kottayam l monday l march 15, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 28 l city EDITION bhavani 1st indian fencer to qualify for olympics improves world ranking, goes to tokyo Bhavani Devi took up the sport as a means to escape from the grind of studies. The Chennai woman qualifies on her rankings hard work and determination The 27-year-old sabre fencer secured a spot in the World Cup in Hungary after the hosts lost in the quarterfinals of the team event to South Korea. With South Korea qualifying as a team, two individual spots opened up for the Asia and Oceania regions based on World Rankings through which Bhavani managed to make it. She currently holds the 45th rank ■ ■ ■ She reached round of 16 at Fencing World Championships in 2019, her best effort so far, where she virtually sealed her spot Not pursuing a well-known sport, she struggled with her finances early on. Tamil Nadu govt, GoSport and family supported her She is trained by Italian coach Nicola Zanotti 45th World ranking she occupies to be eligible for Asia slot 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 troops out, wars within Congress fixes Nemom glitch with Murali, but Lathika stirs up fire E x p re s s N e w s Ser v i c e @T’Puram Kerala Mahila Congress chief Lathika Subhash gets her head tonsured at the party headquarters in T’Puram | Express There is a generational shift in candidature. As many as 46 nominees are in the 25-50 age group, while 22 are aged between 51 and 60 Mullappally Ramachandran, KPCC president Congress list After days of protracted deliberations in New Delhi, Congress state president Mullappally Ramachandran on Sunday announced the list of candidates for 86 of the 92 assembly seats the party is contesting in, including a last-minute decision to field K Muraleedharan, MP to wrest Nemom from BJP , and a good share of young and fresh faces. Within minutes, however, the party was shocked and embarrassed when Lathika Subhash resigned as the state Mahila Congress president and got her head tonsured, that too at its 86 of 92 candidates announced Oommen Chandy in Puthuppally Ramesh Chennithala in Haripad Candidates for Kalpetta, Nilambur, Vattiyoorkavu, Kundara, Tavanur and Pattambi to be named later 46 candidates in 25-50 age group headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, citing candidature of fewer women than promised but apparently because she was denied a seat. A crestfallen Mullappally told the media in the national capital that the party would hold talks with her and justified the denial of Ettumanoor seat to her to accommodate ally Kerala Congress Joseph faction’s demand. While former chief minister Oommen Chandy was confirmed to contest from his home constituency of Puthuppally, the candidate list for the six disputed seats — Kalpetta, Nilambur, Vattiyoorkavu, Kundara, Tavanur and Pattambi — will be announced on Monday after holding more talks, Mullappally said. The Congress list has 46 candidates between 25 and 50 ● More on P4 years.  Fresh faces in ‘better’ list, women’s expectation falls flat A R U N M @ Kochi While the Congress has managed to keep its promise of fielding new and young faces, its assurance of a better representation for women has fallen by the wayside, leading to pro- tests and criticism. However, political observers said the list of candidates — announced by the party’s Kerala president Mullappally Ramachandran in New Delhi on Sunday — is by far the best in terms coup aftermath West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during a rally to mark Nandigram Diwas, in Kolkata on Sunday | PTI 18 protesters shot dead in Myanmar E x p re s s N e w s Ser v i c e AT least 18 protesters were killed in Myanmar on Sunday in one of the most violent crackdowns by security forces against dissent since last month’s military coup, news agency AFP reported. More than 95 protesters have been gunned down by the soldiers so far. In Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar township, police and soldiers faced off against protesters wielding sticks and knives as they hid behind makeshift barricades, fleeing after forces opened fire. Protesters — using cutout trash cans as shields — managed to retrieve the injured, but a doctor said not all could be reached. “I can confirm 15 have died,” the doctor told AFP, adding that she had treated about 50 people with injuries and expects the death toll to climb. “I can’t talk much — injured people keep coming,” she said. With the situation escalating, the military imposed martial law in two townships in Full coverage: P9 Yangon.  WI T H T HI S I S S U E THE ESSENTIAL CAMPUS DIGEST of a surprise element and novelty when compared to previous elections. Of the 86 candidates declared, as many as 44 are debutants, a party source said. The state chief has stated that above 55 per cent of the candidates are fresh faces. But only nine are women, which is just over 10 per cent. In the 2016 assembly polls too, the Congress fielded nine women even as it contested in 85 seats. But ● More on P4 all of them lost.  