The Editorial Page: Our stakes are high in West Asia. Delhi must call for diplomacy, de-escalation 10 FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAGE LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES ₹6.00 l www.indianexpress.com DA I LY F R O M : A H M E DA B A D , C H A N D I GA R H , D E L H I , J A I P U R , KO L K ATA , L U C K N O W , M U M B A I , N AG P U R , PAT N A , P U N E , VA D O DA R A Business as Usual By EP UNNY Happening today lUNION HOME MINISTER Amit Shah will attend CISF Raising Day ceremony in Odisha Friday. lINDIAN WOMEN’S team will be in action in a one-off Test match at WACA in Perth against Australia. Match starts at 10.50 am. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON WWW.INDIANExPRESS.COM NITISH TENURE WILL BE KNOWN AS GOLDEN PERIOD IN BIHAR POLITICS, SAYS SHAH Bihar readies for post-Nitish era: CM for RS, BJP set to take charge New government will have my full cooperation, says Nitish Kumar How it went from RS nomination for his son to one for Nitish Kumar Santosh Singh & Himanshu Harsh Liz Mathew & Santosh Singh Patna, March 5 New Delhi, Patna, March 5 SETTING IN motion the end of his run as Bihar’s longest-serving Chief Minister, Nitish KumaronThursdayfilednomination papers for the coming Rajya Sabha elections. This clears the decks for a new CM, likely from the BJP, to take charge,andhasleftmanyinthe JD(U) in disbelief. IF THE change of guard in Bihar, marking the start of the end of Nitish Kumar’s 21-year run as Chief Minister, came as a surprise, it was. Sources in the BJP and JD(U) camps say that it was only in the last week that the wheels were set in motion. The conversation between »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 the allies initially started a month ago as a discussion on the future of Nitish’s son Nishant. A political novice, Nishant has developed a public profile recently, with many in the JD(U) seeing in him the glue to keep the party together as Nitish’s deteriorating health slides further. According to sources in the BJP, a Rajya Sabha berth was E. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar during the latter’s filing of nomination papers for Rajya Sabha elections, in Patna, Thursday. PTI RELATED REPORTS: PAGE 6 »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Responded to Iran warship SOS, searched: Navy At Iran embassy, Foreign Secretary offers India’s condolences on the death of Ayatollah Khamenei, others Amrita Nayak Dutta & Shubhajit Roy New Delhi, March 5 ADAYafteraUSsubmarinetorpedo sank an Iranian warship nearSriLankaasitheadedhome after participating in Exercise MILAN and the International FleetReviewinVisakhapatnam, the Indian Navy said Thursday it had sent its aircraft and ships to augment the search and rescue (SAR) efforts for IRIS Dena after it put out a distress call. The Indian Navy statement came on the day the government condoled the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and others killedinairstrikesbyIsraeland the US. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited the Iranian embassy in New Delhi and signed thecondolencebook—thefirst publicgesturefromthegovern- SriLankaallowscrew ofsecondIranshipto disembarkinColombo Chennai: A day after a US submarine torpedoed and sank an Iranian naval frigate near Sri Lanka’s southern coast, a second Iranian warship waited for hours just outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters. Eventually, the country’s President, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, said the crew of the Iranian naval ship, IRIS Bushehr, will be disembarked at Colombo Port. He said the vessel will then be taken to Trincomalee Harbour, while the Sri Lanka Navy makes arrangements to bring the 208 personnel on board safely to Colombo. PAGE 9 ment ever since the assassination of the Iranian leader. According to sources, Misri, »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Strait of Hormuz shut, a few tankers with Russia crude oil divert to India Sukalp Sharma New Delhi, March 5 WITH VESSEL passage through the Strait of Hormuz disrupted due to the West Asia conflict, there are early signs that India could be increasing its intake of Russian crude. Two crude oil tankers laden with Russian oil, which were earlier showing East Asia as their destination, arrived at IndianportsThursday,according to ship tracking