THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l tuesday l december 15, 2020 l `7.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION Tata sons among multiple bidders for ailing Air India The company has put in an expression of interest for buying the government’s stake in the loss-making national carrier us-based interups inc also in the fray airline’s net debt at E58,255 crore Tata Sons has not decided yet as to whether it will go solo or bid through a partner, sources said. There were reports, however, that it bid through Air Asia India, in which it holds the majority share. Apart from Tata Sons, a group of 219 Air India employees has also submitted its expression of interest for the carrier in partnership with US-based Interups Inc | P10 ■ ■ The government had sweetened the deal this time by giving freedom to potential buyers to decide how much of the airline’s debt they want to take on as part of the deal Air India had a net debt of `58,255 crore on March 31, 2019. About J29,500 crore of this was moved to Air India Assets Holdings Ltd Dec 28 when qualified bidders will be invited to start final bidding CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI No retrograde step, promises Rajnath Singh 78.64% THIRD PHASE SEES BIGGEST TURNOUT The final phase of the local body polls in Kozhikode, Malappuram, Kannur and Kasaragod districts witnessed the biggest turnout as Covid protocol went for a toss in several places. Violence erupted in many areas, with police officers too bearing the brunt near Nadapuram, Kozhikode, forcing them to use tear gas. E X P RESS NEWS SERVI C E @ Kochi Crack appears in farmers’ unity; thousands observe daylong fast; deadlock persists Exp r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ New Delhi/Jaipur Thousands of farmers observed a day-long token fast and others continued their protest, but there was no meeting ground yet to resolve the standoff on the new farm sector laws, which entered the nineteenth day on Monday. However, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh appeared to reach out to the farmers, saying the Modi government will never take any anti-farmer steps. “There is no question of taking retrograde steps against our agricultural sector ever. The recent reforms have been undertaken with the best interests of India’s far mers in mind,” Rajnath said. Meanwhile, cracks appeared among the protesting farmers as the National Working Group of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSSC) chucked its national convener V M Singh after he announced his willingness for talks with the governnment. “The National Working Group of the AIKSCC decides to do away with the post of convenor. Henceforth, all decisions shall be taken only by the working group,” it said in a statement. V M Singh, who heads a union of cane and paddy farmers in UP, said he is ready for talks and drop the demand for repealing the three laws, if the Centre brings another law to guarantee the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism for all farm produce. In Rajasthan, farmers continued to block the Delhi-Jaipur highway at Shahjahanpur and the number of protestors grew by about a thousand despite the dipping temperature. Observing that agriculture was the mother sector, Rajnath said the government was always open to discussion and dialogue. He pointed out that agriculture was the one sector that avoided the adverse effects of the pandemic and managed to come out stronger. Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar met home minister Amit Shah and A Covid patient clad in PPE kit arriving at GVHSS Payyanakkal in Kozhikode for casting her vote | Manu R Mavelil 70,27,534 highest in Kozhikode Talks will definitely happen: Tomar Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the Centre was ready to discuss the laws threadbare clause by clause, adding the next round of talks with the farmers “will definitely happen”. Farmer leaders have to decide and convey when they are ready, he said discussed the way forward. Tomar also met a delegation of the All India Kisan Coordination Committee, which extended support to the farm laws. This is the fourth group of farmers that has extended support to the laws in last two P7 weeks.  express read HC rejects Ebrahim Kunju’s bail petition Maid’s death: Women’s panel seeks fresh probe Kochi: The High Court on Monday dismissed the bail petition of former public works minister V K Ebrahim Kunju, the fifth accused in Palarivattom flyover case. “The probe is on and very serious allegations have been raised against a former minister of the state. Therefore, the petitioner is not entitled to bail on merit at this stage,” the court observed. The court also asked the need to release him on bail since Kunju is under hospital care. P5 Kochi: The Kerala Women’s Commission sought a fresh probe into the incident in which a Tamil Nadu native woman died after falling from an apartment complex in Kochi. Commission chairperson M C Josephine said the role of the flat owner, Imthiyaz Ahamed, should be probed in detail as there was an earlier case against him for physically assaulting a 14-yearold girl who was employed as a maid at his house. P5 P Krishnamoorthy Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha (1989) and Perumthachan (1991) to name just a few. Ace filmmaker Hariharan, who helmed the memorable Oru Vadakkkan Veeragadha and Parinayam, reminisced 77.14% in Kasaragod BJP candidate Vasu Kunjan suffers a wild boar attack at Kodanchery in Kozhikode Dec 16 Day of counting A REPOLL in the violencemarred booths in Kizhakkambalam panchayat is unlikely. The district administration seems to be less keen on it as the collector has only given the details of the action taken against those who resorted to violence, in the report submitted before the State Election Commission. “We have given a report on the action taken by the police against those who resorted to violence at the polling booths in the panchayat,” said District Collector S Suhas. Twenty20, the non-political organisation which has been ruling the panchayat since 2015, had filed a petition before the collector seeking repoll in booths1 and 2 in ward 7 of Kizhakkambalam panchayat. A group of people had attacked a couple of voters at the booths, saying they would not be allowed to vote as they did not belong to the panchayat and did not possess valid docu- Jab approval may take more time Journalist killed in hit-and-run case, police form special investigation team S u m i S u k a n ya D u t ta @T’Puram @ New Delhi Though the Centre on Monday advised states to be ready for the Covid-19 vaccine rollout in the next 10 days, India’s drug regulator is unlikely to green-light the vaccine makers who sought emergency use authorisation (EUA) by then, officials told this newspaper. For, submitting the additional data requested by the subject expert committee of the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) on Covid-19 last Wednesday, on the vaccine candidates will take time. The committee had sought more information on the safety and immunogenicity of two coronavirus vaccines that were evaluated — Covaxin by Bharat Biotech and Covishield by Serum Institute of India (SII), developed by AstraZeneca-Oxford University . These companies, along with US-based Pfizer, whose application has not been reviewed so far, have applied for emergency approval in P7 India so far.  