FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS Vol. 14 No. 237 | BHOPAL | SUNDAY | FEBRUARY 9, 2025 | Pages 16 ` 4 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 www.freepressjournal.in ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: BHOPAL WORLD Sports Kohli’s return & Rohit’s form under spotlight P.16 UJJAIN PUNE INDORE NASHIK MUMBAI E-paper readers’ corner Stampede is a wake-up call P.6 Hamas frees 3 more hostages Cinema 53 years of the timeless classic... P.14 DELHI ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS | Bharatiya Janata Party returns to power after a long hiatus of 27 years BJP BREACHES KEJRI-WAL(L) ARVIND'S SHEILA DIKSHIT MOMENT The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday returned to power in Delhi after a long hiatus of 27 years as through some astute planning, ticket distribution and campaigning it swept the ruling Aam Aadmi Party out of power by winning 48 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly. The AAP, which had formed three governments in Delhi since 2013, won only 22 seats as several of its prominent leaders including supremo and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy CM Manish Sisodia and a number of ministers lost. However, CM Atishi managed to retain her seat. Incidentally, both Kejriwal and Sisodia were accused and jailed in the Delhi liquor policy On Saturday, as the Delhi Assembly poll results trickled in and AAP's big guns including Kejriwal lost one by one, Atishi was among the few party leaders who held their own and will now raise the party's voice in the BJP-majority assembly. The big headline in this Delhi election is BJP's Parvesh Verma defeating Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. But behind the story is a subplot of how Congress's Sandeep Dikshit, former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's son, managed to ensure Kejriwal's defeat even though he finished third. For the New Delhi constituency, this is a deja vu of sorts. Former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit won the seat, then called Gole Market, in 1998 and 2003. After delimitation, the seat was called New Delhi and Dikshit won it in 2008. In the 2013 polls, Kejriwal jumped into the poll arena. Riding high on popularity after the India Against Corruption movement, the AAP leader trumped the three-term Chief Minister by over 25,000 votes, effectively ending her political career, and emerged as a giant slayer. The AAP's 2013 victory also removed the Congress from power. 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 BJP workers celebrate the party's victory in the Delhi Assembly elections 48 22 BJP+ campaigned hard around the issue of Kejriwal spending crores on the renovation of his official CM’s bungalow which was given the title of “Sheesh Mahal”. The BJP had also used images from the bungalow to counter AAP’s argument that the Centre, through the L-G, had now allowed it to work by asking then how come Kejriwal was able to spend lavishly on himself. 4Continued on | P8 AAP 0 INC Atishi, a saving grace PTI NEW DELHI When she assumed office as chief minister last year, Atishi kept the chair used by AAP convenor and her predecessor Arvind Kejriwal empty in her office "waiting for him" and was dubbed as a "temporary CM" by some. MAJOR LOSERS SISODIA BHARDWAJ JAIN PATHAK Former Dy CM Manish lost to BJP's Tarvinder Singh Marwah in Jangpura Saurabh, who won Greater Kailash seat thrice, lost to BJP's Shikha Roy Ex-Delhi minister Satyendra has lost in Delhi's Shakur Basti seat Member of AAP's top bodies, Durgesh lost to BJP's Umang Bajaj in Rajinder Nagar MP’s son-in-law may Lotus blooms in become Delhi CM Milkipur, DMK Mohan Yadav, wins Erode East Narottam, too, Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL Several names are being discussed for the post of chief minister in Delhi after the BJP’s massive win in the assembly election there. One of the names being discussed for the position is that of Pravesh Verma. He is the son-in-law of former BJP state president Vikram Verma and legislator from Dhar Neena Verma. The daughter of Vikram Verma and Neena Verma, Swati, is married to Pravesh Verma who has defeated former chief minister and leader of Aam Aadmi Party, Arvind Kejriwal, in the election. His father Sahib Singh Verma was the chief minister of Delhi. The Vermas from Dhar are keeping their eyes on the chain of events in Delhi. NEW DELHI ‘Short-cut politics short-circuited’ NEW DELHI SEE PG-7 regarding which both Congress and BJP had attacked AAP. The AAP was also battling 10 years of anti-incumbency and various other corruption allegations and charges of misgovernance and failed promises especially in the context of cleaning of the Yamuna and improving Delhi’s roads and infrastructure. From the BJP, the entire top leadership had gone after AAP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had even coined the word “Aap-da” (disaster in Hindi) for it. Similarly, the saffron party had also PTI Online Report Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI campaigned Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has campaigned for the party candidates contesting the Delhi