WARANGAL  SUNDAY  MARCH 21, 2021  `8.00  PAGES 24  CITY EDITION TOKYO ORGANISERS SAY NO TO FANS FROM ABROAD In a historic decision, no spectators from outside Japan will be allowed to watch the Olympic Games because of pandemic WILL HIT INCOME BUT TOO RISKY SHARATH, MANIKA QUALIFY IN MIXED Officials said the risk was too great to admit ticket holders from overseas during a pandemic. Japanese public too was against fans entering the country. About 1 million tickets are reported to have been sold to fans from outside Japan. Organisers have promised refunds. Japan had a budget of $800m through ticket sales -- third largest income source in the Games ■ ■ ■ Sharath Kamal is on a roll. A day after securing Olympic berth in singles, he paired up with Manika Batra for TT mixed spot On Friday, India booked four berths in men’s and women’s singles. The total now stands at five This is the first time mixed-doubles is included in Olympics 4.5m NUMBER OF TICKETS SOLD TO SPECTATORS IN JAPAN 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 Strategist KCR wipes out BJP in MLC elections R P R I D H V I R A J @ Hyderabad Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and US Secretary of Defence Lloyd James Austin III making Covid-appropriate contact at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Saturday | PTI Human rights, LAC dominate India-US parleys Austin says US never considered the LAC conflict would trigger an India-China war P U S H K A R B A N A K A R & M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi INDIA’s tension with China on the LAC and alleged human rights violation in India were among the major issues that figured in the talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Defence Secretary Llyod Austin on Saturday . Austin is on a two-day visit to India. This is the first overseas visit by a top functionary of the Biden administration. Sources said Austin told Jaishankar that “as the two largest democracies in the world, human rights and values are important to us and we will lead with these values”. Later, talking to reporters, Austin said, “India is our partner whose partnership we value… Partners need to be able to have those kinds of discussions. And certainly, we feel comfortable in doing that and you can have those discussions in a very meaningful way and still make progress.” The issue of human rights was raised amid global concerns raised over the government’s handling of the farmer protest, alleged persecution of minorities and independent voices being gagged. Ahead of Llyod’s visit, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee had urged him to take up the issue with India. On India-China tension, Austin said the US never thought the two countries were on the brink of a war. During the meeting that lasted an hour, the two leaders also discussed the importance of the Indo-Pacific region and the Afghanistan situation. Earlier, Austin held talks with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the two countries decided to increase interaction between their armed forces, specifically with the US military commands having their operations into the Indian Ocean Region, Eastern Coasts of Africa and the Gulf. “We have agreed to pursue enhanced cooperation with the US Indo-Pacific Command, Central Command and Africa Command,” Singh said after the meeting. He added the discussions focussed on defence cooperation and expanding military-to-military engagement across services, information sharing, cooperation in emerging sectors of defence and mutual logistics support. TS Administrative Service on the cards, says Harish E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad THE State government is actively considering setting up the Telangana Administrative Service (TAS), Finance Minister T Harish Rao said in reply to a question by Puranam Satish Kumar in the Legislative Council on Saturday He said the government has con. stituted a committee which will look into constituting the TAS. The government will decide on creating the TAS once the committee submits its report. While four-five States already have State Administrative Services, the Telangana government has been toying with the idea for over three years now, Harish said. The TAS would be set up through a legislation, he added. The fundamental idea of the TAS CONTINUED ON P4 is to create a state cadre of officers. CHIEF Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s strategy to reverse the BJP’s winning streak has worked. His decision to field former Prime Minister late PV Narasimha Rao’s daughter Surabhi Vani Devi and sitting MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy for the two MLC seats in Telangana has sent the saffron party to the cleaners. Vani Devi wrested Hyderabad-Rangareddy-Mahbubnagar from incumbent BJP MLC N Ramchander Rao by polling 1,89,339 lakh votes. In the process, she vanquished two-time MLC Prof K Nageshwar and Congress nominee G Chinna Reddy In Nalgonda-Warangal. Khammam, though it is a sitting seat, Rajeshwar Reddy had to sweat it out to retain it. He polled 1,61,811 votes. Independent Teenmaar Mallanna, who was once a journalist, gave Rajeshwar Reddy a run for his money. In the beginning, no one took a second look at him but he made heads turn TRS workers celebrate the party’s victory in the Graduates MLC polls at Telangana Bhavan on Saturday. Chief Minister KCR honours candidate Vani Devi, who won the Hyd MLC seat when he began breathing down Rajeshwar Reddy’s neck. That meticulous planning would help one win any electoral battle has been proved once again. Since the beginning, the TRS took the election to the two seats quite seriously as it had to wrest one from the BJP and stop the saffron party from snatching the other from its hold. Actuating his plan into motion, the Chief Minister, who has an admiration for scholars and litterateurs, pulled out a surprise on the Congress by claiming Narasimha Rao’s legacy and when the MLC election arrived, he nominated his daughter for the Hyd-RR-MBNR seat. By positioning her against the BJP which has be, come a fly in the ointment for him of late, he sowed wind and reaped a whirlwind. In Hyd-RR-MBNR, the TRS had an advantage from the start as, besides the BJP there , was the Congress and Prof K Nageshwar in the fray who shared the anti-TRS vote. In M’nagar to house India’s first lithium-ion cell unit `2,000 crore EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad IN a first, an energy park is coming up in Mahbubnagar for manufacturing lithium-ion cells, which may potentially provide direct and indirect employment