Genius who gave grandeur to history P Krishnamoorthy, who provided the fitting tinge to background sets of period movies and elevated the status of art directors in South Indian cinema, passed away in Chennai on Monday. He was 77. It was not merely aesthetics and precocious talent which set Krishnamoorthy apart from his peers. His thorough grasp of epics as well his familiarity with legends and folklore was also instrumental in making him a go-to man which manifested itself in the evergreen Swathi Thirunal (1987), Vaishali (1988), Bombs were hurled at the house of BJP candidate Velikkal Suresh who contested against the CPM candidate in ward number 21 at Anthur municipality, which recorded 89% voter turnout, in Kannur lowest 1943-2020 S h i b u B S @ Kochi In Kadannapally, UDF supporter Mufeed, 18, was held for trying to cast the vote of his brother who is in Gulf Bombs hurled at BJP man’s home 2 voters collapsed and died (one each in Kozhikode and Kasaragod) In Muzhappilangad, Kannur, a UDF supporter could not cast his vote Bogus as it was already polled voting by someone else 79% cast their votes in the final phase of elections Farmers at the Singhu border during their protest against the farm reform laws, in New Delhi on Monday | PTI Dist admn not keen, repolling less likely in Kizhakkambalam about his long association with Moorthy . “By birth, he was not a Malayali. But Moorthy was our first choice whenever we planned movies based on Kerala’s folklore and myths, mainly because, after narrating the details and telling him of our requirements, he would keep on researching. Back then, there was no internet. But he did painstaking research using books and reference guides. Moorthy’s genius was such that the sets he used to come up with were in sync with what the director had in mind,” said Hari● More on P4 haran.  E X P RESS NEWS SERVI C E In a mysterious hit-and-run case, Thiruvananthapurambased visual and digital journalist S V Pradeep, 48, was killed in an accident near Karakkamandapam here on Monday evening. The vehicle that hit him did not stop but sped away. With the UDF and the BJP demanding a high-level investigation into the accident, the state government has constituted a special team led by the Fort Assistant Commissioner to investigate the matter. Pradeep was instrumental in exposing various sensational issues. The Nemom police said the cident in which the main acaccident occurred close to Haji cused is IAS officer Sriram Masthan restaurant around Venkitaraman. 3pm. The police said Pradeep The Nemom police said the was travelling on a twoaccident site was under wheeler when he was CCTV coverage and that hit by another vehicle they have recovered visthat was heading in the uals of the incident. “According to onlooksame direction. ers, it was a Swaraj All aspects of the inMazda lorry that hit cident are being probed the journalist. There with the immediate foare no direct eye-witcus on tracing the vehiS V Pradeep nesses to the incident. cle that caused the acThose who rushed to cident, the police said. This is the second case of ac- the spot after hearing the cident death involving a jour- crash sound said the scribe . nalist within city limits. In Au- was knocked down by a lorry gust 2019, K M Basheer — a Visuals show that two other scribe with Malayalam daily vehicles were moving close to ● More on P5 . Siraj — was killed in a road ac- the lorry  SC issues notices over confession in Kerala Church Exp r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre, Kerala government and 11 Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church bodies on a petition challenging the practice of mandatory confession in the Church in the southern state. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde issued the notices after senior advocate Sanjay Parikh submitted that the top court had earlier restrained the Kerala High Court from passing orders on issues related to the Church. Petitioners Mathew T Matgachan, Shaj PJ and Jose V J, members of the Church, alleged that the practice was leading to several problems, including sexual exploitation of women and blackmailing of both men and women followers. Under the religious practice followed by the Church, its members are required to undergo ‘sacramental confession’ before a priest to absolve themselves of sins. According to the practice, it’s a condition for fulfilling the temporal and spiritual needs of being a Christian and the one who doesn’t do that would be denied the benefit of such services from the Church. 16 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express ments stipulated by the Election Commission. The voters exercised their franchise under police protection later in the day . Sabu M Jacob, president of Twenty20, said those who attacked the voters on the polling day belonged to the CPM and the Congress. “Majority of those who attacked the voters were CPM activists while a few belonged to the Congress. It’s unfortunate that the report filed by the district collector didn’t recommend a repoll. None of the officials had even bothered to collect statements from those voters who were injured in the attack. We have all the evidence on the violence and the attack unleashed by the hooligans on the voters,” he added. According to Twenty20, 250 voters were also threatened by a group of local people allegedly belonging to mainstream political parties and the voters had to stay away from the booths fearing attack for supporting the organisation. Nath prepares to step into Patel’s shoes? Exp r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ New Delhi W i t h fo r m e r M a d hya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath’s name doing the rounds to replace late party veteran Ahmed Patel as the bridge between the Congress high command and the party he on Mon, day hinted at retiring from active politics. His comments came at a time when the party is already wracked by dissidence, call for introspection and settling of lead● More on P7 ership issues.