DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, MAY 10, 2024, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES RAHUL GANDHI VS NARENDRA MODI: SHAH Shah frames poll as vikas vs jihad; Rahul says it’s slipping from PM’s hands SREENIVAS JANYALA HYDERABAD, MAY 9 UNION HOME Minister Amit ShahThursdaysaidinTelangana that the 2024 Lok Sabha poll is a “Rahul Gandhi versus Narendra Modi election”, and that it was a fightbetween‘voteforjihad’and ‘vote for vikas’. RahulGandhi,whoalsohelda rally in Telangana the same day, saidtheelectionpittedtheINDIA bloc against “those who want to change or destroy the Constitution”.Inavideopostedon social media, Rahul also said the electionwas“slippingaway”from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shah, speaking at a public meeting in Telangana’s Bhongir Lok Sabha constituency, said, “2024 ka jo chunav hai, yeh ‘Rahul Gandhi versus Narendra Modi’ ka chunav hai. Yeh chunav ‘vote for jihad’ ke against ‘vote for vikas’ ka chunav hai. (The 2024 election is a Rahul Gandhi versus Narendra Modi election. It is an election that pits ‘vote for jihad’ against CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 VISIT OF MALDIVES FOREIGN MINISTER MOOSA ZAMEER ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, MAY 9 External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with Maldives Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer in New Delhi, Thursday, PTI First Maldives-India meet amid Muizzu chill flags ‘reciprocity’ SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, MAY 9 Tribal ire over Hemant arrest helps INDIA, but that may not be enough In Jharkhand, ruling coalition hit by graft charges, internal rebellions was also heartening for Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) ranks. Framing this contest as RANCHI, MAY 9 one between her jailed husband and Prime THE ARREST of former MinisterNarendraModi, Jharkhand chief minister she recently posted: Hemant Soren was seen “Braveheart Soren stays as one potent issue in everyone’s hearts. His around which the Opposition INDIA bloc DECISION every work has reached 2024 people'shearts.Howcan could rally together. The you extract him out of ease with which Hemant's wife Kalpana Murmu people’s hearts?” The ruling party was also Soren slipped unofficially into CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 her husband's role in the party ABHISHEK ANGAD BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY ED opposes interim bail to Kejriwal, tells SC campaigning not even a legal right AAP: Disregard of legal procedures, complaint lodged with SC Registry On Muizzu deadline-eve, Delhi says Indian military personnel have returned Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana Soren with his sister Anjani Soren, who is contesting from Mayurbhanj, Odisha. PTI COURT DECISION LIKELY TODAY IN A veiled reference to the proChinatiltof theMaldivesgovernmentledbyPresidentMohamed Muizzu,ExternalAffairsMinister S Jaishankar told his Maldivian counterpart Moosa Zameer Thursday that the development of India-Maldivestieswasbased on“mutualinterests”and“reciprocal sensitivity” given that they are “close and proximate neighbours”. The Maldives Foreign Minister and Jaishankar met in New Delhi a day ahead of the May10deadlinesetbyPresident Muizzu for India to withdraw its military personnel from the island nation. Zameer’s visit is the first high-level visit to India after Muizzu came to power last November. Jaishankar and Zameer held “extensive discussions” on the “bilateral relationship” and “regional security issues”. On the withdrawal of the Indian military personnel from Why this visit matters THIS VISIT is the first signal by the government of President Muizzu, who rode to power on an ‘India Out’ poll plank, that it wants to ease tensions with Delhi. That he chose to visit China ahead of India, asked the Indian military team to leave did not help ties. the Maldives, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, confirmed that they have returned and have been replaced by “competent Indian technical personnel”. Riding to power last November on an ‘India Out’ poll plank, one of Muizzu’s first acts was to demand the withdrawal of around80IndianmilitarypersonnelbyMay10–theyhadbeen stationed there to operate two helicoptersandaDornieraircraft. “Both sides have been CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 OPPOSINGANYmovetograntinterim bail to Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal to let him campaign in the Lok Sabhaelections,theEnforcement Directorate (ED) has told the Supreme Court that “any special concession”tohimwill“amount to anathema to the rule of law and equality… thereby creating twoseparateclassesinthecountry viz. ordinary people, who are bound by the rule of law as well as the laws of the country, and Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 in Delhi excise policy case politicianswhocanseekexemption from the laws”. In an affidavit filed Thursday – a day after the Supreme Court said it “may” pronounce an order on the interim bail Friday – the ED, which arrested Kejriwal on March 21 in the Delhi excise policy case, said any such bail CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 As West Bengal Raj Bhavan makes CCTV footage public, woman says identity shown SWEETY KUMARI KOLKATA, MAY 9 DAYS AFTER a woman contractual staffer at Raj Bhavan in Kolkata accused West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose of molesting her, the Raj Bhavan Thursday showed CCTV footage of the premises from May 2 — the day of the alleged incident — to around 100 people. Governor C V Ananda Bose has been accused of molestation The woman, in response, said, “The footage was released without my permission. Thelaw of the land says that the identity CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Pradhan: Secys, ministers can’t meet Naveen... How is Odisha being run? P8 LIZ MATHEW SAMBALPUR (ODISHA), MAY 9 TAKING AIM at Odisha Chief MinisterNaveenPatnaikandthe Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Union EducationMinisterDharmendra Pradhanhasquestionedthestate government’s track record and askedwhowasrunningthestate and the ruling party in the state. THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW DHARMENDRA PRADHAN UNION MINISTER, BJP LEADER “What did Odisha get under Naveen babu’s leadership? The stateislagginginbasicsectors… The state chief secretary and the DGP may not have met the Chief Minister for a year. Neither the secretaries nor the ministers are allowed to meet him (Patnaik). How is the state run?” Pradhan asked during an interview to The Indian Express at the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 REPORT NOT MADE PUBLIC YET Disquiet in LSG over not-so-happy chat in public Niti Aayog report: ‘Huge gap’ in cancer screening between owner, skipper DEVENDRA PANDEY MUMBAI, MAY 9 THERE IS disquiet in the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) camp after visuals of team owner Sanjiv Goenka in what appeared to be a not-so-happy animated discussion with cap- tain K L Rahul did the rounds of social media following the team’s 10-wicket thrashing by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL match Wednesday. Speculation was rife about Rahul’slong-termfuturewiththe Lucknow franchise that is now placedsixthinthe10-teampoints CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 at Ayushman centres HARIKISHAN SHARMA NEW DELHI, MAY 9 BESIDES THE Rs 5-lakh insurance cover, the flagship Ayushman Bharat Scheme en- visaged the upgrade of primary health centres to Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs). These would, among a range of services, offer annual screening for those 30 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Power and paychecks: Election time is boomtime for political consultancy PAGE 1 ANCHOR AISHWARYA KHOSLA NEW DELHI, MAY 9 WHEN SUHEL Pratap Singh, a political consultant, reached his politician client’s location in a “backward” constituency in Rajasthan, he was “flabber- gasted”. He had been tasked to draftawinningstrategyandlead a “war room” for the candidate. “There was no hotel or building anywhere in sight, just a tabela (cow shed). I called the liaisons to check if I had been given the wrong address. A couple of minutes later, the client (party candidate) showed up at the spot. We had a brief chat about the constituency and started walking in the direction A war room set up by Prajatantra, a non-profit, providing pro-bono consultancy to aspiring politicians. X/ @IndianPAC of the tabela,” recalls Singh, who works for Ground Zero, a political consultancy firm that’s currentlyrepresentingtheCongress in Maharashtra and Odisha. “As soon as we stepped inside, I was stunned: it was indeedawarroom–abighallwith a sitting capacity of 70 people, equipped with laptops and PCs, and two dedicated conference rooms for internal meetings,” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow