KOLLAM l friday l December 18, 2020 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION now, you can win medals in yogasana at national level After granting it recognition last month, sports ministry has formally categorised yogasana as a competitive sport Groundwork over, competitions next classification of medal events The initiative taken by sports and AYUSH ministries wants to encourage yoga, spread awareness about its benefits and help improve physical and mental wellbeing of the people. A National Yogasana Sport Federation of India has been established for preservation and development of yoga as a competitive sport. An automated scoring system has been developed. ■ ■ To be included in Khelo India Games. A total of 51 medals have been proposed in four events and seven categories at nationals Events proposed include traditional yogasana, artistic yogasana (single and pair), rhythmic yogasana (pair, free flow/group yogasana), individual championship and team championship 2021 first national championship proposed for the sport 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 Defeat bares Cong feud Clamour for change of leadership in state Cong unit grows after civic poll debacle, AICC says corrective measures will do, PAC meeting chalks out future course of action Muslim League blames Congress for debacle E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ T’Puram/Kochi A DAY after the UDF suffered a stunning setback in the local body polls, a clamour for change of leadership rocked the Congress camp on Thursday While . the outburst of a few senior leaders in public, with the state assembly elections only months away, should have surprised even the CPM-led ruling front, the high command tried to defuse the tension by ruling out a change atop the state unit and asking only for “corrective measures”. “Deliberations have to be initiated on why the Jose K Mani faction had to leave the UDF. There should not have been any confusion on the local-level adjustments with the Welfare Party of India (WPI). But the current imbroglio does not warrant a leadership change,” AICC general secretary K C Venugopal told reporters in New Delhi. The members of the Political Af fairs Committee (PAC), which huddled together at Indira Bhavan for close to six hours on Thursday, unleashed a tirade on the KPCC leader- KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran addresses the Political Affairs Committee meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday | Express Drop in UDF tally 825 UDF seat share ship for coming out with confusing and conflicting statements on the WPI. The PAC swung into action and chalked o u t a s e t o f c o r r e c t ive measures. KPCC general secretaries and secretaries have been summoned to the venue on Saturday to deliberate further on them. Meetings will also be held at the constituency and block levels to take stock of the poll debacle. Earlier, taking a cue from for mer KPCC chief K Muraleedharan’s outburst de- 8,022 2015 seats 8,847 2020 manding a “surgery” in state Congress, two fellow MPs representing northern constituencies, K Sudhakaran and Rajmohan Unnithan, lashed out at the leadership. Sudhakaran, who had eyed the KPCC president post, said change was inevitable. “People have no trust in the leadership and a change is inevitable. The top brass does not have any commanding power over the party’s rank and file,” said Sudhakaran.  ● More on P2 EDIT: LESSONS FROM THE KERALA LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS | P6 Muslim League has blamed Congress for the poll defeat. “The public squabbling of Congress leaders has tarnished the image of the UDF and the alliance with the Welfare Party adversely affected it,” said Kunhalikutty. BJP to take stock of poll performance A meeting of the BJP’s core group — the highest decisionmaking body of the party at the state level — will be held, likely on Saturday, to take stock of the local body election results which offered the party a mixed bag. P2 CM writes to PM on agencies’ inquiries Conveying his displeasure about the national probe agencies, CM Pinarayi Vijayan alleged in a letter to PM Narendra Modi that orchestrated campaigns were being launched to defame the state’s political leadership. P5 Raveendran appears before Didi fumes as ED, quizzed for over 13 hrs MHA transfers E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Kochi C M Raveendran, chief minister’s additional private secretary, arrives for interrogation at the ED office in Kochi on Thursday | Express HC rejects plea to rein in ED Kochi: The High Court dismissed the plea filed by C M Raveendran seeking a stay on the summons issued to him by the ED. The court said there was no basis for the worry that the petitioner would be forced to give statements against his will, as the agency changed the date for his appearance on three occasions on his request. TWO days after approaching the Kerala High Court seeking a stay on the summons issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s additional private secretary C M Raveendran appeared at the agency’s office in Kochi around 9am on Thursday . The central investigation agency, which is probing the money laundering angle in the sensational Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case, had served four notices on Raveendran, who, however, skipped the interrogation citing Covid-19 infection and post-Covid ailments. According to sources in the ED, the questioning started around 10am and went on for 13.5 hours. “He was asked about his connection with gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh and his role in various government projects such as KFON, Smart City and LIFE Mission,’’ an ED source ● More on P5 said.  EXPRESS READ KSRTC to resume operation of all services today BJP’s ‘Jai Shri Ram’ banner on govt building sparks row T’Puram: KSRTC will resume operation of all its services on Friday. A directive in this regard has been given by KSRTC CMD Biju Prabhakar to all unit officers. The relay services of fast passengers and super fast services will continue, the CMD said. Palakkad: A video of BJP workers climbing atop the Palakkad municipal office building and rolling down two banners — one of which read Jai Shri Ram and the other with photos of PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah — has triggered a row on social media. P4 Bengal officers P r onab M ondal @ Kolkata Ignoring the West Bengal government’s objections, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday issued transfer orders of three IPS officers of Bengal cadre, who were responsible for BJP chief J P Nadda’s security during his visit to the state last week. The three officers — Rajeev Mishra (IG, South Bengal), Praveen Tripathi (DIG, Presidency Range) and Bholanath Pandey (SP, Diamond Harbour) — have been transferred to Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Seema Suraksha Bal and Police Research Bureau, respectively . The Mamata Banerjee government has been maintaining it will not relieve the officers for central deputation. Reacting to Thursday’s transfer order, a furious Mamata termed it “completely unacceptable” and “a colourable exercise of power and blatant misuse of emergency provision of IPS Cadre Rule 1954”. Hitting out at the MHA, she tweeted, “This move, particularly before the elections, is against the basic tenets of the federal structure. We wouldn’t allow this brazen attempt by the Centre to control the State machinery by proxy!” Classes X, XII & degree courses to start on Jan 1 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ T’Puram A HIGH-LEVEL meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday decided to start academic sessions for students of Classes 10 and 12 and final-year graduate and post- graduate courses from January 1, with certain conditions. Only half the number of students should be present and classes can be conducted in morning/afternoon shifts. The SSLC and Plus-II examinations will be held from March 17 to 30, strictly adhering to Covid protocol. Classes for 10 and 12 are aimed at helping the students prepare for the practical exams to be held as part of CBSE schools to follow suit T’Puram: The CBSE schools too have decided to start sessions of Classes X and XII from January 1. National Council of CBSE Schools said it is in talks with various stakeholders and will announce the dates of the Board examinations soon. the public examinations. School-based revision and doubt clearance sessions --- a follow-up of online classes --- for students of Classes 10 and 12 will also begin on January 1. Students must have the parents’ consent to attend these sessions. Model examinations and counselling to reduce mental stress will also be conducted for students of classes 10 and 12. The online mode of instruction for classes 1 to 12 will continue. Classes will also begin in agriculture and fisheries universities from January 1. For medical college students, Classes will start on January 1 for students in second year and above. Four-member committee Ready for talks: Tikait The Sanyukta Kisan Morch, an umbrella body of 40 farmers unions, decided to form a fourmember internal committee to deal with all issues arising from the Supreme Court’s intervention in the protest under the leadership of Balbir Singh Rajewal, president of BKU (Rajewal) Bharatiya Kisan Union national president Naresh Tikait said, “We are ready for dialogue. If the government takes two steps back, the farmers will follow suit. We respect everything that the Supreme Court has stated. Whatever panel is formed, sensible people should be on it.” Farmers protesting at the Singhu border in Delhi on Thursday | Shekhar Yadav Put agri laws on ice, farmers have right to protest, says SC K an u Sa r da @ New Delhi Asking the Centre whether it could put in abeyance its three farm sector reform laws till negotiations with the agitators are on, the Supreme Court on Thursday said farmers have a constitutional right to continue their protest as long as their dissent does not led to any kind of violence. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde asked Attorney General K K Venugopal whether the government could give an assurance to keep the implementation of the farm laws on hold. While Venugopal said he will have to seek instructions as he was not sure if this was a viable solution, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that it was not possible to put the im- plementation of the laws on hold. Refusing to order the eviction of farmers from Delhi’s borders, the court said: “A protest is constitutional as long as it does not cause violence or destroy life. It can continue while the committee we propose can hold deliberations. We are likely to propose names like P Sainath for the committee.” CJI Bobde added, “We are also Indian, we are familiar with the plight of farmers and are sympathetic to their cause. You (farmers) have to only alter the way the protest is going.” The Punjab government, represented by P Chidambaram, supported the proposal to form a committee. The bench gave liberty to all parties to approach the court during winter P7 vacations.  BJP readies to fight ‘motivated campaign’ New Delhi: Union ministers Amit Shah, Narendra Singh Tomar and Piyush Goyal went into a huddle with the BJP national general secretaries at the party headquarters, with indications emerging that it is gearing up for the political challenge thrown up by the farmers protesting at the capital’s doorstep. Unions to consult four top apex court lawyers Farmer unions said they will first consult four top Supreme Court lawyers — Prashant Bhushan, Colin Gonsalves, Dushyant Dave and H S Phoolka — before taking a call on the SC impleading them in the case and forming of an impartial committee to resolve the matter