TheIndian EXPRESS LATE CITY, 16 PAGES, JAIPUR, `5.00 ● THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2018 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA BJP gets invite & 15 days, Cong cries foul, knocks on Supreme Court door ● GEHLOT TARGETS BJP OVER FUEL PRICE RISE POST KARNATAKA ASSEMBLY POLLS ● JHALAWAR GOVT HOSPITAL TO HAVE AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE: RAJE PAGE 3 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE JAIPUR, MAY 16 Swearing-in at 9 am today, Cong hopes to stall or cut the 15-day period JOHNSON TA & MANOJ CG Answer roll call with Jai Hind, MP govt orders schoolkids BENGALURU, NEW DELHI, MAY 16 MILIND GHATWAI BHOPAL, MAY 16 THE MADHYA Pradesh government has issued a circular makingitcompulsoryforschoolchildren to answer roll calls with Jai Hind. The circular was issued Tuesday, more than five months after the government said this would instil patriotism in children. “Different words are used to mark attendance. To instil patriotism among students, it has been decided by the government that Jai Hind should be used while marking attendance in school,” the circular stated. Last November, state School Education Minister Vijay Shah made an announcement to the effect while addressing NCC cadets from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh on NCC Day in Bhopal. According to Shah, the presentpracticeof saying“YesSir,Yes Madam” does not foster patriotism. He said Jai Hind would be madecompulsoryinall1.22lakh government schools and an advisorywouldbeissuedtoprivate schools. He had announced that students of government schools in Satna district would answer roll calls with Jai Hind on an experimental basis and it would later beintroducedinallschoolsif the Chief Minister agreed. The state government has already instructed schools to hoist the Tricolour and sing the national anthem daily. THEEDITORIAL PAGE Accused of siphoning wheat worth Rs 8 cr, IAS officer surrenders UNDECIDED IN KARNATAKA EXPRESS NETWORK 8 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THE LEADER of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka B S Yeddyurappa was on WednesdayinvitedbyGovernor VajubhaiValatoformanewgovernment in the state on account of theBJP’semergenceasthesingle largest party with 104 seats inthe224-memberAssemblyin pollsheldonMay12.Theswearing-in has been scheduled for 9 am on Thursday. The Governor has also given the BJP as many as 15 days to prove its majority in the hung Assembly where the Congress has 78 members, the Janata Dal (Secular) 37 members and there are three others, including a BSP member, allied with the JDS. “I am in receipt of your letter dated 16th May 2018 informing me that you have been elected as the the leader of the BJP legislative party of Karnataka. I am also in receipt of your letter dated 15th May 2018 staking claim to form the government. I invite you to form the government and be sworn in as the BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY B S Yeddyurappa proceeds to meet governor to stake claim to form the government. Reuters chief minister of Karnataka,’’ the Governor said in a letter to Yeddyurappa. “I may also direct you that you would seek a vote of confidence on the floor of the house showing that you command the confidence of the house.Thisprocessshallbecompleted within fifteen days from the date of the assumption your office as the chief minister of Karnataka,’’ the letter states. Minutes after the invitation, the Congress explored legal means to stall the swearing-in. Late tonight, the Congress filed a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEAR ARMY DEPOT Nagrota land: J&K HC asks officials to crack down, file a report ARUN SHARMA JAMMU, MAY 16 THE JAMMU and Kashmir High Court on Wednesday asked senior revenue and police officials to file by May 30 their report regarding compliance of its earlier direction to strictly implement restrictions imposed by state government on construction activity near Army’s ammunition depot in Nagrota. This followed a petition by the Army seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against Mamta Singh, wife of former Deputy CM and now Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Speaker Nirmal Singh, for allegedly violating the court’s order dated May 7 last wherein it had directed authorities to ensure implementationof theAugust2015 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 8 short of stable, BJP looks for horses, Cong and JD(S) try to fence them in JOHNSON T A BENGALURU, MAY 16 THREE-TIME Congress MLA from the Sandur reserved constituency in Bellary, E Tukaram, was driving down to Bengaluru on Wednesday, after his victory in the Karnataka Assembly elections on May 15 when he heard rumours that he was among 12 MLAs to have gone missing whiletheCongresspartytriedto gather its flock of 78 to stake claim to form the next government in alliance with the JD(S). Tukaram eventually arrived at the Congress party’s Bengaluru office in the afternoon. “We were celebrating the election victory when we were asked to come to Bengaluru by the party. We were travelling by road and it took us a while to get herebutrumoursbeganspreading that I was among the MLAs being poached by the BJP,’’ Tukaram said. WiththeKarnatakaelections delivering a gridlock of a verdict by electing 104 MLAs from the BJP, 78 from the Congress, 37 from the JDS, and three others — CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DAYS AFTER her anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the Supreme Court, IAS officer Nirmala Meena, accused of siphoning off Rs 8 crore worth of rations, surrendered before the Anti-CorruptionBureau(ACB)in Jodhpur on Wednesday. Meena was suspended on October 11 last year while she waspostedastheDistrictSupply Officer (DSO) for Jodhpur. As the DSO, she had sought additional wheat for Jodhpur, claiming addition of new BPL families, but sold the wheat, after grinding it into flour, in connivance with private flour mills. Ajay Pal Lamba, Superintendent of Police, ACB Jodhpur, said, “In March 2016, Meena wrote a letter to higher officials asking for additional allotment of 35,000 quintal of wheat for public distribution system,statingthat33,000families have been added in the BPL categoryinJodhpurcity.Though the claim of additional families wasabsolutelywrong.therewas not a single addition of a new family in that category, but she misled the officers and demanded additional allotment,” Lamba said. “Once the allotted wheat was lifted from Food Corporation of India (FCI) NEW DELHI, SRINAGAR, MAY 16 RESPONDING TO Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s call for a unilateral ceasefire, the Centre Wednesday directed “security forces not to launch operations in Jammu & Kashmir during the holy month of Ramzan” and retaliate only “if attacked or if essential to protect the lives of innocent people”. The announcement, made threedaysbeforePrimeMinister NarendraModivisitsSrinagaron PM will be in Srinagar on May 19. Shuaib Masoodi May 19, was welcomed by Mehbooba Mufti who told The Indian Express: “Home Minister Rajnath Singh called me, saying the Centre has decided on a ceasefire during the month of Ramzan. It is very good news. I hope everybody supports this initiative.” Hoping for a positive response from Pakistan, Mufti said: “I personally thank our PrimeMinisterModijiandHome Minister Rajnathji. They showed personalinterestinit(ceasefire). I also thank the political parties and leaders who participated in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SEEMA CHISHTI NEW DELHI, MAY 16 THE MUCH-AWAITED meeting of the five most senior judges who constitute the Supreme Court Collegium which was expected to act after its reiteration of Justice K M Joseph’s name ended with the decision being deferred for the third time. The meeting, which began at 4.15 pm lasted nearly two hours, thelongestanyCollegiummeet- BY FIRDOUS TAK ● PAGE ONE ANCHOR IN ICC LIST OF ITS WEAKNESS: THE OVER-RELIANCE ON INDIAN MONEY ICC, BCCI officials will meet in New Delhi Thursday to discuss the future of the game. Express file MUMBAI, MAY 16 THE OVER-RELIANCE on Indian money has been listed as a weakness in a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis done by the InternationalCricketCouncilasit plans to take the game to uncharted markets and achieve financial sustainability for all member countries. The strategy document also mentions the need to enlist the servicesof globalinfluencersand cricket fans like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Delhi responds to Srinagar’s call by Once again, SC announcing ceasefire for Ramzan Collegium stalls on RAHUL TRIPATHI & Justice Joseph’s name BASHAARAT MASOOD Time to seize the chance, cease fire SRIRAM VEERA godowns, it wasn’t sent to the Fair Price Shops (FPS) but to private flour mills where it was ground into flour and sold in the market,” Lamba said. During questioning by ACB on Wednesday, Meena claimed that “senior officers had asked hertosendrevisedlettersforthe demand and it was on their suggestionsthatsheacted,”promptingtheACBtoinitiateprobeinto the role of some other officers. During her career, Meena was posted as the DSO, Jodhpur, at least five times, with the first time being in the year 1999. A Rajasthan Administrative Services (RAS) officer, she was promotedasanIASofficerinJuly last year, three months before her suspension. As per the ACB, the present market of Meena’s assets is aboutRs10crore.“Shehasmore than 15 immovable properties in different cities, (including) four houses in Jaipur and Jodhpur and around 30 bigha benami land,” Lamba said. Meena and her immediate family also have 18 accounts which are being investigated. Meena is the second person tobearrestedinthecase.Earlier, the ACB had arrested Swaroop Singh, a flour mill owner who had confessed that 10,000 quintal wheat was milled at his mill. Two others wanted in the case are currently absconding. Priyanka Chopra, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai and Indra Nooyi who was recently made the first female independent director of ICC. Usain Bolt, Russell Crowe and Chris Martin are the nonIndian celebrity influencers that ICC seeks to make use of. The ICC is set to meet BCCI office-bearers and Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators in Delhi Thursday where the future of the game will be discussed. And once all member countries are on board, various programmes to promote the game and ways to engage, broaden and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Jaipur ing has lasted this year. It was attended by all five members of the Collegium, CJI Dipak Misra and Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph. The meeting failed to reiterate Justice K M Joseph’s name despite having pre-arranged to meet to do precisely that last week, apart from suggesting other names for the Supreme Court.Theapexcourtiscurrently functioning with just 25 judges, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2