I will never bow my head. An injured tiger gets more dangerous. My pain is not greater than the suffering of people as democracy is being trampled Mamata Banerjee EC rules out attack, says it was accident E x p re s s N e w s Ser v i c e @ New Delhi Rejecting claims that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was attacked in Nandigram, the Election Commission on Sunday attributed the injury she sustained on her left foot on Wednesday to an accident. Nevertheless, the EC placed under suspension a few senior officers for lapses in the CM’s security, and appointed former DGP Intelligence Punjab Anil Kumar Sharma as a special police observer for the state. The poll panel ordered the suspension of Vivek Sahay, Director Security of the CM’s protection team. “Charges must be framed against him for grossly failing in discharge of his primary duty as Director Security to protect the Z+ protectee,” the EC said. It also suspended Pravin Prakash, superintendent of police of Purba Medinipur for failing to provide adequate bandobast at Nandigram. The district magistrate and election officer of Purba Medinipur, too, was axed. The move was based on the reports of the chief secretary and by special general observer Ajay Nayak and special police observer Vivek Dube. BJP bigwigs fielded in south Bengal Kolkata: The BJP is deploying heavy artillery to wrest south Bengal from the Trinamool Congress, if one were to go by the list of candidates for 63 seats in the third and fourth phases of the eight-phase West Bengal assembly polls. For, it has fielded four BJP members of Parliament, four defectors and an equal number of actors, to whip up enthusiasm and possibly create a wave for the big fight. express read No annual exam for state Class 9 students YOUR LIFE COACH 28 PAGES, INCLUDING 16 OF edex (TABLOID) T’Puram: The Department of General Education has decided not to conduct the annual examinations for Class 9 students, and instead promote them to Class 10 based on criteria including attendance in online classes. The decision was taken considering the Covid-19 situation in the state. ‘Move to sell govt banks a colossal mistake’ E x p re s s N e w s Ser v i c e Lending indirect support to the two-day strike called by a section of public-sector bank employees over the Centre’s plan to privatise two PSU b a n k s, fo r m e r R B I g ove r n o r Raghuram Rajan on Sunday said the government’s move would be utterly foolish. “I think it would be a colossal mistake to sell the banks to industrial houses,” Rajan said in an interview to news agency PTI. According to Rajan, currently a Professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, it will also not be politically feasible to sell any decent-sized bank to foreign banks. He feels some Indian private banks may be in a position to acquire inefficient PSU banks and turn them around, too. But the question is whether they have the appetite, he said. According to bank unions, over 10 lakh employees will take part in the strike on Monday and Tuesday The . protest could cripple branch operations such as deposits and withdrawal at branches, cheque clearance and loan approvals. Most PSU banks, including SBI, have alerted customers about possible disruption in operations. ATM and internet banking services are unlikely to be hit. big fights Several assembly seats are set to witness a high-voltage fight Nemom Kummanam Rajasekharan (BJP), K Muraleedharan (Cong), V Sivankutty (CPM) Palakkad Shafi Parambil (Cong), E Sreedharan (BJP), C P Pramod (CPM) Dharmadom Pinarayi Vijayan (CPM), C K Padmanabhan (BJP), (UDF yet to announce candidate) Konni K Surendran (BJP), K U Jenish Kumar (CPM), Robin Peter (Cong) Tripunithura M Swaraj (CPM), K Babu (Cong), K S Radhakrishnan (BJP) KC(m) RETURNS Kuttiyadi TO CPM Kottayam: Ending the deadlock in the LDF over its candidate in Kuttiyadi, the Kerala Congress (M) has decided to return the seat to CPM in view of protests by CPM cadre in the constituency. KC(M) chief Jose K Mani said his party made the decision considering the unique political situation there. Surendran to contest in Konni, Manjeshwar E x p re s s N e w s Ser v i c e @T’Puram The BJP candidate list in 112 seats released on Saturday had many firsts to its credit. For the first time in the state, a BJP leader’s name figured as a candidate in two constituencies. Party state president K Surendran will contest from Manjeshwar, where he lost by a whisker in 2016, and also in Konni, the epicentre of Sabarimala protests. While former Mizoram Governor and former state president Kummanam Rajasekharan will be the candidate in the party’s lone sitting seat of Nemom, Metroman E Sreedharan will contest from Palakkad. ActorMP Suresh Gopi will be fielded in Thrissur. However, the party did not announce a candidate in its A-Plus constituency Kazhakkoottam. Union minister V Muraleedharan indicated that he is willing to contest from the seat if the party directs him to do so. The omission of senior leader Sobha Surendran’s name from the list came in as a surprise. Though the central leadership had asked her if she was willing to contest, her name was missing from the list. Meanwhile, the candidature of party’s Pathanamthitta district president Ashokan Kulanada in Tiruvalla seat triggered protests, with 10 panchayat committee presidents step● More on P4 ping down from their posts.  BJP list Candidates in 112 seats announced Kummanam Rajasekharan in Nemom Metroman E Sreedharan, actor-MP Suresh Gopi, former Union minister Alphons Kannanthanam, actor Krishna Kumar, retired IPS officer Jacob Thomas among prominent names Candidate in party’s A+ seat Kazhakoottam undecided 14 woman candidates in BJP list Interview ‘BJP will turn decisive force’ In an interview with TNIE, former Mizoram Governor and senior BJP leader Kummanam Rajasekharan says the the BJP will emerge as a decisive political force in the state after the assembly polls. P4