to 10,000 people of the district. As part of the project, battery manufacturer ChargeXO and renewable energy firm Greenko have come forward to invest `2,000 crore in about 100 acres for the first lithium-ion being invested by ChargeXO and Greenko cell manufacturing unit in India. Excise Minister V Srinivas Goud said another four-five big companies will invest in the district. Companies in the electronics, electronic/battery vehicles, lithium ion battery packs, pho- tovoltaic cells and giga factory sectors have expressed their interest in investing in the park. Srinivas Goud said the energy park was sanctioned by IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao, based on his request to create job opportunities for the people of Mahbubnagar. At Divitipalli in Mahbubnagar, the construction of an IT and multipurpose tower in about 400 acres is also in full MAHA HOME MINISTER USED WAZE TO EXTORT MONEY? S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai In a new twist to the bomb scare case near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh on Saturday accused state home minister Anil Deshmukh of using arrested assistant police inspector Sachin Waze to extort money. In an eight-page letter addressed to CM Uddhav Thackeray Singh said Waze , was set an extortion target of `100 crore per month. Rejecting Singh’s charges, Deshmukh said he would sue the ex-Mumbai police chief. He said Singh was leveling false allegations as he faced inquiry and arrest in the SUV case. Singh claimed that Waze was called to Dyaneswar (Deshmukh ’s residence), where the minister told him to collect `2-3 lakh each from the 1,750-odd bars and restaurants in the city amounting to at least `40-50 , crore. Waze was allegedly instructed to tap into other sources to meet the shortfall. Sharing the transcripts of purported WhatsApp chats with his colleagues to substantiate his allegations, Singh said it was normal for Deshmukh to bypass the top brass and bend the course of investigations by prevailing upon subordinates. In the missive to Thackeray the ex-CoP claimed he , had kept NCP chief Sharad Pawar and deputy CM Ajit Pawar abreast of Deshmukh’s misdeeds, which are also known to many NCP ministers. Singh was transferred as Commandant-General of Maharashtra Home Guards over his alleged mishandling of the bomb scare case. The case refers to an explosives-laden SUV which was found near Ambani’s residence. RSS gets future-ready, picks Hosabale for top post ASHWINI M SRIPAD & MANISH ANAND @ Bengaluru/New Delhi AIMING to position the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) at the forefront to address “modern societal complexities” and prepare a new leadership, the Akhil Bhartiya Pratinidhi Sabha, the top decision-making body of the organisation, on Saturday unanimously elected Dattatreya Hosabale (66) to succeed Suresh ‘Bhaiyaji’ Joshi as the next Sarkaryawah (general secretary), a position Joshi served for 12 years. Sharing his thoughts on the road ahead for the RSS, Hosabale said there is a need for an intellectual campaign. “It is time to set right the narrative on India,” he stressed. On the hotly debated issue of ‘love jihad’, he said the organisation will fully support laws to regulate it, while favouring inter-caste marriages. He stressed the need for reservation for backward communities. “Hosabale is known for dialogue, and he’s seen as best suited to address the emerging modern societal complexities. In the past, Hosabale deftly responded to issues, including the rights of transgenders. NAL-WGL-KHM, Teenmar Mallanna, Prof Kodandaram, the BJP and Telangana Inti Party’s Cheruku Sudhakar, among others, split the antiTRS votes. Another factor, in addition to the hard work that the ministers put in campaigning, that helped the TRS was the Chief Minister’s reported promise of 29 per cent fitment. This seems to have made the government employees have a change of heart in favour of the pink party . Conversant in several languages, his elevation as the executive head of the RSS is a generational change along with an attempt to connect with the people through discourse, pointed out Prof Badri Narayan of the GB Pant University of Social Sciences and author of the book Republic of Hindutva. Hosabale, who is a contemporary to key functionaries in the echelons of BJP, has been at ease with them and is forceful in articulating the RSS viewpoints. CONTINUED ON P5 Sidelined in BJP, Madhav recalled to Sangh fold M A N I S H A N A N D @ New Delhi SIX months after he was dropped from BJP’s team of national office bearers, the RSS recalled former national general secretary of the saffron outfit Ram Madhav to its fold. Seen as BJP’s powerful general secretary, who shaped the government’s policy on J&K, Madhav was sidelined in the run up to the 2019 election. He will now be on RSS’ national executive. JP Nadda had dropped another national general secretary P Murlidhar Rao. Rao and Madhav were the nominees of RSS in BJP and their , replacements will be revealed soon. swing, with two floors already ready The Telangana govern. ment, later, allotted another `40 crore for the construction of two more floors. Srinivas Goud said Mahbubnagar is being developed with the aim of providing job opportunities to youngsters. “We are bringing investments worth thousands of crores and taking steps for the comprehensive development of the district which is located very close to Hyderabad and the international airport,” he said. Pulverised in both the constituencies, the BJP now has lost the edge to its campaign that it was the only party that could challenge the TRS monolith in the 2023 Assembly polls. On the other hand, the TRS is now reassured that KCR’s magic is still at work, which is making it bolder, as it prepares for the Nagarjunasagar Assembly seat byelection on April 17. The leaders of the ruling party have already started baying for the BJP’s blood, saying that the TRS is invincible and those who come in its way would be obliterated. “The MLC poll results are a slap on the face of our critics,” Animal Husbandry Minister T Srinivas Yadav said, implying the BJP . ON PAGE 4 RECORD 90-HR COUNTING COMES TO A CLOSE TEENMAAR MALLANNA PACKS A FEISTY PUNCH BJP CONCEDES DEFEAT, CALLS TRS UNETHICAL EXPRESS READ Maha records 27,000 cases, 92 deaths New Delhi: With the spurt in Covid-19 cases mostly in Maharastra, daily deaths due to the infection, too, have jumped. On Saturday, Maharashtra reported 27,126 fresh cases — its highest single-day count — and 92 deaths in a 24-hr period | P7 WITH THIS ISSUE COVIDOLOGY 2021 PLUS 12 PAGES