30092024-TTB-01.qxd 9/29/2024 11:42 PM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 144 NO. 271 | 16 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881  DELHI TRUMP ESCALATES RHETORIC AGAINST IMMIGRANTS WORLD /thetribunechd 21 FARM FIRES ACROSS STATE IN A DAY, TALLY SURGES TO 119 PUNJAB AMID ‘ABDUCTION’ OF 2 WOULD HAVE BAILED OUT YOUTHS, MANIPUR CM PAK HAD IT KEPT GOOD MEETS MLAs NATION TIES: RAJNATH BACK PAGE monday | 30 september 2024 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Campaigning ends in J&K, 40 Will give pensionable jobs to all Agniveers, says Shah seats go to polls in last phase Vows rail projects in Haryana, employment to 5L youth Mann discharged from hospital after four days Mohali, September 29 Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann was discharged from a private hospital in Mohali around 2 pm today. He left the hospital in his official vehicle. The hospital Director and Head of Department of Cardiology, Dr RK Jaswal, said all parameters and pathological tests of the Chief Minister PUNJAB CM WAS DIAGNOSED WITH BACTERIAL INFECTION were normal, following which the doctors decided to discharge him. Mann was diagnosed with bacterial infection leptospirosis yesterday after remaining under observation in the hospital since Wednesday morning. Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan and Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains visited Mann in the hospital to inquire about his health. Congress MLA Pargat Singh also met the CM in the hospital. — TNS Do or die for BJP, Cong in Jammu region, NC & PDP in Valley Arjun Sharma Tribune News Service Jammu, September 29 Campaigning for the highstakes third and final phase of the J&K Assembly elections culminated on Sunday with keen contest on the cards among the NC, PDP and Awami Ittehad Party in the Valley and a do-or-die battle between the BJP and Congress in Jammu division. Polling will be held in 40 of the total 90 seats, the highest in all three phases, on October 1 to seal the fate of 415 candidates. Twentyfour of these seats fall in the Jammu region and 16 in Kashmir. Over 39.18 lakh voters are eligible to cast their ballot. Security has been stepped up in the seven districts — Kupwara, Baramulla, Bandipora, Udhampur, Samba, Kathua and Jammu — that go to the polls amid terror threat. Most of the constituencies are located along the Line of Control and International Border. As many as 29 polling stations have been set up along the border. In the Valley, keen contest is expected in Handwara, where Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge addresses a public meeting at Jasrota in Kathua on Sunday. PTI KHARGE TAKEN ILL DURING RALLY ■ Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge was taken unwell during a rally in Jasrota belt of J&K’s Kathua district. After medical aid, Kharge said he was “not going to die before PM Narendra Modi was removed from power”. Modi later dialled Kharge to enquire about his health INSIDE Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone is pitted against NC’s Chowdry Mohammad Ramzan. It will be also be an acid test for Engineer Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party. The elections will determine the future of Lone and FATE OF LONE, LAL SINGH ON LINE ■ The final phase election will decide the fate of J&K People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone from Handwara, Congress’ Raman Bhalla from RS Pura-Jammu South, BJP’s Devender Singh Rana from Nagrota and Congress’ Choudhary Lal Singh from Basohli Rashid in Valley politics. Rashid is the sitting Member of Parliament from Baramulla. Former PDP leader Muzafar Hussain Baig is contesting as an Independent from the Baramulla Assembly seat. NC vice-president Omar Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti have led an aggressive campaign for the crucial phase. High-profile leaders, including PM Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress continued on page 8 Cong pushes for FM’s ouster over electoral bond FIR A man stands near the site where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Beirut. AP/PTI ANOTHER HEZBOLLAH COMMANDER KILLED ■ Israeli military killed another high-ranking Hezbol- lah official in an airstrike as the Lebanese militant group was reeling from a string of devastating blows and killing of top leader Hassan Nasrallah. ■ Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Central Council, was killed on Saturday. Hezbollah confirmed his death, making him the seventh leader to be killed in Israeli strikes in over a week. INSIDE Committed to Congress ideology, Vikramaditya clarifies to Kharge Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 29 Himachal Pradesh minister Vikramaditya Singh met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge here on Saturday and