THURSDAY 29 MAY 2025 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00| LC X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 SINCE 1818 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR KARNATAKA SEETHES OVER HAASAN’S REMARKS ON KANNADA, SEEKS APOLOGY GOGOI’S 2013 PAKISTAN VISIT TRIGGERS ROW IN ASSAM P8 SENSEX 81,312.32 q239.31 WEATHER LIGHT RAIN/THUNDERSTORM/LIGHTNING AND GUSTY WINDS TEMPORARILY REACHING TO 60 KMPH DURING THUNDERSTORM TOWARDS EVENING/NIGHT. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 39 AND 28 DEGREES CELSIUS, RESPECTIVELY. TRUMP SAYS PUTIN IS ‘PLAYING WITH FIRE’ P4 NIFTY 24,752.45 q73.75 ` vs $ 85.38 P9 GOLD `98,710 ASIAN ATHLETICS C'SHIPS: INDIA WIN GOLD IN 4X400M MIXED RELAY SILVER `1,00,000 P12 BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 64.44 Cong labels Shashi Tharoor ‘super spokesperson of BJP’ BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla defends Tharoor, accuses Cong of hypocrisy RAINFALL: 000.0 Mm RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 85 % % Min. 48 TEMPERATURE Max: 38.6°C (-1.8) SUN RISES 05:25 hrs MOON RISES 08:16 hrs Min: 27.7 °C (+1.1) SUN SETS 19:13 hrs MOON SETS 21:58 hrs THUMBNAILS Manipur NDA MLAs stake claim to form govt STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE IMPHAL, 28 MAY ASHOK TUTEJA NEW DELHI, 28 MAY An artist gives finishing touches to a wall painting of Lokmata Devi Ahilyabai Holkar, as a part of her 300th birth anniversary celebration in Bhopal on Wednesday. nANI India to hold mock drills today in states bordering Pakistan: Amid the ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan, mock drills will be conducted on Thursday in the border states of Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat and Punjab, officials said on Wednesday. These drills in the states bordering Pakistan will be held following directives from the Union government, as these areas came under heavy attack from across the border during the recent conflict between the two nations. (P5) T he Congress is clearly miffed with senior party MP Shashi Tharoor over the statements he is making in support of the Narendra Modi government post ''Operation Sindoor''. Tharoor, who is currently not in the good books of the party's top leadership, praised India's strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in Panama, saying the BJP government conducted the first cross-border surgical strike. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera was quick to repudiate. He posted an old interview of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in which the latter said many surgical strikes were conducted under the UPA regime, but they were never publicised. The Congress spokesperson also posted along with his tweet an interview given by the former PM in this regard. Tharoor is leading a multiparty delegation to five countries as part of India's global antiterrorism outreach under ''Operation Sindoor''. The former Union minister was not among the Congress members whose names were sent by the party to the government for inclusion in multi-party delegations sent to different countries to expose Pakistan for its continued support to cross-border terrorism. However, the government ignored the party's list and named Tharoor as the leader of one of the delegations, which is visiting the US and some other important nations. Tharoor also highlighted India's strong yet measured and calibrated response to the dastardly Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed, during a statement he made in New York on Saturday. The top leadership is upset as there is a sense within the Congress that Tharoor is taking an entirely different position on the Modi government from that of the party post ''Operation Sindoor''. Tharoor also earned the ire of senior Congress leader Udit Raj (photo right) who called him a "super BJP spokesperson" for praising the Modi government. He claimed that the MP from Thiruvananthapuram is doing a better job of praising the PM than any BJP member. CPI MP seeks all-party support to initiate impeachment motion against Justice Varma NEW DELHI, 28 MAY responsibility to safeguard the credibility of India’s judiciary. The letter underscores the need for Parliament to act decisively in light of such serious allegations, invoking the provisions of Article 124 and Article 218 of the Constitution of India to initiate impeachment proceedings. The CPI MP emphasized that the legislature cannot N Chandrasekaran step downs as Tata Chemicals chairman AGENCIES MUMBAI, 28 MAY Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran will resign as Director and Chairman of Tata Chemicals, effective May 29, the company informed the stock exchanges on Wednesday. The Board accepted his resignation and appointed S Padmanabhan, a current Director, as the new Chairman, effective from May 30. Additionally, Modan Saha has been appointed as an Additional Director, effective May 28. “I am writing to formally inform you of my decision to step down from my posi- tion as a director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tata Chemicals Limited w.e.f. May 29, 2025,” Chandrasekaran wrote in his letter to the Board. “After careful evaluation my current and future commitments, I have decided to step down from the Board. It has been a privilege to