PM Modi interacts with Varanasi BJP workers, discusses Kashi Vishwanath development and farmers' welfare schemes

PM Modi hails people of Varanasi, Kashi Vishwanath
Varanasi: Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi on
Tuesday said though he
did not have the fortune
to be born in Varanasi,
he was able to associate
himself with the holy
city with the blessings
of Lord Mahadev.
Modi, who represents
Varanasi in Lok Sabha,
made the remarks dur-
ing an interaction with
BJP workers of his par-
liamentary constituen-
cy. Speaking to party
worker Ashutosh Shar-
ma, Modi said, “There is
Mahadev in your name.
Due to the blessings of
Mahadev, I have been
able to have the honour
of associating myself
with Varanasi. I did not
have the honour of be-
ing born in Varanasi,
but have the honour of
being associated with
Varanasi... The love that
I have got from Varanasi
is unprecedented.”
Sharma told the
primeministerhownew
flyovers have ensured
smoothmovementof ve-
hicles in the city and re-
duced traffic jams. To
this, Modi said, “Devel-
opment happens where
there is good connectiv-
ity
. It has been our ef-
forts that the heritage of
the city should be pre-
served and development
ensured at a fast pace.”
Interacting with an-
other party worker, See-
ma Kumari, the prime
minister spoke in Bho-
jpuri dialect and said,
“The support of sisters
like you is my real pow-
er. If you are happy
, then
your family is happy,
and the country is also
happy.” “Is the
‘maatrishkati’ (women)
feeling happy?” Modi
asked, to which Seema
Kumari responded that
they are feeling very
much happy
.
Seema Kumari said
people in her village
have benefitted from
various welfare
schemes of the govern-
ment. Shravan Kumar
Rawat thanked the
prime minister for the
renovation of Kashi
VishwanathDhaam,the
beautification work and
how it will benefit trad-
ers, and termed Modi an
“itihaas purush (iconic
man)”.
To this, Modi said,
“All this have been done
with the ‘kripaa’ (be-
nevolence) of Baba
(Lord Mahadev). He has
made all of us a medi-
um.” —PTI
DIGITAL CONNECT
PM Modi interacting with BJP party workers in Varanasi via Namo
app on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
2 kids carried away, eaten by
leopard on same evening
Ajay Sharma
Bahraich: A man-eater
leopard carried away,
killed and ate body
parts of two children
near the Katarniaghat
Forest Range in Bahra-
ich district on Monday
evening.
At around 6 PM Mon-
day, a 9-year-old child
named Ramtej was car-
ried away by the leop-
ard in Ghusri Beat area
under Motipur division
of Katarniaghat Range.
The incident caused
panic in the region and
a search operation was
launched by local vil-
lagers along with forest
department staff and
police.
The search came to a
horrific end when the
child’s body was found
badly mauled, its head
and part of the chest
missing.
Another such inci-
dent was reported on
the same day from
Motipur where a 4-year-
old boy named Aditya,
who had come to visit
his maternal uncle’s
house, was carried
away by the leopard at
around 7:45 PM. After a
search, his body was
found with its head
missing, just 2km away
from his uncle’s home.
Police and forest team at the incident spot in Bahraich on Tuesday.
First India Bureau
The AAP on Tuesday
announced Bhagwant
Mann as its chief min-
isterial candidate ahead
of the Punjab Assembly
elections scheduled in
February. The decision
was announced days af-
ter the party opened tel-
ephone lines for people
of Punjab to suggest
names for their pre-
ferred CM candidate.
AAP received around
22 lakh responses under
its campaign to elect its
CM face.
AAP NAMES BHAGWANT
MANN AS CM CANDIDATE
POLL-DANCE
LUCKNOW l WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. UPENG/2020/80229 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 69
ED raids 10 locations
in Punjab, including
CM’s nephew’s house
Jalandhar: Days ahead
of the Punjab Assembly
elections, the Enforce-
ment Directorate (ED)
Tuesday carried out
searches at 10 places in
Ludhiana, Mohali and
Pathankot districts in
connection with an ille-
gal sand mining case
based on an FIR regis-
tered in 2018 by the Pun-
jab police against
Kudrat Deep Singh, the
main accused, who
owns a quarry in
Nawanshahr, Shaheed
Bhagat Singh Nagar dis-
trict. Among the places
searched was the Mo-
hali residence of Chief
Minister Charanjit Sin-
gh Channi’s nephew -
BhupinderSinghHoney
.
ILLEGAL SAND MINING CASE
It is also a fact that AAP
sounded off a number of
prospective candidates but
each and every one of them
refused to lead the party.
This is why the
responsibility has been
thrust on Bhagwant after
a make belief survey.
—Sukhbir Singh Badal,
President
PRESSURE TACTICS
IN RUN-UP TO
POLLS: CHANNI
Reacting to the ED raid
at his nephew Bhupinder
Singh’s house, Channi
said, “The same thing
happened during the
West Bengal elections. It
is to put pressure on me
in view of the upcoming
assembly polls. They are
targeting me. This is not
good for democracy.”
‘MAKE FARMERS AWARE OF
CENTRE’S WELFARE SCHEMES’
GOA CONGRESS
RELEASES LIST
SONU SOOD ROOTS FOR
CHANNI, CONG TWEETS
SC TO CONSIDER
HEARING PLEA
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi
on Tuesday interacted with the BJP workers
of his parliamentary constituency Varanasi
through his NaMo app and discussed issues
like restoration of the Kashi Vishwanath Cor-
ridor, women empower-
ment, farmers’ welfare,
etc. Interacting with the
BJP workers, he spoke
about people of Varanasi
getting benefits from
central government
schemes. “We have start-
ed various schemes for
farmers like farmers trains, vaccinating the
animal’s campaign and opening several dair-
ies. I want all the BJP workers to make farm-
ers aware of all these schemes. Tell farmers
about organic farming. It is very important to
tell the farmers about natural farming.
Panaji: Congress on
Tuesday released the
third list of candidates
for the upcoming Goa
Assembly elections
that are scheduled to
take place on February
14. Michael Lobo, the
former state minister
who recently quit
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) to join the party,
will contest from the
Calangute constituency.
Congress has apparently backed
Punjab CM Channi as its CM face
amid intense speculations. In a video
by the official Twitter handle of Con-
gress, actor‌ ‌Sonu‌ ‌Sood‌ ‌says‌ ‌the‌ ‌“real‌
‌chief‌ ‌ minister‌ ‌is‌ ‌the‌ ‌one‌ ‌who‌ ‌does‌
‌not‌ ‌have‌ ‌to‌ ‌tell‌ ‌he‌ ‌is‌ ‌the‌ ‌chief‌ ‌minis-
terial‌ ‌candidate”.‌ ‌Sood’s‌ ‌remark‌ ‌was‌
‌followed‌ ‌by‌ ‌several‌ ‌clips‌ ‌of‌ ‌Channi‌.
New Delhi: The
Supreme Court on
Tuesday said it would
consider listing for
hearing a plea seeking
a direction to the
Election Commission
to ensure that political
parties publish details
regarding criminal
cases of candidates
along with the reason
for their selection on
their websites.
POLL HUDDLE: BJP BRAINSTORMS
FOR CANDIDATES FOR UP POLLS
The BJP core group met in Delhi on Tuesday for
brainstorming on the names of 231 candidates
of UP. Party President JP Nadda, UP CM Yogi
Adityanath and other leaders were present in the
meeting which lasted for about 5 hours at BJP
headquarters. After the meeting BJP declared
candidates for two seats by giving tickets to
Bahoranlal Maurya from Bhojipura and Chhatrapal
Gangwar from Baheri.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal with party’s CM candidate for Punjab Bhagwant Singh Mann in Mohali. —PHOTO BY PTI
I will try to get my party the victory with more than
two-third majority. We have to make Punjab
Rangla Punjab again. —Bhagwant Singh Mann
3RD WAVE EBBING;
WILL LINGER TILL
MARCH IN INDIA
50L BOOSTER JABS
IN ALL SINCE JAN
10: MANDAVIYA
The waning of the Omi-
cron wave has begun in
Mumbai, but it may take
at least another month
before the rest of the
country experiences a
decline in third wave. As
for pandemic, with some
European countries having
registered five waves.
Over 50 lakh healthcare,
frontline workers and
citizens aged 60 years
and above have been
administered the precau-
tion dose of Covid-19
vaccine since January
10, Union Health Minister
Mansukh Mandaviya said
on Tuesday.
Alwar Case:
No rape but
hit and run?
Alwar: In a new twist in
the case of alleged rape
and assault with a
16-year-old specially-
abledminorgirlinAlwar,
it has turned out to be a
hit-and-run case and not
rape or attack, sources
said on Tuesday
.
However, the police
have said that they are
investigating the case
from all the angles.
According to the in-
formation received, a
delivery boy of Zomato
had hit the girl and fled
from the spot on Janu-
ary 11. The police have
questioned more than
70 Zomato riders, in
which 1 bike rider has
reportedly admitted to
hitting the girl.
CENTRE FLAGS DIP IN COVID TESTING,
ASKS STATES AND UTs TO ENHANCE IT
New Delhi: The health
ministry has written to
the states and union ter-
ritories highlighting
there has been a decline
in Covid-19 testing. It
has reminded the states
that the basic objective
of testing is early detec-
tion of cases for quick
isolation and care.
The letter to the
states by Centre said:
“Testing remains a key
and crucial component
of the framework. How-
ever, it is seen from the
data available on the
ICMR portal that test-
ing has declined in
many states and union
territories.
AVOID STEROIDS, TEST FOR TB IF
COUGH REMAINS, SAYS CENTRE
The Centre on Tuesday released fresh clinical guide-
lines for COVID-19 treatment advising doctors to avoid
prescribing steroids. Citing the possible increase in
risks of secondary infections such as the black fungus,
the Health Ministry urged doctors to limit the use of
steroids in the early stages of clinical treatment. The
latest guidelines for the management also recommend
testing for tuberculosis and other conditions if the
cough persists for more than two to three weeks.
Abu Dhabi blast: Efforts
on to send bodies back,
says Indian Embassy
NewDelhi:ThetwoIndi-
ans killed in the suspect-
ed drone strike in Abu
Dhabi on Monday have
beenidentified,informed
the Indian Embassy in
UAETuesdaymorning.It
added that two of the six
injured in the attack are
also Indians.
The embassy tweet-
ed, “Identities of 2 de-
ceased Indian nation-
als established.” It
added that the embassy
officials “are in touch
with their family mem-
bers. The Mission is
working closely with
UAE authorities, in-
cluding ADNOC, for
early repatriation of
mortal remains”.
The Indian Embassy
in another tweet Tues-
day said of the “6 in-
jured, 2 are Indian na-
tionals. After receiving
medical treatment they
were discharged yes-
terday night.”
N Chandrababu Naidu@ncbn
I’ve tested positive for COVID with mild
symptoms. I have quarantined myself at home
and taking all the necessary precautions. I would request
those who came in contact with me to get themselves
tested at the earliest. Please be safe and take care.
It’s very sad to know that raid is being
conducted on the premises of Punjab Chief
Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s relative
in connection with a case of illegal sand mining.
Punjab Chief Minister and his relatives are involved
in illegal sand mining. —Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi CM
OUR EDITIONS:
JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD,
LUCKNOW NEW DELHI
www.firstindia.co.in
www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/
twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia
instagram.com/thefirstindia
CORONA
CATASTROPHE
UP
14,803
NEW
CASES
2,173
NEW CASES
IN LUCKNOW
12
NEW DEATHS

UTTAR PRADESH
LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2022
02
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
Lucknow: Congress
leader Priyanka Gan-
dhi Vadra on Tuesday
attacked the Yogi Adity-
anath government in
Uttar Pradesh over the
issues of employment
and education, and
urged the youth to stick
to this agenda in the up-
coming assembly polls.
Citing a media re-
port, Gandhi said that
in UP, 16.5 lakh youth
lost their jobs in the last
five years and four
crore people gave up
hope of jobs.
“But @myogiadity-
anath ji neither talks
nor tweets on this. Be-
cause he knows that if
the curtain is lifted
then the secret will be
revealed,” the Congress
general secretary said
in a tweet in Hindi
“Youngsters, stick to
the agenda of employ-
ment,” she said.
In another tweet in
Hindi, Gandhi alleged
that the Yogi Adity-
anath government
made “massive” cuts in
the education budget of
UP in five years. If the
budget would have been
more, then the youth
would have gotten new
universities, internet,
and scholarships, Gan-
dhi said.
“Youngsters, this is
the real agenda of this
election. Ask questions
on this and give a befit-
ting reply with the pow-
er of your vote to the
one who misleads you,”
she said.
16.5L youths lost jobs in last 5 yrs: Priyanka
CONG IN UP

Priyanka
Gandhi asked
the youngsters
to question
employment
opportunities
and education
budget
allocated by
UP govt
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra virtually
interacts with Congress workers, in New Delhi on Tuesday.
—PHOTO BY ANI
MAMATA TO CAMPAIGN FOR SP
EX-DGP BRIJ LAL TRAINS GUNS@SP
Lucknow: BJP leader
and former director
general of Uttar
Pradesh Police Brij Lal
on Tuesday charged the
Samajwadi Party (SP)
with fielding “goons, ri-
oters and history-
sheeters” in the upcom-
ing assembly elections.
Taking a set of names
of the SP candidates al-
legedly with criminal
backgrounds, Lal
sought an explanation
from the party chief
Akhilesh Yadav for
fielding them.
“By giving tickets to
goons and rioters, the
SP has made its inten-
tion of bringing back
goondraj and dangaraj
(rule of goons and riot-
ers) clear. These histo-
ry-sheeters have been
fielded with the inten-
tion of pulling votes by
intimidating the people
of the state,” Brij Lal, a
Rajya Sabha MP, told
reporters here.
He said the SP candi-
dates had entered the
fray in order to rob the
poor through schemes
meant for their welfare
and these candidates
had Yadav’s open pro-
tection.
Reacting to SP leader
Azam Khan’s son Ab-
dullah Azam accompa-
nying Yadav at a press
conference earlier in
the day, Lal said he had
lost his seat because of
a fraud and was out on
bail in 43 cases.
“His father (MP
Azam Khan) is part of a
major land mafia in the
state. Khan has robbed
the honest youth of gov-
ernment jobs and is
himself in jail (Sita-
pur),” Lal said.
Taking names of a
few other SP candidates
-- Nahid Hasan from
Kairana, Aslam Chaud-
hary from Dhaulana,
Haji Yunus from Bu-
landshahr, Rafiq Ansari
from Meerut, Madan
Bhaiya from Loni,
Amarpal from Sahiba-
bad, Dilnawaz from
Sayana -- Lal asked,
“Who are these people?
This is a list of history-
sheeters, gangsters and
vicious criminals.”
Seeking an answer from
Yadav, Lal said, “What
message does he want
to give to the people of
the state by taking Mo-
harram Ali Pappu, the
accused mastermind in
the Saharanpur riots,
in the party?”
He said only an hon-
est government could
ensure security to a
common man.
THE FORMER UP POLICE CHIEF, NOW A BJP RAJYA SABHA MP, ACCUSED SAMAJWADI PARTY OF FIELDING CRIMINALS
Brij Lal along with Cabinet Minister Mohsin Raza welcomes other party leaders to the BJP at
BJP’s state office in Lucknow on Tuesday . —PHOTO BY SUMIT KUMAR
Former DGP Brajlal expresses his views during a media
interaction on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY SUMIT KUMAR
‘FULL MAJORITY’
UP assembly polls: Anupriya Patel’s
Apna Dal eyes a share of 36 seats
POSCO: Capital
punishment for
raping 3-yr-old
First India Bureau
Lucknow: In a little
over three months after
he raped and killed a
3-year-old girl, a POCSO
court awarded capital
punishment to the con-
vict here, officials said
on Tuesday
.
Special Judge Mo-
hammed Ahmad Khan
of the Additional Dis-
trict and Sessions
Court, which is also the
Protection of Children
from Sexual Offences
(POCSO) court, on Mon-
day pronounced death
sentence on Dinesh Pas-
wan (28), who raped and
killed the girl on Octo-
ber 15, 2021, govern-
ment counsel Sehdev
Gupta told reporters
during a breifing with
regards to the trial.
The court also im-
posed a fine of Rs 25,000
on the convict. —PTI
Lucknow: With less
than a month remain-
ing for Uttar Pradesh
Assembly elections, the
ruling Bharatiya Jana-
ta Party (BJP) will hold
a second round of meet-
ing with its alliance
partner Apna Dal to dis-
cuss seat sharing on
Tuesday at 4 pm.
The first meeting was
held earlier in the day
with Union Minister
Dharmendra Pradhan,
the election in-charge
of Uttar Pradesh. In
this meeting, its alli-
ance partners, the Ni-
shad Party leaders and
Apna Dal President
Anupriya Patel were
present along with state
Deputy Chief Minister
Keshav Prasad Maurya.
As per sources in Apna
Dal, looking at develop-
ments in the meeting
first today, the party
hopes to get double the
number seats this time
as compared to previ-
ous elections in which
they contested on 11
seats. Meanwhile, the
party has demanded 36
assembly seats in the
forthcoming polls. How-
ever, the discussion is
still underway
.
“Winnability will be
the criteria. We will put
our candidates in the
fray of elections on the
seats where there is
more possibility of win-
ning. Similarly, BJP
will do that same for
their candidates. This
time, we will fight the
polls on twice the num-
ber of seats,” sources in
Apna Dal said.
According to sources,
Apna Dal has demand-
ed to contest on seats in
Kanpur, Mauranipur,
Jhansi, Nanpara, Bah-
raich, Sewapuri Ro-
haniya Pindra in Ba-
naras, Sorao Handia in
Allahabad, Shohrat-
garh in Gorakhpur,
Nautanwa, Kushinagar
and on some other seats
from Lucknow to Mo-
hanlalganj.
“We have demanded
to contest on 36 seats.
The discussions are still
underway
. It is not game
of number but winna-
bility
. This time,
Purvanchal is a very
important seat. Thus,
numbers don’t matter to
us. Unnecessary names
of the candidate will not
be required either by
the BJP or us. —ANI
CHIEFS MEET!
CM Yogi Adityanath paid a courtesy visit to BJP President JP Nadda at his official residence
on Tuesday.
Nothing objectionable in Rita
demanding ticket for son: MP
Constituency watch
Gorakhpur Sadar is
Yogi’s invincible fort
Lucknow: Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) Ra-
jya Sabha MP Harnath
Singh Yadav on Tues-
day said that there is
nothing objectionable
in party leader Rita Ba-
huguna Joshi seeking a
ticket for her son for the
upcoming Uttar
Pradesh Assembly
polls.
“She has clearly said
that whatever decision
the party takes, she will
accept it and work for
the party under any cir-
cumstances. So her
statement should be
welcomed,” stated the
BJP MP
.
Rita Bahuguna Joshi
is Lok Sabha MP from
Allahabad. She de-
manded a ticket for son
Mayank Joshi from
Lucknow Cantt for the
upcoming UP polls.
“He (son Mayank)
has been working since
2009 and has applied for
it (a ticket from Luc-
know Cantt), rightfully
.
But if the party has de-
cided to give the ticket
to only one person per
family, I will resign
from my present LS seat
if Mayank gets a tick-
et,” Joshi told media-
persons.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: The BJP cen-
tral leadership has
picked up the safest seat
in Purvanchal for Chief
Minister Yogi Adity-
anath. Gorakhpur has
long been BJP’s strong-
hold from where Yogi
had been five-time Lok
Sabha member and has
nurtured the district
quite well.
While having octopus-
like grip over the temple
city as head priest of
Gorakhnath temple over
the decades, Yogi had in-
vested quite lot during
the last five years as he
had launched series of
developmental schemes
in and around the Gora-
khpur.
Since Yogi is star cam-
paigner , the central
leadership has chosen a
safe seat for him so that
he could not be tied
down in his own poll
management.
In Gorakhpur, Yogi
with his vast network of
his decades of electoral
machinery is pretty safe
in the fort.
For the past 20 years
the seat is under control
of the BJP. Even as the
Samajwadi Party presi-
dent Akhilesh Yadav
said“theBJPhaspacked
off to Baba (Yogi) to his
hometown and he would
not return to Lucknow
as the ruling party is on
way out”, the BJP lead-
ers are unfazed and con-
fident of his record vic-
tory
.
The BJP’s Dr Radha
Modhan Das Agarwal, a
close confident of chief
minister, has been repre-
senting the constituency
since 2002. Gorakhpur
has always been a bas-
tion of Hindutav forces
because of dominance
Gorakhnath Temple in
spiritual life of the peo-
ple of the region.
Since 1989 saffron
brigade had been in
power in this constitu-
ency. First Hindu Ma-
hasabha captured it and
later it came under con-
trol of the BJP.
Seat sharing with BJP to
be declared soon: Nishad
Lucknow: The Nishad
Party founder, Sanjay
Nishad on Tuesday said
all the seats on alliance
with BJP for the Uttar
Pradesh assembly elec-
tions will be announced
in two to four days and
discussion on two seats
are going on.
“Around 15 seats are
fix for us while discus-
sions are going for two-
three more seats.
Names of all the seats
will be announced in
two to four days, after
our meeting today
,” said
Nishad. He further said
that they have no prob-
lem in giving the seats
to BJP
. “We are working
towintheUttarPradesh
Assembly polls and
have no problem in giv-
ing the seats to BJP
,” he
added.
According to sources,
there can be an agree-
ment between the BJP
and the Nishad Party
for an alliance on 17
seats. BJP has fixed 15
seats for Nishad Party,
while the discussion is
going on for two seats.
As per the sources,
Kathari, Gyanpur,
Shahganj, Jaisinghpur,
Gorakhpur Rural, Meh-
dawal, Tamkuhi Raj,
Nautanwan, Atraulia,
Baran, Handia, Tind-
wari, Kalpi, Sakaldiha,
Suar, Jakhania seat
may go to Nishad Party
.
The official announce-
ment can be made after
the meeting on Tuesday
.
—ANI
ABOUT THE PARTY
Apna Dal (S) National President Anupriya Patel on a visit to
Lucknow in August last year. —FILE PHOTO
Rita Bahuguna Joshi.
—FILE PHOTO
Sanjay Nishad. —FILE PHOTO
CM Yogi arrives at BJP
headquarters for UP BJP core
group meeting, in New Delhi
on Tuesday. Dy CM Dinesh
Sharma was also present.

UTTAR PRADESH
03
CRUCIAL READ
BJP STATE VICE PRESIDENT PANKAJ
SINGH FILES NOMINATION FROM NOIDA
‘FIELDINGCRIMINALS’BARB:MOST
TAINTEDMLASINBJP,SAYSAKHILESH
Kanpur: BJP’s UP vice president Pankaj Singh on Tues-
day filed his nomination to contest the assembly polls
from Gautam Buddh Nagar’s Noida, the seat he won
in 2017. Singh’s nomination papers were filed by his
name proposers, including Gautam Buddh Nagar MP
Mahesh Sharma and Noida unit president Manoj Gupta
at the district election office, party’s local spokesperson
Tanmay Shankar said. 43-yr-old Pankaj Singh, son of
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, is currently in home
isolation after he tested positive for COVID-19.
SP MLA BOOKED
FOR MODEL CODE
VIOLATION
Lucknow: Samajwadi
Party MLA from Asmoli
Pinki Yadav and dozens
others were booked
for allegedly violating
Model Code and coro-
navirus guidelines. SP
Chakresh Mishra said
Yadav was address-
ing a crowd of 50-60
people in Atrasi village
Monday evening where
the participants were
not wearing masks
or maintaining social
distancing.
3 MOBILE PHONE
SNATCHERS IN
POLICE NET
Kanpur: Police arrested
three notorious chain,
mobile snatchers
and recovered looted
mobile phones from
them. Raveena Tyagi,
DCP (South) here said
a police team arrested
three miscreants in-
volved in several chain
and mobile snatching
incidents. The accused
were identified as
Aman Savita, Deepak
alias Aryan and Aryan
Yadav.
Lucknow: Under at-
tack over fielding candi-
dates with a criminal
background in Uttar
Pradesh assembly polls,
Samajwadi Party presi-
dent Akhilesh Yadav on
Tuesday alleged that his
party leaders had been
framed in false cases by
the ruling BJP
.
Flanked by new en-
trant Swami Prasad
Maurya, who had quit
the BJP, and veteran
leader Azam Khan’s son
Abdullah Azam, recent-
ly released from jail,
Yadav also claimed that
the maximum number
of MLAs with a crimi-
nal background are
from the saffron party
.
The SP president
was replying to queries
from media on a PIL
which sought a direc-
tion from the Supreme
Court to the Election
Commission to de-reg-
ister any political par-
ty which violates the
directions of the apex
court on making public
information about
their candidate’s crimi-
nal record.
The public interest
litigation (PIL) cited the
case of SP candidate an-
nounced from Kairana
constituency - Nahid
Hasan - who was arrest-
ed recently under the
Gangster Act.
Terming the PIL as
BJP-sponsored, the SP
president said that go-
ing by this standard,
the BJP will not be able
to contest anywhere in
the country
.
“The CM and deputy
chief minister have a
number of cases
against them. The max-
imum number of MLAs
having criminal back-
ground have reached
the assembly from the
BJP,” he claimed.
The BJP has been ac-
cusing the Samajwadi
Party of sheltering
gangsters and mafias
during its rule in Uttar
Pradesh.
“The Samajwadi Par-
ty, which has been pro-
tecting criminals, has
now given tickets to
anti-social elements
and history sheeters for
several assembly seats,
including Kairana, Mu-
zaffarnagar, Siyana, Bu-
landshahar and Loni in
westernUttarPradesh,”
CM Yogi Adityanath
had said on Monday
.
The SP chief, howev-
er, alleged that a large
number of his party
leaders have been
framed in fake cases un-
der the BJP govern-
ment. —PTI
First India Bureau
Lucknow: There is
growing resentment
and questions being
raised at the RTO’s new
online test for driving
licence, which the ma-
jority of the applicants
are failing to clear.
It has also fuelled talk
of corruption, with peo-
plesayingthattheonline
test is serving the inter-
ests of touts rather than
of genuine applicants.
The RTO officers in
their defence are put-
ting the blame on the
applicants, saying that
the test is being taken
without thorough prep-
aration. Recently a re-
port emerged that 90
per cent of those who
took the online test
failed in it, unable to an-
swer even nine out of
the 15 questions asked
about traffic rules.
RTO officials say due
to lack of knowledge of
trafficrules,thenumber
of applicants who are
failing is high. Since
January 7, total 130 ap-
plicants have appeared
in the online test, and
only 12 were able to
pass. The online test
was implemented in the
state after a trial run in
Barabankiasapilotpro-
ject. The process was
implemented in the en-
tire state only after re-
moving the shortcom-
ingsencounteredduring
the trial in Barabanki.
On average, 20 to 25
applicantsaresittingfor
the test from home, but
only 2 to 3 are passing it.
In contrast, over 70 per
cent of those who come
to RTO directly for the
test emerge successful.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Police saved
amanwhomurderedhis
wife and tried to commit
suicide in Bada Barha
colony in Alambagh
area.
Police said Shushil
was married to Radhika
alias Meera for past 10
years and he had frac-
tionsoverseveralissues.
Shushil called the po-
lice control room on
Tuesday morning and
informed that he had
murdered his wife and
wasgoingtocommitsui-
cide.
After information po-
lice rushed to the spot
and saved Shushil when
he was trying to hang
himself. It was reported
that he killed his wife
with iron rod. Shushil
was shifted to the hospi-
tal while further investi-
gations were underway
.
First India Bureau
Agra: The effect of
cold was seen in the
collectorate even on the
fifth day of the nomina-
tion process for the as-
sembly elections. On
Tuesday, only two can-
didates filed their nom-
ination papers. Even
after a lapse of five
days, only nine candi-
dates have filed their
nominations so far.
At around 12 noon,
the first candidate Ka-
pil Vajpayee arrived to
file his nomination. Ka-
pil is contesting for the
Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP) from the north-
ern assembly. Kapil Ba-
jpai, who came to file
nomination, said that
after winning he will
clean all the mess in
the northern assembly
with a broom.
On Tuesday, the sec-
ond candidate, BSP’s
Ravi Bhardwaj of
Southern Assembly
filed his nomination.
Ravi Bhardwaj, who
came to file nomina-
tion, looked confident
of victory.
He said that he would
move ahead with the
welfare of the entire
society and the devel-
opment of the entire
society would be his
priority.
He said that he sin-
cerely hoped that the
support of every sec-
tion of the society
would make him victo-
rious with a huge vote.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav along with Swami Prasad Maurya (L) and Azam Khan’s son Abdullah Azam Khan
(R) address a press conference at party office in Lucknow on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY SUMIT KUMAR
“I have said this earlier also, a DM who had come from
another state and wanted extension was posted to
Rampur and he worked there as per the wishes of the
government. An IPS who had charges
against him was sent to Rampur to
end his inquiry. During the past five
years, the BJP framed fake cases
against Samajwadi Party leaders
and Nahid Hasan also comes in this
category,” Yadav claimed. On senior
leader Azam Khan, who is presently
in jail, Akhilesh alleged that both the Congress and the
BJP colluded in framing him. He also alleged that Apna
Dal leader Krishna Patel is “facing atrocities” ever since
she came with his party and that cases were reopened
and action has been initiated against her trust.
‘CHARGES AGAINST AZAM KHAN
FRAMED BY BJP-CONG COLLUSION’
At 14,803
UP sees
slight dip in
new cases
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Uttar
Pradesh reported
14,803 fresh corona-
virus cases on Tues-
day, pushing its tal-
ly of active infec-
tions to 1,01,114,
while 12 more fatal-
ities raised the
death toll to 22,984,
according to an of-
ficial statement. On
Monday the state
had reported over
15,600 new cases.
Among the new
cases, the maximum
(2,173)werereported
from Lucknow, fol-
lowed by 1,262 from
Gautam Budh Na-
gar, 909 each from
Meerut and Varana-
si, among other dis-
tricts, it said.
One death each
was reported from
Lucknow, Meerut,
Moradabad, Mathu-
ra, Hardoi, Ghaz-
ipur,Deoria,Ambed-
kar Nagar, Jalaun
and Kaushambi, the
statement said.
First India Bureau
Kanpur: Chakeri was
rocked by bullets late at
night following a clash
between the police and
miscreants as the latter
had come to burgle the
house of one Hari Om
Awasthi near Harihar
Dham.
Hari Om, who is cur-
rently in America, had
rented his house to a
family but the family
due to Covid lockdown
and shutting of schools
had moved to their vil-
lage. Hari Om had in-
stalled CCTV cameras
in the house whose feed
can be seen in Hari Om
and his sons’ mobile
phone.
Late on Monday
night, Hari Om saw
some miscreants enter
the house following
which he immediately
informed locals Kar-
mendra Dwivedi and
Ashutosh Mishra,
who in turn called the
police.
Police teams from
Shyam Nagar outpost
and Chakeri police sta-
tion reached the spot
and called out the mis-
creants, but the miscre-
ants opened fire at the
police which resulted in
a gun battle between the
police and the miscre-
ants. A thief identified
as Sonu, of Hamirpur
was injured in the ex-
change of fires and was
arrested, while the oth-
ers fled taking advan-
tage of the darkness.
The encounter was
led by Chakeri Inspec-
tor Madhukar Mishra.
The incident took
place at 1 AM when
thieves entered the
house of Hari Om and
the presence of CCTV
camers first alerted Vi-
jay Awasthi, son of Hari
Om who lives in New
Jersey (USA).
Late night encounter after burglary attempt in Chakeri
NRI IN TROUBLE
Police nab one of the thieves involved in the midnight heist.
The thieves unaware of
the CCTV set up inside
the house had planned to
burgle the house safely,
but their attempt was
thwarted by the quick
action of the police.
One of the thieves was
injured in the gun fight
and later arrested while
others bolted from the
spot through the vacant
plot behind the house
of Hari Om. A team
of police officers have
been deployed in the
house as a precautionary
measure.
CCTVS IN HOUSE
DID THE TRICK
Cold Response: Only
9 candidates file
nomination in 5 days
NewonlinetestforDLprovesimpassableformost
WARMTH OF CAMARADERIE
Tuesday was chilly all day long in Lucknow with maximum temperature of 12.2 Celsius, 9 degrees below normal, and the minimum settling for 4.5
degrees, 3 degrees below normal. The lowest temperature in UP was recorded in Kanpur at 2.6 Celsius and the lowest day temperature was in
Hamirpur at 10.2 C and Agra at 10.6 C. However, braving the cold, people went out to enjoy the day the Lucknow Zoo where even the tiger family
was seen huddled close together for warmth on the bitingly cold winter day. —PHOTOS BY ASHOK DUTTA
FRIGID
ZONE...
Police save man from killing
self after murdering wife
(Above) BSP’s Ravi Bhardwaj,
(below) AAP’s Kapil Vajpayee
Azam Khan

PERSPECTIVE
04
l Vol 2 l Issue No. 69
l RNI NO. UPENG/2020/80229.
Printed and published by
Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of
First Express Publishers. Printed
at Amar Ujala Ltd. B-5 Amausi
Industrial Area Kanpur Road Luc-
know. Published at 98, Friend’’s
Colony, Raheem Nagar, Dudouli
Road, Madiyaon, Lucknow (UP).
Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra.
Editor: Vishal Srivastav
responsible for selection of news
under the PRB Act
Promoted by First India
News International Pvt. Ltd.
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
Hatred is never
appeased by hatred in
this world. By non-
hatred alone
is hatred appeased.
This is a law eternal.
—Gautam Buddha
IN-DEPTH
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
Shri Narayan Debnath Ji brightened
several lives through his works,
cartoons and illustrations. His works
reflected his intellectual prowess.
The characters he created will remain
eternally popular. Pained by his
demise. Condolences to his family
and admirers. Om Shanti.
Piyush Goyal
@PiyushGoyal
Election is a training camp for the
development of political workers.
We can prepare maximum people as
workers. Winning the election is not
only a matter, but the organization
should also expand and the worker
should also be developed: PM@
NarendraModip-
TOP TWEETS
SISTER DUO WHO
KILLED 13 KIDS,
ESCAPE THE NOOSE
BY A WHISKER
heirs is a classic case
of cheating death.
Kolhapur’s Seema
Gavit and her sister
Renuka Shinde were
accused of killing 43 children be-
tween 1990 and 1996. After kid-
napping, they forced them into
beggary and later killed them.
The police was able to prove the
murder of 13 children. The Kol-
hapur court sentenced them to
be hanged till death in 2001. After
the Supreme Court upheld the
death sentence in 2006 their exe-
cution was almost certain. On
Tuesday
, the Bombay High Court
commuted their death sentence
into life imprisonment. The re-
prieve was not because the court
found loopholes in the prosecu-
tion case but because of the
state’s“casualapproach,amercy
petitionwasnotdecidedfornear-
ly seven months and 10 months”.
It is a sad commentary on the
country’scriminaljusticesystem
as the “unexplained” delay failed
“theinnocentvictims”of thehei-
nous crimes. Having “spent” 25
years in jail, the “menace to soci-
ety”,astheSupremeCourtcalled
them, may now walk free.
T
here’s a row be-
tween the Centre
and three opposi-
tion-ruled states--
-WB, TN and Ker-
ala---over the exclusion of
their tableaux from the Re-
public Day parade. This is
the second time after 2020
that Kerala and Bengal’s tab-
leaux are not a part of the
parade. CM Mamata Baner-
jee is miffed over the exclu-
sion. In a letter to PM Naren-
dra Modi she said, “I am pro-
foundly shocked and hurt by
the decision of the Govern-
ment of India to abruptly
exclude the proposed tableau
of the Government of Ben-
gal from the ensuing Repub-
lic Day Parade. It is even
more baffling for us that the
tableau was rejected without
assigning any reasons or jus-
tification.” The tableau was
designed to commemorate
Netaji Subhas Chandra
Bose’s 125th birth anniv.
