nagapattinam l sunday l february 01, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l city EDITION Rybakina edges past Sabalenka to lift Australian Open Elena Rybakina took out Aryna Sabalenka to win in three pulsating sets. This is the Kazakh’s second Slam and first since 2022 Wimbledon Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina raises a toast after her victory on Saturday | AFP Kazakh keeps her cool at arena after women, over to men’s final The Kazakh, born in Moscow, is one of the hardest hitters in the game. Sabalenka, who had yet to drop a set this year, had started the final as a favourite, but very soon came under fire. Being played indoors because of rain, she recovered but the Kazakh won the first set. Sabalenka roared back to take the second but her opponent ultimately prevailed 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 ■ ■ Novak Djokovic, featuring in his first Slam final since 2023, has the chance to equal record of most Majors. He has superior head to head against Carlos Alcaraz 5-4 Alcaraz, who survived a five-setter against Alexander Zverev, can become the youngest to win all four Slams 10 Djokovic has 10 Australian Open titles CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Sunetra dy CM, Sharad Pawar sore Maha gets its first woman deputy CM; Sharad Pawar says NCP merger may hit a roadblock Immediate challenges before Sunetra Pawar S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai SUNETRA Ajit Pawar was sworn in as deputy chief minister of Maharashtra on Saturday at the Governor’s House in Mumbai, becoming the first woman to occupy the position in the state. She was allotted excise, sports, minority development and Aukaf (Waqf) departments, but not finance and planning which her late husband Ajit Pawar held. The brief swearing-in ceremony at the Lok Bhavan took place three days after deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar died in an air crash in Baramati on January 28. A commerce graduate, Sunetra, 62, resigned from her Rajya Sabha membership, and is expected to contest the byelection to the Baramati assembly From left, CM Devendra Fadnavis, Governor Acharya Devvrat, Deputy CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar after her swearing-in in Mumbai | PTI constituency represented by her late husband. After Ajit Pawar’s demise, the 85-year-old Sharad Pawar had called a meeting of the Pawar family on Friday night to discuss the merger of both factions of the NCP. But Sunetra and her two sons, Parth and Jay skipped it and left for Mum, bai for the NCP’s legislative party meeting and oath-taking ceremony An apparently miffed . Pawar told the media in Baramati a day later that he had no idea that Sunetra was going to be sworn in as deputy CM. “We had several meetings MUMBAI: Sunetra Pawar’s first challenge is to win the Baramati by-election since her miffed father-in-law, Sharad Pawar will not cede control over their bastion that easily. Both Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule were invited to her swearing-in ceremony, but they refused. She also needs to develop her panMaharashtra foothold to keep the party from disintegration and resolving internal dissensions with Ajit for the merger of NCP . It was his wish that both factions should come together... it appears the process may hit a roadblock following the accident,” Sharad Pawar said. Parth then rushed back to Baramati to mollify his grandfather as well as Supriya Sule.  P8 4 TN devotees on padayatra run over by car DMK uses booth agent data to blunt allies’ demand for power, more seats Express News Service @ Chennai P r a b h a k a r Ta m i l a r a s u @ Perambalur Four woman devotees, who were undertaking a padayatra to the Samayapuram temple, were killed and three others sustained injuries after they were run over by a car near Siruvachur bridge in Perambalur district early on Saturday . T h e d r ive r o f t h e c a r, S Gowtham (24) from Tirisulam in Chennai, has been arrested in connection with the incident. The deceased were identified as S Malarkodi (35), B Vijayalakshmi (40), T Sasikala (47), natives of Tholar Kudikadu village in Cuddalore, and M Chitra (40) of Gangavalli in Salem. The injured — P Jothilakshmi (57), M Tamilarasi (42), and S Vijayalakshmi (43), all natives of Tholar Kudikadu — are undergoing treatment at Perambalur Government Hospital, police said. Police sources said the incident took place when more than 10 devotees from Cuddalore and Salem were walking towards the Siruvachur bridge.  P5 The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu has thrown up a politically sensitive dataset exposing the booth-level organisational strength of parties just months ahead of the Assembly elections. The data is now being used by the ruling DMK, which is facing considerable pressure from allies for share in power and ad- ditional seats, to illustrate to the parties the ground-level cadre strength it commands vis-a-vis its allies and the rationale for apportioning seats to them proportionate to their booth strength, sources said. As per the data, while DMK has 68,260 Booth Level Agents (BLAs), alliance partner Congress has 30,850 BLAs, CPM has 3,817, and CPI and VCK have 1,442, and 250 BLAs, respectively Citing this organisa. tional asymmetry as one of the Chennai: Secondary grade teachers, who had been protesting for pay parity for 37 days, withdrew their protest on Saturday after Minister Anbil Mahesh assured that a decision would be taken on their demand after the panel, set up to study the issue, submits report | P4 HC seeks report on illegal resorts in Nilgiris, Kodai Chennai: The Madras High Court has sought a report from the state government on the action taken against unauthorised resorts, lodges, cottage and homestays being run under ‘bed and breakfast’ licence in Nilgiris and Kodaikanal districts TDP hopes for G Ram G spend compensation P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Under G RAM G, rural projects are linked to the PM Gati Shakti. I believe this will largely reduce repetition (in MGNREGA), as the scheme focuses on specific priority areas. It will create lasting assets for communities and villages Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu Flaws in NREGA Devarayalu said the scheme often involved the same work year after year. G Ram G will address it. On tech hassle, he added, “4G is widespread. We will ensure ... no one is left out.” Ahead of Sunday’s Union Budget, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), a key ally of the NDA, said while the recently enacted Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025 (G RAM G) is expected to add an estimated `2,500 crore burden to Andhra Pradesh’s state budget, it is confident that the Centre will step in with financial support to bridge the gap. In an interview with this newspaper, TDP parliamentary party leader Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu said the party has already taken up the matter with the Centre. “We have sought the Centre’s support for implementing G RAM G, and we have received a lot of confidence from them. We expect to receive a substantial allocation for the Purvodaya scheme to meet the additional cost for G RAM G,” he said. The state is also expecting allocation of funds for river interlinking projects and the development of horticulture across at least 40 lakh acres in Rayalaseema and other backward districts in the Union Budget, added Devarayalu. Under the G RAM G Act, the guarantee of work has been increased from 100 days to 125 days per financial year, and states are required to cover 40% of the expenditure for the rural job scheme. Under this revised funding formula, Andhra Pradesh is expected to shoulder an additional `2,500 crore. To meet the additional cost, the state is exploring two potential sources, the Purvodaya scheme and the Rayalaseema drought mitigation scheme, said Devarayalu. “We are hoping to secure as much funding as possible for both in the Union Budget,” he said. The Purvodaya scheme is aimed at the sustainable development of Eastern India, specifically Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh. A recent report by Libitech said AP is burdened with nearly `10 lakh crore in debt. Shah slams TMC, vows jail for corrupt SUBHEN D U M AITI @ Kolkata E x p r ess Re a d Secondary grade teachers call off stir after 37 days factors, DMK sources said the party leadership remains firm that any increase in seats for alliance partners, including VCK, CPI and CPM, would only be nominal and no ally would get a double-digit hike. Party sources further said that the DMK has decided to nominally increase the seats for Congress, which contested 25 seats in 2021, to 27 seats. While VCK is to get eight seats — an increase of two seats — the CPM and CPI may get the same six seats that were offered in the 2021 elections.  P5 General Budget today ishan roars, sanju quiet Ishan Kishan in scintiallting form as he scores a hundred against New Zealand on Saturday. Here he celebrates with Hardik Pandya. On the other hand, Sanju Samson manages only 6 runs. Ishan’s run: 8, 76, 28, DNP, 103; Sanju: 10, 6, 0, 24, 6 I BP Dipu Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday attacked the Trinamool Congress in pollbound West Bengal, alleging that no other administration in the country was as corrupt as the Mamata Banerjee-led regime and asserting that BJP would jail corrupt leaders if voted to power. Addressing BJP workers at meetings in Barrackpore and Siliguri, Shah said the party would form the government with an absolute majority. He said BJP aimed to secure over 50 per cent vote share, compared to 38 per cent in the 2021 Assembly polls and 39 per cent in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where Home minister Amit Shah addressing a rally in Bengal | Special Arrangement it won 77 Assembly seats. He accused the state government of giving corruption an institutional shape and shielding tainted leaders. Targeting Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, Shah alleged corruption exceeding Rs 1,000 crore and questioned whether jailed Trinamool leaders would be renominated to prevent disclosures. Shah referred to alleged scams including Saradha, Narada, coal and cattle smuggling, school recruitment and the public distribution system, and said corruption continued despite arrests. He accused the state of blocking border fencing by denying land to the Border Security Force and alleged infiltrators were being protected for electoral gains, adding a BJP government would secure the border within 45 days. Referring to the factory fire that killed 25 workers, Shah alleged corruption and administrative failure and asked why the owners had not been arrested. Economic Survey shows TN’s record, read it: CM to PM, guv Express News Service @ Sivaganga Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Governor RN Ravi to read the Economic Survey report, which was released by the union government on Thursday ahead of the union finance budget, before criticising the state gov- ernment as its performance in several areas has been highly appreciated in the report. Addressing a gathering at a government event at Karaikudi in Sivaganga district, Stalin said that the statistics referred by him in his speeches to highlight the state’s g rowth were not based on his imagination but on the information stated in the union government’s reports. The perfor mance of Tamil Nadu in encouraging entrepreneurship, creating high number of employment opportunities in manufacturing sector, especially for women, among others, have been appreciated even in the latest report, the CM said. Criticising the centre for repealing the MGNREGA, which AIADMK failed to fulfil its election promises during their previous tenures. EPS has just copied and pasted DMK schemes and announced new promises. DMK, however, has fulfilled its promises in poll manifesto — CM MK Stalin he said was the backbone of the rural economy Stalin flayed , the centre for introducing the VB-G RAM G Act. “They are not able to provide 50 workdays under MGNREGA. How will it be possible to provide 125 workdays under the new law,” he asked, mocking that they could have simply announced 365 workdays under the new Act, instead of 125 days.  WITH THIS ISSUE The Disaster Diary PLUS 12 P AGES 2 yr deputation at Centre must for IPS officers of SP/DIG rank M UKESH RANJAN @ New Delhi FACING an acute shortage of Indian Police Service (IPS) officers at the Centre, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has amended promotion guidelines to make Central deputation mandatory for empanelment to senior ranks. In an order, the MHA has said IPS officers would now be required to complete a minimum of two years of Central deputation at the rank of Superintendent of Police (SP) and Deputy Inspector General (DIG), or an equivalent level, to be eligible for empanelment as Inspector General (IG) or its equivalent cadre. The decision follows repeated reminders from the MHA to state governments to nominate an adequate number of IPS officers for Central deputation in line with the Central Deputation Reserve (CDR). These reminders have come even from the level of Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, highlighting persistent gaps in staffing at the Centre, particularly at the SP and DIG levels. The revised guidelines will apply to IPS officers of the 2011 batch onwards. A senior MHA official said younger IPS officers have shown reluctance for Central deputation due to the appeal of field postings in districts where they lead police forces and exercise direct command.