Regional

Bhubaneswar, March 29 (IANS) The opposition BJP and Congress members on Wednesday created a ruckus in the Odisha Assembly once again over then Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das' murder case.

The House witnessed several adjournments during the pre-lunch session as the Opposition members stalled the proceedings.

On the passing of two months of the murder of the then health minister, the Opposition members raised the issue during the zero hour and alleged that the state government is trying to cover up the issue.

The BJP legislators also held a dharna near the entrance of the Assembly in protest against the slow probe process.

"Two months have passed since the murder of Naba Das. But it is still unclear what the motive was and who was behind the murder. The murder was committed as part of a conspiracy," said Leader of Opposition Jayanarayan Mishra from BJP.

He said the police are trying to cover up the case as "many bigwigs are involved".

"Odisha Police are telling new stories. There was no result in the investigation. When the Assembly session gets over, the government will suppress this incident like the Mahanga double murder case and any other incident," Mishra alleged.

Supporting the LoP, Congress Legislature Party Leader Narasingha Mishra said that the doctors' team has already made it clear that Gopal Das, the prime accused in the murder case, is not mentally unstable. He also criticised the government for not "declaring Gopal Das mentally unstable".

Senior BJD legislator Arun Sahoo, meanwhile, said the Opposition is unnecessarily making it an issue.

--IANS
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Kolkata, March 29 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed on Wednesday that the state government employees who had secured jobs "illegally" and "unethically" during the previous Left Front regime are now holding demonstrations over pending dearness allowance (DA) arrears.

"Those who secured jobs during the previous regime by virtue of recommendations made on pieces of paper by the ruling party leaders are now holding agitations over dearness allowance. Why should I take advice from them? They are all thieves and dacoits. Moreover, goons associated with the BJP are now making tall claims in the matter," Banerjee said during her sit-in agitation against the Centre over non-payment of dues, which will continue till 7 p.m. on Thursday.

According to the Chief Minister, ever since Trinamool Congress came to power in the state, her responsibility towards the common people has been of utmost significance to her.

"Remember, the party built by me has immense appeal among the people of the state. Trinamool has formed the government in the state to work for the sake of the common people. Now the party is receiving accolades from across the country," Banerjee said.

Justifying her decision to hold the sit-in demonstration, Banerjee said that due to the non-release of funds under the 100-day job scheme under MGNREGA, the poor people of the state are being deprived of their legitimate dues against the services they had rendered.

"I am ready to hold many more sit-in demonstrations demanding people's legitimate rights. I am in this agitation as the national President of the All India Trinamool Congress and not as the Chief Minister of West Bengal. I want to see how powerful they (Centre) are," Banerjee said.

--IANS
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Shillong, March 29 (IANS) The stalled talks between Meghalaya and Assam over the inter-state border disputes will resume next month-end or in the first week of May, officials said here on Wednesday.

The talks suffered a setback since the firing incident of November 22 last year, which left six persons, including five Meghalaya villagers, dead.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma is in regular touch with his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma to expedite the border talks and resolve the disputes at the earliest.

The six areas of Meghalaya to be taken up for discussion in the second phase of talks include Langpih in West Khasi Hills, Borduar, Nongwah-Mawtamur, Desh Doomreah and Block-II in Ri-Bhoi district and Block-I and Psiar-Khanduli in West Jaintia Hills district.

Last week, the Meghalaya government had reconstituted three regional committees headed by ministers to examine the present status of the remaining six disputed areas with Assam in the state's West Khasi Hills, Ri-Bhoi, and West Jaintia Hills districts.

Officials said that the committees would submit their reports to the Meghalaya government within 45 days after visiting the border villages and studying the differences based on the agreed yardsticks of historical perspective, ethnicity of the local population, administrative convenience of local people, contiguity with the boundary, and the perception of the people living in the area.

Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, Social Welfare Minister Paul Lyngdoh, and Urban Affairs Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar would head the three different district committees.

The ruling National People's Party (NPP) and its ally BJP, in their election manifestos for the February 27 Meghalaya polls, had promised to solve the border disputes with Assam and establish permanent outposts to promote safety, security and rule of law.

The Supreme Court had put on hold the Meghalaya High Court's order staying the MoU signed by the Chief Ministers of Assam and Meghalaya on the border disputes.

