KOCHI l wednesday l february 17, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 20 l LATE city EDITION formality complete Needing seven wickets to win, India posted a massive 317-run win against England in the second Test on Day Four home truth patel rap local touch over to motera Virat Kohli is already India’s most successful Test captain ever and the win in Chennai was his 21st at home. As of now, this is a joint-home record with former skipper M S Dhoni Left-arm spinner Axar Patel had a memorable debut. He picked up five wickets, including that of Joe Root, in the second innings. He is the ninth Indian to take five wickets on debut R Ashwin, who was declared the Man of the Match, dedicated the victory to his home crowd (Chennai). “I’m speechless. I’ve played four Tests here and this is the most special,” he said Both the teams will be travelling to Ahmedabad next for the third day and night Test. After levelling the series, India would be looking to consolidate the lead in the pink ball match 38 India team celebrates after winning the second Test in Chennai on Tuesday. The four-Test series is 1-1 level | BCCI | P15 runs scored by england’s last pair, the highest in match for visitors 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 Data loaded, Pinarayi trains guns on Chandy CM says his predecessor misleading job aspirants and people over appointment row, adds it won’t yield results in assembly elections E X PRESS NE W S SERVICE @ T’Puram Armed with data, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday sought to turn the tables on the Opposition over the issue of appointments to government service ahead of the assembly elections. Launching a scathing attack, Pinarayi said the Opposition and former chief minister Oommen Chandy have been misleading job aspirants and people over the appointment row. The CM’s tirade comes a day after aspirants protesting in front of the Secretariat fell on Chandy’s feet and wept when he called on them on Monday “If . anyone must fall on the feet of candidates, it’s the same person who called on them and created such scenes,” Pinarayi said. Ignoring facts, the UDF has been unleashing a campaign against the government and whipping up issues with an eye on elections, the CM said. “But that won’t yield results,” he said. His comments assume significance in the backdrop of Chandy taking over the mantle of the UDF campaign and raising issues like Sabarimala and appointments to pin down the state government. While listing out the comparative statistics of Public Service Commission appointments during the current LDF and the previous UDF governments, Pi- Fresh Covid wave in India? S u m i S u k a n ya D u t ta @ New Delhi It may be too early to say if India is heading towards a fresh wave of Covid-19, but some states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Haryana are perhaps showing early signs of a resurgence. Overall for the country, too, beginning February 6, there have been quite a few days when the active Covid-19 cases have gone up, as compared to the previous day, after staying flat for weeks. In Maharashtra that had a heavy case load, the graph started flattening last month. But on February 14, it recorded 4,092 new cases. “The situation in Kerala, on the other hand, seems to be improving,” said health economist Rijo M John. narayi hinted the UDF had written to the PSC chairman seeking to reduce the three-year duration of the ranklist for the uniformed forces to one year in 2014. “A circular stopping appointments in the last grade category was issued when the Congress was in power at the Centre and now they shed tears for the last grade rankholders,” he said. He also said the UDF coordination committee headed by Chandy in 2002 at Kovalam, rec, ommended to cut short vacancies and freeze appointments following which the state witnessed a 32-day strike. “Nobody can forget these realities,” the ● More on P4 CM said. EXPRESS READ Eapen arrested in dollar smuggling case Kochi: Customs on Tuesday arrested Unitac Builders managing director Santhosh Eapen in the dollar smuggling case, but a special court granted him bail. P4 20pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express WHAT THEY FILLED G ayat h r i M a n i a n d S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ New Delhi/Mumbai Appointments made to various posts during UDF & LDF govts as presented by the CM Posts UDF LDF LDC 17,711 19,120 Police 4,796 13,825 LPSA 1,630 7,322 802 4,446 Nurse (health) 1,608 3,607 Asst surgeon 2,435 3,324 UPSA Nurse (med edu) 924 2,200 Anticipatory bail to green activist as police Zoom in The UDF will never show any grudge towards those employees who have been appointed during the tenure of the LDF government. The UDF government had not cancelled a single PSC rank list Oommen Chandy, former CM Ignoring facts, the UDF has been unleashing a campaign against the government and whipping up issues with an eye on elections. But that won’t yield results Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister Two of the three activists named in the farmer protest toolkit FIR got relief from courts even as the Delhi Police ramped up efforts to build its case against them. Environment activist Shantanu Muluk was granted anticipatory transit bail by Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday for 10 days while the main bench of the HC reserved its order on a similar bail plea by lawyeractivist Nitika Jacob for Wednesday Meanwhile, a Del. hi court allowed Bengaluru’s student-activist Disha Ravi to speak with family over phone for 15 minutes and meet with her lawyer for 30 minutes ever y d ay wh i l e i n p o l i c e custody . Chief Metropolitan Magistrate allowed her to get warm clothes, masks and books and ordered the Delhi Police to provide a copy of the FIR and remand documents to Disha. Delhi Police have written to Zoom app to provide details of the contents, locations and the people who attended the January 11 virtual meeting organised by Pro-Khalistani group Poetic Justice Foundation. Joint Commissioner of Police (Cyber Cell) Prem Nath said about 60-70 people, including Disha, Jacob and Muluk — whom he identified as creators and editors of the toolkit — attended the meeting. N O T T O C O N T E S T po l l s Pisharody in Cong: ‘It has leaders who can laugh’ E X PRESS NE W S SERVICE @ Alappuzha FOLLOWING in the footsteps of his friend Dharmajan Bolgatty, stand-up comedian, actor and director Ramesh Pisharody too has joined the Congress. He attended the Aishwarya Kerala Yatra led by Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala at Haripad in Alappuzha on Tuesday Pisha. rody, however, said he would not contest in the upcoming assembly elections. Former chief minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC chief Mullappally Ramachandran welcomed Pisharody at the venue. At the event, Pisharody imitated Chandy’s speech amid applause and cheers by party workers and supporters. He also explained the reasons behind his decision. “I’m joining a party which has got leaders who can laugh,” said ● More on P4 Pisharody  .