DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 2024, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 CASE OF ‘GRAVE MISUSE OF POWER’ HC rejects Sisodia’s bail pleas: Evidence tampering possibility BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Pointstofinding onhowintegrity of theprocessof decisionmaking wascompromised DECISION 2024 ● ‘If enthusiasm in BJP cadres low, it is because no Opp before us’ MALAVIKA PRASAD NEW DELHI, MAY 21 THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW STATE MOURNING FOR IRAN’S RAISI The Tricolour flies at half-mast at Rashtrapati Bhavan during the one-day state mourning in India on Tuesday as a mark of respect for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi who was killed in a helicopter crash. Anil Sharma DY CM, UTTAR PRADESH ● Had Ambedkar not been there, Nehru wouldn’t have allowed SC/ST quota: PM ● Kharge takes swipe at Modi, calls him ‘Jhoothon ka sardar’ PAGES 3, 5, 6 INSIDE KERALA HC QUASHES GOVERNOR’S NOMINATIONS TO UNIVERSITY SENATE CBI ARRESTS TWO OF ITS OFFICERS WHO ‘TOOK BRIBES’ PAGE 4 EC censures Gangopadhyay, bars him from campaign for 24 hrs over Mamata remarks SANTANU CHOWDHURY Convinced that it was a low-level personal attack: EC KOLKATA, MAY 21 THE ELECTION Commission Tuesday censured former Calcutta High Court judge and BJP Abhijit candidate Gangopadhyay for making derogatoryremarksagainstWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and barred him from campaigning for 24 hours. The poll panel also asked BJP president J P Nadda to issue an advisory to all candidates and campaigners to make sure that this lapse does not recur during the campaign period. Barring Gangopadhyay from campaigning for 24 hours from Tuesday5pm,thepollpanelsaid it was of the view that his comments violated the Model Code of Conduct. The described EC Gangopadhyay’s remark as a “low-level personal attack”, and warnedGangopadhyaytoremain careful in his public utterances during the campaign period. The EC decision came a day after Gangopadhyay, the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Tamluk,senthis replytoashowcause notice issued by the poll panel for his “undignified” remarks against Banerjee at a rally in Haldia on May 15. Inhisaddress,Gangopadhyay hadreferredtotheSandeshkhali sexual abuse allegations and said: “Today, the Trinamool says everything is a lie. Rekha Patra (one of the protesters and BJP’s Basirhat candidate) was bought for Rs 2,000. Mamata Banerjee, how much are you being sold for? One gives you Rs 8 lakh and gets a job, one gives you Rs 10 lakh and ration vanishes... Why CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E E X P L A I NE D KESHAV PRASAD MAURYA What the ● MCC says ACCORDING TO the Model Code of Conduct, political parties and candidates should not criticise aspects of private lives of opponents; should not make unverified allegations; and should not make statements that may be malicious or offending decency and morality. OBSERVING THAT he is “an influential person within the powercorridorsof Delhigovernment” and the “possibility of tampering with evidence” cannot be ruled out if he is released on bail, the Delhi High Court TuesdayrejectedAAPleaderand former Deputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia’sapplicationsfor bail in the Delhi excise policy cases being investigated by the ED and CBI. Sisodiaispresentlyinjudicial custody following his arrest by the CBI in February 2023 and by the ED the next month. The single-judge bench of JusticeSwaranaKantaSharma–a detailed copy of the judgment is awaited – said, “Case at hand involvesgravemisuseofpowerand breach of public trust by the applicant(Sisodia)whowasserving asDeputyChief Ministerof Delhi at the relevant point of time.” “As a minister having 18 portfolios, including the departmentof excise,theapplicantwas entrusted with formulation of liquorpolicyfortheGovernment of NCT of Delhi. However, the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a video address. PTI Are you calling our voters Pakistanis, you won’t be PM: Kejriwal targets Shah EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, MAY 21 A DAY after HomeMinister Amit Shah said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi have more supporters in Pakistan than in India, Kejriwal asked him if he was calling the people of Delhi and