explained to him what prompted his recent remarks mandating eateries in the state to display owners’ details. He also assured him about being Had courted controversy over vendor ID decision steadfast to the party’s ideology and principles. Vikramaditya said his remarks were based on the recommendation of a sevenmember committee set up by the Assembly Speaker to form a street vendors’ policy. Prior to his meeting with Kharge, Vikramaditya on Friday met senior party leaders KC Venugopal and Rajeev Shukla. Earlier, facing a backlash over the remarks, the state government had to issue a clarification, saying no such decision had been taken. continued on page 9 New Delhi, September 29 The Congress on Sunday demanded the resignation of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman after a case was registered against her in connection with the now-scrapped electoral bonds scheme. The opposition party accused Sitharaman of “undermining democracy” and called for a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the controversial scheme through a special investigation team (SIT). The case was filed following a court order in Bengaluru, based on a complaint lodged by Adarsh R Iyer, co-president of the ‘Janaadhikaara Sangharsha Parishath’ (JSP). The complaint alleged that Sitharaman, along with Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials and BJP leaders, orchestrated an extortion racket under the guise of electoral bonds, benefiting to the tune of over Rs 8,000 crore. The FIR has been lodged against Sitharaman, BJP’s Karnataka chief BY Vijayendra and state party leader Nalin Kumar Kateel, among others, under charges of extortion (Section 384), criminal conspiracy (120B) continued on page 9 Karat chosen CPM’s interim coordinator Shubhadeep Choudhury Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 29 Former CPM general secretary Prakash Karat has been named coordinator of the party’s politburo and the central committee as an interim arrangement in the wake of the death of incumbent general secretary Sitaram Yechury earlier this month. The decision was taken at a meeting of the CPM’s central committee here today. A fulltime general secretary of the Sumedha Sharma, Parveen Arora & Ravinder Saini CPM’s Prakash Karat and Manik Sarkar at a meeting in New Delhi. PTI CPM would be elected at the “24th Congress” of the party, scheduled to be held in Madu- rai, Tamil Nadu, next April. The name of MA Baby, politburo member and former Ker- ala Education Minister, is said to be in active consideration for the general secretary’s post. CPM’s West Bengal secretary Md Salim is also in the race. However, those familiar with the working of the CPM say the next general secretary would be from Kerala as the party’s organisational strength is thestrongest in the southern state. In 2021, the CPM had set 75-year age limit for remaining a member of the central committee. continued on page 8 Today’s issue is of 16 pages, including four-page Delhi Tribune. c m y b Gurugram/Karnal/ Mahendragarh, September 29 Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday assured voters in pollbound Haryana that the BJP in its third term in the state would create 5 lakh more jobs, which would be given to the youth solely on merit. He also said the BJP was committed to providing permanent and pensionable jobs to Agniveers. “We will deliver on this,” he asserted. “Don’t hesitate to send your children to the Army. Haryana and the Centre will give pensionable jobs to every single Agniveer. After five years, you will not find even one Agniveer who will be without a pensionable job,” the Home Minister said. Addressing a poll rally in favour of BJP candidate Rao Narbir in Gurugram’s Badshahpur, Shah hit out at the Congress, alleging that during his tenure as CM, Bhupinder Singh Hooda ran a government of agents and property dealers. “Dealers, dalals (middlemen) and damad (son-in-law) used to rule during the Hooda government’s tenure and Home Minister Amit Shah during a rally in Badshahpur on Sunday. PTI corruption was rampant. Several acres of land in Gurugram were destroyed to make Delhi’s damad wealthy. Giving them another chance would bring back that era,” he alleged. “The Congress took the land of farmers for peanuts to give it to its damad. And today, the party is talking about farmers,” Shah said. He said the Congress manifesto was nothing, but a compilation of “false, impractical promises which would fall flat”. “Look at the states where the Congress rules and the plight of people there. Do you want the same for Haryana? They are making false promises. Their supporters laud Pakistan. When they can’t be true to the nation, will they ever be true to Haryana? Rahul is a habitual liar. Don’t trust him,” he alleged. Shah promised a 700-bed hospital, a 100-acre fintech hub and continued on page 8