Replying to Mamata, De-
fence Minister Rajnath Sin-
gh said that the rejection of
Bengal’s tableau had noth-
ing to do with politics and
that “PM Modi-led govern-
ment respects” Netaji “in
high regard”.
Kerala’s tableau carried
figure of “anti-caste crusad-
er Narayan Guru” instead of
Adi Shankara’s as wanted by
Centre. TN CM MK Stalin
also questioned exclusion of
his state’s tableau.
Even if CMs of 3 states are
peeved at their tableaux be-
ing sidelined, Centre has its
reasons for dropping them.
First, the selection is made
by an expert committee. And
two, as FM Nirmala Sithara-
man said, GoI and received 56
proposals from states, minis-
tries and PSUs out of which
only 21 were selected. Ra-
jnath Singh explained that
out of 29 design proposals
only 12 were approved. Heart-
burn is unavoidable.
BENGAL, TN, KERALA
TABLEAUX EXCLUSION
First, the selection is
made by an expert
committee. And two, as
Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman said,
Government of India and
received 56 proposals
from states, ministries
and PSUs out of which
only 21 were selected
T
WHY THIS ‘KOLA VERI DI’
FOR TABLEAU JUNK ISSUE?
ableaux of several states
meant for the Republic Day
parade on January 26 has
been rejected which has obvi-
ously sparked controversy
.
And quick to take the
“mass” media route, which is
today in the form of Twitter,
FB, Instagram, Youtube…
people, netas (obviously a
juicy fodder for them), and
civil society commentators
have come out against this
rejection vehemently and
notwithstanding the fact,
everyone has a theory
.
The tableaux of the state,
in general, is supposed to be
a visual representation of
personalities, people, events,
culture, etc. deeply rooted
and associated with the
state(s) concerned.
And in an obvious move…
the Chief Ministers of Kera-
la, West Bengal, and Tamil
Nadu have written to the
Centre against the rejection
of their state’s tableaux.
And this became a news
peg for channels and the me-
dia for some time.
The Centre, meanwhile,
has criticized the states’ reac-
tion over the rejection and in
its defense said the decisions
were taken after “thorough
deliberation” by an expert
committee. It also accused
the chief ministers of Kera-
la, Tamil Nadu, and West
Bengal of “spreading misin-
formation” about Republic
Day tableaux.
Having said that… let’s see
how the tableaux are ordered
and what is the process of
selection and rejection.
UNDERSTANDING THE
SELECTION PROCESS…
The tableaux aren’t decid-
ed by the Centre. The Defence
Ministry appoints an expert
committee comprising emi-
nent personalities from vari-
ous fields like culture, art,
painting, music, sculpture,
dance, architecture, etc. to
study these artworks and
take a call.
Before drawing up a final
list… the committee vigor-
ously discusses the idea, con-
cept, topic, design, and visual
impact of these. It must be
remembered that only a few
suggestions can be cleared
due to the restriction of the
time factor. Out of the 56 pro-
posals received from states
andcentralministriesin2022,
twenty-one were selected.
It is not correct to say that
West Bengal, Kerala, and Ta-
mil Nadu are being rudely
treated or rather unfairly as
the same Central govern-
ment led by Narendra Modi
had approved Kerala’s tab-
leau proposals in 2018 and
2021. Similarly, Tamil Nadu’s
tableaux were approved in
2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2021
and West Bengal’s were given
the green signal in 2016, 2017,
2019, and 2021.
We need to know the fact
correctly and study the issue
closely. Even as Mamata Ba-
nerjee accused the Centre of
disrespecting Netaji Subhas
Chandra Bose by rejecting
West Bengal’s tableau, it
must be noted that this year’s
tableau of the Central Public
Works Department, which
falls within the ambit of the
Centre, actually incorporates
Netaji as a topic. As a result,
accusing the Centre of disre-
specting the great freedom
fighter by West Bengal does
not hold water.
Also, it was reported in a
section of the media that this
year’s Republic Day festivi-
ties will be initiated from
January 23… the birth anni-
versary of Netaji Subhas
Chandra Bose.
In the first phase of selec-
tion, the sketch and design of
the proposals are closely ex-
amined and suggestions for
changes, if required, are in-
formed to the concerned
states. Once okayed by the
expert panel, the participat-
ing states are required to pre-
sent a three-dimensional
model of their proposal once
again to the committee. The
experts again examine the
same and look at the changes
asked for to take a final call.
The final selection of a tab-
leau is based on a combina-
tion of issues or rather fac-
tors like the visual appeal,
impact it will have on people
especially of the state and on
the wide spectrum of people
witnessing the same virtual-
ly, concept, the minute detail-
ing that has gone into the
making of the artwork and
also the music composed to
accompany the same.
The Subject Expert Com-
mittee which rejected the
proposals of Kerala, West
Bengal, and Tamil Nadu did
so after marathon delibera-
tions and a due process that
is followed every year.
They also said it is quite
natural for more proposals to
be rejected than those ap-
proved given the time con-
straints.
According to the experts’
panel, the outcry by states
and lambasting the Centre
over the rejection of tab-
leaux sets out a wrong prec-
edent as chief ministers try
to politicize the matter and
portray the outcome of an
“objective” process as a
flashpoint between the states
and the Centre. They also
feel that this goes a long way
in harming the country’s fed-
eral template.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
T
According to the experts’
panel, the outcry by states
and lambasting the Centre
over the rejection of
tableaux sets out a wrong
precedent as chief ministers
try to politicize the matter
and portray the outcome of
an “objective” process as a
flashpoint between the states
and the Centre. They also
feel that this goes a long
way in harming the
country’s federal template
ROBIN ROY
The writer is Senior Associate Editor,
Free Press Journal, Mumbai and former
Managing Editor, First India
THE TABLEAUX
AREN’T DECIDED BY
THE CENTRE. THE
DEFENCE MINISTRY
APPOINTS AN EXPERT
COMMITTEE
COMPRISING EMINENT
PERSONALITIES FROM
VARIOUS FIELDS LIKE
CULTURE, ART,
PAINTING, MUSIC,
SCULPTURE, DANCE,
ARCHITECTURE, ETC.
TO STUDY THESE
ARTWORKS TAKE CALL

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INDIA
05
New Delhi: Around
1000 drones, 75 military
aircraft and tableaux of
12 states and Union Ter-
ritories and nine minis-
tries will be part of the
Republic Day celebra-
tions at Rajpath in the
national capital.
Interestingly
, the gov-
ernment has introduced
two important changes
— Republic Day celebra-
tion week will be held
from January 23 to Jan-
uary 30 and the main
function will begin 30
minutes later on Janu-
ary 26. It will begin at
10.30 a.m. in place of 10
a.m. to let visibility im-
prove by the time flypast
takes place.
The celebrations will
begin from January 23
to mark the 125th birth
anniversary of Netaji
SubhasChandraBose.It
will end on January 30
to commemorate Mar-
tyrs Day
. Number of
visitors has been signifi-
cantly curtailed be-
tween 5,000 to 8,000.
No foreign chief
guest this year due
to COVID-19
There will be no foreign
chief guest on R-Day
this year due to Covid
crisis Omicron
threat. Invitations to
Heads of States of five
Central Asian coun-
tries have been sent.
“There will be no for-
eign chief guest from
Central Asian coun-
tries on R- Day this year
due to COVID-19. —ANI
R-Day celebrations begin from
Jan 23, visitor numbers curtailed
ASSEMBLY POLLS 2022
Chandigarh: Aam
Aadmi Punjab Presi-
dent Bhagwant Mann
on Tuesday expressed
his gratitude to his par-
ty and the people of
Punjab after being
declared as the
AAP’s chief min-
isterial candidate
in the upcoming
Assembly elections,
and said that his party
would be victorious
with more than two-
third majority and
make the state “Rangla
Punjab” again.
Earlier on Tuesday,
Mann was declared the
Chief Ministerial can-
didate of AAP after the
party received nearly 22
lakh responses on the
phone number released
last week asking people
to give names of their
preferred candidate for
the face of the chief
minister for the party
in Punjab. Speaking to
ANI, Mann said, “I will
try to get my party the
victory with more than
two-third majority. We
have to make Punjab
Rangla Punjab again.”
Asked about his pri-
orities if he is elected as
CM in upcoming polls,
Mann said that he
would address the is-
sues relating to drug ad-
diction and the unem-
ployment of youth. “Un-
employment is a big is-
sueinPunjab,ouryouth
has gone into depres-
sion, running away
abroad. We will work for
this, we will fix educa-
tion, we will fix agricul-
ture. Electricity is also a
big issue. We have to
end the mafia rule and
fill the treasury of Pun-
jab, give convenience to
the people.” —ANI
Amritsar: Congress
leader Raj Kumar Verka
on Tuesday alleged
“There is no truth in the
response calls that
Arvind Kejriwal is talk-
ing about and to cheat
the people of Punjab
and Bhagwant Mann,
Kejriwal has played a
newtrick,”saidtheCon-
gress leader. “AAP is not
going to get a total 5 lakh
votes in Punjab.
Imphal: The All Manipur Christian Organisation
(AMCO) urged Election Commission to resched-
ule first phase of As-
sembly polls on Febru-
ary 27 as the day being
a Sunday is the prayer
day of the community.
The AMCO requested
the ECI to conduct the
polling of the first phase
on any day of the week
other than Sundays.”We earnestly appeal to
the Election Commission to reschedule the first
phase polling date to show solidarity and respect
to the religious sentiment of the Christians,” it
said in a statement.The elections to the 60-mem-
ber Manipur Assembly would be held in two
phases on February 27 and March 3. —ANI
Panaji: Aam Aadmi
Party national conven-
or and Delhi Chief Min-
ister Arvind Kejriwal
will be announcing the
party’s CM candidate
for Goa during a press
conference in Panaji
on Wednesday.
Kejriwal had
held a door-to-
door campaign
on Sunday in
Cortalim village of Goa,
which is scheduled
to go to polls this
February. As a part of
the campaign, Kejriwal
along with other party
members was seen
interacting with voters
in Cortalim. Pamphlets
were distributed to
the voters during the
campaign.
Goa will go to the
assembly polls on
February 14.
The counting of
votes will take
place on March
10. AAP an-
nounced its Lok Sabha
MP Bhagwant Mann
as the party’s chief
ministerial candidate
for Punjab Assembly
elections. —ANI
ty and the people of
Punjab after being
declared as the
isterial candidate
in the upcoming
Assembly elections,
PUNJAB
conference in Panaji
conference in Panaji assembly polls on
assembly polls on
February 14.
February 14.
The counting of
The counting of
votes will take
votes will take
place on March
place on March
10. AAP an-
10. AAP an-
GOA
GOA
AAPWILLWINBYTWO-THIRDMAJORITY,
MAKE ‘RANGLA PUNJAB’ AGAIN: MANN
Verka: Mann
declared CM
face on fake
response calls
Asked about his priorities if elected as CM, the AAP leader said that he
would address issues like drug addiction youth unemployment
AAP chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Singh Mann in-conversation with Delhi CM AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal ahead of Punjab
polls, in Mohali on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY PTI
ELECTION COMMISSION ADDS NEW COLUMN
ON EXPENDITURES ON DIGITAL CAMPAIGNING
New Delhi: The Elec-
tion Commission has
added a new column in
candidates’ election ex-
penditure returns to
submit information on
money spent on digital
campaigning in the up-
coming polls in 5 states.
The candidates used
to mention money spent
on digital campaigning
in previous elections
also, but this is for the
first time that a dedicat-
ed column has been cre-
ated to “capture” details
of such expenditure.
In a bid to check the
spread of COVID-19, the
Election Commission
has extended a ban on
holding physical rallies,
roadshows and similar
physical campaigning
events till January 22.
With the ban on out-
door physical events in
place, parties are using
digital and online plat-
formstoreachouttovot-
ers.Thenewcolumnhas
been created for the first
time for elections in Ut-
tar Pradesh, Uttara-
khand, Goa, Punjab and
Manipur by tweaking
the format of returns.
