tirupati l sunday l january 31, 2021 l `8.00 l PAGES 24 l late city EDITION Covid impact: no Ranji for first time in 87 years BCCI not to conduct board’s flagship domestic product for the first time since inception. Two-month bio-bubble ‘not feasible’ list A, U-19 and women’s events on The board’s secretary, Jay Shah, in a letter to state units, revealed that they would conduct the senior women’s 50-overs meet simultaneously with the men’s 50-overs meet. The BCCI will end the season with the U-19 event. “This has been decided after having received your feedback on the domestic season 2020-21,” Shah wrote in the letter. lack of clarity over compensation This is bad news for scores of match officials, including umpires and scorers. Most of them will end up working for fewer days. Not yet known if BCCI will up with a compensation package for them ■ It is expected that the players who will miss out from Ranji revenue will be compensated. This decision was taken at the AGM ■ Shah power BCCI secretary elected as chief of the asian cricket council 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 Peddireddy, Botcha issue notices for Privilege Motion against Nimmagadda Bapu’s anniv & Tikait tonic E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada 1 Day-long fast by protesting farmers on Gandhiji’s death anniversary peaceful. They observed it as Sadbhavana Diwas (Harmony Day) after Republic Day violence 2 Singhu border turns fortress with several layers of barricades and increased presence of security personnel after violence erupted between ‘locals’ and farmers on Friday 3 Agitation gains further momentum as BKU national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait’s emotional appeal draws more farmers to Ghazipur protest site from UP, Uttarakhand 4 Internet services temporarily suspended at the Singhu, Ghazipur, and Tikri borders. Net connectivity already suspended in 14 districts in Haryana 5 Delhi Police scanning over 1,700 video clips and CCTV footage sourced from the public on the tractor rally violence on Republic Day to identify the culprits BKU’s Rakesh Tikait addresses a rally at Ghazipur; and Prime Minister Modi pays tribute to Gandhiji at Rajghat | PTI Offer to freeze farm laws for 18 months stands: PM Oppn for probe into outside elements infiltrating farmers’ stir E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi With the Opposition parties gearing up to corner the government on the controversial farm laws in the ongoing Parliament session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the door to accept the Centre’s proposal to stay the laws for 18 months is still open. Speaking at an all-party meeting, the PM said the government’s stand was the same as it was on January 22, when the proposal to keep the laws in abeyance was made during the talks with the protesting farmers’ unions. “During the all-party meeting PM Modi assured that the government was approaching the farmers’ issue with an open mind. The PM said the agriculture min- Iran angle, Al Qaeda under lens E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Evidence of pentaerythritol tetranitrate, or PETN, a high grade explosive chemical mostly used by the Al Qaeda group, was found during probe on a low intensity blast outside the Israel embassy here on Friday . Sources said the handling of the chemicals is not easy and the blast has to be the handiwork of a group that is experienced in using them. The probe agencies feel local agents of the group could have carried out the attack. While the police have not ruled out any possibility in, cluding the role of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intellig ence, they are also investigating the Iranian angle. An envelope with a letter addressed to the Israel ambassador to India was found, which refers to Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and nuclear scientist Dr Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, both of whom were slain last year. The letter was found 12 yards away from the spot. WIT H T H I S I S S U E Best Foot Forward PLUS 12 PAGES ister’s proposal still stands,” parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said. Modi stressed that the government had an open mind and was ready for a discussion on the issue, adding the far mers could always approach the government as agriculture minister Narendra Tomar was just a phone call. In the meeting, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, Trinamool Congress’s Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Shiv Sena MP Vinayak Raut and Akali Dal member Balwinder Singh Bhunder also spoke at length on the farmers’ agitation. Most Opposition leaders were of the view that the government needs to discuss the laws again in both Houses of Parliament and also seek to address the misgivings of the agitating farmers. They also asked the government not to see them as enemies. The Opposition condemned the violence during the tractor rally on January 26 but also demanded an investigation into how “outside elements” had infiltrated the far mers’ movement. The farmers made similar allegations, blaming Punjabi actoractivist Deep Sidhu for instigating the mob and planting a Sikh religious flag at Red Fort. Joshi said the budget session would take up 38 items — 33 bills and five financial items. Though it would be mainly devoted to business relating to the budget and a discussion on the motion of thanks on the President’s address, essential legislative and other business would also be taken up. The ongoing tussle between State Election Commissioner (SEC) Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar and the State government took a new turn on Saturday with two Cabinet Ministers serving notices to move Privilege Motion against the SEC accusing him of breaching their privileges by making libellous remarks and intimidating approach. Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy and Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Botcha Satyanarayana sent separate notices to the AP Legislative Assembly Speaker. In the notices, the two ministers SeC slaps notice on TDP over manifesto The State Election Commission on Saturday served a notice on the TDP seeking an explanation pertaining to release of the party manifesto for panchayat polls, are held on non-political basis. It set February 2 as the deadline for the submission of explanation by the TDP. It took strong objection to TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu releasing the manifesto, which is a violation of the orders issued by the SEC in this regard said the SEC made several castigating remarks against them, which are libellous in nature and far from truth in the letter reportedly written by him to the Governor. The tone and tenor of the letter is intimidating, the ministers said. “In his letter, he (SEC) alleged that I have crossed ‘Lakshmana Rekha’ and violated the Model Code of Conduct. Making allegations without any substantial proof amounts to breach of privilege. Being a senior member of the Legislative Assembly as well as a minister in the Cabinet, I have impeccable respect to all the Constitutional bodies and especially to the Election Commission. But, to my surprise, Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar in his letter made several baseless allegations with ulterior motive degrading me as an MLA as well as a minister in the public eye with disrespecting language and intimidating approach,’’ the ministers stated in the notices. The ministers said they would urge Assembly Speaker Tammineni Sitaram to summon SEC Ramesh P5 Kumar to the Assembly  . SEC insists on action against GAD Principal Secy Praveen E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada State Election Commissioner (SEC) Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar buffeted Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das on Saturday and in one of his letters to the CS, he insisted that action be taken against General Administration Department (GAD) Principal Secretary Praveen Prakash. Charging Praveen Prakash with making all-out efforts to thwart the video conference convened by the SEC, resulting in postponement of phase 1 of panchayat elections, Ramesh Kumar said that the SEC considered the matter very seriously . He reminded that the AP High Court directed the State government to cooperate with the SEC in P4 conduct of elections.