kottayam l Sunday l march 14, 2021 l `8.00 l PAGES 24 l city edition Bitcoin breaks records, price soars past `43 lakh The cryptocurrency hit $60,197 (`43,75,675) on Saturday and continues to hover around $60K, according to CoinMarketCap Value trebles in three months Bitcoin has been on a meteoric rise since March last year, when it stood at $5,000, spurred by online payments giant PayPal saying it would allow account holders to use cryptocurrency. From $20,000 in December 2020, the digital currency has tripled in value over the past three months on the back of support from corporate heavyweights such as Tesla and Twitter ■ U.S. Protocol built on blockchain ■ Bitcoins are traded via a decentralised registry system known as a blockchain. The system requires massive computer processing power in order to manage and implement transactions That power is provided by “miners”, who do so in the hope they will receive new bitcoins for validating transaction data STIMULUS PACKAGE TRIGGERED THE LATEST BITCOIN RALLY, SAY EXPERTS 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 IN OR OUT? DECISION PENDING. HOPEFULS WAIT Jacobites fail to get Kannanthanam, Suresh Gopi may get BJP seats E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ T’Puram HECTIC parleys by the BJP’s central election committee to finalise candidates for the upcoming assembly elections continued late into Saturday night and the final candidate list is expected to be released on Sunday. BJP state chief K Surendran said the party will contest in 115 seats while the rest will b e a l l o c at e d t o N DA constituents. The central leadership is reportedly keen on fielding former union minister and Rajya Sabha MP Alphons Kannanthanam and actor-MP Suresh Gopi. While Kannanthanam may be fielded f ro m Kanjirap p ally, Suresh Gopi may be allotted Thrissur. Sources said state president K Surendran is being considered for Manjeshwar in Kasaragod district where he lost the previous assembly election by 89 votes. Metroman E Sreedharan is likely to contest from Palakkad. With the candidature of Union Minister V Muraleedharan In t e r v i ew Cong-mukt Bharat not our aim In an interview to Anil S, CPM politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan says the CPM does not subscribe to the BJP slogan of a ‘Congress-mukt’ Bharat. He says the BJP will neither be able to occupy the UDF space nor become an alternative to the Left. P2 list likely today  Kannanthanam may be fielded from Kanjirappally while Suresh Gopi may be allotted Thrissur  State president K Surendran being considered for Manjeshwar in Kasaragod, said sources  With V Muraleedharan out of the fray, BJP is trying to find a replacement in Kazhakootam  Central leadership wants BJP training programme co-convener R Balashankar in Chengannur being ruled out, the party is also trying to find a suitable replacement in A+ constituency Kazhakkoottam where he contested the previous election. The central leadership also wants to field R Balashankar, co-convener, BJP national training programme, in Chengannur. The central leadership is understood to have approved the candidature of Kummanam Rajasekharan from Nemom, P K Krishnadas from Kattakkada and C K Padmanabhan from Dharmadam. poll tricks Joseph faction names candidates Kochi: The Kerala Congress Joseph faction on Saturday released its list of candidates for the 10 seats in which the party is contesting. Incumbent legislators P J Joseph and Mons Joseph will once again seek people’s mandate from Thodupuzha and Kaduthuruthy seats, respectively. Puthuppally & Nemom: Shah appointment Dual role for Chandy? E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kochi Widespread protests in cong The Congress on Saturday faced widespread protests from its workers over seat sharing. The workers staged a protest near senior leader Oommen Chandy’s house demanding him not to switch constituency. Kollam, Palakkad and Tirurangadi also witnessed similar incidents CPI announces 4 more candidates T’Puram: The CPI has announced candidates for four seats which were withheld earlier. C C Mukundan will contest in Nattika and K Chinchurani will contest from Chadayamangalam. M T Nikson will contest from Paravur while AIYF state president Sajilal will contest in Harippad where Opposition leader is contesting. Oommen Chandy speaks to supporters on his arrival at Puthuppally from New Delhi on Saturday | Express C Y N T H I A C H A N D R A N @ T’Puram Amid conflicting reports, former CM Oommen Chandy said here on Saturday that he is most likely to contest from his sitting seat, Puthuppally. But the senior leader could also be contesting from Nemom in a case of ‘dual candidature’, a decision on which has been left to the Congress’ national leadership. The party’s central election committee (CEC) is scheduled to announce the candidate list in 91 seats on Sunday . After Chandy’s supporters created emotional scenes on BJP luring Christian leaders in state E X p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi With the full-fledged election campaign set to take off from Sunday, the BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) on Saturday met to finalise names of the remaining candidates in the pollbound states. The CEC meeting was preceded by two days of marathon meetings at the residence of the party chief J P Nadda for each poll bound state. The BJP chief held a long meeting with Kerala leaders till late on Friday evening. The party plans to go aggressive in the state with professionals and Christian leaders imported from the ranks of the Congress. The meeting was attended by Shah, organisational secretary B L Santosh and others. his arrival at Puthuppally on Saturday the 77-year-old prom, ised not to ditch them. A majority of them were not convinced as he has been wavering on his ‘dual candidature’, confusing political circles. It is learnt there is huge pressure on the 11-time Puthuppally MLA to contest from Nemom too. While the Chandy camp feels it is highly unwarranted of the state leadership to field him from Nemom, a section of leaders feels otherwise. They vouch that his candidature in Nemom will only keep the party in good ● More on P4 stead.  JACOBITE bishops, who went to New Delhi, had to return disappointed as their much hyped meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah did not happen. Sources said the bishops were upset at the turn of events and they returned on Saturday evening. Metropolitan trustee Bishop Joseph Mor Gregorios, Synod secretary Bishop Thomas Mor Thimothios, resident metropolitan Bishop Kuriakose Mor Theophilos and metropolitan Yuhanan Milithios went to New Delhi on Friday to meet Shah. It is learnt that a senior leader had promised to arrange a meeting with the home minister. However, it seems the BJP leadership had second thoughts as any indication of a deal with the Jacobites will upset the Orthodox faction. The BJP did not want to antagonise the Orthodox faction as the party expects their support in Tiruvalla for the assembly polls. When the bishops reached Delhi on Friday they , were asked to stay back for a day as the home minister was busy. But since they did not get any assurance regarding the meeting till Saturday evening, the bishops decided to return home. e x p r e s s r ead Dissident Cong workers to field rebel in Perambra Kozhikode: The decision to give the Perambra seat to the Indian Union Muslim League has not gone down well with a section of Congress workers in the constituency. They have come out stating that a rebel candidate will be fielded in the constituency as a protest against the party leadership’s decision. W ITH THIS ISSUE Silver Linings Playbook PLUS 12 PAGES