fridAY Neeraj’s Olympic build-up begins in Diamond League 10 All eyes will be on the javelin ace as he takes on some of the big names of the sport in the competition that begins in Doha on Friday may, 2024 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard donald Trump son to make political debut Former President’s youngest son, Barron Trump, has been chosen to serve as a Florida delegate to the Republican National Convention Page 11 STIFF CHALLENGE AWAITS the INDIAN STAR A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS l New Delhi l J8.00 l PAGES 14 Neeraj, the reigning world and Asian Games champion, will be up against the likes of former world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and Olympic and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist, Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic, in the first leg of the Diamond League one-day meet series. Neeraj had won the top prize in Doha last year | P11 Poll jitters grip D-Street, Sensex sheds 1.5% ARSHAD K HA N @ New Delhi Haryana power play: Dushyant Chautala, ML Khattar, Bhupinder Singh Hooda Dushyant writes to Guv, demands floor test amid doubts over party unity governor for a floor test. Chautala has said that if the govTwo days after three inde- ernment failed to call the sespendent MLAs withdrew sup- sion on the directions of the port to the Nayab Singh Saini- governor, he may recommend led Haryana government and the President’s rule. “In light supported the Cong ress, of the critical situation and former deputy chief minister the immediate need to restore and Jannayak Janata Party stability and uphold demo(JJP) leader Dushyant Chau- cratic principles, I urge you to tala wrote to Gover nor promptly conduct a floor test Bandaru Dattatreya to ascertain the govurging him to call the Assembly ernment majority,’’ he Assembly session for wrote. polls in CM Nayab Singh a floor test citing the Oct/Nov Saini has said there is government has lost Assembly polls no threat to his govthe majority . However, the oppo- in Haryana are ernment and that he scheduled in was in a position to sition Congress and Oct/Nov. The win the trust vote. the ruling BJP doubtHouse has a Saini hit back at ed if the JJP kept its strength of 88 Chautala asking him flock together. with Karnal if he had the support The JJP has promand Rania of all his 10 MLAs. ised to extend support seats being “Does he have the to the Congress in the event of a no-trust vacant. BJP has numbers? But we 40 MLAs, have the numbers. I vote. The Congress Congress 30 won the floor test and, too wrote to the goverand JJP 10. if required, I will do it nor on Thursday seekINLD and again,’’ said Saini. ing time on Friday to The assembly elecmeet him and present Haryana Lokhit a memorandum on Party have one tions are scheduled in the current political member each, October/November. while the For mer CM ML situation in the state. number of Khattar claimed that The House has a Independent many MLAs were in strength of 88 with MLAs is six touch with the BJP Kar nal and Rania and that there was seats being vacant. The BJP has 40 MLAs, the “nothing to worry about.” Opposition leader Congress 30 and the JJP 10. The INLD and the Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda said Lokhit Party have one mem- the Congress has 30 MLAs, but in a reference to some JJP ber each, while the number of MLAs indicating their supIndependent MLAs is six. In his letter, Dushyant, who port in recent days to BJP, he until some months back, was raised doubts whether all 10 an ally of the BJP, urged the JJP MLAs were united. H a r p r ee t Ba j wa @ Chandigarh the lower-than-expected voter turnout in the first three phases of Lok Sabha elections has a section of market players worried that the winning margin of the Narendra Modi-led NDA may not be as impressive as initially thought. The nervousness is weighing down heavily on the markets as is evident from the sharp rise in the volatility index and the collapse of equity benchmarks. India VIX, which reflects volatility and investors’ sentiments for the near term, hit a fresh 52-week high of 19.17 on Thursday before closing 6.56% higher at 18.20. It has gained for the 11th consecutive session and is now up 88% from April lows. Meanwhile, the Sensex and Nifty crashed on Thursday despite no major negative global cues. The BSE Sensex closed the Thursday session 1,062.22 points, or 1.46%, lower at 72,404.17 while the NSE Nifty 50 declined 345.00 points, or 1.55%, to settle at 21,957.50. In the past five sessions, Nifty and Sensex have corrected by around 3.5% each. On Thursday alone, investors lost a whopping `7.34 lakh crore as the market cap of all BSE-listed fir ms plunged to `3,93,34,896 crore from `4,00,69,409 crore on Wednesday . “We reckon that 400+ seats seem unlikely for the BJP-led alliance,” Phillipcapital India analysts said in their note. They, however, added that the low turnout would not dent the widely expected outcome of BJP returning to power. The markets prefer a strong government at the Centre that can implement pro-business policies. So, a weak poll outcome can spook the markets. Talking to this newspaper, a market veteran said: “Several media articles are quoting lesser numbers for BJP/NDA since the voter turnout has been tepid. I think that is what is causing the ebb and flow.” Another senior analyst said a tight poll result with the BJP in the lead could trigger selling in the short term, but a win for the INDIA bloc would mean a double-digit correction. Campaigning not a fundamental right: ED AAP says probe agency affidavit is against law S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi A day ahead of the scheduled hearing in the Delhi liquor scam case, the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday filed a fresh affidavit opposing interim bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Opposing the court’s suggestion on interim bail, the ED said the right to campaign for elections is neither a fundamental right nor a constitutional right — not even a legal right. The agency also submitted that a politician cannot claim a higher status than an ordinary citizen and is not entitled to differential treatment. The ED asserted that no political leader has been granted interim bail for campaigning even though he is not the contesting candidate. “Even a contesting candidate cannot be granted interim bail for his own campaigning,” the ED said. The probe agency argued that if the top court granted interim bail to Kejriwal on the grounds of elections, then this would “create a precedent which would permit all unscrupulous politicians to commit crimes and avoid investigation under the garb of an election.” The apex court’s two-judge bench maintained on Wednesday that it might pass an order on May 10 on the interim bail application. Kejriwal moved the apex court challenging the An u p Ve r m a @ New Delhi Opposes bail to Kejriwal A day ahead of the hearing in the liquor scam case, the ED filed a fresh affidavit opposing interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal. The ED argued if the SC granted interim bail to Kejriwal on the grounds of elections, then it would “create a precedent which would permit all unscrupulous politicians to commit crimes and avoid probe under the garb of election.” HC rejection of his plea challenging his arrest and remand by the ED. After the ED filed the affidavit, the legal team of the Delhi CM objected to it. It said that a formal complaint has been lodged with the SC’s registry denouncing the ED affidavit as a blatant disregard of legal procedures, especially considering that the matter is already slated for a final decision in the SC on F riday and the af fidavit was submitted without taking the SC approval. The legal team of Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday objected to the affidavit filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposing his interim bail in the Supreme Court. The team said that a formal complaint has been lodged with the SC’s registry. Denouncing the ED’s affidavit as a blatant disregard of legal procedures, the AAP said the affidavit was submitted without seeking the SC approval and issued at a time when the matter is slated for a final decision in the top court. Questioning the ED objection to the interim bail, AAP said it was known that even after two years of investigation, not a single rupee or piece of evidence has been recovered incriminating anybody in AAP. Further, the grounds for Kejriwal’s arrest are based on statements made by other implicated persons — Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, Sarath Reddy, Satya Vijay Naik, and a close aide of an ex-BJP CM. The party alleged the ED relied solely on the statements of accused-turned-witnesses with direct links to the BJP. For instance, Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, who got an NDA Lok Sabha ticket, gave a statement to facilitate the bail of his son, Raghav Reddy Another approv. er P Sarath Reddy sent `60 crore to BJP account through electoral bonds to secure his own bail. A third person, Satya Vijay Naik, who fought the 2022 Goa polls on AAP ticket, is closely linked to Goa CM Pramod Sawant. Another accusedturned-approver was a close aide of former BJP CM Manohar Parrikar. AAP said these statements indicated a pattern. The ED repeatedly objected to the bail of some of the accused, but when they made statements implicating the CM, they were granted bail/ pardon. All statements where there is no allegation against Kejriwal were deliberately ignored by ED, AAP said. The AAP alleged that the ED illegally “picked up” a sitting CM and the national convenor of a party on March 21 — five days after the Lok Sabha elections were announced. V o l at i l i t y i n d e x India Volatility Index (India VIX) measures the market expectations of near-term (30 days) volatility. The index portrays the rate and magnitude of changes in prices and is a widely recognised proxy of risk. It is computed by the NSE based on the order book of Nifty options. Best bid-ask quotes of near and nextmonth NIFTY options contracts traded on F&O segment are used for this Air India Express Crew ends strike after talks with management E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi/Kochi The tussle between Air India Express’ management and its senior cabin crew, which saw hundreds of crew members going on sick leave, leading to the cancellation of over 170 flights, came to an end on Thursday after talks at the chief Labour Commissioner’s office in Delhi. The union representing a section of the Air India Express employees said the crew members who had reported sick will return to work. The airline’s management agreed to reinstate the 25 crew members whom it had sacked earlier in the day for taking part in protest. The management assured the crew members that all issues raised by them would be looked into and resolved, the Labour Commissioner’s office said. Around 300 senior cabin crew members had gone on a mass sick leave since Tuesday night, protesting “inequality, reduction in the contract period from five years to one, and pay cuts of up to 30%”. Discontent has been brewing between the cabin crew and the management ever since the Tata Group began the acquisition of Air India and Air India Express in 2022. BRS missing in battle of multi-crorepatis N a v ya Pa r v at h y @ Hyderabad israel jets bomb Rafah despite us warning Smoke rose from strikes on Gaza’s crowded southern city of Rafah on Thursday after President Joe Biden vowed to stop supplying artillery shells and other weapons to Israel if a fullscale offensive into the city goes ahead | P11 The polished IT towers of Cyberabad and the arid villages of Vikarabad coexist in the Chevella Lok Sabha constituency With three Assembly seg. ments almost fully rural (Pargi, Vikarabad and Tandur) and three others mostly urban (Serilingampally Rajendranagar, , Maheshwaram), the constituency stands out among the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana. As one drives through the vast constituency from Madhapur in Serilingampally to the villages of Vikarabad, concrete structures become scant and are taken over by agricultural fields and gulmohar trees in full bloom. Houses become modest and cafes are replaced by tiffin shops. Despite the BRS holding four of these Assembly constituencies and the Congress three, the battle for Chevella seems to be between the BJP and the grand old party, with voters mostly disregarding the BRS. The incumbent Gaddam Ranjith Reddy elected in 2019 , as a BRS candidate, is now seeking a second term on a Congress ticket. The BJP has fielded the erudite Konda Vishweshwar Reddy who , was elected as the Chevella MP in 2014 on a BRS ticket. He also had a brief stint in the Congress, during which he lost to Ranjith Reddy in 2019 by a mar- gin of 14,317 votes. Kasani Gyaneshwar, who was earlier head of the Telangana TDP, is re presenting the BRS this time. Vishweshwar Reddy, son-in- Konda Vishweshwar Reddy (left) and Gaddam Ranjith Reddy law of Apollo Hospitals founder Prathap C Reddy has declared , assets worth `4,500 crore, making him the richest candidate in Telangana. Ranjith Reddy has assets worth over `435 crore. The performance of the BJP and its ally Jana Sena Party (JSP) in the 2023 Assembly polls was abysmal in the rural Chevella. In Tandur, for instance, the JSP got only 4,087 votes. Speaking to TNIE as part of Hyderabad Dialogues recently, Vishweshwar Reddy said that the rural belt is at the centre of his campaign. “Our ally Jana Sena got 4,000 votes. My target is 60,000 to one lakh. 65% of my time and efforts go into rural areas. The BJP is anyway strong in the city he said. ,” Illustration: Mandar Pardikar Continued on P5 Day after 2 doctors, CBI arrests 2 more in RML bribery case M u ke s h R a n j a n @ New Delhi The CBI has arrested two more suspects, including a medical equipment supplier and a nurse, in its ongoing crackdown on an alleged bribery racket in Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, officials said. With the arrest of Akarshan Gulati, a territory sales man- ager of Biotroniks, and a nurse working in the hospital, Shalu Sharma, the number of arrests in the case has gone up to 11. These include two cardiologists and three hospital support staff who were ar rested on Wednesday . Officials said they found that Shalu and clerk Bhuwal Jaiswal allegedly threatened a man that they would throw his pregnant wife out of the hospital if he did not pay them `20,000. In the FIR, the CBI said Shalu also allegedly threatened to stop the treatment of the man’s wife and discharge her. The man alle g edly paid the amount through UPI. It is alleged that assistant professor Parvatagouda Chan- nappa gouda, ar rested on Wednesday had asked Gulati to , clear his dues. Gulati had connected him to his employee Monika Sinha, claiming he was out of the station. Channappagouda then asked Sinha to pay `36,000 through UPI and the rest in cash. CBI sources said the operation conducted by the agency stemmed out of a technical surveillance initiated in March. It employed decoy patients to validate the gathered intelligence inputs. This surveillance effort enabled the investigative team to gain a detailed insight into the workings of the racket. It said the primary modes of payment used were UPI, bank transfers, and cash, sources said. brothers in arms Former cricketer Irfan Pathan with brother and TMC candidate Yusuf Pathan at a roadshow in Murshidabad district on Thursday | PTI | More reports on pg 5, 6, 7, 10 Express read 5 more Indian sailors released by Iran Five more Indian sailors who were on board MSC Aries cargo vessel seized by Iran on April 12 were released on Thursday. “These five sailors on MSCAries have been released and on their way to India,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. There were 17 Indian sailors on board the ship. 10 killed in Sivakasi ‘Fujian’ completes firecracker unit blast maiden sea trials Ten workers, including six women, were killed and at least 10 others were hospitalised with severe injuries after an explosion at a firecracker unit near Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu on Thursday. Four of the deceased belong to same family. The injured are being treated at Sivakasi hospital. P5 The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy has completed the first eight-day sea trials of its super carrier within six years of the start of its construction. The carrier, ‘Fujian’, returned to Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard at around 3 pm on Wednesday after completing its maiden sea trials.
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