chair the Tata Chemicals board and I sincerely appreciate the support and collaboration during my tenure,” he further added. Chandrasekaran led Tata Chemicals as Chairman during a period of strategic transition and realignment within the Tata Group. be a silent spectator when such grave questions of judicial propriety and public accountability are raised. Beyond the immediate case, Mr Sandosh Kumar called for a “nationwide political dialogue on making the judiciary more accountable, inclusive, and socially representative.” He highlighted that the judiciary remains opaque in its appointments and largely unrepresentative in terms of caste, gender, and regional diversity. "Our courts must reflect the plural character of Indian society. Accountability mechanisms for the higher judiciary are long overdue. What we are facing today is not an isolated case of alleged corruption—it is a systemic failure that demands both institutional reform and democratic will," said Mr Sandosh Kumar. A press release from the CPI Parliamentary Party said the party has consistently championed democratic accountability across institutions and reiterates its demands for the establishment of a constitutionally independent mechanism to oversee judicial conduct and integrity. In a major development in trouble torn Manipur where Presdient’s rule is in force, a 10-member delegation of legislators of Manipur including eight from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), one from the National People’s Party (NPP), and one Independent—called on Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla at the Raj Bhavan in Imphal on May 28 to formally stake claim to form the government. The delegation was led by Independent MLA Sapam Nishikanta Singh, who submitted a memorandum bearing signatures of 22 MLAs supporting the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state. Cong slams Uddhav Sena leader for threatening to blacken Rahul’s face STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE CPI MP and Leader of the party in Rajya Sabha, P Sandosh Kumar (photo left) has written to presidents of all political parties, demanding their support in initiating impeachment proceedings against Justice Yashwant Varma of the Allahabad High Court, who has been indicted by a Supreme Court-appointed probe panel after the recovery of burnt cash from his residence in Delhi. In the letter, he stated, "If proven true, these allegations are not only a gross betrayal of public trust but also a serious affront to the integrity of our judicial institutions." He urged all political parties to rise above partisanship and take constitutional In a post on X, Mr Udit Raj said, ''My dear @ShashiTharoor Alas! I could prevail upon PM Modi to declare you as the super spokesperson of BJP, even declaring as foreign minister before landing in India. How could you denigrate the golden history of Congress by saying that before PM Modi, India never crossed LoC and International border?'' BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla came to the defence of Tharoor and accused the Congress of hypocrisy. ''For Congress, anyone who puts India first, Desh Hit above Dal Hit and Parivar Hit, Is persona non grata. Now, Udit Raj, on instructions of Rahul Gandhi, is abusing Shashi Tharoor as Shashi busted Rahul’s lies on mediation & busted Pak narrative. Shameful,'' he said. MUMBAI, 28 MAY Maharashtra Congress state president Harshvardhan Sapkal, along with other party leaders, criticised a statement made by an Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena leader from Nashik, Bala Darade, that Rahul Gandhi's face would be blackened for "insulting" the late Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, when Rahul visits Nashik. Speaking on the sidelines of an event organized to mark Savarkar’s birth anniversary on Wednesday, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena's Nashik city unit chief said, “Rahul Gandhi used abusive language against Savarkar, and a case was filed against him in Nashik. We will not tolerate Savarkar’s insult. Rahul Gandhi will soon need to visit Nashik to appear before the court in this case. When he comes, we will blacken Rahul Gandhi’s face. If we can’t reach there, we will throw stones at him.” “We are very proud that we live in the birthplace of Savarkar. We express our protest against Rahul Gandhi for using some abusive words against Savarkar. Our party chief, Uddhav Thackeray, and Thackeray group leader Sanjay Raut have reprimanded Rahul Gandhi in their style. If he uses abusive words about Savarkar, we will teach him a lesson even though we are in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA),” Bala Darade added. However, party’s spokesperson Sushma Andhare distanced her party from Darade’s statement against Rahul Gandhi and told media persons that his views were his personal at best and is not the official stand of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena. However, Maharashtra Congress President Harshwardhan Sapkal said: “Rahul Gandhi never used any abusive words against Savarkar but only quoted some historic facts. We will not tolerate such threats to Rahul Gandhi.” Development agenda: PM’s two-day visit to Sikkim, WB, Bihar & UP STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 28 