In December last year, the high court while hearing a petition filed by four citizens of Meghalaya had passed an order staying physical demarcation or erection of boundary posts on the ground, pursuant to the MoU signed on March 29 last year.

The MoU was signed by Sangma and his Assam counterpart in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah, "resolving" six of the 12 disputed areas in the first phase.

--IANS
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By Shambu Nath Choudhary
Ranchi, March 29 (IANS) The 'Ranchi Smart City' project in the Jharkhand capital provides two contrasting pictures with different hues in one single frame. While posh and luxurious duplexes for ministers are nearing completion, no foundation has yet been laid for the common people.


According to sources, 18 luxurious duplexes for 11 ministers are being given the finishing touches. Chief Minister Hemant Soren recently visited the project site to review the work, following which he instructed the officials to finish the construction at the earliest.

The possession of these posh bungalows, raised at an estimated cost of Rs 70 crore, is expected to begin next month. The project is being developed by a Hyderabad-based firm.

Each duplex, built on an area of 16,321 sq. feet boasts of modern amenities. It would be segmented into two parts -- residential and an annexe block. The ministers would look into their office-related matters in the annexe area.

The duplex would be air-conditioned and fitted with lifts.

The ground floor of the residential block would comprise an entrance gallery, drawing room, lobby, guest room with washroom, master bedroom suite, dining area, utility area, kitchen, family lounge, the minister's residential chamber, inner office area and the caretaker's room.

The first floor would accommodate a family lounge, master bedroom, children's bedroom, pantry area, multipurpose storage section, 'puja' room, open terrace and a balcony.

Each duplex would have a front-facing park while all its bedrooms will have dedicated balconies.

A club house is also being constructed in the residential block. It would have a cafe, lounge, reception office, gym, badminton court, kitchen, bathroom etc.

Two dormitories have been built as well for driver(s) and guard(s).

The Smart City is being developed in Ranchi's Dhurwa locality spread over 656 acres.

The foundation was laid on September 9, 2017 by former Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu.

The project was initially planned to be completed in five years but the process got delayed due to several roadblocks.

Of the 18 planned projects, 12 have been shown the green flag.

However, not a single brick has yet been laid for the 16,000 flats planned for the common people.

Around Rs 350 crore has been spent on infrastructure-related work such as roads, sewerage-drainage, water supply, electricity etc.

--IANS
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Hyderabad, March 29 (IANS) The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), on its 41st formation day on Wednesday, showcased in Hyderabad its founder N. T. Rama Rao's famous 'Chaitanya Rathama' which had helped him catapult to power in undivided Andhra Pradesh in early 1980s.

The TDP put on display the 1940 model Chevrolet van used by NTR for a state-wide campaign, at a meeting organised at Exhibition Grounds in Hyderabad to mark the formation day of the party.

With the 'Chaitanya Ratham' (chariot of awakening), NTR had introduced the new trend of the Rath Yatra in politics. He undertook a state-wide journey in this vehicle to address roadside meetings in all the districts to instill a sense of self-respect among Telugus.

With this customised Chevrolet van, which is said to have logged 75,000 km, NTR changed the course of Andhra Pradesh politics.

The legendary Telugu actor had floated the TDP on March 29, 1982 on the slogan of Telugu self-respect. He created a record of sorts by coming to power within nine after forming the party, ending the monopoly of the Congress in the state.

Interestingly, NTR's son Harikrishna had also become famous as 'Ratha sarathi' (charioteer) of 'Chaitanya Ratham'.

TDP national President and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu along with party leaders from both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana went down the memory lane with a close look at the historic campaign vehicle.

Chandrababu Naidu, who is son-in-law of NTR, paid rich tributes to the late leader and recalled his services for the people.

He said NTR brought recognition to Telugus across the world and strived for their all-round development. He said the TDP would continue to work in both the states to fulfill NTR's ideals.

Large number of TDP leaders and workers from both the states attended the meeting.

--IANS
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Hyderabad, March 29 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday filed a charge sheet against three operatives of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the Hyderabad terror conspiracy case.

The NIA filed the charge sheet against Mohd Abdul Wajid alias Zahed, Samiuddin alias Sami, and Maaz Hasan Farooq alias Maaz in a court in Hyderabad. They have been charged for their role in the terrorist conspiracy to raise funds, collect explosives and carry out recruitment into the LeT.