“Parties and candi-
dates (so far) used to dis-
close on their own such
expenditures ... they
used to provide details
of expenditureonthings
like digital vans ... they
used to show expendi-
ture under this category
.
Now, a dedicated point
has been created to cap-
ture such expenditure
from this (set of) polls,”
afunctionaryexplained.
The functionary said
it is not for the first time
such disclosure by the
candidates and parties
will be made. “But the
manner of disclosure
now is dedicated,” the
functionary explained.
Section10Aof theRep-
resentationof thePeople
Act 1951 says that a can-
didate who fails to lodge
hisorherelectionexpen-
ditures within the pre-
scribed time is liable to
be disqualified by EC for
a period of three years
from contesting. —PTI
Indian Navy personnel wave the tri-colour flag while rehearsing
for the Beating Retreat ceremony, at Vijay Chowk, in New Delhi.
New Delhi: There is no dearth of war of words ahead
of Punjab Assembly polls, which is scheduled next
month. And as AAP announced its CMcandidate, it
took a Bollywood route to poke fun at its opposition.
Posting the song ‘Dil Da Mamla Hai Dilbar’ from Heyy
Babyy on Twitter, AAP morphed faces of Congress
leaders Charanjit Singh Channi, Navjot Sidhu and Rahul
Gandhi, its national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and can-
didate Bhagwant Mann onto those of actors in scenes.
AAP USES BOLLYWOOD SONG
TO INTRODUCE ITS CM FACE
Christians in Manipur urge EC
not to hold polling on Sunday
Arvind Kejriwal to announce
AAP’s Goa CM face today
1000 DRONES TO DISPLAY MULTIPLE FORMATIONS IN SKY
New Delhi: To encourage a startup led by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
Delhi, for the first time in the country, a drone show consisting of 1,000 drones
will be held during the Beating Retreat event in Republic Day celebrations this
year, said an official from the Ministry of Defence on Tuesday. After China, Russia
and UK, India will be the fourth country to perform drone show. The official also
said that this year, the Beating Retreat ceremony will also witness projection
mapping to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of Independence.
SC TO CENTRE: FRAME
MODEL SCHEME ON
COMMUNITY KITCHENS
New Delhi: The SC on
Tuesday questioned the
Centre for not reporting
any starvation death. The
court said if it can be
understood that there is
no starvation death in the
country. The apex court
asked the government to
furnish the latest data on
starvation deaths and also
frame a model scheme,
for state governments to
implement, in commu-
nity kitchens to address
hunger and malnutri-
tion. A bench headed
by Chief Justice N.V.
Ramana and comprising
Justices A.S. Bopanna
and Hima Kohli told At-
torney General (AG) K.K.
Venugopal, “Government
of India should give us
data on starvation deaths,
latest information. Ask
your officer to give us
information”. The bench
further emphasised that
the Central government
should frame a model
scheme for community
kitchens and leave it on
the state governments to
implement it. —ANI
EXPLAIN WHY NDA-2022 EXAM HAS ONLY 19
SEATS FOR WOMEN: SC TO CENTRE
HELLO TAXI MULTI-CRORE FRAUD: DELHI HC
GRANTS BAIL TO TWO DIRECTORS
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday (January
18) sought the response of the central government
on limiting the intake of
women candidates for the
National Defence Academy
(NDA)-2022 examination
to 19, the same as last
year. A bench of justices
Sanjay Kaul and MM Sun-
dresh asked the Centre to
place the figures on record about the total number
of candidates including women who have appeared
in the NDA examination 2021, for entrance tests for
Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) and for
Rashtriya Military School (RMS). The bench told Ad-
ditional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati.
New Delhi: Delhi HC has granted bail to two
directors of an app-based taxi company, accused
of duping hundreds of
people of Rs 250 crore
after promising them huge
returns on investing in the
firm. Justice Subramonium
Prasad noted that their
custody isn’t required.
“Whether or not cheated
money was entrusted to petitioners (accused) is a
matter of trial and cannot be taken into consideration
at this juncture. This court is, therefore, of the opin-
ion that continued custody of the petitioners is no
longer required and that both the petitioners should
be enlarged on bail,” the court said. —PTI
IN THE COURTYARD
New Delhi: Following
raids on the house of
Punjab Chief Minis-
ter’s relative, Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi
today hit out at the BJP
saying it’s the ruling
party’s “favourite weap-
on because they them-
selves have things to
hide”. The raids are in
connection with an old
case, and come just
weeks before state as-
sembly elections, lead-
ing to speculation on
social media of a politi-
cal motive behind it.
New Delhi: After PM Modi had to restart his Davos Agen-
da address, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a swipe
saying “even the teleprompter could not take so much
lies”, even as BJP leaders pointed to a “technical glitch’’ at
event organiser World Economic Forum’s end. There was
no official reaction from the Centre or the World Economic
Forum. Several Congress leaders and social media users
claimed that it was a “teleprompter gaffe” as PM Modi had
to pause and then restart his special address to the WEF’s
online Davos Agenda 2022 summit, but BJP leaders and
many others pointed out that it was a technical glitch due
to which the WEF people were not able to patch the PM
and requested him to start again. —PTI
RAGA TAKES‘TELEPROMPTER’ JIBE AT MODI,
BJP LEADERS CITE‘TECHNICAL GLITCH’
RAID ON PUNJAB CM’S NEPHEW
Raid at the instance
of BJP,says Rahul
Rahul Gandhi
@RahulGandhi
Conducting an ED
raid is BJP’s favour-
ite weapon because
they themselves have
things to hide. Not
everyone is like you.
We have #NoFear.
#BJPFakeRaid
AHEAD OF POLLS,
ECI TRANSFERS
TWO DCS, 8 SSPS
Chandigarh: Ahead of
Punjab Assembly Elec-
tions, the Election Com-
mission of India on
Tuesday transferred
two Deputy Commis-
sioners-cum-District
Election Officers and
eight Senior Superin-
tendents of Police
(SSPs) in the state. —ANI
MORE EXPENDITURES, MORE COLUMNS
Harish Chaudhary sends curated Punjab
candidates’ list to party high command
Aditi Nagar
New Delhi: Ahead of
the Punjab assembly
polls, state Congress in-
charge Harish Chaud-
hary is working hard to
get the survey of each
candidate done twice.
The first list of 86 candi-
dates was released after
the survey
. There is dis-
pute over only one can-
didate. While Malvika
Sood from Moga has
emerged strong in the
survey, Moga’s current
MLA Harjot Kamal’s re-
port turned out to be
weak.Thesurveyreport
was sent to the high
command after which
the winning candidates
were chosen. Out of 86,
the high command is
confident that 48 to 51
candidates would win
the elections.
In its first Punjab list,
the Congress retained
mostof thesittingMLAs
initslistof 86candidates
announced for Punjab
assembly polls on Satur-
day with both CM
Charanjit Channi and
PPCC chief Navjot Sin-
gh Sidhu to contest from
their traditional seats.
The party gave tickets to
60MLAsandnotgivento
four of its sitting legisla-
tors. The state has 117
constituencies. The
MLAswhohavebeende-
nied tickets are Deputy
Speaker Ajaib Singh
Bhatti (Malout), Harjot
Kamal (Moga), Nathu
Ram (Balluana) and Bal-
winder Singh Laddi (Sri
Hargobindpur).
Congress faces a mul-
ti-cornered fight in Pun-
jab polls. While former
Punjab CM Capt Ama-
rinderSinghhasformed
his own party aligned
withBJP
,Congressfaces
contest from its tradi-
tional rival Shiromani
Akali Dal besides AAP,
which had finished sec-
ond in last polls. Most of
those who have got tick-
etsinfirstlisthavespent
long years in Congress.
Party leaders who were
seen close to Amarinder
Singh when he was CM
have also been given
tickets. —With ANI inputs
Harish Chaudhary. —FILE PHOTO

INDIA
06
Are Delhi govt’s
vaccine figures fudged?
Sharat K Verma
New Delhi: Delhi
Health Minister Satyen-
dar Jain said that 75%
of the people who have
died due to corona in
Delhi are those who
were not vaccinated. In
the last 5 days, around
150 people died in Delhi
and most of these peo-
ple were above 60 years
of age. Regarding these,
on December 24, Delhi
CM Arvind Kejriwal an-
nounced that 100% of
the adult population of
Delhi has received the
first dose of the vac-
cine. He informed that
148.33 crore people have
got the first dose for
which, he saluted the
doctors, ANMs, ASHA
workers and frontline
workers.
A day later, PM Modi
announced that adoles-
cents in the age group
of 15 to 18 years would
also be vaccinated from
January 3. Adolescents
in this age group are
not yet 100% vaccinat-
ed. If all the people
above 18 years of age
have been vaccinated,
then how are unvacci-
nated adults being
found, who are getting
infected by corona re-
sulting in their deaths?
Are these people from
other cities of NCR or
other states instead of
Delhi? If it is not so,
then there is something
wrong with either of
the two figures of 100%
immunized or 75% un-
vaccinated deaths.
CRUCIAL READ
Patna: Facing criticism over poor implementation of
the liquor ban, the Nitish Kumar govt in Bihar is likely
to give some relaxation to the violators. According to a
top official of the JDU, the state government is ready to
review this issue and a proposal is likely to be put on ta-
ble in the upcoming budget session of the Bihar Vidhan
Sabha. As per the proposal, the violators who are caught
in drunken state can be let off after paying penalty on
the spot. Though, it is not applicable on repeat offend-
ers. A person repeatedly violating the norms of liquor
prohibition law would be liable to face jail term. Such a
relaxation would allow liquor consumption at home and
would also promote the home delivery concept, which is
already popular among habitual drinkers in Bihar.
NITISH KUMAR GOVT LIKELY TO
RELAX LIQUOR PROHIBITION LAW
FADNAVIS SEEKS
ACTION OVER PATOLE
REMARKS ON MODI
Mumbai: The BJP will not
keep quiet over Maharash-
tra Congress president
Nana Patole’s alleged
controversial remarks
against PM Narendra
Modi, Leader of Opposi-
tion in the Maharashtra
Assembly and senior BJP
leader Devendra Fadnavis
said on Tuesday. Speak-
ing to reporters in Panaji,
Fadnavis also slammed
the Maharashtra govern-
ment for not filing an FIR
over Patole’s comments,
a video of which had gone
viral on Monday. “Some-
one called the Maharashtra
CM’s wife Rabri devi and
an FIR was filed. And here
a person who calls himself
a leader, threatens to kill
the PM and there is no FIR
(First Information Report)
against him in Maharash-
tra,” Fadnavis said.
CM HOLDS MEETING
TO RESOLVE
BORDER ROW
Guwahati: Assam Chief
Minister Himanta Biswa
Sarma held a meeting
today with representatives
of all political parties on
the Assam-Meghalaya
border issue at State
Guest House, Koinadhara.
Assam ministers Ranoj
Pegu and Ashok Singhal
and Leader of Opposi-
tion in state Assembly
Debabrata Saikia were
among those present in
the meeting. During the
meeting, the Chief Minis-
ter briefed representatives
of all political parties on
the progress made so far
on the issue. According
to Assam Chief Minister’s
Office, to resolve the
Assam-Meghalaya border
row, 6 of the 12 areas
of difference have been
identified for resolution in
the first phase.
Mumbai: Three naval personnel died of injuries
caused by an explosion on board Indian Navy’s
destroyer ship INS Ranvir. “In an unfortunate
incident today at Naval Dockyard Mumbai, three
naval personnel succumbed to injuries caused by
an explosion in an internal compartment onboard
INS Ranvir,” a Defence Ministry release said.
No major material damage has been reported,
it added.Sources say the explosion had nothing
to do with weapons or ammunition explosion. A
board of inquiry has been ordered to investigate
the cause. “The ship’s crew responded immediately
and quickly brought the situation under control,”
the release said. INS Ranvir was on cross-coast
operational deployment from the Eastern Naval
Command since November 2021 and was due to
return to base port shortly.
