www.thehansindia.com WARANGAL FRIDAY 5 OCTOBER 2018 PAGES 20 `5.00 Forecast: Sunny. Temp: Max.31°C. Min.26C. Humidity: 62% Sunrise: 06:02 Sunset: 05:57 A child inspects a Blue Morpho butterfly during a preview of "The Butterfly Conservatory: Tropical Butterflies Alive in Winter," at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The popular annual exhibit which houses up to 500 butterflies opens to the public on Saturday Kochhar quits as ICICI Bank CEO Mumbai: ICICI Bank's Chanda Kochhar, who is facing allegations of conflict of interest over a loan to Videocon Group that had in turn lent to a company partowned by her husband, has quit as the bank's Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director. The inquiry against her will continue. The bank has appointed its Chief Operating Officer Sandeep Bakhshi as the new CEO and MD with immediate effect. S P8 Falaknuma Exp coach derails Bhubaneswar: One coach of the Secunderabad -Howrah Falaknuma Express train on Thursday derailed near Kapilas Road railway station in Odishas Cuttack district but there was no report any casualty, railway officials said. The guard-cum-luggage bogie, the rear most coach of the train jumped from the rail, an East Coast Railway (ECoR) official said. The official said that Faluknama Express will start moving on its way soon. WORLD BANK BANS MADHUCON PROJECTS REGION WINDOWS BUSINESS H Simultaneously published from Hyderabad | Warangal | Tirupati | Amaravati | Visakhapatnam | Khammam | Kurnool | Delhi H KCR continues Naidu bashing OBLIQUELY CAUTIONS NAIDU ON CASH-FOR-VOTE SCAM OUR BUREAU Nalgonda: In an oblique reference to the cash-for-vote scam that rocked Telangana state in 2015, caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Thursday warned his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu, to realise what would happen to him if he chose to open his third eye. Chandrashekar Rao, continuing his fusillade at Telugu Desam and Congress for their "illegitimate alliance," he cautioned the people against Naidu who was now carrying a dagger in his waist to kill them. "I am sure people of Nalgonda have come of age. They would take a wise decision and help the TRS win TRS president K Chandrashekar Rao speaking at Ashirwada Sabha in Nalgonda on Thursday all the 12 seats in the erstwhile district of Nalgonda. "Chandrababu Naidu is looking to re- vive his ‘shop’ in Telangana. We have 119 assembly segments here and you have 175. It seems the situation is not good for you there. If I open my third-eye, think of what would happen to you," said KCR. The TRS chief also took exception to the comments of Chandrababu Naidu that he was aligning with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Naidu says I have aligned with Modi. For four years, you were with Modi. You snatched seven mandals and Sileru power project from Telangana and delayed division of High Court,” Rao said. He asked people to decide whether they want to take Telangana to Vijayawada. “You have to decide whether you will go to Amaravati or Hyderabad with your applications,” said Rao. He alleged that if Chandrababu Naidu wins, he would create problems in construction of Kaleshwaram, Dindi and other projects. The TRS chief once again lashed at the Congress leaders stating that these leaders were like plague on the people of Telangana. All the Congress leaders in Nalgonda district are dimwits and nincompoops. “The PCC president does not know anything. He is a ‘Nadaan Dushman’. When government in Assembly said it was ready for discussion, this leader said his party was not prepared on issues facing the state,” said Rao. He found fault with the boycotting of Assembly when he gave power point presentation on redesigning of irrigation projects. Continued on Page 4 Bhushan, Shourie demand CBI probe into Rafale deal Petrol, diesel cheaper by `2.50/litre New Delhi: Lawyer Prashant Bhushan and former Union minister Arun Shourie met CBI Director Alok Verma on Thursday, demanding a probe into alleged corruption in the Rafale aircraft deal and offset contract even as the Congress urged the CAG to carry out a forensic audit of the "Rs 60,150 crore" jet deal and bring all "facts" on record to enable Parliament to fix accountability. A delegation of Congress leaders met the Comptroller and Auditor General of India Rajiv Mehrishi and presented a memorandum to him along with fresh documents. New Delhi: In a relief to consumers hit hard by the unrelenting rise in fuel prices, the government on Thursday cut petrol and diesel prices by Rs 2.50 per litre that will result in a revenue loss of Rs10,500 crore in six months. It also asked the states to effect a similar cut so that the relief could be to the tune of Rs 5 per litre. Announcing the much soughtafter relief, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told a press conference that the cut will be effected through slashing of excise duty to the tune of Rs 1.50 per litre while the oil marketing companies (OMCs) will absorb the impact to the tune of Re 1. "I am also writing to the states to make corresponding cuts in VAT of equivalent amount so that consumers get Rs 5 relief in retail prices," he said. "The notification in this regard (giving a relief of Rs 2.50) will be issued today (Thursday) and prices will be applicable immedi- ately afterwards," he said. Last month, the governments of Karnataka, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh cut taxes on petrol and diesel. Jaitley also said the revenue impact of the decision would amount to around Rs 10,500 crore for the rest of the fiscal, which amounts to "only 0.05 per cent