MAY Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday said that “over the next two days, (he) will be attending programmes in Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.” “The development works that will commence over the next two days will bring innumerable benefits for people and strengthen our resolve to build a Viksit Bharat,” he said in a post on his social media handle X. During his two-day tight schedule the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone and inaugurate multiple development projects worth around Rs 48,520 crore in Karakat, Bihar and Rs 20,900 crore at Kanpur Nagar, Uttar Pradesh. The Prime Minister, who will first visit Sikkim on Thursday, will participate in the “Sikkim@50: Where Progress meets purpose and nature nurtures growth” programme at around 1100 IST. “At around 11 AM tomorrow, 29th May, I look forward to being among my sisters and brothers of Sikkim to participate in a programme to mark Sikkim@50. India is very proud of the contribution of Sikkim towards national progress. The unique culture of Sikkim is also widely admired,” the Prime Minister said. He will also lay the foun- dation stone and inaugurate multiple development projects in Sikkim and address the gathering on the occasion. He will also release the Commemorative coin, souvenir coin and stamp of 50 years of Statehood of Sikkim. The Government of Sikkim has planned a year-long series of activities under the theme “Sunaulo, Samriddha and Samarth Sikkim," celebrating the essence of Sikkim’s cultural richness, tradition, natural splendour and its history. Later in the day, the Prime Minister will visit West Bengal where he will lay the foundation stone of the City Gas Distribution project in Alipurduar and Cooch Behar districts in Alipurduar at around 1415 IST. “It is always a delight to be among the people of West Bengal. At a programme in Alipurduar in the afternoon tomorrow, 29th May, the foundation stone for City Gas Distribution project in Alipurduar and Cooch Behar districts will be laid. This will benefit several households, improve the environment and provide job opportunities for people,” said the Prime Minister.Further, the Prime Minister will visit Bihar and inaugurate the new terminal building of Patna Airport at around 1745 IST. “Tomorrow, 29th May is a landmark day for the people of Bihar and Patna in particular. This great city will get a new passenger terminal which can handle bigger volumes of traffic,” said the Prime Minister asserting: “The people of Bihar have been waiting for this for many years. The foundation stone for a new civil enclave of Bihta Airport will also be laid. These initiatives will lead to better connectivity and will boost commerce.” On Friday, at around 1100 IST, he will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects including the one in Karakat, Bihar worth over Rs 48,520 crore. He will also address a public function at Karakat. Thereafter, the Prime Minister will visit Uttar Pradesh where he will lay the foundation stone and inaugurate multiple development projects worth around Rs 20,900 crore at Kanpur Nagar at around 1445 IST. He will also address a public function. Speaking to the local media after the meeting, Singh emphasized the urgency of installing a popular government to replace the ongoing President’s Rule. “We are united in our resolve. All NDA MLAs in Manipur are keen to see a democratically elected government return to power. We have placed our appeal before the Governor and hope that the formation of a popular government will happen soon,” Singh stated. The move comes nearly a year after ethnic violence erupted in Manipur in May 2023, leading to widespread law and order breakdown and eventually the imposition of President’s Rule in early 2024. Lokpal clears former SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch in alleged market fraud case STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 28 MAY In a reprieve for former SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, the Lokpal has dismissed complaints of conflict of interest and improper financial gain based on a report by the now-defunct Hindenburg Research. The Lokpal, chaired by retired Supreme Court judge Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, ruled that there was no prima facie evidence to support the allegations. The anti-corruption watchdog described the claims as baseless, unsubstantiated, and lacking credible evidence. Following the emergence of the allegations in August 2024, then-Chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Buch, and her husband Dhaval Buch, firmly denied the accusations, labelling them a "character assassination attempt” in retaliation for enforcement action and a show cause notice issued to the Nate Anderson-led firm the previous month. In a joint statement, the couple said: “In response to the allegations made in the Hindenburg Report dated 10 August 2024, we categorically deny the baseless accusations and insinuations contained within it. “These are entirely untrue. Our lives and finances are transparent. We have consistently made all required disclosures to SEBI over the years. We are fully prepared to provide any financial documentation, including those about periods when we were private citizens, to any authority that requests them,” the statement continued.