MUMBAI: 3 NAVAL PERSONNEL DIE IN
EXPLOSION ONBOARD INS RANVIR
Sitharaman calls Antrix-Devas
deal ‘fraud’, blames Congress
New Delhi: Finance
Minister Nirmala Si-
tharaman on Tuesday
accused Congress-led
UPA of entering into a
“fraud” and “scandal-
ous” deal with Devas
Multimedia by allocat-
ing S-band spectrum
used by the defence for
“pittance”.
At a press confer-
ence, she said the gov-
ernment is now fight-
ing in every court to
save taxpayers’ money
that would otherwise
go towards paying for
arbitration awards that
Devas has won against
the cancellation of the
2005 deal.
She said the Supreme
Court on January 17
has comprehensively
upheld liquidation of
Devas Multimedia on
grounds that it was in-
corporated with fraud-
ulent intentions.
Her comments came
as Devas shareholders
pursue Indian assets
abroad to recover USD
1.29 billion that inter-
national arbitration
tribunals awarded over
a cancelled satellite
contract. They have got
a French court order
for freezing Indian
properties in Paris and
are seeking Air India
funds in Canada.
The 2005 agreement
was “a fraud on people
of India, fraud against
the country,” she said,
adding the S-band spec-
trum, which is other-
wise used for defence
purposes only, was giv-
en away for pittance.
Devas, she said,
promised to deliver on
things on which it didn’t
even have rights for.
In 2005, Devas Multi-
media signed an agree-
ment with Antrix -- the
commercial arm of the
Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) --
to provide multimedia
services to mobile users
using the leased S-band
satellite spectrum.
Lt Gen Manoj
Pande appointed
as next Army Vice
Chief: Sources
New Delhi: Even as the
appointment of the
next Chief of Defence
Staff is
awaited, the
G o v e r n -
ment on
Tuesday ap-
proved the
proposal for appoint-
ment of Eastern Army
Commander Lieuten-
ant General Manoj Pan-
de as the next Vice
Chief of Army Staff,
sources said on Tues-
day
.
The Eastern Army
Commander will be the
next Army Vice Chief,
sources told ANI.
General Pande would
be the successor to Lt
Gen CP Mohanty who is
scheduled to superan-
nuate on January 31.
General Pande was
commissioned into the
Corps of Engineers
(The Bombay Sappers)
in December 1982.
Each vote important, we must tell
people to vote: Modi urges workers
New Delhi: Ahead of
the upcoming Assem-
bly elections in Uttar
Pradesh, Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi in-
teracted with BJP work-
ers in his Lok Sabha
constituency Varanasi
and asked them to in-
form people about the
importance of voting
and emphasised that
every vote is important.
“Each vote is impor-
tant, we must tell peo-
ple the importance of
voting,” said PM Modi.
This was PM Modis’
first political interac-
tion involving party
workers since the Elec-
tion Commission (EC)
announced the sched-
ule for the Assembly
polls to five states, in-
cluding Uttar Pradesh.
In the wake of rising
COVID cases, the EC, in
its order, had forbidden
the political parties to
hold roadshows, ral-
lies, padayatras till
January 22.
Elections for the 403
Assembly constituen-
cies in Uttar Pradesh
will be held in seven
phases starting Febru-
ary 10. The polling in
Uttar Pradesh will be
held on February 10, 14,
20, 23, 27 and March 3
and 7 in seven phases.
The counting of votes
will take place on
March 10.
MAKE FARMERS AWARE
OF USE OF CHEMICAL-
FREE FERTILISERS: PM
New Delhi: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on Tuesday
interacted with BJP work-
ers from his parliamentary
constituency Varanasi and
urged them to make farmers
aware of the use of chemical-
free fertilisers. In an audio
interaction with BJP booth
level workers, the PM reaf-
firmed the BJP’s commitment
towards development. While
interacting with party work-
ers, he discussed several
topics including, restoration
of Kashi Vishwanath Dham
corridor, women empower-
ment, infrastructure, health-
care development and other
issues. Interacting with one
of the BJP workers, Prime
Minister Modi asked him to
expand the reach of the govt’s
welfare schemes to farmers.
The PM said, “They (workers)
should make farmers aware
of the use of chemical-free
fertilisers.” He also, talked
about the several central
schemes which are benefiting
the people of Kashi at large.
Prime Minister Modi urged
people to contribute to a
section, Kamal Pushp, in his
NaMo app that features some
inspiring party members.
BJP DEMANDS FIR AGAINST NANA PATOLE
Mumbai: A BJP delegation called on Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on
Tuesday to demand strict action against Congress state president Nana Patole for allegedly
making objectionable remarks against PM Narendra Modi. The delegation led by Mumbai BJP
president and party MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha handed over a letter to Governor Koshyari
demanding FIR against Patole. Lodha warned that if action is not taken against Nana Patole
by 11am on Wednesday, he will go on a fast in front of the Gandhi statue at Churchgate along
with BJP workers. Patole has landed himself in a controversy after a viral news clip showed
him saying that he could beat Modi and abuse him. He, however, later issued a clarification
and said that he was referring to a local goon who shares his surname with Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. In a viral news clip, Patole can be heard speaking in Marathi to a group of
villagers in Bhandara district. He said, “I have been in politics for the past 30 years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Bihar’s political equation will change based on UP’s results!
Kumar Pramod
Patna: The BJP has not
givenasingleseatinUP
to its ally JDU of Bihar.
Exhausted, JDU has
said that it will fight
alone and a decision in
thisregardwillbetaken
inLucknowonTuesday
.
Meanwhile,thefightbe-
tween the two parties
has intensified in Bihar
and the recent incident
of people dying after
consuming spurious
liquor, the second inci-
dent in three months,
hasaddedfueltofire.So
far 10 people have died
in the CM’s home dis-
trict Nalanda and the
BJPhasbecomeaggres-
sive regarding this.
Interestingly, on one
hand, CM Nitish Ku-
mar is on a social re-
form tour and explain-
ing the benefits of pro-
hibition to the people;
on the other hand,
there is news of the sale
of liquor in villages,
due to which people are
dying and BJP is ques-
tioning the policy of
prohibition.
Moreover, both the
parties are at logger-
heads over the Sahitya
Akademi given to Daya
Prakash Sahai, a story
writer who compared
Emperor Ashoka to the
Mughal ruler Aurang-
zeb. While BJP leaders
are avoiding Sahai,
JDU says that Daya
Prakash Sahai is get-
ting the support of the
people of BJP which
has stirred up the Koiri-
Kurmipoliticsof Bihar.
On the other hand,
RJD’s state president
Jagdanand Singh has
given a direct proposal
to Nitish Kumar. He has
saidthatif BJPdoesnot
come together on the
question of caste cen-
sus, then Nitish should
partways,RJDwillgive
full support to him. An-
other interesting fact is
thatMrityunjayTiwari,
a spokesperson for RJD,
metJDUParliamentary
Party President Upen-
dra Kushwaha in the
past. Tiwari is not a big
leader but both the par-
ties campaigned for the
meet, which in turn is
also a message for BJP.
Keepinmindthatinthe
caseof castecensus,the
government is postpon-
ing the all-party meet-
ing because of the BJP
,
but Nitish will not post-
pone it for long.
It is believed that af-
ter the UP assembly
elections, the equation
can change in Bihar as
well. If BJP is not able
to win the election, then
the alliance of BJP and
JDU in Bihar may
break. Then Nitish Ku-
mar will intensify the
demand for caste cen-
susandspecialcategory
status and will plan for
2024. However, then he
willnothavemuchtodo
because then there will
beaggressivepoliticsof
RJD and the Hindustan
Awam Morcha and Vi-
kassheel Insan Party,
which are included in
the NDA, will leave the
alliance. But if BJP
wins in Uttar Pradesh,
then BJP’s politics in
Bihar will get more ag-
gressive and even then
Nitish’s troubles will
only increase.
IF AKHILESH BECOMES
CM, TEJASHWI WILL TOO!
f the discussions going on in
Patna, the capital of Bihar, are to be
believed, then the month of March
is going to be very important for
the politics of Bihar. The results of
the assembly elections in UP will be out
on March 10. If SP wins the election and
Akhilesh Yadav becomes the CM, then
the equation of power in Bihar will also
change. One-line rhetoric is going on right
now in Bihar that if Akhilesh becomes the
CM, Tejashwi will also reach that echelon
and this will happen based on two NDA
allies. NDA’s two constituents - Jitan Ram
Manjhi’s HUM and Mukesh Sahni’s VIP -
have seven MLAs. A seat is vacant
due to the death of an MLA from
Sahni’s party. Both these parties
have been keeping distance
from both BJP and JDU for
some time now and Sahni is
especially angry because of not
getting a place in UP.
On the other hand, RJD is the
single largest party in
Bihar with 75 MLAs.
Left Front has 16
MLAs with it. Thus
its alliance is of
91 members. At
the time of the by-elections for two seats,
although there was disharmony from the
Congress, 19 Congress MLAs will remain
with the alliance and five MLAs of Asadud-
din Owaisi will also support it. So, the
alliance’s strength would be 115 members.
On the other hand, BJP has 74 MLAs
and JD(U) 45. That is, their number
becomes 119. If MLAs of HUM and VIP
switch sides, then the number of RJD
alliances will increase to 122, which means
the alliance will reach the majority figure.
If this equation is made, then independent
MLA Sumit Singh, who is supporting the
government, can also change his side. If
these cards are played right then BJP will
not interfere in it as it will serve its
purpose of destroying JDU by weak-
ening it. Nitish Kumar understands
this, so he is also keeping an eye on
the election results. It is generally
believed that if he had taken the
initiative in the current clime, then
perhaps the RJD would have con-
sidered him as a leader, but if
he takes the initiative after
the elections, then the
chances of him be-
coming a ‘leader’
are negligible.
I
SPECIAL CATEGORY
STATUS TO BIHAR
Another issue between
BJP and JDU is the
special category
status, which has been
aggressively pursued
by Nitish Kumar and
his party. On this issue
too, RJD has openly
supported Nitish.

NEWS
07
SONGS OF
DEMOCRACY
It is a war of songs in Uttar
Pradesh ahead of the
Assembly polls. Soon after
Gorakhpur Member of
Parliament Ravi Kishan released
an election song listing
developments in Uttar Pradesh
under the leadership of Chief
Minister Yogi Adityanath,
Bhojpuri singer Neha Rathore
has released a song criticizing
the BJP government’s term in
the State. In her song titled ‘UP
Mei Ka Ba’ (What’s there in
UP?), the Bhojpuri singer
attacked the State government
over issues such as handling
the second wave of the
COVID-19 pandemic, the
Lakhimpur Kheri violence and
the Hathras rape case. Rathore
shared the song on her Twitter
handle and Youtube channel on
Sunday, a day after Ravi Kishan
released his song titled ‘UP Mei
Sab Ba’ (UP has everything). In
his song, the Gorakhpur MP
praises the BJP government in
Uttar Pradesh in an attempt to
woo voters ahead of the
upcoming Assembly election in
the state. He sings, “Yogi ke
sarkar ba, vikas ke bahaar ba,
sadakan ke jaal ba, kaam
bemisal ba, Je kabhu na rahal
who ab ba.... apradhi ke jel ba,
bijli relam rel ba, Corona gayil
har ba, Je kabhu na rahal who
ab ba.... UP mein sab ba...
Nivesh jordar ba, badhal rojgar
ba” (There is Yogi government
in the state, there is
development, roads and
electricity in the state. Criminals
are behind the bars and there is
no COVID cases in UP and the
investments and employment
rate have increased in the state.
There is everything in
UP). Taking a dig at Ravi
Kishan’s claims, Rathore sings,
“Khatam rojgar ba.. Corona se
lakhan mar gayil le, laashan se
Ganga bhar gayale... Mantri ke
betuva badi rangdar ba, kisanan
ke chhati pe rondat motar car
ba, ae chaukidar, bolo ke
zimmedar ba?... UP me ka ba”
(There is no employment in the
state, lakhs have died due to
COVID, and Ganga was filled
with the bodies. The minister’s
son has an attitude, he mowed
over his car on farmers.
‘Chaukidar’, who is responsible
for this?)
—Vishal Srivastav
STONES PELTED
ON ANTI-
ENCROACHMENT
TEAM; 30
BOOKED
Agovernment team that had
gone to clear encroachment
from a piece of land came in for
heavy stone pelting from a group
of villagers in the Fakharpur area
here, police said on Tuesday. An
FIR has been lodged against 30
people, 20 of whom have been
named, in connection with the
incident, they said, adding three
persons have been taken into
custody. The incident took place
on Monday when an official team
led by Naib Tehsildar, Kaiserganj,
Vinod Kumar and policemen had
gone to Parasrampur village to
clear encroachment from a piece
of land, Additional Superintendent
of Police (City) Kunwar Gyananjay
Singh told reporters. A property
dispute between Guddu Baig and
Rizwan was pending in court for
years. The court, in its decision,
had ordered the removal of the
encroachment from the disputed
site and the team had gone there
in compliance with the order, he
said. During the process, some
people started pelting stones
leaving two villagers injured. The
vehicle of the naib tehsildar as
well as some other government
property was also damaged,
Singh said. On the complaint of
Kumar and one of the parties, a
case was registered against
around 30 persons, he said.
Singh said stone pelters will be
made to compensate government
property damaged by them.
—PTI
‘CONG LEARNT POLITICS
FROM LORD KRISHNA’
Mathura: Chhattis-
garh Chief Minister
Bhupesh Baghel on
Tuesday offered prayers
at Bankey Bihari tem-
ple in Uttar Pradesh’s
Mathura and said that
Lord Krishna was the
biggest politician who
fought for truth and the
Congress has learnt
politics from him.
SpeakingtoANI,Baghel
said, “Lord Krishna is
the biggest politician
who fought for truth,
we’ve all learnt politics
from him.”
He further hit out at
Uttar Pradesh Cheif
Minister Yogi Adity-
anath and said that his
days are gone as a
Chief Minister and
shocking results will
come in the upcoming
Assembly polls.
“Shocking results will
come; days are gone for
UP CM Yogi Adity-
anath,” he said.
Earlier, Baghel ex-
pressed confidence in
his party securing a
win in the upcoming
Assembly polls in Ut-
tar Pradesh. Speaking
to ANI, Baghel who is
also an observer for the
UP Assembly election
said, “The situation of
Congress is strong in
Uttar Pradesh. Under
the leadership of Pri-
yanka Gandhi, the or-
ganisation has become
strong and has fought
for the farmers, work-
ers and women. There
is great support on the
ground for Congress.
We are complying with
the guidelines of the
ECI. We are doing door
to door campaign. We
are adhering to the
guidelines of the com-
mission.”
ary 10, the Election
Commission said. The
pollinginUttarPradesh
will be held on Febru-
ary 10, 14, 20, 23, 27 and
March 3 and 7 in seven
phases. The counting
of votes will take place
on March 10. —ANI
Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel along with Congress Mathura
candidate Pradeep Mathur at Bankey Bihari Temple in Mathura
on Tuesday. —PTI PHOTO
Law minister Brijesh Pathak with Maulana Kalbe Jawad
Law minister Brijesh Pathak with Maulana Saif Abbas
BHUPESH BAGHEL IN UP Burning ‘angithi’
suffocates
brother-sister
duo to death
Muzaffarnagar: Two
children choked to
death as they had slept
in their room while
keeping a coal ‘angithi’
(stove) burning to beat
cold at night in a village
in the district, police
said. Nehha (15) her
brother Ansh (14) were
found dead on their bed
at Dadheru village un-
der Charthawal police
station area in the dis-
trict on Tuesday. Ac-
cording to their father
Rajendra Prajapati, his
children were sleeping
alone in a room. They
had kept burning coal
stove near their bed to
prevent themselves
from cold and the room
got filled with poison-
ous gases. —PTI
Kaushambi: Sanjay
Kumar Gupta, BJP
MLA from Chail assem-
bly constituency in the
district, has been
booked for allegedly vio-
lating the Election Com-
mission’s Model Code
of Conduct and organis-
ing a programme defy-
ing coronavirus proto-
cols, police said Tues-
day
. The Chail MLA vio-
lated COVID-19 guide-
lines by organising a
programme to distrib-
ute scooties to 40 girls
on January 16 in which
huge crowds had gath-
ered, they said. They
added a case has been
registered on the com-
plaint of Manoj Kumar
Singh, the in-charge of
the Flying Squad of the
Chail Vidhan Sabha.
The Riddhi Siddhi Edu-
cation and Human Wel-
fare Society
, led by Gup-
ta, had organised the
Rani Lakshmi Bai Sam-
man Samaroh in Bhar-
wari Municipal Council
where scooties were dis-
tributed to 40 girls, Su-
perintendent of Police
Radheshyam Vishwa-
karma said. No permis-
sion was taken from the
district administration
fororganisingtheevent,
the SP said. —PTI
Ahtesham Siddiqui
Lucknow: The Bharati-
ya Janata Party is hop-
ing to win back the Shia
community
, who consid-
ered Atal Bihari Vajpay-
ee as their leader and
have in the past voted
for BJP but have of late
due to various reasons
grown estranged from
the BJP. Uttar Pradesh
government’s Law Min-
ister Brijesh Pathak has
taken the initiative to
bring them back into
the party’s fold by meet-
ing all the big Shia reli-
gious leaders in Luc-
know. Brijesh Pathak
met Shia religious lead-
er Maulana Kalbe
Jawad,MaulanaYasoob
Abbas, and reached the
residence of Maulana
Saif Abbas. The minis-
ter was accompanied
by Maulanas of the
Shia community dur-
ing all his meetings to-
day. Brijesh Pathak is
set to contest from Luc-
know, though there has
been no confirmation
of the same.
Mayawatifallsbackon
Dalit-Muslim-Brahmin
socialengineering
SP’snat’lsecybookedforviolatingCOVIDnorms
First India Bureau
Lucknow: The BSP
chief Mayawati has
again resorted to the
Dalit-Brahmin-Mus-
lim combination in
the first list of 53 can-
didates for the first
phasein58constituen-
cies in west UP. Fol-
lowing her time-tested
social engineering for-
mula Mayawati has
given the party tickets
to 14 Muslims, 14 up-
per castes, including 9
Brahmins, 15 from
backward communi-
ties nine scheduled
castes in reserved con-
stituencies.
Mayawati said the
Samajwadi Party was
not a well-wisher of
Dalits, OBCs, Mus-
lims as only the Yadav
community ruled the
roost during the previ-
ous regime of the SP
in 2012-17. In view of
the fluid political situ-
ation prevailing in
West UP, the BSP has
thus thrown a span-
ner in the gameplan
of rivals especially
the Rashtriya Lok
Dal-Samajwadi Party
combine by nominat-
ing more than a dozen
Muslim candidates.
She has replicated the
2007 ticket distribu-
tion formula when the
Muslims dominated
her west UP list.
Largely following the
social engineering of
Dalit-Muslim-Brah-
min combination in
2007 Mayawati had got
the full majority of
208 members for the
first time in Assembly
.
The BSP has always
followed a formula of
“base vote (Dalits)
plus votes from the
community repre-
sented by the candi-
dates”.
Like in the case of
Muslim-dominated
Muzaffarnagar, BSP
has given tickets to 4
Muslim candidates.
Muslims, who consti-
tute 20% of the popu-
lation, had got 26%
representation in her
first list of 53 candi-
dates. In 2007, when
BSP had come to the
power while BSP gen-
eral secretary Satish
Mishra had mobilised
the Brahmin commu-
nity, which was quite
unhappy with the Mu-
layam Singh govern-
ment, the party’s Mus-
lim face Nasimuddin
Siddique taken charge
of the community
.
Lucknow: An FIR has
been registered against
Samajwadi Party (SP)
national secretary Ab-
hishek Mishra and oth-
ers for taking out a bike
rally in the Hasanganj
area without permis-
sion and violating COV-
ID norms.
The FIR was regis-
tered at the Hasanganj
police station on Janu-
ary 16 after a video of
the rally went viral on
social media. FIR regis-
tered against six people
including Mishra in vi-
olation of prohibitory
orders and breaching
COVID-19 protocols un-
der Indian Penal Code
(IPC) sections 188, 269
and Epidemic Act. “The
video had been telecast
live on Instagram from
the ID of one Razi
Hasan Samajwadi. In
the videos, 15-20 people
riding different bikes
are seen moving from
Nirala Nagar to Dali-
ganj crossing and from
Sitapur road to Pucca
Pul. None of the par-
ticipants were wearing
masks. They were tak-
ing out the rally in a
show of strength of
their party and their act
may spread coronavi-
rus infection,” the po-
lice said in an FIR. The
police further said that
in the video were identi-
fied as the former min-
ister, Razi Hasan, Ragh-
vendra Bajpai, Vaibhav
Mishra, Tanvir Ali and
Vaibhav Bajpai.
“About 10-12 other
persons in the video
could not be identified
and we are trying to as-
certain their identity,”
it added. Earlier, the
Gautam Buddh Nagar
Police has registered an
FIR against Dadri MLA
BJP leader Tejpal Na-
gar for violating COV-
ID-19 norms during a
door-to-door election
campaign in the Great-
er Noida.
Mayawati said the Sa-
majwadi Party was not
a well- wisher of Dalits,
OBCs and Muslims as
only Yadav community
ruled the roost during
previous regime of the
SP in 2012-17..
SAMAJWADI
PARTY NOT A
WELL- WISHER OF
DALITS
While the BJP, SP and
Congress have been
carrying on aggressive
campaigning during
the last few months,
Mayawati is yet to
come out of home and
address rallies.
AGGRESSIVE
CAMPAIGNING
COURT
REJECTS
BAIL PLEA
OF SP MLA
HASAN
Muzaffarnagar: A
special court in
Kairana in UP on
Tuesday rejected
the bail plea of Sa-
majwadi Party
MLA Nahid Hasan,
arrested last week
in a case under the
stringent Gangsters
Act. Hasan, who
was arrested on
January 15, has
filed his nomina-
tion from the Kaira-
na assembly con-
stituency on a SP
ticket for the Febru-
ary 10 election. MP
MLA special court
judge Subodh Singh
said there was no
case for bail and re-
jected Hasan’s plea.
Hasan’s lawyer said
they would move
the high court soon
seeking his bail. As
pergovernmentlaw-
yer Ashok Pundhir,
the legislator was
sent to 14-day judi-
cial custody by a
court in Kairana in
Shamli district on
January 15. Accord-
ing to police, 40 peo-
ple, including
Hasan, were booked
lastyear.Whilemost
of the accused were
released on bail,
Hasan had failed to
surrender in court
following which a
non-bailable war-
rant was issued
against him he
was arrested. —PTI
BJP MLA Gupta, others
booked for violation of
MCC, Covid protocols
BJP WOOS SHIA VOTE
OLD FORMULA
Law minister Brijesh Pathak
with Maulana Yasoob Abbas
BJP MLA Sanjay Gupta
Nahid Hasan
Abhishek Mishra

COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
55,65,957
TOTAL DEATHS
26,93,30,027
TOTAL RECOVERED
5,71,05,148
ACTIVE CASES
33,20,01,132
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
4,86,784
TOTAL DEATHS
3,53,94,882
TOTAL RECOVERED
17,36,605
ACTIVE CASES
3,76,18,271
TOTAL CASES
08
2NDFRONT
NogenderparityinUPpartypolitics
Gyanendra Kumar Shukla
Lucknow: Women may
be ahead in terms of vot-
ing but lag behind in get-
ting tickets. In the Pan-
chayatelectionsheldlast
year, women candidates
had performed better,
but in the run up to the
assembly polls, political
parties seem to be hesi-
tant to give tickets to
women candidates in
large numbers.
Notably
, for the first
time in the Panchayat
elections in UP
, a record
number of women have
won. The winning wom-
en candidates outnum-
bered men on key posts,
ranging from village
head to the district pan-
chayat chief.
