Indian tamasha at capitol Hill  About 20-25 people of Indian origin were part of the pro-Trump mob that stormed the US Capitol building on Thursday  But the one who caught the eye was Vinson Palathingal, who was seen waving the Tricolour (pic). He hails from Kerala hyderabad l saturday l january 09, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 18 l LATE City EDITION day after riots Pressure UP to remove Trump from Oval office E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e Amid buzz on the bumbling US President Donald Trump weighing options to grant himself an unprecedented pardon, pressure kept building up on his immediate removal from office, a day after the maverick’s supporters staged a failed coup by storming the Capitol Hill after his instigation. It now transpires that Trump later tweeted a video calling for peace and asking the mob to stand down only after White House counsel Pat Cipollone warned he would face criminal charges for inciting riots if he doesn’t do so. The Department of Justice is already preparing to go after the mob and all those who played a role in the riots, including Trump. While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saw Trump’s incitement as sedition and demanded his immediate removal from office, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer pressed for invoking the 25th Amendment — which allows the Vice President to take over if the President is incapacitated — while also threatening to introduce a second impeachment motion. But Vice President Mike Pence declined the proposal. Trump has less than two weeks to complete his term as Joe Biden is scheduled to take his oath of office as the next President on Janu- twitter ary 20. But with Trump’s aides describing him as psychologically fragile, and one Republican likening him to mad King George, there were concerns over letting an unstable person stay at the helm even for a brief period. Be that as it may Trump will not , to be present at Biden’s swearing-in ceremony. “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” he tweeted. The thought of self-pardon aparently crossed his mind when he offered clemency to a whole bunch of people in his inner circle, including his relatives. While there is no clarity on what he wants to legally firewall himself against, his dodgy income tax statements, a recent phone call he made to rig the ballot count in Georgia and Thursday’s incendiary speech to his supporters that led to the riots could qualify for criminal prosecution.  P11 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 Focus shifts to SC as talks fail Negotiations with farmers inconclusive; next meet on Jan 15; apex court hearing on Jan 11 E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ New Delhi / Chandigarh The eighth round of talks between protesting farmers and the Centre on Friday could not end the stalemate as both sides stuck to their stated positions. They agreed to meet on January 15 to continue the talks. According to sources, the Centre made it clear that it will not repeal the laws but is ready to make amendments. It also claimed many farmer organisations have supported the laws. The agitating farmers were told the Supreme Court will decide how to break the deadlock, sources said. The SC is likely to hear the case on January 11. The meeting at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi ended in less than two hours. Following Centre’s statement, some farmer leaders lost their cool and told the minis- ters that they will fight till their demands are met. The leaders also did not break for lunch or tea while the ministers took frequent breaks to discuss the situation. Some farmer leaders flashed placards bill wapsi toh ghar wapsi (repeal the laws and we’ll go home) and jitenge ya marenge (we will win or die). While Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar expressed hope that there will be some breakthrough in the next meeting, most union leaders said they have no such hopes. Bharatiya Kisan Union, Punjab (Rajewal Group) president Balbir Singh Rajewal said, “We knew there will be no decision in this meeting as the government has been adamant, but still we came for the talks. We will attend the January 15 meeting too, as we don’t want the government to claim that we are running away from talks”. Tension at UoH over road to housing society M aya n k T i w a r I @ Hyderabad ‘Govt tries to tire out farmers’ The Congress on Friday alleged the Centre is trying to tire out the farmers and said repealing the farm laws is the only solution | P7 ‘Solution unlikely in next meet’ Farmers’ union leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said he doesn’t expect any breakthrough in the January 15 meeting. “We told the govt as you are not repealing the laws and not ready to talk, face the agitation,” he said Tense moments were witnessed at the University of Hyderabad’s (UoH) East campus on Friday when students tried to stop the district administration from laying a road across the premises allegedly for the convenience of a gated community Police personnel, who were at . the spot in strength, detained about 15 students. In the morning, the district administration deployed five earthmovers to pave the way for laying the road, which began uprooting Taxmen thrashed during inspection E N S @ Peddapalli Two Income Tax (I-T) Department officials were injured, one of them critically, when two drunk men attacked them while they were auditing the records of a stone crushing firm at Nandi Medaram in Dharmaram mandal here on Thursday night. The officials were conducting a routine audit with two of their colleagues Continued on P4 at C5 Infra.  Babri demolition AIMPLB moves HC against letting off Advani, others NA M I TA B A J PAI @ Lucknow Earthmovers clear the ground for laying a road at UoH’s East campus on Friday | RVK Rao lush greenery, plants and trees in the East campus. The students swung into action and tried to stop this. As the clash turned intense, police detained them. The students alleged that encroachers, backed by the Telangana government, broke the campus’ compound wall near the Indian School of Business to lay the road. The construction will destroy the biodiversity, they Continued on P3 contended.  Loan apps go easy on clients p i n t o d eepa k @ Hyderabad Organisers of instant loan apps seem to have stepped down on harassing customers while recovering loans. Police, during investigation into the cases of harassment by loan app org anisers, have found that telecallers, unlike earlier when they used to hurl abuses at customers, are now only urging them to repay the loans. Unable to bear the harassment, six persons have already ended their life in Telangana alone. The loan app organisers used to shame the customers on social media platforms, by sharing their photographs and personal details, branding them as “fraudsters.” They used to call up the contacts of the loan defaulters and pressure them to make their friends clear the dues.  Continued on P3 Two Ayodhya residents on Friday moved a revision petition in the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court challenging the special CBI court’s acquittal of all 32 accused persons, including former deputy prime minister L K Advani, in the Babri Masjid demolition case. The special CBI judge S K Yadav had delivered the order on September 30, 2020 — his last day in office. The plea states the trial court committed an error by not convicting the accused persons despite ample evidence against them. “The judge did not appreciate the evidence of conspiracy in the right perspective,” the petitioners alleged. The petition was filed by Haji Mahboob (74) and Sayyad Akhlaq Ahmad (81) on behalf of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. The duo was also party to the Ayodhya title suit in the SC. They urged the HC to summon the records from the trial court, hold all the 32 accused guilty and extend punishment by setting aside the CBI court order.  Continued on P9