fodder enough for BJP leader and former union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to charge that the op- want to tell: Both Abhishek and I are the targets. They are after our lives. But we are not worried about our security , we want to work for people’s security said Mamata. ,” Hitting out at Adhikari, Mamata Banerjee said, "There is a traitor who joined the BJP to protect his family and ill-gotten wealth. Let me tell him, his threat to trigger a chocolate bomb explosion is treated with contempt by us". "We will counter him by bursting firecrackers. For us, firecrackers are unravelling discrepancies in the PM Care Fund and 'jumla' crediting of Rs 15 lakh in every citizen's bank account. He only peddles falsehood," she said. CONTD. ON NATION position bloc was a ‘‘quarrelsome alliance.’’ A video of the clash went viral on social media. RJD workers were agitated over the Chatra seat going to the Congress under the seat sharing deal in Jharkhand. As per the seat-sharing deal, Congress will contest on seven seats, JMM on five, and RJD and CPI (ML) one seat each. NOTA is not to be taken lightly in UP Other TISS pupils AFTER SUSPENSION OF DALIT PHD STUDENT… too feel the heat BISWAJEET BANERJEE LUCKNOW In the past decade, the introduction of the None of the Above (NOTA) option by the Election Commission has reshaped the electoral landscape in Uttar Pradesh, with its impact becoming increasingly discernible. As voters exercise their right to reject all candidates, the figures from recent elections paint a compelling picture of NOTA's rising influence. During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Robertsganj constituency in Uttar Pradesh witnessed a notable surge in NOTA votes, where it secured the fourth position. Moreover, in Machhilishahr Lok Sabha seat, where the margin between victory and defeat was a mere 181 votes, a staggering 10,830 voters opted for NOTA, underscoring its significance as a decisive factor. Across the 13 seats of Purvanchal, the trend of escalating NOTA votes has been evident year after year. For instance, in Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, while 2,051 votes were cast for NOTA in 2014, the number surged to 4,037 in 2019, resulting in the defeat of 22 candidates. Similarly in , MUSAB QAZI & MEGHA CHOWDHURY / MUMBAI POLL SPOTLIGHT Ballia, NOTA secured the fourth position with 9,615 votes, indicating a growing sentiment of discontent among voters. According to data from the Election Commission, the proportion of voters opting for NOTA in Uttar Pradesh increased from 0.71% in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections to 0.84% in 2019. This shift signifies a rising disenchantment among voters with the available political options. In the 2014 elections, nine candidates in Ballia received fewer votes than NOTA, highlighting a significant rejection of traditional party candidates. Despite the presence of established parties and independents, NOTA emerged as a formidable contender, garnering 6,670 votes in the constituency . CONTD. ON NATION Days after the suspension of Dalit scholar Ramdas Prini Sivanandan from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) for political activities, it has emerged that the institute has also sent out disciplinary notices to a handful of students. According to sources on campus, while one of these students has faced action for protesting a pooja held on the campus to commemorate the Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu appeared to be inching towards a landslide victory with his People's National Congress party bagging 66 of the 86 seats for which results were declared in the crucial parliamentary election, which was seen as a litmus test for the pro-Beijing politician. His policies are being closely watched by both India and China amidst region- inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22, others are said to have indulged in various acts of ‘indiscipline’, including arguing with the faculty and police. While the institute wants to punish these students for bringing it disrepute, students have called the suspension and issue of notices a harsh step. Following the suspension of the Dalit PhD student, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) administration had released a public notice CONTD. ON NATION al power dynamics. A total of 602 ballot boxes were installed in the Maldives and three other countries for the parliamentary election. Polling stations were also open in 34 resorts, prisons, and other industrial islands. The three countries where the ballot boxes were placed for voting are India (Thiruvananthapuram), Sri Lanka (Colombo) and Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur). The election was held LAST WORD The political landscape in Meerut is experiencing a seismic shift as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faces electoral challenges ahead of the upcoming elections. Initially seen as a strategic move, the decision to replace three-term MP Rajendra Agarwal with Arun Govil, famed for his portrayal of Lord Ram in the television series "Ramayana," has proven to be a gamble fraught with challenges. The BJP's expectation was that Govil's association with the revered figure of Lord Ram would resonate strongly in Meerut, especially following the FPJ NEWS SERVICE / NEW DELHI Workers and leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) protested outside Tihar jail in Delhi on Sunday demanding , that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is suffering from diabetes, be given insulin. Delhi cabinet minister Atishi and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Sanjeev Jha led the scores of party workers, who carried insulin and placards saying “Kejriwal ko insulin do” and sang “Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram” outside the jail. “This is not a protest. The people of Delhi are worried about the health of Chief Minister Kejriwal who is diabetic. They have sent insulin for him,” Atishi said, alleging that there is a “conspiracy” to harm Kejriwal, AAP’s national convenor. “The Tihar administration had said they have specialist doctors but on Saturday they wrote to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences for the assistance of a diabetologist. Kejriwal has been in judicial custody for nearly 20 days but they are asking for a diabetol- amidst deteriorating ties between the archipelago nation and India since Muizzu, 45, assumed power in November last year. During last year's presidential election, he had maintained a strident anti-India stand. Muizzu has nonetheless pressed ahead with closer economic cooperation with China, including building thousands of apartments on controversially reclaimed land. CONTD. ON NATION MALDIVES construction of the Ram Mandir and the party's campaign centered around the deity However, . as the electoral fervour grips Meerut, it has become apparent that the BJP is navigating a treacherous path. One significant development is the absence of a Muslim candidate in the opposition's roster, despite Muslims comprising 36% of the population in the constituency This departure from previous . elections, characterized by religious polarization, sees all major political parties, including the Congress-SP alliance and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), fielding Hindu candidates, thereby di- luting the potential for such polarization. The electoral dynamics in Meerut are marked by intriguing nuances, as historical data reveals narrow margins of victory for the BJP in previous elections. The SPCongress alliance is pinning its hopes on a Dalit candidate, Sunita Verma, to capitalize on the DalitMuslim demographic, while the BSP has fielded Devvrat Tyagi, representing the upper caste. The strategic importance of the Dalit-Muslim demographic, constituting approximately 50% of the electorate in Meerut, is highlighted by political analysts. CONTD. ON NATION AIMIM will back Cong in Kolhapur KALPESH MHAMUNKAR MUMBAI The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) party has extended its support to Congress candidate Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj from Kolhapur. This development is a worrying one for the opposing Mahayuti candidate, Sanjay Mandlik. The AIMIM MP from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Imtiyaz Jalil, made the announcement on Sunday Apart from the AIM. IM, the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi too has declared its unconditional support for Shahu Maharaj in Kolhapur. There is a large number of Muslim voters in Kolhapur. Therefore, the AIMIM’s support will benefit Shahu Maharaj. Coupled with the support of the VBA, it means the backward classes too will support Shahu Maharaj. Now, the stage is set for a direct fight between Shahu Maharaj and Mandlik in Kolhapur. Recently Mandlik had , targeted Shahu Maharaj CONTD. ON NATION Nandini to sponsor Ireland, Scotland in T20 World Cup FPJ NEWS SERVICE / MUMBAI Get ready to witness Karnataka's own dairy powerhouse, Nandini, make waves on the global stage as it ventures into new territories during the upcoming T20 World Cup set for June. Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF)'s Nandini brand is set to sponsor the cricket teams of Scotland and Ireland in this prestigious tournament, marking a historic milestone for a homegrown label. In an exclusive statement to select media outlets, KMF's managing director, MK Ja- ogist now. This shows there is a conspiracy His sugar levels . are high and denying him insulin is dangerous for his health,” she said. However, the Tihar administration had earlier in the day said appropriate senior specialists from AIIMS provided consultation to Kejriwal through video conference on Saturday “ . After a 40-minute detailed consultation, Kejriwal was assured that there was no serious concern and was advised to continue with the prescribed medicines, CONTD. ON NATION Neha murder: BJP statewide protest today FPJ NEWS SERVICE BENGALURU TAILPIECE BJP’s ‘Tele Ram’ facing tough challenge in Meerut BISWAJEET BANERJEE / MEERUT Sunrise : 06:17 am Sunset : 06:58 pm Kejriwal ko insulin do…New AAP chant Landslide win for Pro-China Muizzu FPJ NEWS SERVICE / MALE 0 Warming up to his theme, PM Modi said, by way of explanation, that the country is punishing the Congress for its “sins” and a party which had once won 400 seats, is unable to find candidates to contest 300 seats in the Lok Sabha election. He was speaking at an election rally in Jalore, Rajasthan. Latching onto his pet theme – corruption – the prime minister said the Congress has gnawed at the foundations of the country as termites , would, by spreading nepotism and corruption. CONTD. ON NATION Congress, RJD ‘friendly’ contest DHEERAJ KUMAR / RANCHI 0 35 c. 29 c. Modi fires ‘fled the field’ salvo at Sonia Uddhav strikes defiant note over EC notice to his Sena T The tax kitty surged by a massive 17.7% y-o-y to Rs 19.58L cr in FY 2024 gadish, expressed excitement about this groundbreaking move, stating, "We are proud to announce our sponsorship of both the Ireland and Scotland cricket teams in the T20 World Cup. Look out for the Nandini brand prominently displayed during the matches, representing our commitment to excellence." But Nandini's ambitions don't stop there. Reports suggest that the brand is gearing up to enter the energy drink market in the United States with its latest offering, 'Nandini Splash,' a whey-based energy CONTD. ON NATION drink. The murder of Neha Hiremath on her college premises in Hubballi has turned into a political slugfest between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka, which has called for a statewide protest on Monday . Hiremath, a 23-year-old first year MCA student and daughter of Congress corporator Niranjanayya Hiremath, was stabbed to death Neha was on April 18 on the BVB college campus by her classmate, Fayaz, a native of Savadatti in Belagavi district. BJP Karnataka president BY Vijayendra, who took to microblogging site X to announce the state-wide protest, held Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the Congress government in the state responsible for the murder of the young girl and claimed that the law and order situation in the state has collapsed. “ Abysmal handling of Law and Order in the State is glaringly evident, that reminds one of the sorry state of affairs in Pakistan & Afghanistan! CONTD. ON NATION