villupuram l thursday l March 11, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION lic IPO LIKELY TO BE PRICED `400-600 PER SHARE: SOURCES The government is expecting to mop up `1 lakh crore from the Life Insurance Corporation IPO, first internal valuation shows Price band unlikely to change, says FinMin Authorised capital to be increased A finance ministry official told TNIE that the price band of LIC’s initial public offering was estimated keeping in mind the current market condition, including the downside risk factors. “Unless there is a big disruption, the IPO will be in the same price range, even with some downside risk. The final report is likely in July this year,” the official added ■ The Centre has already proposed raising LIC’s authorised capital to `25,000 crore. IPO is expected by the 3rd quarter of FY22 ■ Chief Economic Advisor K V Subramanian had earlier said 6-7% of LIC could be sold. The government plans to hold at least 75% in LIC’s equity for the first five years even after the IPO | P10 10% oF THE i.p.o. ISSUE SIZE IS LIKELY TO BE RESERVED FOR L.I.C. POLICYHOLDERS 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 26 DAyS TO GO No clarity on CM face for nda front in Pondy While NR Congress has declared its founder, N Rangasamy, as their CM face, BJP continues to remain noncommittal on the issue | P2 Troops ready mnm releases first list of candidates A quick profile of heavy-weights fielded | P4 Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) leader Kamal Haasan on Wednesday released the first list of 71 candidates for the upcoming elections | P4 DMK allocates seats to minority alliance partners The DMK on Wednesday allocated Assembly constituencies to their three alliance partners — MDMK, IUML and AIFB — as per their demand and a poll pact was inked between the leaders. Meanwhile, VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan told reporters, “Of the 6 constituencies allocated for us, four have been identified.” | P4 AIADMK’s candidate list: 73 sitting MLAs get ticket T M uru g a n a n d ham @ Chennai THE r uling AIADMK on Wednesday released a second list of 171 candidates, of which 73 are sitting MLAs, including 27 ministers. Around 40 MLAs have been denied tickets this time, including three ministers — S Valarmathi, G Baskaran, and Nilofer Kafeel. It is likely that a few among them will get a chance when candidates are announced for the balance nine seats pending to be filled. Sources said the party is overall happy with the hospitalised Experts panel gives Covaxin the thumbs up E x p r e ss N e w s S e rvi c e @ New Delhi The subject expert committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Org anisation on Wednesday recommended that Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin no longer needs to be administered under the ‘clinical trial’ mode. According to sources, the committee took the decision after taking into account the interim analysis of phase 3 clinical trails submitted by the firm. If the vaccine is taken off clinical trial mode, beneficiaries will not have to sign a consent form for taking the jab. “The recommendations of the SEC have been submitted to the Drug Controller General of India and the final decision is likely soon, “ said a source. The Hyderabad-based vaccine maker a few days ago had said its Covid19 vaccine had shown 81% efficacy in latestage trials. While allowing the restricted use permission of Covaxin in early January the DGCI had , said it could be rolled out only in clinical trial mode with “abundant caution” due to lack of efficacy data. Mamata injures foot on campaign trail, sees plot E x p r e ss N e w s S e rvi c e choices as many district secretaries and office-bearers have been given a chance. With this, so far, the party has fielded 177 candidates and allocated 48 seats to allies — PMK, BJP and four smaller parties. The AIADMK has to allocate seats to the TMC and one or two smaller allies within the nine seats left. In Kolathur, from where DMK chief MK Stalin is likely to contest, AIADMK has fielded its organising secretary, Adhi Rajaram. Former Mayor, Saidai S Duraisamy will , contest from his stronghold of Saidapet. Ministers K Pandiarajan and PA Benjamin have been renominated in their sitting constituencies, Avadi and Maduravoyal. J C D P r a b h a k a r, member of the AIADMK’s steering committee will be contesting from Villivakkam while former Minister S Gokula Indira has been nominated for Anna Nagar. Former DGP R Natraj has been renominated in Mylapore. Minister KT Rajenthra Bhalaji has been nomi- Few more up for grabs Of the nine remaining seats, the AIADMK may take a few more and as such, the party will be contesting in around 180 seats. The number of parties which would contest in Two Leaves symbol may touch 185 Another Rawat gets into the Uttarakhand hot seat Has little time to reset the BJP’s prospects in state polls next year @ Kolkata West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday suffered a leg injury when she was boarding her car in Nandigram, as its door was allegedly intentionally slammed against her left foot by four-five persons amid lax security She . cancelled her plan to stay overnight in Nandigram and returned to Kolkata. The incident happened hours after she filed her nomination papers for the Assembly elections from Nandigram. The Election Commission of India has sought a full report. The ‘attack’ took place when Mamata came out of a local temple and was about the board her car. “She sat on the seat beside the driver. Suddenly, four