EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE DELHI THE HINDU 12 NEWS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2020 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE FROM PAGE ONE Chouhan wins trust vote in M.P. Floor test sends a PM announces 21-day BSP, SP and two Independent MLAs vote in favour of BJP government wrong signal: Tankha lockdown as toll rises Staff Reporter BHOPAL Congress should rebuild itself, he says “Several families will be des­ 100,000 cases to appear,” The Shivraj Singh Chouhan Sandeep Phukan troyed. India is at a stage of he said. government in Madhya Pra­ NEW DELHI the pandemic where our ac­ “The rate of infection of desh secured the support of Senior Congress leader and tions will decide our fu­ the Corona virus is very fast 112 MLAs, including those of Rajya Sabha member Vivek ture,” he said. and the only way to break the Samajwadi Party and the Tankha on Tuesday criti­ “While at home you must the chain of infection is so­ Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) cised the newly sworn in think of those endangering cial distancing, staying in­ and two Independents, dur­ Madhya Pradesh Chief Mi­ their lives to combat this doors. This applies to every ing the trust vote in the As­ nister Shivraj Singh Chou­ pandemic — medical care citizen of the country in­ sembly on Tuesday. han for taking a floor test workers, doctors, nurses, cluding the Prime Minister,” Mr. Chouhan, who took amid the lockdown due to sanitation workers, ambu­ he said. oath as the Chief Minister on the Coronavirus outbreak. lance drivers who are facing Monday, moved the confi­ In an exclusive interview the challenge of treating the Resist rumours dence motion in the House, with The Hindu, Mr. Tankha Vivek Tankha disease,” the Prime Minister Mr. Modi also cautioned which was unanimously said, “A wrong gets legiti­ said. against believing rumours. passed. The 92 Congress mised, in a wrong manner wrong. The first principle of “Pray for the sanitation He acknowledged that MLAs were not present at and at a wrong time, which politics is sharing and we workers cleaning up our the challenge would be par­ the session, which was ad­ sends a very wrong signal to had seven alliance partners. neighbourhoods to keep ticularly hard for the poor journed to March 27 after the society.” From day one, I had been you safe, please think of the and said that alongside the vote. Taking charge: Shivraj Singh Chouhan, wearing a protective mask amid the COVID­19 Mr. Tankha was also for­ saying about accommodat­ media personnel who are government, civil society or­ “Our entire focus is on pandemic, interacting with officials of the Assembly in Bhopal on Tuesday.* PTI thright about the shortcom­ ing them more than our braving infection to keep ganisations should also step tackling [novel] Coronavi­ ings of his party in M.P. and own people. But there were you informed, of policemen up to mitigate some of the rus,” Mr. Chouhan said later. a whip to its MLA for the 12.07 a.m. When there is a few have been taken in view the Kamal Nath government no takers for this argu­ enforcing the law while fac­ hardships. “However, it is a constitu­ March 16 Assembly session, lockdown and curfew, then of the Coronavirus, and on that lasted 15 months. “The ment,” he said. ing, in some cases, your an­ “We have to prioritise tional necessity to secure the this time it did not issue one. how can MLAs reach the As­ the other, the decision by Congress should rejig and He said that not all 22 ger,” he added. what is required for saving trust vote, which we did to­ Three days ago, SP president sembly at such a short the Shivraj Singh Chouhan rebuild itself, remembering MLAs were loyalists of Con­ Mr, Modi quoted figures lives. 21 days of lockdown is day, so that with full force we Akhilesh Yadav attacked the notice?” government around night to that it was the BJP that had gress­rebel­turned BJP lead­ on the spread of the pan­ a long time but for the safety can combat the disease BJP saying, “The BJP has On Monday night, Speak­ flout its own measures to call lost in 2018 [Assembly Elec­ er Jyotiraditya Scindia. demic to stress his point. “It of your family this is the on­ now.” murdered democracy in er N.P. Prajapati tendered his for a Vidhan Sabha session tions] and we had not won “While all of them may took 67 days for the first ly way that we have. I am BSP MLAs Rambai Parihar Madhya Pradesh.” resignation to the Deputy during a curfew is beyond the battle convincingly,” he have been lured, the MLAs 100,000 cases to come up, confident that every Indian and Sanjeev Kushwah, Inde­ BSP chief Mayawati has Speaker. In his resignation my understanding,” he said. fell into three categories. the next 100,000 came up will not only combat this dif­ pendents Surendra Singh suspended the party mem­ letter, he wrote that he was wrote on Twitter. He also One group was die­hard in just 11 days, and it took ficult situation but will Shera and Rana Vikram bership of Ms. Parihar last resigning on moral grounds. wrote that as there was time Wrong start Scindia loyalists, while the only four days for the next emerge victorious,” he said. Singh and SP MLA Rajesh December for violating the to secure trust vote, why this Though civil society groups, second group was the lot Shukla, who had previously party’s stand by supporting Nath questions urgency urgency. “Why these double activists and farmers en­ made up by senior Congress backed the Kamal Nath go­ the Citizenship (Amend­ Former Chief Minister Kamal standards in tackling the Co­ sured the “ascendancy of leaders who were disen­ Ensure tight surveillance, vernment, voted in favour of ment) Act. Nath questioned the urgency ronavirus?” the Congress”, the State lea­ chanted. The third group Mr. Chouhan. The remaining Congress MLA and former with which the session was The Congress postponed dership did not quite re­ was the one that is supposed Centre tells States two Independent MLAs were Minister Jitu Patwari had called. “On the one hand, its legislature party meeting ward them by making them to have gone entirely be­ not present. said, “The notification for several decisions such as im­ scheduled for Wednesday stakeholders in the govern­ cause of alleged allure­ Though the SP had issued the session was issued at posing a lockdown and cur­ until further notice. ment. “The start itself was ments,” he said. With the lockdown hitting ber of confirmed cases.” the Indian industry hard Meanwhile complaints of and causing job losses, Fi­ discrimination against nance Minister Nirmala Sith­ healthcare workers, airline 2 CRPF jawans araman told reporters an staff and people who have economic package to help been quarantined have also Opposition welcomes Omar’s release found dead tide over the crisis will be emerged. announced very soon. As journalists and work­ in Srinagar In a letter to Chief Secre­ ers associated with the me­ Free Mehbooba Mufti and others too, says Tharoor; Yechury calls for full access to Internet in J&K taries on Tuesday, Cabinet dia faced police action amid Special Correspondent ing for ever since his unjusti­ misunderstanding of the Special Correspondent Secretary Rajiv Gauba asked the lockdown in some parts New Delhi fied arrest. Maybe the law,” he wrote on Twitter. Srinagar them to ensure that no sus­ of the country, the Centre The Opposition parties have #COVID19 lockdown makes Ghulam Nabi Azad, a Two Central Reserve Police pected or high­risk person advised States to facilitate welcomed the release of Na­ all detentions unnecessary former Congress Chief Mi­ Force (CRPF) men were was left out of surveillance functioning of all print and tional Conference leader now? Please release @Meh­ nister of Jammu and Kash­ founded dead in an alleged efforts to prevent the spread electronic media outlets. Omar Abdullah from eight boobaMufti & all other polit­ mir, said Mr. Abdullah’s de­ case of fratricide in Srina­ of the pandemic. The Ministry of Informa­ months of detention. They ical detainees without de­ tention was “undemocratic gar in Jammu and Kashmir He also called upon chief tion and Broadcasting (I&B) have also called for the re­ lay!” and uncalled for”. on Tuesday. secretaries to make sure said in an advisory, “false lease of other political lead­ Manish Tewari, another CPI(M) general secretary They reportedly opened that hospitals are ear­ and fake news need to be ers, including Mehbooba Congress MP, called for the Sitaram Yechury said politi­ fire at each other in a camp marked for treating CO­ avoided and good practices Mufti of the Peoples Demo­ release of the other leaders, cal detainees outside Jammu located on the Dal Lake. VID­19 cases and in a state of need to be promoted and cratic Party. including former Union Mi­ and Kashmir should also be Police and senior CRPF “full readiness” to deal with these networks play a pivo­ Though the Congress has nister Saifuddin Soz. released. He also called for officials were at the spot, a the situation in the event of tal role in ensuring the not issued any official state­ “Glad @OmarAbdullah is Back together: Omar Abdullah with father Farooq Abdullah an unfettered access to the CRPF official said. a “further spike in the num­ same.” ment, many of its leaders being released after his ille­ and mother in Srinagar on Tuesday. * NISSAR AHMAD Internet in Jammu and Kash­ “We are collecting more have welcomed Mr.