of the fiscal deficit". The Minister expressed confidence about meeting the fiscal deficit target despite the excise duty cut, saying increased revenue collections would absorb the impact of the cuts. "The government's aim is to give relief to the consumer by increasing their purchasing power without im- Cong kick starts its campaign with Jogulamba blessings OUR BUREAU Alampur: Kick-starting its campaign for the next Assembly elections from Alampur of Jogulamba Gadwal district on Thursday, the Congress came out with its guns blazing at caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. The Congress leaders took the Chief Minster to task after they performed special puja at Jogulamba temple. A pantheon of Congress leaders, including AICC Telangana In-charge RC Khuntia, TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy and party’s star campaigner Vijayashanthi led the charge against the TRS and the caretaker CM. Uttam Kumar Reddy defended his remarks calling caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao a 'batte baaz' (cheat). He said in Hy- Congress leaders seek blessing of Jogulamba before kick starting their election campaign in Gadwal on Thursday derabadi dialect a habitual liar and cheat is called 'batte baaz' and the term perfectly fits Chandrashekar Rao as he has cheated all sections of society during his four-and-a-half year regime. Continued on Page 4 Stardust to dazzle along TS campaign trail OUR BUREAU Hyderabad: The electoral battle in Telangana is acquiring all the trappings of celluloid settings. Championing the cause of the TDP and the Opposition alliance, AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s brother-in-law and actor N Balakrishna would be campaigning while the Congress is positioning its trump card – ‘Lady Amitabh Bachchan’ Vijayashanthi. Vijayashanthi took part in the poll campaign of the Congress at Alampur on Thursday while Balakrishna already has a head start over her. Though NOW, CONG TO CHECKMATE TRS OVER RBS CHEQUE DISTRIBUTION A still from a movie featuring Balakrishna and Vijayshanthi it is was not an election campaign, his visit to Khammam looked more like one with his fans turning up in great numbers. The meetings were not without the inevitable dose of Balayya Babu getting angry, throwing tantrums at his fans and finally kicking a few of them when they tried to get very close to him. In fact, Balakrishna and Vijayashanthi were a hit pair on celluloid screen and their flicks had rained mega bucks for their producers in the years that had gone by. It is not yet known if they would do joint campaign since the TDP and the Congress are partners of Grand Alliance fighting the TRS in the state. Balakrishna would be campaigning for TDP since Chandrababu Naidu is not keen to take part in the ensuing Assembly elections in Telangana for obvious reasons. Balakrishna in his visit to Khammam took stock of the political situation particularly the winning prospects of the TDP in the district on AP- Telangana border recently. Satisfied by the overwhelming response from people during the film star’s visit, the party decided to utilise Balakrishna's charisma to gain political advantage. Party leaders said that Balakrishna expressed his readiness to join the party campaign. Since he is busy with the shooting of the film on NTR biopic, leaders said that the film starturned -political leader will participate in the campaign in selected assembly segments only. Once Balakrishna is relieved from the busy film shooting, the TDP will use his services full time. The party is already preparing a schedule for Balakrishna’s campaign in the state. pacting the fiscal deficit," he said. Jaitley also maintained that Thursday's decision did not represent a re-regulation of fuel prices. Responding to a query about state governments following suit with similar tax cuts, Jaitley said that this measure would be a "a test for all state governments, especially those whose leaders have been demanding cuts while paying lip service to people". Transport fuel prices have continued on a daily record-breaking upward movement with petrol inching closer to Rs 84 in Delhi and having already crossed the Rs 91 a litre mark in Mumbai. SC directs HC to take up TS poll issue today OUR BUREAU New Delhi: An Apex Court bench on Thursday directed the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad to take a view on the extension of voters’ list announcement in Telangana based on merits of the case after a hearing on Friday itself. After hearing the arguments of petitioner M Shasidhar Reddy, a Congress leader, who filed a petition alleging gross irregularities in the electoral lists and also denial of voting rights to firsttime voters due to dissolution of Assembly and early elections, the Bench directed the petitioner to approach the High Court as "it has a right to decide on the issue". Whether or not the last date for publication of the voters' list is to be extended will be decided by the High Court, it said. Earlier, senior Counsel Abhishek Singhvi argued on behalf of the petitioner that the TS Chief Minister had deliberately dissolved the Assembly nearly nine months ahead of the elections and this had led to the enrollment lists of the EC getting truncated. However, counsel for the EC, Amit Misra, argued that enlistment of voters was a continuous process and the High Court had dismissed earlier petitions in this regard. Later, speaking to the media, advocate Jandhyala Ravishankar, said as the last date for publication of electoral lists was October 8, the SC had directed the HC to hear the matter on Friday itself.