According to official
data, 31,212 women have
won the election for the
post of gram pradhan,
447 for block pramukh
and 42 for thepost of dis-
trict panchayat chair-
person, exceeding the
quota of one-third seats
allocated for them. The
performance of women
in terms of voting has
also been encouraging.
In the 2017 assembly
elections, women out-
numbered men in terms
of voting turnout, with
about 63.26 percent
women exercising their
voting right while only
about 59.43% male vot-
ers went to polling
booths. But when it
comes to crucial assem-
bly polls, political par-
ties seem to refrain from
giving tickets to women.
Congress is the only ex-
ception as the country’s
oldest party under the
leadership of Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra is bank-
ing on women card in
the tough UP turf.
Following its an-
nouncement of giving
40 percent tickets to
women, the Congress
has included fifty wom-
en in its first list of 125
candidates. The image
of most of these women
candidates has been
considered as activists.
Social activist Shalini
Mathur says women
used to abstain from
contesting polls earlier
due to aggression
criminalization in poli-
tics. Of 38 candidates
announced by SP, only
two women have been
included. In its first list
of 107 candidates, BJP
has expressed confi-
dence in women in only
9.35 percent of the seats.
Thepartyhasgiventick-
ets to only ten women.
In the first list of AAP,
out of 150 candidates,
only eight are women.
Three women have been
included in the list of 53
candidates announced
by the BSP
.
Shishir Awasthi
Lucknow: The BJP’s
central leadership is
confident of winning
moreseatsinwestern
UP than ever before
despite the farmers’
agitation and the SP-
RLD alliance.
The leadership
though understands
that some of the
seats previously won
might be lost but
when it comes to the
overall performance
in this part of UP, it
expects to do better
than before.
The party is confi-
dent that its social
equations in the re-
gion would help its
cause when western
UP goes to poll in the
first two phases and
this being the reason
for it not considering
the newly formed al-
liance of the Sama-
jwadi Party as any
major threat. The
party stated that fol-
lowing the two phas-
es the party’s cam-
paign will intensify
and will see its suc-
cess increase linearly
.
The BJP’s strategy
for UP revolves
around the work it
has done in the state
along with social
equations and the
fact that since the
2007 elections, which-
everpartyhasformed
government, has
donesowithmajority
has the BJP of the
view that even in the
upcoming elections,
the people of UP will
see BJP win more
than 300 seats in the
upcoming elections.
The party’s view-
point though is con-
flicting of the opin-
ions of political ana-
lysts who are predict-
ing a huge loss for
BJP as many promi-
nent leaders have left
the party in the re-
cent times, but the
top leadership be-
lieves that it has
among its remaining
members, leaders
who have the same
hold over their caste
group compared to
those who have left
the party
.
Noida: The Aazad Sa-
maj Party on Tuesday
said it will no longer ap-
proach the SP for a tie-
up for the UP Assembly
elections even if Akh-
ilesh Yadav offers it 100
seats. Aazad Samaj Par-
ty (ASP) chief Chan-
drashekhar Azad said
his party is open to
stitching an alliance
with others and main-
tained that his fight has
always been with the
RSS and the BJP
.
The party had said
last week that efforts
were being made to
formathirdfrontof sev-
eral opposition parties,
apparently after disa-
greementoverseatshar-
ing with SP
.
“I have made it clear.
The time was till today
(Tuesday) for the leader
whom I had approached
for an alliance to stop
the BJP
. I announce this
today that we are not go-
ingwiththem(SP).Now,
even if they offer us 100
seats we will not tie-up
with them because it’s a
matter of self-respect,”
Azad told reporters. On
Yadav saying he would
extend support to the
ASP, the flamboyant
Dalit leader said he is a
lawyer by education and
understands well the
difference in the lan-
guage of support and
taunt, in a veiled attack
on the SP president who
had offered two seats to
the ASP recently
.
He said workers and
activists of the Bhim
Army and the ASP are
strong enough to com-
pete and have a reach at
village level. “It is true
thatweareopentoform-
ing tie-ups with other
parties. Around 50 small
outfits are sitting at our
office now as we speak
but we have come for the
press meet here since it
was pre-scheduled,”
Azad claimed. —PTI
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) MP
Rita Bahuguna Joshi on
Tuesday sought a party
ticket for her son in the
upcoming state Assem-
bly polls and said she is
willing to resign from
her Lok Sabha seat if
the party has decided to
give the ticket to only
one person per family
.
Joshi is BJP Lok Sab-
ha MP from Allahabad.
She wrote to BJP chief
JP Nadda seeking a
ticket for son Mayank
Joshi from Lucknow
Cantt for the upcoming
Assembly polls. Speak-
ing to mediapersons,
the BJP MP said, “He
(son Mayank Joshi) has
been working since 2009
and has applied for it (a
ticket from Lucknow
Cantt), rightfully
. But if
the party has decided to
give the ticket to only
one person per family, I
will resign from my pre-
sent LS seat if Mayank
gets a ticket,” Joshi told
mediapersons.
“I wrote this proposal
to BJP president JP
NaNdda and will al-
ways continue working
for BJP anyway. Party
can choose to accept or
not accept my proposal.
I had already declared
that I will not contest
elections, many years
ago,” added Rita Bahu-
guna Joshi.
ary 10. The polling will
be held on February 10,
14, 20, 23, 27 and March
3 and 7 in seven phases.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: BJP has re-
leased the list of names
of 107 candidates ahead
of UP polls. The list has
come into scrutiny as
names of 25 candidates
in the list have criminal
cases registered against
them,whichincludesUP
DeputyCMKeshavPras-
ad Mauryawith 4 crimi-
nal cases against him.
The party justified
tickets to all saying they
were implicated in cases
due to ‘political rivalry’.
The party stated Mau-
ryawasaformerMPand
formerstatepresidentof
the party and he was not
only popular in his con-
stituency but across the
state. It added that his
name had been carried
forward by the district
unit of the party on the
basis of merit, his social
work and work done in
the field of uplift of the
people of the state.
The list includes Bi-
jnor’s Najibabad seat
candidateKunwarBhar-
tendu Singh, Muzaffar-
nagar’s candidate Kapil
Dev Agarwal (6 cases),
Meerut City’s candidate
Kamal Dutt Sharma,
Fatehpur Sikri’s candi-
date Babu Lal (7 cases).
First India Bureau
Prayagraj: Justice SC
Verma, former lokay-
ukt of UP and former
HC judge, virtually in-
augurated first law li-
brary in the city on
Tuesday
.JusticeVerma
said, “Setting up of a
law library is a great
step as it will keep the
legal fraternity updat-
ed about the latest de-
velopments in the field
of law.”
Former governor of
West Bengal, KN Trip-
athi termed the law li-
brary as part of age old
Indian tradition of
Gyan Dan (donation of
knowledge), where one
generation passes its
knowledge to other.
Chief Justice of J K
and Ladakh HC, Jus-
tice Pankaj Mithal
said this library has
been set up by Justice
Narendra Nath Memo-
rial Foundation,
which has been named
after his father. It will
provide free access
knowledge to all those
who are associated
with law, he added. A
set of compilation of
Justice NN Mithal was
also released.
Govind Kumar Sax-
enasaidhehaddonated
sixty eight Acts of law
to enrich this library
.
AnHClawyer,Vinay-
ak Mithal informed
that this law library
named as Narendra-
laya, is located in front
of Allahabad High
Court. HC lawyer,
Praveen Kumar, grand-
sonof lateJusticePrem
Shankar Gupta con-
ducted the programme.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: The case of Uttar Pradesh Deputy
Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s degree
being fake has reached the Allahabad High Court
and the petitioner has demanded registration of
FIR in the case.
The petitioner has stated that de-
gree of Pratham, Madhyama
Visharad of Hindi Sahitya Sammelan
Prayagraj is not valid at par with
high school and has accused Deputy
CM Keshav Maurya of taking further
education on the basis of this degree.
The next hearing will be held of February 3.
Earlier, the petitioner’s application about the
fake degree case was rejected by the CJM Court
following which the petitioner challenged the or-
der of the CJM Court in the High Court.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi interacting with women in Raebareli. —FILE PHOTO
Chandrashekhar Azad
Most parties reluctant to give
ticket to women for 2022 polls
This despite the fact that women
have outflanked men in recent polls
ONLY FEW WOMEN GET TICKETS
Unfazed by farm
stir,BJPhopesride
high in western UP
‘Won’t tie-up with SP even for 100 seats’
BJP’s list of 107 has 25 candidates
with criminal cases against them New law library will keep legal
fraternityupdated:JusticeVerma
RitaJoshiseeksBJP’s
ticketforson,offers
tosacrificeLSseat
WRITES TO NADDA
ON TOES
Police personnel carry out flag march at Rohaniya market to maintain law and order ahead
of Republic Day celebration, in Varanasi on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Fake degree row: Plea for
FIR against DyCM Maurya
IN THE COURTYARD
The Allahabad HC has upheld the summons issued by the
Special Court Addl Sessions Judge Ghaziabad on charges
of electricity theft and said it was not out of jurisdiction.
A single-judge bench of Justice Rajeev Misra passed this
order while hearing an application filed by Gulfam. The
application has been filed challenging Charge-Sheet dated
February 02, 2021 submitted in Case. The Court noted,
“Record shows that in respect of an incident, which is
alleged to have occurred on December 26, 2020, a delayed
FIR dated December 28, 2020 was lodged by first infor-
mant/opposite party-2- Umesh Kumar Gupta (Jr Engineer)
and was registered as Case under sections 135- 1(A)
Electricity Act, Police Station- Anti Power Theft Ghaziabad.
HC UPHOLDS SUMMONS OF GZB COURT
Former Lokayukta Justice (ret) SC Verma (extreme right)
inaugurating Law Library on Tuesday. (right to left) Also seen
are Keshari Nath Tripathi, ex-governor of West Bengal, CJ of
Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh HC, Justice Pankaj Mithal.
MIFFED AZAD
Individuals look at life
differently, each with a different
perspective which adds spice and
beauty to life, celebrate the differences do
not ruin them.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India

LUCKNOW, WEDNESDAY
JANUARY 19, 2022
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
A WOMAN
VISION
Young, fearless and a woman with
big dreams, Preksha Purnam from
Jaipur, Rajasthan gives a sneak-peek
into her life, as she reveals her
aspirations and future plans in an
exclusive interview with City First!
n ace model and
a stunning fash-
ion aficionado,
Preksha is a
young woman
with vivid
dreams and a
fierce passion to achieve
all that she aims for. She
walks with grace, poses
with panache and moves
like melody. As she
bagged various beauty
pageants titles, she left a
lot of mouths gawking in
absolute awe and fascina-
tion.
When asked about her
recent victory, the diva
said, “ I recently bagged
the runners-up at Miss
Rajasthan 2021. Miss Ra-
jasthan has been taking
place for more than 23
years now, so to be among
their crowned queens is
a privilege.” She further
added, “I’d like to extend
my heartfelt gratitude to
my mentors and direc-
tors Miss Rajasthan, Yo-
gesh Mishra and Nimi-
sha Mishra for their
guidance and constant
support.
Sharing details about
her family background,
the bold and beautiful
model, Preksha an-
swered, “My parents,
Dazy (mother) and
Purnendu (father) come
from highly educated
backgrounds and wanted
me to continue to achieve
greater heights in aca-
demics since I scored
95% marks in my 12th
board exams in humani-
ties stream. Though I al-
ways believed in doing
something for society. I
started an NGO on sus-
tainable menstrual hy-
giene awareness when I
was 18 years old, back in
2019 and today my NGO
is a big family of 8,000
dedicated team members
spread all across the na-
tion consisting of mem-
bers from DU and other
major universities of the
country
.”Iwanttospread
awareness and be the
voice of the unheard.
I recently spoke about
the importance of sus-
tainable menstrual hy-
giene awareness on the
First India news chan-
nel to raise more
awareness.
MITALI DUSAD
mitalidusad01@gmail.com
A

PM Modi interacts with Varanasi BJP workers, discusses Kashi Vishwanath development and farmers' welfare schemes

PM Modi interacts with Varanasi BJP workers, discusses Kashi Vishwanath development and farmers' welfare schemes

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