assembly election. Yadav addressed several public meeting before going to Japan and after returning from there. The BJP won 11 seats out of 12 where Yadav campaigned. Former home minister Narottam Mishra campaigned in Palam, Rajendra Nagar and half a dozen other constituencies in south Delhi. All the constituencies, including Palam and Rajendra Nagar, which were under the charge of Mishra, went to the BJP in the election. These constituencies are considered the AAP’s fortress. Co-in-charge of MP wins Co-in-charge of the BJP in MP Satish Upadhyay won Malviya Nagar seat in Delhi. Upadhyay may get a ministerial berth in Delhi cabinet. PTI AYODHYA/ERODE BJP candidate Chandrabhanu Paswan on Saturday won the Milkipur bypolls by a margin of 61,710 votes, according to the Election Commission website. While Paswan, 38, polled over 1.46 lakh votes, his nearest rival Samajwadi Party's Ajit Prasad, 42, garnered 84,687 votes, it said. With the BJP winning the Milkipur (SC) seat, all five assembly segments of the Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency are in the BJP's kitty. The Milkipur bypoll was necessitated after local MLA Awadhesh Prasad vacated the seat following his Faizabad win in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The SP fielded his son Ajit Prasad in the bypoll even as the BJP opted for a party cadre Paswan, both from the Pasi community. While the SP was anxious to retain the seat it won in the 2022 UP polls, the BJP was anxious to avenge its Faizabad loss that had happened within five months of the high-profile consecration of Ram temple at Ayodhya. The BSP did not contest the bypoll while the Congress backed its alliance partner SP. In Tamil Nadu, the ruling DMK extended its winning run in elections by emerging victorious in the Erode East bypoll with a massive margin against actor-politician Seeman's NTK, a victory that should come as a major boost to the M K Stalin-led party ahead of next year's Assembly elections. DMK's V C Chandhirakumar trounced Naam Tamilar Katchi's (NTK) M K Seethalakshmi by a margin of 91,558 votes. In the process, NTK, a Tamil nationalist organisation, forefeited deposit. CM TAKES HOLY DIP AT SANGAM Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL CM Mohan Yadav along with his family members takes holy dip at Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj on Saturday Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, accompanied by his wife Seema Yadav, took a holy dip at the Sangam in Prayagrajon Saturday. Reflecting on the significance of the occasion, CM Yadav expressed his commitment to organising the Ujjain Simhastha 2028 in a grand manner. During his visit, CM Yadav congratulated Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the UP government for the successful organisation of the Mahakumbh, emphasising the event's spiritual importance. He said that Mahakumbh, a key festival in Sanatan culture, offers an opportunity for spiritual growth in the presence of saints. The Kumbh, held every 12 years across four sacred cities, gives devotees the chance to take a holy dip, symbolising the purification of accumulated virtues from past lives. 4Continued on | P8 Hailing the BJP's Delhi Assembly polls victory as "historic", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the people of the national capital have shown the door to 'AAP-da' and now a doubleengine government will ensure development at a double speed. He said Delhiites are celebrating BJP's victory and respite from 'AAP-da', a term he used throughout the campaign to criticise the Aam Aadmi Party's rule. "People of Delhi today have enthusiasm and satisfaction. There is relief of liberating Delhi from 'AAP-da'. I thank all Delhiites for entrusting their faith in 'Modi ki guarantee'," the prime minister said in his address from BJP headquarters. "Now Delhi's double-engine government will ensure development at double speed. It is a historic win and not a usual victory as the people of Delhi have shown the door to 'AAP-da'. Delhi has become Aapda-mukt," Modi said. The prime minister said the people of Delhi have short-circuited the politics of short-cuts. AND THEY SAID Elements who are part of the tukde-tukde gang, have narrow mindset and have misled the states and country for years are continuously facing defeats n Mohan Yadav MP Chief Minister Aur lado aapas mein!!! (Keep on fighting each other) n Omar Abdullah J&K Chief Minister Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets supporters upon his arrival at BJP headquarters They have made it clear that they are real owners of Delhi and they have rejected those who treated it as their property, he said. The BJP on Saturday trounced the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi and returned to power in the city after more than 26 years, extending its saffron imprint and dealing a devastating blow to the Arvind Kejriwalled party whose top leadership crumbled or barely made it. Delhi ke dil mein hai Modi (Modi in the heart of Delhi), AapkaAhankaar Mukt Delhi n Smirti Irani BJP leader People of the national capital voted for change as they were fed up with the way things were n Priyanka Gandhi Congress general secretary