data. Another tanker, while still showing Singapore as its destination, appeared to be heading towards India’s west coast. In recent months, India had cut down significantly on its oil imports from Russia amid trade negotiations with the US. Oil tankers Matari and Odune, both sailing under the flag of Sierra Leone, arrived at the ports of Vadinar in Gujarat and Paradip in Odisha respectively,Thursdaymorning,vessel tracking data showed. The two tankers together are estimated to be carrying over 1.4 million barrels of Russian crude. Another Sierra Leoneflaggedtanker,Indri,hasturned northwards towards India althoughitisstillsignallingSingaporeasitsintendeddestination, according to the data. Indri is »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In a keenly contested match, India defeated England by seven runs to enter the ICC Men’s T20 final, at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Thursday. NARENDRA VASKAR Flying Axar, brainy Bumrah take India to final after a scare Sriram Veera Mumbai, March 5 TWOACTSofsportinggreatness deflated England and revealed India’s desperation to win. Thetargetof254toenterthe T20WorldCupfinaldemanded EnglishcaptainHarryBrookdo what he does. The flat pancake at Wankhede demanded Jasprit Bumrah do what he does. But Axar Patel ensured he didn’t have to do it alone — with an act of athleticism that will long be recalled, the kind that embeds itself straight into viral reels. Unbelievably, he would better it when the chase tightened with another breathtaking effort. Onthenightwhenbatsmen from both teams repeatedly hit UTTAR PRADESH high notes, Axar delivered a match-winning performance with his hands, feet and eyes. Despite scoring 253, India won by just 7 runs. Before Flying Axar and Brainy Bumrah, it was Sanju Samson who set up the game with a 42-ball 89, an innings of grace, maturity, and inspiration.Itstillmightnothavebeen enough.JacobBethellconjured an impeccable knock — startlingly assured shot selections, purposefultargetingofbowlers, and a calmness that smoothed allthataggression.Itneededrepeated interventions by Axar andBumrahtokeepBethelljust out of reach of a dream finish. Introduced in the fifth over, Bumrah straight away went for »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PAgES 3, 4 ‘mEERUt mURdER: 4 hELd, coPS PRoBE PASSPoRt cLAIm RSScooRdINAtIoN mEEtS,BJPPLANS REJIgAScAStE PoLItIcSPLAySoUt NEW GOVERNORS IN STATES, UTs TN’s Ravi replaces Bose in Bengal ahead of polls, India is for rule of law & dialogue, Hasnain named for military conflict no solution: PM Bihar, Sandhu gets Delhi Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri signs a condolence book at the Iran Embassy in New Delhi, Thursday, days after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in Israel-US strikes. PTI LATEST l AzERBAIJAN VOWS TO RESPOND TO IRAN DRONE ATTACK; IRAN SAYS IT HIT U.S. TANKER l TEHRAN LAUNCHES NEW Jaishankar speaks to Araghchi who sends his deputy to Delhi for talks l ISRAEL TO ATTACK IRAN’S Shubhajit Roy ATTACKS, SAYS U.S. WILL ‘BITTERLY REGRET’ SINKING ITS WARSHIP UNDERGROUND MISSILE SITES IN SECOND PHASE l AS STARMER CALLS FOR IRAN TALKS, BRITAIN SENDS MORE FIGHTER JETS TO WEST ASIA ECONOMY PAgE 13 3,000 coNtAINERS StUck, RIcE ExPoRtERS SEEk PoRt fEE wAIvER New Delhi, March 5 UNDERLINING THAT India believes in the “rule of law, dialogue, and diplomacy”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday that “no issue can be resolved solely through military conflict” and Delhi will continuetosupporteveryeffort to end conflict and restore peace, be it in West Asia or Ukraine. His remarks came a day after Iranian warship IRIS Dena, which had earlier taken PM Narendra Modi with Finland President Alexander Stubb at Hyderabad House, in New Delhi, Thursday. ANIL SHARMA part in a military exercise in India, was torpedoed by a US submarine in international waters in the Indian Ocean. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar too had a phone conversation with Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian Foreign Minister — this was their secondconversationsincethestart of the conflict on February 28. Iran’s Deputy Foreign MinisterSaeedKhatibzadehisvisiting India beginning Thursday andisexpectedtomeetofficials over the next few days. Prime Minister Modi, who heldbilateraltalkswithvisiting Finland President Alexander Stubb, said, “Today, the world is passing through a phase of »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 (From left) Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (retd); R N Ravi; and Taranjit Singh Sandhu Liz Mathew & Jatin Anand New Delhi, March 5 WITH ASSEMBLY elections in West Bengal round the corner, Governor C V Ananda Bose resigned Thursday citing “personalreasons”.Hewasreplaced by Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi who had been at loggerheads with the DMK-led government in the state. As part of major gubernatorial appointments announced by President Droupadi Murmu Thursday night, Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (retd) was named the new Bihar Governor, taking over from Arif Mohammed Khan. Taranjit Singh Sandhu, retired diplomat and a former Ambassador to the US, will be the new Lt Governor of Delhi, replacing Vinai Kumar Saxena who was posted to Ladakh as Lt Governor. Ladakh Lt Governor Kavinder Gupta, a former Deputy Chief Minister in the BJP-PDP government in the erstwhile »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l VISITED VISAKHAPATNAM’S TOURIST SITES, SHOPPED FOR FAMILIES, TRAVELLED TO AGRA ‘Selfies, sightseeing, shopping’: Before attack, Iran sailors took time out in India Sreenivas Janyala & Nikhila Henry among thousands who turned uptowatchtheparade.Ispecifically recall seeing the Iranian Hyderabad, March 5 contingent, though there were ON THE evening of February sailorsfromothercountriestoo. 19, a group of students from It was quite a spectacle. They various colleges in Visakhapat- posed for selfies and took phonam stood on the steps of the tos of the beach… As a hotelier, I always hope that Beach View Holiday PAGE 1 whoever visits Home hotel on R K beautiful Vizag reBeach Road, watchturns home safely,” ing sailors from sevsaid Suresh K, the hotel owner. eral countries march past. After the naval exercise, the Among them were sailors fromIran,whowereinIndiafor Iranian warship IRIS Dena was the International Fleet Review returning from Visakhapat(IFR) and Milan 2026 naval ex- nam when it was torpedoed by ercises. “The students were a United States submarine off anchor the southern coast of Sri Lanka in the early hours of Wednesday. Most of the crew members on board the ship are dead or missing. During their time in India, some of the Iranian sailors visited the Rushikonda hilltop known as Kailasagiri, the Victory at Sea War Memorial, the submarine museum, and the Sankalp Art Village on the outskirts of Vizag. “Much of their time ashore was spent with naval officers,” an official said. PresidentDroupadiMurmu hadalsovisitedVizagfortheexercise,whichsawtheparticipa- Iranian sailors at the Taj Mahal in February. tion of 85 ships, including 19 foreign warships. The Indian fleet included 60 ships of the Indian Navy, four Indian Coast Guard vessels, and one ship eachfromtheShippingCorporation of India and the National Institute of Ocean Technology. On February 19, as he inaugurated Exercise Milan in Vizag, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called on the international community to effectively tackle the evolving, complex, and interconnected challenges at sea while acting in the spirit of mutual respect and give-and-take, a PIB press release read. The sailors had disembarked in Visakhapatnam days earlier, between February 13 and 15. The foreign naval officers also travelled to see the Taj Mahal and Bodh Gaya. “They experienced the beauty of Taj Mahal and the profound sanctity of Mahabodhi temple where Lord Buddha attained enlightenment,” a press note from the Visakhapatnam defence establishment said. At the march past on R K Beach Road, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, S Abdul Nazeer, was the Chief Guest. The event was hosted by Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Chief of the Naval Staff. A naval officer said that the chief of the Iranian Navy, Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, and Abuzar Zarri, Commanding Officer of IRIS Dena, were also present. “There were cross-deck visits by Iranian crew to Indian warships,andIndianNavypersonnelwentaboardtheIranian ship. Young officers interacted with one another,” an official said.“Theywereajovialbunch. We all enjoyed their time here.” “Ontheirlastday,theywent »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow