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 | P7 chennai l saturday l january 09, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 22 l late city EDITION day after riots Pressure UP to remove Trump from Oval office E x p r e s s N e w s Se 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. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer met Vice President Mike Pence and asked him to invoke the 25th Amendment, which allows the V-P to take over if the President is incapacitated, but he rejected it. Pelosi later told the military to prevent Trump from initiating hostilities or ordering a nuclear strike. She also said Democrats will start the process to impeach Trump if he does not leave office. 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 , 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 apparently 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 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.  P14 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 e s s N e w s Se 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 it will not repeal the laws but is ready to make amendments. The government 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 relating to the farm protest 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 ministers that they will fight till their demands are met. The union leaders also did not take break for lunch or tea while the ministers took frequent breaks to discuss the situation. Some farmer leaders flashed placards that read bill wapsi toh ghar wapsi (repeal the laws and we’ll go home) and jitenge ya marenge (we’ll 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”. AIMPLB moves HC against letting off Advani, others in Babri demolition case ‘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 | P11 ‘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 N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow 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 dry run of vaccine held across tn Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami chaired a meeting on the vaccine dry run at the Secretariat in Chennai on Thursday REPORT ON: P2 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 Supreme Court. They urged the high court to summon the records from the trial court, hold all the 32 accused guilty and extend punishment to them by setting aside the CBI court order. Other than Advani, the special CBI court had also exonerated Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharati, Kalyan Singh, Vinay Katiyar, Sadhvi Ritambhara, and Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Representing the two petitioners, lawyer and convenor of Babri Masjid Action Committee Zafaryab Jilani said the revision petition was filed because the CBI did not file any appeal so far to challenge the verdict. tn revokes ‘100% seating’ order E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Chennai/Madurai THE Tamil Nadu government on Friday withdrew the order permitting 100 per cent seating in theatres and reverted to the earlier relaxation of 50 per cent capacity . The move comes in the wake of the Union government asking the State to comply with the guidelines issued by the Minis- try of Home Affairs. Earlier in the day the Madras High Court , and its Madurai Bench, too, had asked the government to reconsider its decision of allowing full seating capacity . The government has, however, permitted theatres to run additional shows, based on the HC order, taking into consideration the losses faced by the cinema fraternity, especially theatre full report on: p2 owners. Labourer raped in Nagai temple, two arrested A nt o n y F e r nan d o @ Nagapattinam A 40-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped by two men at a temple near Nagapattinam on Wednesday night, sparking outrage. The suspects were held late on Thursday and are being questioned. The woman, sources say, is a daily wager from Vedaranyam, and her husband had died two years ago. She moved to Nagapattinam with her two daughters following the Gaja Cyclone, in search of a livelihood. She was staying in a rented home at Velipalayam, and was working as a construction labourer. The men who allegedly attacked her, M Arulraj (25) and K Anand (24), had reportedly been harassing her for a while. “She knew the suspects as they are from the same locality. They had been troubling her for some time,” Nagapattinam Superintendent of Police Om Prakash Meena said. As she started feeling intimidated, she decided not to stay alone at nights and had been going to her sister’s house in the same area with her daughters to sleep for the past few days.  continued on: p5