Punjab, who elected AAP governments, Pakistanis. In a video address, Kejriwal said Shah had become “so arrogant”. “You have not become the Prime Minister yet, and neither will you (be)… don’t insult the people,” he said. Kejriwal also expressed con- fidencethattheINDIAblocwould win over 300 seats and form a “clean and steady” government. “If Indiaistobesaved,INDIAbloc has to win; if India is to grow, INDIA bloc has to win,” he said. Addressing a rally in the Capital on Monday, Shah had said: “Kejriwal aur Rahul (Gandhi) baba do log aise hain jinko Bharat main koi samarthan nahi karta, unke samarthak Pakistan main zyada hain (KejriwalandRahulbabaaretwo people who nobody supports in India; they have more supporters in Pakistan).” Responding to this, Kejriwal said: “In his speech, he (Shah) CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 No error: SC rejects Pune crash: Realtor father of teen driving SEXUAL HARASSMENT CASE pleas to review its Porsche held for letting him drink, drive Delhi court frames charges: Brij Bhushan restaurants Article 370 verdict Twoserved liquor that actions show unity to minor, friends EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, MAY 21 THE SUPREME Court has dismissed petitions seeking review of its December 2023 judgment upholding the government’s August 2019 decision to end the special status of the then State of JammuandKashmirbyabrogatingArticle370oftheConstitution. “Having perused the review petitions,thereisnoerrorapparent on the face of the record. No caseforreviewunderOrderXLVII Rule1oftheSupremeCourtRules 2013. The review petitions are, therefore,dismissed,”afive-judge bench, presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, said. The bench also comprised JusticesSanjivKhanna,BRGavai, Surya Kant and A S Bopanna. Thepetitionsweredismissed on May 1 and the copy of the order was uploaded Tuesday on the court’s official webpage. In itslandmarkDecember11, 2023 ruling, a Constitution Bench had unanimously put its stamp of approval on the Modi government’s August 2019 decision to end J&K’s special status by abrogating Article 370. The then five-judge bench comprised CJI Chandrachud and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai and Surya Kant. Justice Kaul retired on December 25, 2023 following which a reconstituted bench that included Justice Bopanna decided the review petitions. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD 1 DEAD AS SINGAPORE AIRLINES FLIGHT HITS TURBULENCE TAINTED BLOOD SCANDAL: SUNAK APOLOGISES PAGE 10 rested the minor's father, a prominent realtor in Pune. He has been booked under sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Actforallegedlyallowinghisminor son to drive as well as consume liquor. The police have also invoked provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act for allowing a minor to drive without licence. The police also arrested four more persons linked to two restaurants for serving liquor to the minor and his friends, hours before the crash early Sunday. The district authorities have sealed, four held EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE PUNE, MAY 21 TWO DAYS after a speeding Porsche being driven by an allegedly inebriated 17-year-old boy knocked down a motorcycle, killing two young software engineers, police Tuesday ar- The Porsche car involved in the crash. File CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 As Meena drops another bombshell, why the BJP leader is on the warpath against own govt PARUL KULSHRESTHA JAIPUR, MAY 21 INTHEfiveyearsthattheBJPwas out of power in Rajasthan, starting in 2018, Kirodi Lal Meena filled a vacuum in the state unit asheemergedasthefaceofstreet protests against the Ashok Gehlot-ledCongressgovernment despite not holding any official positionintheparty.Now,astate Cabinet minister, Meena, has trained his guns on his own governmentoverallegedcorruption, sendingripplesthroughtheparty at a time when it is in the middle of the Lok Sabha elections. In two weeks, Meena, the state Agriculture Minister, has written as many letters to Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan LalSharma.Inthefirstone,dated May 14, Meena flagged a potentiallossof Rs1,146croretotheex- of purpose, pattern Rajasthan Agriculture Minister Kirodi Lal Meena chequer in a multi-storey housing project in the city’s Gandhinagar