to five men reached near the car overpowering her Z-plus security personnel and slammed the door before she could place her left foot inside the car,’’ said a party leader accompanying the CM. Mamata alleged there was no security arrangement by the local police. ‘’Police were not there. The superintendent of police was not seen there. There were four to five men who slammed the V i n e e t U pa d h yay @ Dehradun Videograb of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee holding her injured foot in Nandigram on Wednesday | PTI door deliberately before I could sit properly I suspect . the incident was a fallout of a conspiracy My leg is swol. len and I am having unbearable pain,” she said. Upon reaching Kolkata, she was taken directly to the state-run SSKM hospital and a five-member medical board was set up to oversee her health parameters. Gover nor Jagdeep Dhankar called on Mamata at the hospital amid ‘’go back’’ slogans from Trinamool workers. State BJP leader Shamik Bhattacharya said the party wants her speedy recovery. “If she wants, she will be provided Central force security cover,’’ he added. But Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury called it Mamata’s theatrics.  P7 With the BJP springing a surprise by asking Lok Sabha member Tirath Singh Rawat to take over the new Uttarakhand chief minister, he has the onerous task of cleaning up the mess created by his predecessor Trivendra Singh Rawat, despite having little legroom and the Assembly elections less that a year away . On the flip side, Tirath knows Uttarakhand’s politics insideout as he did a stint as the state unit chief of the party and is credited with its 2014 Lok Sabha performance. He also has a clean image and is considered close to the top leadership of the party, including Union home minister Amit Shah. However, since the last budget of the state government has already been passed, there is not much in terms of policy he can do to redeem the situation before Assemblypolls in 2022, political experts said. What’s doable though is to Tirath Singh Rawat Anti-incumbency Electoral activity will start in November-December, which leaves Tirath little time to shake off anti-incumbency. No party in Uttarakhand has got a consecutive mandate to rule so far pacify the dissenters, reverse some of Trivendra’s unpopular decisions such as the Char Dham Shrine Board and the formation of the Gairsain commissionary, tighten the bureaucracy and run a fair and efficient government. Since Tirath alone was administered the oath of office E x p r e ss N e ws S e rvi c e @ Madurai The Gandhi bust that was covered by election officials in Madurai | KK Sundar national leader beyond electoral politics. “The particular statue in Yannikkal is, in fact, historically significant. Gandhi had visited Madurai five times. During his 1934 visit, he went to Meenakshi Amman Temple, only to learn that Dalits were not allowed inside. He restrained himself from stepping on to the temple compound until all the people were allowed inside. After the Dalits entered the temple compound for the first time, Gandhi visited again in 1946. At that time, he stayed in ‘Sivaganga Palace’ which is now on Meenakshi College premises. The statue was originally erected near the college. It was later relocated to Yanaikkal, despite our protests, due to a bridge construction,” he said.  continued on: p2 on Wednesday, the first challenge is to pick a balanced council of ministers. There was discontent within the party over giving major berths to Congress defectors in the outgoing ministry At least 10 new . faces are expected to be inducted into the new ministry . “He has to act on four fronts — cabinet composition, budget and finances, Covid vaccination drive, and deal with the unpopular decisions of his predecessor — in less than an year,” said Rahul Shekhawat, a Dehradun-based analyst. Ironically Tirath was denied , a ticket in the 2017 state elections, said party insiders. Two years later, he contested the Lok Sabha polls from Pauri Garhwal and trounced Manish Khanduri of the Congress by over 3 lakh votes. Born in Siron village of Pauri district, he was a full-time worker of the RSS from 1983-88 and then rose to become the state vice-president of BJP’s Yuva Morcha of the erstwhile Uttar Pradesh. One of the senior most leaders of the AIADMK, S Semmalai, sitting MLA from Mettur constituency has been denied a , party ticket this time. Among the AIADMK candidates, there are three doctors, 26 advocates and six engineering graduates. PMK, as expected, bagged most constituencies in the northern and western belts, where it has a strong base. In Chennai, PMK got the high-profile ChepaukTriplicane constituency, from where DMK youth wing secretary, Udhayanidhi Stalin, is likely to contest.  