DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES JOURNALISM OF COURAGE `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 BJP gets post-240 booster shot CONGRESS GROPES FOR ANSWER AFTER DEFEAT IN HARYANA, OMAR SET TO BE J&K CM AT HEAD OF NC-CONG ALLIANCE ■ JAMMU AND KASHMIR: In first Assembly election since the end of erstwhile ■ HARYANA: A record third consecutive term for the BJP govt, upsetting Cong state’s special status, NC-led coalition set to form govt; BJP emerges as main Opp expectations and calculations; Modi hails Haryana victory as Saini returns Leg-up for BJP ahead of Maharashtra and Jharkhand polls; task cut out for Congress MANOJ C G & LIZ MATHEW BUSINESS AS USUAL NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 8 IF A week is a long time in politics, even a day can shape perceptions — and larger political narratives. Tuesday was such a day for the BJP: four months afteritsufferedasetbackintheLok Sabha elections losing seats in several north Indian states, falling to 240 from 303, and prompting the Congress and the Opposition to celebrate, the ruling party created history in Haryana registering a resounding victory that would give it a third term in power there. It also improved its tally in Jammu and Kashmir and, more importantly, its government at the Centre claimed credit for ensuring that elections were held andthatanelectedUTAssembly was in place — its powers severely limited — for the first time since the state was split and its special status abrogated. The verdict holds multiple messages. The Congress hoped a victory in Haryana would have strengthened its narrative that the BJP was losing its grip. And that the Congress — as also the INDIA bloc — is reviving under Rahul Gandhi with his aggressive focus on caste mobilisation. A 240-rattled BJP, on the other hand, wanted a win to dispel the perception that June 4 had pushed it onto the backfoot. The BJP managed to dispel both, the Congress made noises like a sore loser. BY UNNY PM Narendra Modi and BJP chief J P Nadda at the party headquarters, Tuesday. Tashi Tobgyal Theprimarymessageofthese elections—thefirsttobeheldafter the Lok Sabha polls — is that the BJP machinery still retains its corevotesandtheCongresshasa long way to go before it can unseat the BJP in what has become its strongholds in the 2014-2023 period. In Haryana, a state the Congress was sure of winning — almost all ● exit polls predicted this — and cried foulafter its defeat,theBJPseemedsettowin 48 of the 90 seats, with the Congress at 37. Even in terms of vote share, the BJP, with 39.94% votes, was abovetheCongress’s39.09%.The Haryana victory of the BJP is also significant given the aggressive attack that the Congress and the opposition had been waging against it over caste. The BJP has managed to counter the perception that OBC EXPLAINED E CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 National Conference leader Omar Abdullah after winning from Budgam, Tuesday. AP PM: Slap to Cong plot to divide over caste, will echo elsewhere Back in J&K with hands tied, Omar says vote for statehood, development VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 8 HAILING HIS party’s victory in Haryana as the “people’s answer” to a Congress “conspiracy todividethecountryongrounds of caste” and “defame Indian democracy and its institutions”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday also slammed the Congress for refusing to accept theHaryanapollresults,sayingit had questioned the neutrality of the Election Commission even during the Lok Sabha elections. AddressingBJPworkersatthe partyheadquartersinNewDelhi, Modi said, “The message is clear that this conspiracy to divide the nationwon’twork.Inrecentdays, there have been many conspiracies against India’s democracy, economy and social cohesion. HARYANA BJP 48 (40) INLD Others INC 2 3 37 (1) (8) (31) 2019 seats in parentheses VOTE SHARE IN % (2024) 39.94 39.09 20.97 There are global conspiracies against these. I say with responsibilitytodaythattheCongressis part of this game. Nationalist Haryana has given a resounding slaptotheconspirators.Wehave to resolve not to allow any such conspiracy to succeed.” “Congress wants a society where people hate their own heritage. It wants to project in a bad light all that people of the countryareproudof.Beitanyinstitution, the Congress wants to defame it. They and their Urban Naxal friends went to the judiciary to defame the Election Commission. They have done the same thing today. It wants to defame our institutions. The Congress shamelessly commits such deeds,” he said. AccusingtheCongressof tryingtodividethecountryoncaste lines,hesaid,“Tocometopower, it can divide the country. Today the country is seeing how the Congress wants to divide the poor on grounds of caste. People with silver and golden spoons want to make people fight over CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NAVEED IQBAL SRINAGAR, OCTOBER 8 ONE OF THE most evocative images in the Assembly elections is thatof formerJ&KChief Minister Omar Abdullah holding out his signaturesoznicapinhishandat a campaign event in Ganderbal. Speaking in Kashmiri, Omar, humbledbytheLokSabhadefeat in the Baramulla seat, urged voters for “a chance to serve them”. On Tuesday, Omar secured decisivevictoriesinboththecentral Kashmir constituencies — Budgam and Ganderbal — from where he contested. Thanking the voters after the results, he said,“After2018,ademocraticset upwilltakechargeinJ&K.TheBJP tookaimatpoliticalpartiesfrom THE EDITORIAL PAGE TWO DECISIVE WINS, ONE SORE LOSER PAGE 6 JAMMU & KASHMIR NC INC BJP PDP Others 42 6 29 3 10 (15) (12) (25) (28) (7) 2014 seats in parentheses VOTE SHARE IN % (2024) 23.4 12 25.6 39 Kashmir, especially the National Conference, and tried to weaken us and attempted to create parties against us; these have been CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 VERDICT 2024 FULL COVERAGE BIGWINFORNC, SHRUNKEN CONGRIDESON PDP ROUT IN VALLEY, DOWN TO 3 SEATS HOW CONG LOST THE PLOT IN HARYANA PAGES 10 & 11 Its stalwarts admit defeat, Cong faults Gujarat-based senior Anti-Jat consolidation to tickets: journalist arrested in Behind BJP’s Haryana victory map EVMs, does not accept Haryana result alleged GST fraud case EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE AHMEDABAD, OCTOBER 8 MAHESH LANGA, a Gujaratbased senior assistant editor at The Hindu, was on Tuesday morning placed under arrest along with three others by the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB). The development comes a day after 13 firms and their proprietors were booked for allegedinputtaxcredit(ITC)fraud, basedonacomplaintfiledbythe Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI). Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, Ajit Rajian confirmed Langa’s arrest and said, “We have recovered Rs 20 lakh unaccounted cash, some goldandseverallanddocuments from him.” Police allege the GST fraud caused a loss to the government exchequer, with the accused availing and passing on bogus ITC through fake bills. There are more than 220 benami firms set up on the basis of forged documents that were used in the racket, the FIR alleges. While Langa is not named in the FIR, his cousin Manojkumar Langa is named as one of the proprietors of an Ahmedabadbased firm, DA Enterprise, in which Mahesh Langa's wife is a partner, the police have alleged. Neither Langa’s cousin nor his wife has been arrested. Also accused in the case are Talala BJP MLA Bhagwan Barad’s son Ajay, and his nephews Vijaykumar Kalabhai Barad and Ramesh Kalabhai Barad. According to police, they are listed as proprietors of Veravalbased Aryan Associates. The MLA,whencontacted,deniedallegations of fraud. On Monday, the Economic Offences Wing and the Special Operations Group, acting on the DGGI complaint, had carried out raids at 14 premises across five districts – Ahmedabad, Junagadh, Surat, Kheda and Bhavnagar. According to the FIR, the alleged fraud is said to have been committed between February 1 andMay1lastyear.Accordingto the FIR and police officers, the prime accused in the case is a firm called Dhruvi Enterprise, whichallegedlycreatedsixfirms from a single PAN. The aim was CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 LIZ MATHEW & MANRAJ GREWAL SHARMA NEW DELHI, CHANDIGARH, OCTOBER 8 WITH A historic third win in Haryana, the BJP has got just the boost it needed after finishing short of a majority