neighbourhood. Theprojectinvolvesthedevelopment of six multi-storey build- ings at the Old MREC Campus where several senior government officials live. While four of the six towers will be used for government housing, two are to be sold to private individuals. On Monday, Meena stepped up the pressure. He wrote to Sharma about an alleged scam worth “billions of rupees” in the Rajasthan State Warehousing Corporation (RSWC). Meena CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BJPMPBrijBhushan outsideaDelhicourt,Tuesday. Abhinav Saha NIRBHAY THAKUR NEW DELHI, MAY 21 UNDERLINING THERE was “unity of purpose… unity of thought” behind his actions to “sexually exploit vulnerable female subordinates as much as possible”, a Delhi court Tuesday ordered framing of charges against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, sitting BJP MP and former chief of Wrestling Federation of India(WFI),inthesexualharass- ment case against him filed on the complaint of women wrestlers. Singh, on his part, pleaded not guilty to the charges in the case registered by the Delhi Police. Asked by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Priyanka Rajpoot if he was pleading guilty, Singh said, “Koi sawaal hi nahi hai. Galati kiye hi nahi to maanenge kyun (There is no question. When I did not CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 On BJP margins, Maneka keeps Ram temple at bay, reaches out to Muslims votes on May 25. So, there is no mention of the Ram temple in her speeches, SULTANPUR, MAY 21 while that of Prime Minister SHE MAY be the outgoing Lok Narendra Modi is kept to the Sabha’s longest-serving MP, but minimum,unlikethecampaigns of other BJP candidates. for Maneka Gandhi, this Ayodhya is hardly an bid for a ninth term in hour’s drive from Parliament is one of her Sultanpur. most crucial fights. “I have not made it Pushed to the margins of (the Ram temple) an isthe BJP, with her son Varun Gandhi denied a DECISION sue here,” Maneka ac2024 knowledges,addingthat ticket, Maneka must win she is talking about her Sultanpur to sustain her politicallegacy—andthatmeans workandpromisingtodo“more keeping the minorities close as and more”. “At the end of the they constitute about 17% of the day, people just want their probvotersintheconstituencywhich lems to be looked at and want a MAULSHREE SETH personalrelationship(withtheir representative).Overthelastfive years,Ihavemadesuchpersonal relationships with visits to every village… There are just local issues here… I work for everybody.” Referredtoas“Matashree”or “Mata ji” by people in the constituency,Manekahadarelatively narrow win from Sultanpur in 2019, by about 14,000 votes against a local influential leader, ChandraBhadraSingh,fieldedby the Samajwadi Party-BSP combine. It was her first contest from Sultanpur,aftermovingherefrom Pilibhit,vacatingthelatterseatfor son Varun. VOTE SHARE (%) IN SULTANPUR Party 2014 2019 BJP 42.52 45.91 BSP 23.98 44.45 SP 23.64 -- Cong 4.35 4.17 Note: SP and BSP were allies in 2019 Source: EC BJP candidate Maneka Gandhi campaigns in the Sultanpur Lok Sabha constituency. X/@Manekagandhibjp This time, Maneka is facing OBC rivals from both the main fronts. While the Congress-SP candidate is Ram Bhual Nishad —the Nishads numberabout2.5 lakh in the seat —the BSP has fieldedUdayRajVerma,aKurmi. Apart from OBCs, the big group in the seat are SCs, forming about 21% of the voters. The BSP has won Sultanpur twice in the past. On a Saturday morning, as she is about to set off for her latest campaign meeting from Shastri Nagar area in Sultanpur — she has held 600 so far, as per her count — Maneka is told that local Muslim leaders have come to meet her. She immediately steps out to greet them, adding: “I need your help. I have done so much for every- one. So whatever are your old vengeances, why not keep them aside in this election? Why not become friends?” There are others hoping to meetherandconveytheirgrievances, including a young girl who wants help for a tooth implant, having lost her teeth in an accident. Among top BJP leaders, Narendra Modi or Amit Shah have not campaigned for her, while Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is coming in for his first rally on Wednesday. Shah had campaigned for her in 2019. On Saturday, BJP partner and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow