tirupati l thursday l march 04, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION final step to wtc final Will it be a turner? Who will India bring in? Will hosts make it to the summit clash? Questions aplenty as 4th Test begins | P11 lots at stake Rohit watch pitch talk Even if the last two Tests were poor for most batsmen, Rohit Sharma will beg to disagree. With a 161 and 66 in the last two Tests, the opener has led the way for India in the batting department With the last two Tests favouring spin excessively, there will be a lot of attention on the 22 yards. If initial reports coming out of Ahmedabad is to be believed, it is going to turn again rather early 28 Umesh likely India have proved that the first Test loss was a blip. Having recovered in convincing fashion, now the onus in on finishing the job. If they avoid defeat, they will advance to WTC Final in June Hosts will be pressed into at least one forced change. And that could be pace bowler Umesh Yadav, who has recovered from his calf injury. But expect them to play three spinners Members of the England team inspect the surface | BCCI | P11 The number of wickets spinners of both team took in 3rd test 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 Stung by sleazegate, Karnataka minister Ramesh Jarkiholi puts in his papers B a n s y K a l a p pa @ Bengaluru A day after purported sleaze videos of Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi surf a c e d , h e re s i g n e d f ro m the council of ministers on Wednesday, owning moral responsibility . In a four-line resignation letter, addressed to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, Jarkiholi said: “The allegations against Vocal celebs Anurag and Taapsee face I-T dept heat E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Mumbai/New Delhi In what was seen as a vindictive action against vocal celebs criticising the government, the Income Tax department on Wednesday raided 30 properties linked to actor Taapsee Pannu, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and his co-promoters in the now-dissolved Phantom Films in Pune and Mumbai. Both were questioned in Pune over alleged tax evasion, IT officials said. Searches were conducted on the premises linked to the Phantom Films, a production house co-promoted by Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl and Madhu Mantena. Exceed Entertainment, a talent house that manages actor Saif Ali Khan was also raided. Also, some executives of Kwan Talent Management, which handles actor Deepika Padukone’s account, were questioned. “The search will continue for the next couple of days to check the veracity of the submitted documents and actual income. Interlinked transactions are also being probed,” IT department sources said. The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi slammed the raids, saying the Centre was suppressing dissenting voices. Anurag and Taapsee are known critics of the BJP-led Centre. Taapsee had recently lashed out at a section of celebrities supporting the government after a Twitter post by pop singer Rihanna on the farmers’ agitation. me are far from the truth. It has to be investigated at the earliest. Though I’m confident about my innocence, taking moral responsibility I’m resigning from , my position as cabinet Minister. I request you to accept it.” He also sought an immediate inquiry into the episode. The chief minister forwarded the resignation to Governor Vajubhai Vala who “accepted the recommendation under Section Covaxin anxiety ends with phase 3 efficacy at 81% First internal analysis shows good results, reveals vaccine developer Bharat Biotech @ New Delhi If your insurance policy broker’s service is not satisfactory , you can now approach an ombudsman to seek redressal. For, the insurance ombudsman rules have just been throughly amended to bring brokers under its ambit. You can lodge your complaint against your insurance broker online. They can now be penalised for deficiency in service. The amended rules have enlarged the scope of complaints to the ombudsman to include disputes pertaining to deficiencies in service on the part of insurers, agents, brokers and other the Budget session of the state legislature session starting Thursday, had come as a huge embarrassment for the BJP government. Opposition leader Siddaramaiah said, “An FIR should be registered and the matter investigated.” `100 crore defamation suit threat Ramesh’s brother and BJP MLA Balachandra threatened to file `100 crore defamation case against those who released the ‘fake CD’ Keen contest unlikely SEC order on volunteers set aside The Andhra Pradesh High Court Wednesday set aside the order of the State Election Commission (SEC) to the district collectors to keep ward volunteers away from the process of municipal elections. The HC also stayed the implementation of the SEC order to keep the mobile phones of ward volunteers in safe custody till the end of municipal polls 33 YSRC - Pulivendula Elected 24 YSRC - Punganur unopposed 31 YSRC - Macherla India’s first homegrown Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin has been found to be nearly 81% effective in preventing infection, an interim analysis of the data from the vaccine’s phase 3 clinical trial in 25,800 volunteers has shown. The first interim analysis is based on 43 cases of Covid-19, of which 36 were observed in the placebo group and seven in the vaccine group, resulting in a point estimate of vaccine efficacy of 80.6%, said Bharat Biotech, the company that developed the vaccine along with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The phase 3 study enrolled 25,800 participants between 1898 years of age, including 2,433 over the age of 60 and 4,500 with comorbidities. This is a significant result considering Covaxin is already being used in the country’s massive Covid-19 vaccination drive, which in addition to healthcare and frontline workers, now also covers senior citizens and people above 45 with serious ailments. According to sources, the data safety monitoring board of the trial unblinded the study only on Wednesday afternoon and details such as how many severe cases of the disease were Ramesh Jarkiholi, who was one of the main architects in propping up the BJP government by resigning from the Congress along with 17 other MLAs, had on Tuesday maintained that he was innocent and would not resign. He was accused of sexually exploiting a woman, who had approached him seeking a job, multiple times. An RTI activist, Dinesh Kallahalli, had even com- E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Additional analysis Bharat Biotech is planning an additional interim analysis for 87 cases, and the final analysis is planned for 130 cases. All data from the analyses will be shared via pre-publication servers as well as submitted to a peer-reviewed journal reported in the two groups are now being analysed. Covaxin had received the restricted use authorisation, along with Serum Institute of India’s Covishield in January after which the first phase of the vaccination was started. The permission granted by the apex drug regulator without efficacy data had triggered criticism and resulted in slow acceptance of the vaccine. Krishna Ella, CMD of Bharat Biotech said the vaccine has also shown significant immunogenicity against emerging variants of Covid-19. In what is seen as a repeat of its performance in gram panchayat elections, the ruling YSRC has won several divisions unanimously in the municipal polls with Opposition TDP candidates and independents withdrawing their nominations on Wednesday. Pulivendula in Kadapa, Punganur in Chittoor and Piduguralla and Macherla municipalities in Guntur district were wrested by the YSRC with its candidates got elected in all wards unopposed. In municipal corporations too, the YSRC won a good number of divisions unanimously. It is set to win the YSRC repeats its performance in urban local body elections by winning several wards unanimously TDP ‘shifts’ candidates to B’luru TDP has reportedly shifted its candidates in the Kalyandurg municipal election to Bengaluru fearing that YSRC will make them withdraw from the contest at the last minute. TDP Kalyandurg in-charge Umamaheswara Naidu called the candidates for an important meeting to chalk out strategy for polls and shifted them to Bengaluru, sources said 33 YSRC - Piduguralla 37 YSRC - Chittoor Municipal Corporation March 10 March 14 Polling Results Chittoor Municipal Corporation as the YSRC candidates were elected unopposed in 37 of the total 50 divisions when last reports came in. Pulivendula municipality, the one represented by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, went in favour of the YSRC with the party candidates winning all the 33 wards unopposed. Pulivendula is a bastion of YS family and in the previous elections too, the party won 32 of the total 33 wards leaving just one to an independent. Same is the case with Punganur municipality, the citadel of Panchayat Raj Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy. In the recently held panchayat polls too, all the panchayats falling under the Assembly constituency were unanimously won by the YSRC supported candidates and the same was repeated in the civic polls. YSRC candidates were unanimously elected in all the 31 wards in Macherla and 33 in Piduguralla. In Palamaner district, the supporters of two parties clashed when some YSRC leaders tried to enter the municipal office. Alleging that the ruling party leaders were trying to force their candidates to withdraw from the contest, the TDP cadre tried to stop them leading to clash between the two groups. Police intervened and dispersed the clashing groups. Sanitation worker dies after first vaccine dose Guntur: A sanitation worker who was administered the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine on February 19, died at Tenali on Tuesday. It was alleged that M Durga Varaprasad (35) died due to Adverse Events Following Immunisation. Demanding announcement of `20 lakh ex gratia for Varaprasad, his kin staged a protest at the hospital on Wednesday. However, officials said the exact reason for the death of worker can only be ascertained after getting the postmortem report. inter mediaries.“Insurance brokers have been brought within the ambit of the ombudsman mechanism, by empowering the ombudsman to pass awards against insurance brokers,” the Union finance ministry said in its statement on Wednesday . A complaints management system will be created to enable policyholders track the status of their complaints. The ombudsman can use video conferencing. The government notified the amendments to the Insurance ombudsman Rules on March 2. “Amendments have been made for securing the independence and integrity of the ombudsman selection process,” the finance ministry said. vizag to get police command and control centre AP government gave its nod to set up `13.8-crore Police Command & Control Centre in Vizag instead of Vijayawada plained to Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Kamal Pant that her life was in danger. It is believed that the woman had met Jarkiholi seeking permission to fly drones over reservoirs in Karnataka for a documentary on the achievements of the department and the minister. Later on, he had reportedly promised her a job in Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. Gamechanger YSRC wins four civic bodies unanimously S u m i S u k a n ya D u t ta @ New Delhi Insurance brokers under ambit of ombudsman E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e 164 (1) of the Constitution’’. Soon after the scandal broke out, BJP national general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Arun Singh, is said to have communicated the party’s decision to the state leadership, keeping in mind the upcoming Assembly polls in five states, and also the Assembly and Lok Sabha bypolls and panchayat elections in the state. The allegation, just ahead of Srisailam decked up Sri Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Swamy temple at Srisailam illuminated for Maha Shivaratri Brahmotsavams at Srisailam, which will begin on Friday | Express Sasikala calls it quits in big poll boost to AIADMK T M u r u g a n a nd h a m @ Chennai IN a significant development that comes as a boost to the ruling AIADMK ahead of Assembly elections, VK Sasikala, the one-time confidante of former CM J Jayalalithaa, has announced that she is quitting active politics. The dramatic announcement, made late evening on Wednesday, ends speculation as to what role she would have played in the political landscape of Tamil Nadu. In a statement, Sasikala appealed to all loyalists of Amma (former CM J Jayalalithaa) to unite and work together against the “evil force that is DMK.” The letter further said, “I never desired for power or position. I still remain a sister of Amma even after her demise. Now, I will pray to the almighty as well as Amma, whom I deem as god, for the establishment of Amma’s government yet again in the State.” Speaking to the media outside Sasikala’s residence, her nephew, TTV Dhinakaran, said that he tried his best to persuade her to reconsider the decision. “I met her earlier in the day to discuss her stand in the upcoming elections. However, when I reached her home, she told me she was breaking the news about her stepping down on Jaya TV,” Dhinakaran said. Dhinakaran said that Sasikala believed her stepping down from politics will unite Jayalalithaa’s supporters in the election and prevent the creation of a chasm among the followers. Sasikala’s statement was handed over to journalists who were waiting outside her residence at T Nagar around 9.30 pm. Simultaneously, Dhinakaran walked out of the house and met the reporters. However, Sasikala did not emerge from the house. Senior AIADMK leader, KP Munusamy, told Express, “It is her personal decision. She has expressed her wish for the establishment of Amma government even after elections.” Tirupati crime Six-year-old Chhattisgarh boy abducted from bus stand E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Tirupati A 6-year-old boy from Chhattisgarh, who came to Tirupati along with his parents on a pilgrimage, was abducted by an unidentified miscreant from Alipiri link bus stand. Alipiri Circle Inspector Devendra Kumar said Sivam Kumar Sahoo and his parents reached Tirupati on February 27. The miscreant abducted Sahoo while his parents were waiting for a bus to Tirumala at the link bus stand. In the CCTV camera footage, the miscreant was seen closely following the family at the bus stand. When his parents took off their eyes from Sahoo, he approached the boy and walked away with him from the place. After sometime, his parents realised that Sahoo went missing and searched for him on the premises of bus stand and its surroundings. After a futile search for Sahoo, they lodged a complaint with Alipiri police. After registering a case, the police formed special teams to trace the boy . Reward announced for informants CI Devendra Kumar urged people to inform police on mobile phone No 9440796752 or WhatsApp No 8099999977 or Police Control Room No 6309913960 if they found the boy. A reward was also announced for those who provide information about the abductor