30092024-TTC-01.qxd 9/30/2024 12:34 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 144 NO. 271 | 12 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 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 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 Vows rail projects in Haryana, employment to 5L youth Sumedha Sharma, Parveen Arora & Ravinder Saini Tribune News Service Jammu, September 29 Campaigning for the highstakes third and final phase of the J&K Assembly elections ended 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, a 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 FATE OF LONE, LAL SINGH ON LINE ■ Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge was taken ■ The final phase election will decide the fate of 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 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 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 Pak ultra shot dead in Kathua encounter Our Correspondent Jammu, September 29 A terrorist, believed to be a Pakistani national, was killed during an encounter with security forces in Billawar area of Kathua, just two days before the district participates in the final phase of the Assembly elections. J&K Police Head Constable Bashir Ahmed was killed in the same encounter on Saturday in the initial exchange of firing between security forces and terrorists. The police said three-four foreign terrorists were suspected to be hiding in a house in Kog village in Billawar, following which an operation was launched on Saturday morning. Two other policemen, including DSP (Operations) Sukhbir and Assistant SubInspector Niaz Ahmed, were injured. Both were airlifted to Jammu for further treatment and their condition is stated to be stable. “J&K Police Head Constable Bashir Ahmed has made the supreme sacrifice. He fired at the terrorist and received mortal wounds in exchange of fire,” an official said. The body of the terrorist rid- 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 GUNFIGHT IN RAJOURI A man stands near the site where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut. AP/PTI ANOTHER HEZBOLLAH COMMANDER ELIMINATED BY ISRAELI FORCES ■ Israeli military killed another high-ranking Hezbollah official in an airstrike as the Lebanese militant group was reeling from the killing of top leader Hassan Nasrallah. ■ Nabil Kaouk, deputy head of Hezbollah’s Central Council, was killed on Saturday. Hezbollah confirmed his death, making him seventh leader to be killed in over a week. ■ The Lebanese militant group had earlier confirmed that Ali Karaki, another senior commander, died in Friday’s strike that killed Hassan Nasrallah. INSIDE Will stick to Cong line: Vikramaditya to Kharge Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 29 Himachal Pradesh minister Vikramaditya Singh met Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge here on Saturday and explained to him what prompted his recent remarks Had courted controversy with vendor ID remarks mandating eateries in the state to display owners’ details. He also assured him of being steadfast to the par- ty’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, Back at helm, Prakash Karat chosen CPM interim coordinator till April poll 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, which met on Friday and Saturday. A full- time general secretary of the CPM would be elected at the “24th Congress” of the party, scheduled to be held in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, next April. The CPM congress is held every three years to elect the central committee and to decide the party line. The name of MA Baby, politburo member and former Kerala 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 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 Congress pushes for FM’s ouster over electoral bond FIR A fresh encounter broke out in the Thanamandi area of Rajouri district on Sunday evening when security forces launched a cordon and search operation after getting information about the presence of two terrorists, officials said. dled with bullets was recovered on Sunday morning by a joint team of the Army and the J&K Police’s Special Operations Group. The search operation for the remaining terrorists, believed to be armed with sophisticated weapons and night vision devices, continues. The group is believed to be active in the region for the past few months. Additional Director General of Police Anand Jain along with Deputy Inspector General Shiv Kumar Sharma was overseeing the operation on the spot, said an official. Jain said the security forces received information about the presence of militants after which the operation was launched. DGP RR Swain paid tributes to the martyred policeman, saying, “Bashir did not fear death when it came to protecting hiscountry”. Home Minister Amit Shah during a rally in Badshahpur on Sunday. PTI CPM’s Prakash Karat and Manik Sarkar at a meeting in New Delhi. PTI 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 the strongest in the southern state. In 2021, the CPM had set 75-year age limit for remaining a member of the central committee. This makes Karat ineligible for the general secretary’s post for a fresh term. Brinda Karat, Suhasini Ali, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Tamil Nadu leader G Ramkrishnan, former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and West Bengal leader Suryakanta Misra, too, will have to be dropped from the central committee c m y b and cannot be considered for the general secretary’s post, if the CPM sticks to the 75-year age cap. Prakash Karat remained the general secretary from 2005 to 2015. The period saw the expulsion of former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee from the party, withdrawal of support to the UPA-2 government over the nuclear deal and electoral defeat of the CPM-led Left Front government in West Bengal after over three decades in power. The immediate job Karat has in hand is the Assembly elections in four states. While polling for the elections in Haryana and the last phase of Jammu and Kashmir are going to be held within a week, those in Jharkhand and Maharashtra are slated to be held later this year. With the CPM being a member of the opposition INDIA bloc, Karat’s ability to work as a team member will be tested in these elections. among others, under charges of extortion (Section 384), criminal conspiracy (120B) and common intention (34) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Addressing the media, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Abhishek Singhvi condemned the alleged involvement of the Finance Minister. Ramesh said the Finance Minister should immediately resign on moral grounds. The Congress also reiterated its call for an investigation into the electoral bonds scheme, which was struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this year. “The Finance Minister cannot do this on her own. We know who is number 1 and number 2 and this was done on whose directions,” Singhvi said. — TNS Punjab & Haryana HC faces crisis with 31-judge shortage CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court is on the brink of a crisis with the retirement of a judge this week and no new appointments since November last year. The court is already grappling with a shortage of 31 judges. It is operating with 54 judges against a sanctioned strength of 85. The shortfall has led to a backlog of over 4.33 lakh cases, including 1.6 lakh criminal matters. INSIDE