FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 12 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | MUMBAI | BHUBANESWAR | LUCKNOW | SILIGURI | Friday, 29 May 2026 SPORTS INDIA Layered narrative TN CM Vijay returns from Delhi after meeting PM, FM Page 6 Page 8 EDITORIAL BRIEFLY CBI arrests Giribala Singh in Twisha Sharma death case: Bhopal: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday took Giribala Singh into custody in connection with the alleged suicide of her daughter-in-law, Twisha Sharma. The CBI action followed the cancellation of her anticipatory bail by the Madhya Pradesh High Court. A CBI team reached former district judge Giribala Singh’s residence at around 10.30 a.m. and questioned her for over five hours before formally arresting her. The arrest came a day after the court cancelled her anticipatory bail. Twisha Sharma was found dead at her matrimonial home on 12 May, five months after her marriage to Singh’s son, Samarth Singh, on 9 December 2025. Following her unnatural death, her family levelled serious allegations against her in-laws, claiming she had been subjected to persistent mental torture and harassment linked to dowry demands. Page 5 WORLD US strikes Iranian drone site, IRGC hits back Page 9 Page 12 Siddaramaiah resigns as K’taka CM, paving way for Shivakumar SHAHID K ABBAS Bengaluru/New Delhi, 28 May V eteran Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Thursday resigned as the Chief Minister of Karnataka, bringing to an end a politically significant second stint in office and triggering a carefully choreographed leadership transition that will see Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar take over the state’s top post. The 78-year-old Siddaramaiah submitted his resignation at Lok Bhavan in Bengaluru, where Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot’s Special Secretary, Prabhu Shankar, received the letter in the Governor’s absence. Mr Gehlot is currently in his native place, Indore, for personal reasons and is expected to return to Bengaluru later in the evening. Accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and senior Cabinet colleagues, Mr Siddaramaiah arrived at Lok Bhavan shortly after an emotional breakfast meeting at his official residence, “Kaveri,” where he informed ministers of his decision to step down in accordance with the Congress high command’s direction. Speaking to reporters after tendering his resignation, Mr Siddaramaiah thanked Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge for entrusting him with the responsibility of leading Karnataka twice. “I am grateful to Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge for giving me the opportunity to serve the people of Karnataka as Chief Minister for two terms,” Mr Siddaramaiah said. “I have always honoured the decisions of the party high command.” The outgoing Chief Minister said he had submitted his resignation to the Governor’s private secretary because the Governor was away from Bengaluru. He reiterated that his decision was in keeping with a commitment made within the Congress leadership Spotlight on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi as Royals face Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 over a rotational power-sharing arrangement following the party’s emphatic victory in the 2023 Assembly elections. The transition marks the culmination of months of speculation and intense political negotiations within the Karnataka Congress, where competing factions led by Mr Siddaramaiah and Mr Shivakumar have long vied for influence. At Thursday morning’s cabinet breakfast meeting, Mr Siddaramaiah reportedly informed ministers that Mr Shivakumar had been chosen as his successor by the Congress leadership. Photographs released by the Chief Minister’s Office showed Mr Shivakumar touching Mr Siddaramaiah’s feet to seek his blessings. Despite the political rivalry that has periodically surfaced between their camps, Mr Siddaramaiah assured Cabinet colleagues that he would fully support the incoming leadership. PM Modi urges states to cooperate to resolve inter-state water issues STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 28 May Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stressed that the Ken-Betwa River inter-linking project should serve as a model for other states to resolve inter-state water issues amicably. The Prime Minister also asked states to expedite the completion of solid waste management-related infrastructure, including waste processing plants and GOBARdhan plants. The Prime Minister was speaking at the 51st meeting of PRAGATI, the ICT-enabled, multi-modal platform aimed at fostering Pro -Active Governance and Timely Implementation, by seamlessly integrating efforts of the Central and State governments, at Seva Teerth on Wednesday. “During yesterday’s PRAGATI session, projects worth over Rs 30,000 crore were reviewed. The works covered sectors like railways, power and road connectivity. Aspects relating to ports, Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 and other social sector schemes were also discussed,” the Prime Minister said in a post on X on Thursday. During the meeting, the Prime Minister reviewed seven critical infrastructure projects across the Railways, Power and Road sectors covering nine states worth around Rs 30,000 crore. These projects, pivotal to economic growth and public welfare, were reviewed with a focus on timelines, interagency coordination, and timely issue resolution. Prime Minister also reviewed Ken Betwa Link Project and Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0. While reviewing power sector projects, the Prime Minister emphasised the need to accelerate rooftop solar adoption across urban areas, with a special focus on cities, residential clusters and public institutions. According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), during the meeting, PM Modi underlined that rooftop solar should be taken up in mission mode to reduce electricity costs, improve energy security and promote clean energy at the household and community level. India, China satisfied over progress in maintaining peace in border areas Pradhan owns up to CBSE OSM glitches, promises strict action STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 28 May As part of the normalisation process, India and China held the 35th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on IndiaChina Border Affairs (WMCC) in Beijing on Wednesday. The Indian delegation was led by Sujit Ghosh, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the Ministry of External Affairs and the Chinese delegation was led by Hou Yanqi, Director General of the Boundary & Oceanic Affairs Department in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “The discussions were constructive and forward looking. The two sides reviewed the situation in the IndiaChina border areas. They expressed satisfaction with the progress made in maintaining peace and tranquility in the border areas, which has enabled progress toward gradual normalisation of bilateral relations,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Thursday. The two sides discussed issues pertaining to delimitation, border management, mechanism building and cross-border cooperation. The Indian side stressed an early meeting of the next Expert Level Mechanism on Trans- border Rivers. They agreed to maintain regular exchanges and contacts at the diplomatic and military levels through mechanisms including those agreed upon as part of the outcomes of the 24th Special Representatives (SR) Talks. The two sides agreed to work together to make substantive preparations for the next meeting of the SRs to be held in China. During the visit, the Indian delegation leader also met Liu Jinsong, DG of the Department of Asian Affairs in the Chinese Foreign Ministry and made a courtesy call on Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hong Lei. New Delhi, 28 May Prayer Congregation Devotees offer prayers on the occasion of Eid-al-Adha (Bakri Id) at Jama Masjid in New Delhi on Thursday. SUBRATA DUTTA Delhi plans mega network of expressways, tunnels and elevated corridors to ease congestion PARWINDER SANDHU New Delhi, 28 May The Delhi government and the Centre are jointly working on an ambitious series of road infrastructure and connectivity projects, including new expressways, tunnels, elevated corridors and service roads, aimed at transforming mobility and reducing traffic congestion across the National Capital Region (NCR), Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Thursday. The announcement follows a recent meeting between Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, during which several major infrastructure proposals for Delhi-NCR were reviewed. According to the Chief Minister’s Office, the projects are being undertaken under the Centre-State “double-engine government” framework with the objective of creating a modern, future-ready and congestion-free transport network. “Making Delhi world-class and congestion-free is our goal,” Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said, adding that the projects have been planned keeping future traffic demands in mind. One of the key proposals includes a 17-km-long, six-lane corridor under the Urban Extension Road-II (UER-II) Extension DelhiDehradun Expressway Link Project. The corridor, estimated to cost around Rs 3,500 crore, will connect the DelhiDehradun Expressway near Tronica City with UER-II. The project is expected to reduce traffic pressure on critical stretches including IGI Airport routes, Barapullah corridor, Mukarba Chowk, Singhu Border and the Ashram-Badarpur section. It will also provide direct access to the Dehradun Expressway from Dwarka, Rohini, Punjabi Bagh and Gurugram. Officials said the alignment is currently being finalised and construction is expected to commence by December 2026. Another major proposal involves a 65-km-long, six-lane Noida-Faridabad Connectivity Corridor linked to the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway. The project is estimated to cost Rs 7,500 crore. The corridor will connect the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, Delhi-Meerut Expressway, DND, Faridabad and the Yamuna Expressway, improving regional connectivity for Loni, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Noida and Faridabad. The project is also expected to decongest Kalindi Kunj, Sarai Kale Khan and the Outer Ring Road while providing an alternative route for freight and inter-city traffic. Construction is targeted to begin by December 2026. The government has also proposed a 17-km, six-lane connectivity corridor linking the Delhi-AmritsarKatra Expressway with UER-II at an estimated cost of Rs 1,500 crore. Under the plan, vehicles travelling on the Delhi-Katra corridor will get direct connectivity to Delhi, Gurugram and IGI Airport through UER-II and the Dwarka Expressway. The project is expected to improve freight movement and facilitate diversion of heavy traffic away from congested urban stretches. Construction is proposed to begin by March 2027. To strengthen connectivity in outer Delhi, the government also plans to develop secondary service roads along the existing UER-II corridor. The project, estimated to cost Rs 6,500 crore, will span around 26 km and include service roads on both sides of the corridor. Approval has already been granted for a 19-km, two-lane secondary service road project costing Rs 121 crore. According to the government, the development will improve local access for residents and businesses, reduce congestion on the main carriageway and support industrial and logistics activity in areas such as Mundka. Additionally, the proposed Shiv Murti-Nelson Mandela Marg Tunnel Project is expected to • Turn to Page 2 Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday accepted responsibility for the concerns surrounding the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) newly introduced On-Screen Marking (OSM) evaluation system and assured students that all complaints linked to discrepancies in marks verification and re-evaluation would be addressed promptly. Mr Pradhan chaired a high-level review meeting at the CBSE headquarters with senior board officials to examine the technical glitches and payment-related difficulties faced by students during the re-evaluation process for Class 12 examinations. Addressing the media after the meeting, the minister said the scale of the examination process was enormous and highlighted the challenges involved in implementing the digital evaluation system for the first time. “This is the first time CBSE adopted the On-Screen Marking system and some discrepancies have been noticed. I take full responsibility for the issues and assure students that corrective measures are being taken. No grievance will go unheard,” the minister said.