The NIA filed the charge sheet under sections 120B and 153A of the Indian Penal Code, sections 4, 5, 6 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908 and sections 13, 17, 18, 18B, 20, 38, 39 of the UA (P) Act, 1967.

The NIA had taken over investigations into the case in January 2023 from Hyderabad police.

According to the agency, its investigations revealed that Zahed, Sami and Maaz were in touch with Farhatulla Ghori, an 'individual terrorist' listed by the Centre. Simultaneously, they were also in league with Siddiqui bin Osman alias Abu Hanzala, Abdul Majeed alias Chotu, and other LeT leaders and operatives. They had aimed to carry out bomb blasts at crowded places in Hyderabad.

Ghori, Abu Hanzala, Abdul Majeed are based in Pakistan. Ghori recruited Zahed from cyberspace and sent funds to him through hawala channels. Zahed was tasked to recruit more persons into LeT and to carry out terrorist acts. Sami, Maaz and Mohammed Kaleem were instigated an prodded by Zahed to work for the LeT, the NIA said.

According to the central agency, four hand-grenades were dead dropped at an isolated spot near Manoharabad village on Hyderabad-Nagpur highwat on September 28, 2022. Zahed got the hand-grenade consignment collected through Sami and then gave one grenade each to Sami and Maaz with instructions to hurl the same at public gatherings during Dusshera festival. However, they were arrested before the planned attacks.

The grenades were recovered from their possession during search their houses. Rs 20 lakh was also seized from Zahed.

--IANS
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New Delhi, March 29 (IANS) Urban apathy and money power are the two major issues in the Karnataka Assembly polls, the schedule for which was announced by the Election Commission of India on Wednesday.

The 244-member Karnataka Assembly will go to the polls on May 10, while the counting of votes will be taken up on May 13.

After announcing the poll schedule, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said that urban apathy and money power are the two major challenges in the poll-bound southern state.

Talking about urban apathy, the CEC said that voter turnout in some urban pockets has been lower than the state average in the past polls.

Kumar highlighted that the lowest voter turnout was recorded in the Bengaluru area - BBMP (South), BBMP (North), BBMP (Central), and Bangalore Urban - in the 2013 and 2018 state elections. These four districts in India's IT hub had recorded much less turnout than the state average.

He also mentioned the low voter turnout in the urban areas in the 2019 general elections, and more recently in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections. The CEC underscored the need for focused interventions to create awareness through electoral literacy clubs in schools and colleges, and voter awareness fora in organisations and resident welfare associations (RWAs).

Keeping this in view, voting in the Karnataka polls has been scheduled on Wednesday (May 10), and not on Monday or Friday as parts of the urban population use these days as their extended weekends. Moreover, measures to engage professionals in the IT corridor and the knowledge industry have been planned, via an event similar to the Hackathon.

To curb the misuse of money power, the CEC informed that the ECI has made adequate arrangements and multiple agencies will be working in close coordination like the excise department, police, and commercial tax department, among others.

"We are strengthening our team in Karnataka to curb the use of money power in elections. There will be 2,400 static surveillance teams to keep strict vigil on 171 inter-state checkposts in 19 districts (sharing borders with other states)," he said.

As per the poll panel, there will be strict vigilance on bribery. Air intelligence will be deployed to keep vigil on unscheduled and chartered flights. Intelligence units will also monitor suspicious transactions in blind spots in cooperative banks and payment wallets.

Comprehensive instructions for the purpose of effective monitoring of the election expenditure of the candidates have been issued, which include deployment of expenditure observers, assistant expenditure observers, formation of flying squads, static surveillance teams, video surveillance teams, video viewing teams, accounts teams, media certification and monitoring committee etc.

--IANS
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Kochi, March 29 (IANS) The mother of a 12-year-old girl has filed a petition before the Kerala High Court alleging that her daughter was used as a "drug carrier" by drug mafia and sought a CBI probe into the matter.

In her plea, she said her daughter's involvement with drug trade came to light when she was called to her school after her daughter was found in school washroom in an inebriated state with fully wet uniform and she was told that her daughter informed that someone made her smell a white powder and that she vomited four times.

Her plea also points out that the authorities informed the matter either to the police or to Child line, the agency which monitors children.

According to her daughter, she was first introduced to drugs by a fellow student during Kabbadi practice in October last year.

Later she fell into the hands of few men and she was taught to make blade-cut injuries on the wrist to put MDMA for intoxication.

The plea further submitted that at the police station, the child explained the entire incident to the police and lodged a complaint.

Adhinan, an influential man who was allegedly behind this, was subsequently summoned to the police station and even though he was questioned, police colluded with him and recorded a false statement limited to the allegation that he touched the girl's hand, the mother said.

She further contended that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan allegedly made statements exonerating the accused during a debate in the Assembly, terming the media reports of the drug mafia case as fake.

--IANS
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Mumbai, March 29 (IANS) The Nationalist Congress Party on Wednesday said that a Shiv Sena Minister's statement has confirmed Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' public claim that he took "revenge" by toppling the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in June 2022.

NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said Fadnavis had said a few weeks ago how he had taken "revenge" and brought down the MVA Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray nine months ago.

"Now, Health Minister Tanaji Sawant has also confirmed that a whopping 150 meetings have been held since 2019 between Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde, plotting to bring down the MVA," he said.

Among other things, Sawant claimed on Tuesday in Dharashiv that he was enraged as Thackeray did not give him a Cabinet post in 2019 and initiated the first rebellion on January 3, 2020 at the "orders" of Fadnavis.

He also accused Thackeray of "rejecting" the peoples' mandate and tying up with the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party instead of allying with the BJP.

Sawant revealed how, over the next couple of years, some 100-150 meetings were held by Fadnavis-Shinde, while he went around meeting MLAs from all over the state to make them change their loyalties.

Tapase said these shocking revelations make it clear that when the MVA government's back was turned for battling the Covid-19 pandemic and saving peoples' lives, "instead of offering any help, the entire BJP was totally focussing on toppling the Thackeray government".

"We were duty bound to protect the lives of millions with the (then) CM Thackeray, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, Health Minister Rajesh Tope and others committed to the cause. The MVA government's success against Corona won accolades from all over the world. But little did we realise that some individuals with personal agenda were contemplating a political coup even during the pandemic," said Tapase sharply.

Stating that since the BJP can never vanquish the MVA in a straight electoral contest, it conspired with Shinde to engineer a spilt in the (original) Shiv Sena with the sole intention of bringing down the Thackeray regime, and later he (Shinde) became the CM.

The MVA never assumed that they (Shinde-Fadnavis) could be "so power hungry" and used even the crisis of the pandemic period to carry out defections of MLAs as revealed by Sawant, said Tapase.

--IANS
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New Delhi, March 29 (IANS) Even as the Congress is poised to come back to power on its own after the May 10 Assembly elections in Karnataka, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has emerged as the most popular choice among the likely voters to be the next Chief Minister of the state, according to an exclusive survey conducted by ABP-CVoter among potential electors in the southern state towards the end of March.

As per the survey, 39.1 per cent of the respondents stated that they want senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah as the next Chief Minister of the state.

The incumbent BJP Chief Minister, Basavraj Bommai, trails considerably behind with 31.1 per cent of the respondents opting for him.

ABP-CVoter interacted with around 25,000 voters across demographics, age groups and identities in Karnataka to gauge the mood of the voters ahead of the Assembly elections.

In what could be a surprise for many political commentators who had written him off and his party JD(S), former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy emerges as the third most popular choice with 21.4 per cent of the respondents stating they want him as the next CM.

Given the projected seat tally of the JD(S) between 25 and 35, Kumaraswamy could play a significant role in the now unlikely event of the actual results delivering a hung Assembly, like in 2018.

Another interesting revelation that emerges from the exclusive survey is that Karnataka Congress chief D.K. Shivkumar is nowhere in the picture when it comes to preferred choice for Chief Minister.

Shivkumar, who is considered to be a strong rival of Siddaramaiah for the CM's post in the event of a Congress victory, is the preferred choice of just about 3 per cent of the potential voters in Karnataka.

It would be interesting to see whom the Congress high command prefers if the party wins a majority as projected by the ABP-CVoter survey.

As per the survey, Congress will probably win a majority of seats in the 224-seat Karnataka Assembly.

According to an analysis of the survey data, the vote share of the Congress could rise from 38 per cent in 2018 to 40.1 per cent this time. Compared to 80 seats in 2018, the survey projects the Congress to win between 115 and 127 seats.

--IANS
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