more on p4 express read Khattar govt wins trust vote hands down Chandigarh: The BJP-led government in Haryana survived the floor test on Wednesday, defeating the no-trust motion moved by the Congress. The motion was defeated following division of votes. Fifty-five members voted against the motion while 32 supported | P8 Russia slows down Twitter over violation Moscow: Russian authorities said on Wednesday they are slowing down the speed of uploading photos and videos to Twitter over its failure to remove banned items such as content encouraging suicide among children, use of drugs and child pornography | P9 DoT tweaks norms to check Chinese products New Delhi: In a move to preclude sourcing of Chinese equipment by Indian telcos, the Centre on Wednesday amended the telecom licence norms by including a clause mandating the use of trusted products in networks in future. However, it will not affect the equipment already in use, DoT said | P10 Spikes at Delhi border to check future violence: MHA S A N A S H A K I L @ New Delhi Why is Mahatma ‘wrapped’ in politics? The line that separates nationalists and politicians has become a hot topic in Madurai all of a sudden as election officials, as part of implementing Model Code of Conduct (MCC), covered the statues of Mahatma Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose, sparking a controversy . Claiming that there was no need for the officials to cover Gandhi statue, Director of Gandhi Museum, KR Nandha Rao, said that the Father of the Nation should be seen as a nated for Rajapalayam though his sitting constituency is Sivakasi. AIADMK’s deputy coordinators KP Munusamy and R Vaithilingam, who unsuccessfully contested 2016 polls, have been given party tickets. president in vellore President Ram Nath Kovind, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit during a pooja at the Golden Temple in Vellore on Wednesday. Kovind also addressed the 16th annual convocation of Thiruvalluvar University and spoke about how the National Education Policy, 2020, has a holistic vision of transforming education | Express | P3 The Centre on Wednesday defended its decision to install spikes at the Delhi-UP border, saying it is to prevent a repeat of the Republic Day violence by agitating farmers. “The barricades at the DelhiUttar Pradesh border were strengthened to prevent any possible repeat of the conduct displayed on January 26,” Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy said in the Rajya Sabha. The minister claimed no road was dug up at Delhi borders in view of farmers’ agitation. Thousands of protesters had clashed with police near Delhi’s ITO during the tractor parade called by various farmer unions on January 26, with a section storming the Red Fort and clashing with security. Over 300 police personnel were injured during the chaos. The minister said the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, a forum representing 40 farmer unions, broke barricades on Republic Day in violation of the permission granted for taking out a tractor parade on a mutually accepted route. “They proceeded towards Central Delhi despite being stopped inside the city and broke those barricades as well,” Reddy said. Delhi Police have registered 38 cases in connection with the violence. The minister said the government has taken adequate steps to alleviate the hardships caused to the commuting public due to the activities of the protestors. EWS quota in AU courses creating confusion: HC Day after lodging complaint about minor H A R I S H M U R A L I @ Chennai PULLING up the Anna University for introducing a separate reservation for the economically weaker sections (EWS) of society the Madras High Court , wondered why the institution was creating a confusion. The plea pertains to the Special Government Pleader, E Manoharan, mentioning before the court that the 10 per cent EWS quota was being implemented in the admissions. The varsity had earlier been directed by the court to follow the Central government’s 49.5 per cent reservation for admission to two courses, in a case that catered to the dispute between the quota policies, of the Centre and State. During the hearing on Wednesday, Advocate General Vijay Narayan submitted, “EWS cannot be introduced in Anna University since it a State-run institution. The State Cabinet had passed a resolution that EWS certificates will only be issued for applicants to Central institutions and jobs.” Justice B Pugalendhi, hearing the plea, asked the varsity’s counsel: “Why are you creating confusion by introducing 10 per cent reservation under the EWS quota, in the admission to the two PG courses offered?” The judge also directed the counsel to explain as to why it wanted to implement the EWS quota this year, and that why it had not followed only the 49.5 per cent reservation as was the case last year. Stating that the university could not take such a stand when the State had already passed a resolution against the implementation of such a reservation, the judge directed Anna University to file a detailed report by Friday . daughter’s rape, UP man dies in ‘accident’ N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow The father of a minor girl, who was allegedly gangraped by four men in UP’s Kanpur district, was killed after he was hit by an unidentified truck on Wednesday Expressing doubts . about the accident, which came a day after they lodged a complaint about the rape, the girl’s family said the accused could be behind it. They pointed out that the father of one of the ac- cused is a police official. According to Kanpur police sources, the man met with the accident outside the hospital where his daughter was taken for a medical examination. “The accident took place when the medical examination of the victim was underway and the father stepped out for a cup of tea. After some time, we got to know that he was hit by a truck. He was immediately taken to a Kanpur hospital, but was declared brought dead. We have filed an accident case and are probing,” said Kanpur DIG Preetinder Singh. The truck driver and one of the rape accused have been arrested, he added. After the accident, locals blocked the Kanpur-Sagar highway for five hours demanding a swift action. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced `5 lakh to the girl’s family .