in the Lok Sabha polls — and ahead of the coming Assembly elections. Facing huge anti-incumbency in Haryana, farmer and wrestler anger over long-lasting GUJARAT Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini on Tuesday. PTI protests and discontent over the Agniveerscheme,theBJPspread CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ASAD REHMAN & DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 8 ITS ELECTORAL expectations gone wrong in Haryana, the Congress Tuesday took the unprecedented step of declaring thatitwillnotaccepttheverdict, allegingtherewasa“conspiracy” hatchedthrough“manipulation” of Electronic Voting Machines. TheCongressallegation–itis the first time that a mainstream partyhassaiditwon’tacceptthe mandate alleging manipulation of EVMs — came even as its stalwarts in Haryana, Kumari Selja and Bhupinder Singh Hooda, conceded defeat with Selja targeting the Hooda camp for the loss. Hooda, on his part said, he would accept the results “under protest” although he was “surprised” by the outcome. Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters, Congress communication head JairamRameshsaid,“Iwouldlike to reiterate that the results in Haryanaareunexpected,surprising and that we don’t accept them because this is a defeat of democracy and a win of the device.” Hesaidthepartyhasreceived “very serious complaints on the process of counting, the functioning of EVMs in at least three districts. There are more that are coming in.” “It (the verdict) goes against ground reality. It goes against what people in Haryana had made up their mind for…Under CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Meet Chautala family’s winning duo: Arjun & Aditya SUKHBIR SIWACH CHANDIGARH, OCTOBER 8 GANDHI’S CHARKHA TO SURAT DIAMONDS: BULLET TRAIN STATIONS TO DEPICT ETHOS OF STATE P4 VADODARA RAPE: 5 SENT TO CUSTODY P3 out its bets in the state. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitchedinwithbigrallies,though headdressedjustfouragainst10 in2019,therewasequalemphasis on local leaders and the consolidation of anti-Jat votes. The Congress’s overarching emphasis on Jat vote appears to haveralliedtheothercommunities against the party. Even the Dalit vote, which the Congress hadbeenbankingonafteritssuccess in wooing them in the Lok EIGHT MEMBERS from former DeputyPrimeMinisterDeviLal’s clancontestedfromvariousconstituencies in the Haryana Assemblyelections,butonlytwo of them emerged as winners — Arjun Chautala and Aditya Devi Lal of the INLD. Arjun Chautala, 32, the younger son of the INLD’s senior leaderAbhaySinghChautala,won fromtheRaniaseat,defeatingthe Congress’s Sarv Mitter, the BJP’s Shishpal Kamboj and the sitting MLAandBJPrebelRanjitChautala. FormerpowerministerRanjit Chautala, 79, is the younger brother of Arjun’s grandfather OmPrakashChautala,whoisthe son of late Devi Lal. Ranjit contested as an Independent after being denied ticket by the BJP. In the 2019 Assembly polls, three members of the Chautala family — Dushyant Chautala of theJannayakJantaParty(JJP),his mother Naina Chautala and Ranjit — had proved successful. Arjun Chautala and (right) Aditya Devi Lal Arjun, who studied from Shimla’s Bishop Cotton School, hadcontestedthe2019LokSabha polls from Kurukshetra seat but endedupatfifthplace.Thistime, the INLD fielded him from Rania in Sirsa district, the traditional stronghold of the Chautalas. Arjun’s great grandfather Devi Lal, who started his politics from Sirsa, had ascended to the Deputy PM’s post while his son Om Prakash Chautala, the INLD chief,hasbeentheHaryanaChief Minister five times. Arjun’sfatherAbhay,61,isOm Prakash’s younger son. Abhay contestedfromEllenabadofSirsa district, but lost the election. Other Chautalas also tasted defeat. JJP leader and former Deputy CM Dushyant, 36, again contested from Uchana Kalan, but could not retain his seat. SunainaChautala,thedaughter-in-lawof DeviLal’seldestson PartapSinghChautala,contested unsuccessfully from Fatehabad as an INLD candidate. Arjun’s elder brother Karan Chautalaisthechairpersonof the SirsaZilaParishad.Bothbrothers hadbecomeactiveaftertheINLD facedasplitin2018,whichledto theemergenceof thebreakaway CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad