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New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) Former IPL chairman Lalit Modi's decision on January 15 to resign as head of his family's branch and naming his son, Ruchir as successor beneficiary of the K.K. Modi family trust with immediate effect, seems to have reopened the feud within the family with its members pouring their grievances on social media.

Soon after Lalit Modi's decision to step down as head of his family branch came to light, his mother Bina Modi, when asked to comment on the development, refused to say anything but added that she will go as per legal advice regarding the ongoing court battle involving her son Lalit Modi.

Lalit Modi is involved in a family property dispute with his mother Bina Modi.

He later tagged the news report quoting his mother in a tweet and said, "Surely all can see the ridiculous nature of greed & avarice now? Giving up my inheritance rights, shows me how far-sighted my father was and how pathetic legal wrangling can derail his dying wishes."

Lalit Modi's brother Samir Modi tagged the abovementioned tweet and tweeted, "I signed the trust deed & gave up my inheritance rights because my father wanted to protect them. I never ever imagined that my mother would abuse this wish and put me on the road. It's truly broken me and my faith in her. Can't imagine what money & greed has done to her."

Samir Modi later deleted the tweet.

Lalit Modi also shared a deleted tweet of his younger brother Samir on his Instagram page where the latter had said, "I used to laugh at my own saying- blood is thicker than water and money is thicker than blood."

Reacting to Samir's post, Lalit Modi said in his Instagram post, "This is truly sad that Samir Modi has to actually live in the same place. I am really worried about his life. He is a very emotional person. And really unwell. Shocking-level people who give birth to u blackmail u. Samir Modi- from me to you- 'THIS TOO SHALL PASS'. You remember this mantra I used to say every time we went through a tough time. I still live by it."

On January 15, Lalit Modi had written a letter to his mother Bina and siblings, sister Charu and brother Samir, informing them about his decision to resign as head of his family's branch and naming his son Ruchir as his successor beneficiary of the K.K. Modi family trust.

"The present litigation with my mother and sister, is tedious, strenuous and has gone on for long, and even though there have been several rounds of discussions for settlement, there is no end in sight. It has caused and continues to cause me immense distress... I have discussed this with my daughter and she and I are of the opinion that I should hand over the control of affairs of the LKM (Lalit Kumar Modi) family and its beneficial interest in the Trust to my son Ruchir Modi," Lalit Modi had written in the letter.

In August 2022, the Supreme Court had appointed former apex court judge Justice R.V. Raveendran as a mediator to settle the family property dispute.

The apex court had observed that the counsel appearing for both sides agreed that they would go without any pre-condition and with an open mind to settle the dispute in mediation.

The decision was taken by a bench headed by the then Chief Justice N.V. Ramana.

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Jan 16 (IANS) Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra arrived in Karnataka's state capital to take part in the Women's convention on Monday.

She was received by State Congress President D.K. Shivakumar, Opposition leader Siddaramaiah at the airport. The Congress workers who gathered on the airport premises accorded her a rousing welcome.

The party workers also honoured their leader with a huge apple and flower garland and cheered for her. Priyanka Gandhi will address a mega women's convention organised at the Palace Grounds.

Karnataka Congress wants to counter the BJP's blitzkrieg by roping in Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the government as well as party programmes.

The Congress wants to galvanise the party workers through Priyanka's event. It wants to create a momentum like how it got during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Congress insiders explain that there will be a major announcement regarding the manifesto of the party for Karnataka by Priyanka Gandhi.

The party had erected huge and tall cutouts and banners across Bengaluru to welcome her. The leaders are hoping to get momentum with this convention for women titled "Na Nayaki (I am the leader)".

--IANS
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New Delhi/Chennai, Jan 16 (IANS) India's wholesale price index-based (WPI) inflation for December 2022 fell to almost two-year low of 4.95 per cent, owing to sliding food and crude as well as petroleum prices.

WPI-based inflation was 5.85 per cent in November 2022.

Experts also said this would result in a fall in consumer price index inflation in Q4FY23.

"Fall in prices of food articles, mineral oils, crude petroleum and natural gas, food products, textiles and chemicals & chemical products contributed to a slide in wholesale price index-based inflation," a statement issued by the Union Commerce Ministry said.

The WPI inflation slipped below the 5 per cent mark for the first time since February 2021, when it was at 4.83 per cent.

Reacting to the latest WPI percentage Suman Chowdhury, Chief Analytical Officer, Acuite Ratings & Research said it continues to drop rapidly and at 4.95 per cent for December 2022 has subsided below 5 per cent for the first time in 21 months.

"This is clearly driven by the moderation in global commodity prices, including that of food. The incremental relief is reflected in the disinflation of primary articles where prices saw a sequential contraction for successive two months at 1.93 per cent and 2.98 per cent in Nov-22 and Dec-22 respectively," Chowdhury said.

According to Chowdhury, it is also noteworthy that the sequential inflation in manufactured products has remained zero or in the negative zone since August 2022 reflecting a larger slowdown in manufactured goods at global level along with the correction in the input prices.

What's encouraging to see is the quicker drop in core WPI inflation which declined to 3.19 per cent in Dec-22 from 7.03 per cent in Sep-22.

"The sharper drop in wholesale inflation is likely to translate into a steady downtrend in headline CPI inflation in Q4FY23 unless any new surprises come up. While we continue to forecast another 25 bps of rate hike by MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) in Feb-23, the likelihood of a pause has increased with the latest CPI and WPI data prints," Chowdhury said.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has attacked the BJP and the Prime Minister and alleged that 115 people are taking their lives per day.

Kharge said in a tweet, "In #GujaratModel of BJP, 9 daily wagers die by suicide every day in Gujarat, 115 daily wagers commit suicide every day in India. Your 'Double Engine' has crushed the aspirations of the poor under its deadly wheels !"

Kharge had earlier attacked the government and said, "No Prime Minister, no home minister has lied, they are lying, sometimes they say they will give 2 crore jobs some time 15 lakh rupees to each one account, but all false."

"The Congress party made so many governments but the MLAs were lured and the BJP formed their own government, while they talk about protecting democracy."

He said the BJP's main aim is to create hatred and division, but the Bharat Jodo Yatra is fighting these elements and will emerge victorious.

Addressing the a rally in Haryana's Panipat recently, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi lashed out at the government on Agniveer Scheme, and said Haryana has become a champion in unemployment with no jobs for youth.

Gandhi said that earlier a soldier used to serve country for 15 years and proper training and retirement benefits were given but now after five years he will be unemployed.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) Homegrown Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) has got the final approval from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU) under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, the company said on Monday.

As an entity under Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), PPBL has got the final authorisation to conduct bill payment and aggregation business as a BBPOU.

PPBL had been undertaking this activity so far under in-principle authorisation from the RBI.

"Our vision is to drive financial inclusion by offering users greater access to digital services. With this approval, we will further increase the adoption of digital payments by merchant billers and enable them with secure, fast and convenient transactions. Through the Paytm app, users can make convenient payments for their bills and benefit from automatic payment and reminder services," said a Paytm Payments Bank spokesperson.

Being an authorised operational unit, PPBL works in adherence to the standards set by Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU), i.e., NPCI Bharat Billpay Limited (NBBL).

Under the RBI's guidance, PPBL will display all agent institutions onboarded on its website and make concerted efforts to onboard more billers in the approved categories on the BBPS platform. This approval enables the Bank to become the single point access to all billers on all payment channels - digital and physical.

PPBL remained the largest UPI beneficiary bank for 19 months in a row with over 1,727 million transactions in December 2022, ahead of all major banks in the country.

With 386.5 million registered transactions, the bank is one of the top 10 remitter banks for UPI transactions according to NPCI's latest report.

PPBL is also one of the leading issuer and acquirer banks for National Electronics Toll Collection (NETC) FASTag.

As an Issuer Bank, PPBL registered 57.13 million transactions and as an acquirer, it registered 47.9 million transactions in November 2022.

--IANS
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Joshimath, Jan 16 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Central government have been monitoring the situation in Joshimath. After the Ministry of Home Affairs, a team from the PM's Office visited the holy city to inspect the land subsidence affected areas. The cracks have increased slightly.

The team, headed by Mangesh Ghildiyal, Deputy Secretary PMO, visited the city on Sunday and will submit its report soon, said sources.

According to sources, the purpose of the visit was to separately inspect the condition of the areas with visible cracks and deteriorating water quality.

Disaster Management Secretary Ranjit Kumar Sinha inspected the affected areas on the same day and said that there had been a slight increase in the number of cracks, but no new areas were damaged.

A team of the MHA, led by Border Management Secretary Dharmendra S. Gangwar, had visited Dehradun and Joshimath last week and had held discussions with the the state officials.

The local authorities informed the Central teams about the steps taken by the district administration.

--IANS
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Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 16 (IANS) In the wake of the entire Congress top brass in Kerala joining hands to take on Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, the party leadership on Monday directed all leaders, including Tharoor, to maintain decorum.

Sensing that if it does not intervene now, it might be a bit too late, the All India Congress Committee(AICC) asked the leaders to ensure that there is no more "free for all" in public domain.

The AICC leadership has asked general secretary in charge of Kerala- Tariq Anwar to see that all the "guns" stop firing in the open.

For all "political" reasons, Tharoor has now emerged as the persona-non grata for all the top party bosses in the state heading their own factions and it includes State party president K.Sudhakaran, leader of Opposition V.D.Satheesan, Ramesh Chennithala and even veteran Congress leader former Defence Minister A.K.Antony.

Apparently, the only leader who has not joined the others is two-time former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

The single reason for the never-seen unity at the party's top level here is Tharoor's decision to contest against Mallikarjun Kharge for the party president post, as the latter was the nominee of the party high command. Tharoor's sudden decision to oppose him sent shockwaves in the party and since then, the Lok Sabha MP has found the going getting tough.

What made them restless is Tharoor's expanding support base which now includes important social and religious groups and their heads, who recently had rolled out a red carpet, when the leader visited the headquarters.

Thanks to the proliferation of social media and the new age media and Tharoor's dabbling in it, he has emerged as the most popular politician in the state.

And sensing Tharoor has nothing to lose, while the state unit of the party has a lot to lose in the power game, the AICC finally decided to intervene.

According to sources in the know of things, it will remain like this till the conclusion of the special AICC session to be held next month, when a new set of office-bearers are elected to join Kharge.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) Congress leader Acharya Pramod Krishnam has termed his party's senior "manager" as old and irrelevant.

Krishnam tweeted, "After SP now BSP has also flatly refused the arrangement, seems to be that the senior 'manager' of our party, along with being old, has also become irrelevant."

It is apparent that Congress campaign for opposition unity against the BJP seems to have received a setback.

Significantly, Assembly elections are to be held in nine states before the Lok Sabha polls.

In many of these states, including in Uttar Pradesh, the opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are seemingly drifting away from the Congress.

Krishnam took a jibe at the party manager regarding the same.

Recently, SP president and former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, while talking to IANS, had said that the relevance of Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra and his party would be decided by the results of the Lok Sabha elections.

On the occasion of her birthday on Sunday, BSP Chief Mayawati informed that the party would not contest assembly elections in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in 2023 and will contest the Lok Sabha polls alone, without any alliance.

These statements indicate that the Congress might not get the support of the SP and the BSP in the Lok Sabha polls and that the BJP might win against the divided opposition.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) Talismanic India batter Virat Kohli credited throwdown specialists Dayanand Garani, Nuwan Seneviratne and D Raghvendra for making the batters look better with world-class practice through relentless deliveries.

"In my honest opinion, all three of them have given us world-class practice every time we play. They challenge us in the nets like anyone 145 or 150 kmph pace bowlers would do in the game. They always try to get us out and make sure that they test us regularly."

"At times, it feels very intense. For me that has been the difference in my career to be very honest. From where I was as a cricketer before I started getting this kind of practice to where I am today."

"A lot of credit has go to these guys, who have given us practice regularly and I am sure Shubman will also feel the same. Their contribution has been unbelievable. You guys should remember their names and faces because, behind our success, a lot of effort has been put in by these guys. Thank you to all for your very, very honest efforts which have helped us," said Kohli in a video posted on bcci.tv.

Raghavendra, referred to as Raghu in the Indian cricket circles, has been associated with the team for a long time as a throwdown specialist. Garani started as a throwdown specialist with Indian team after working with Punjab Kings while Seneviratne was roped in as a throwdown specialist in 2018 to help Indian batsmen counter left-arm fast-bowling.

Right-handed opener Shubman Gill was also in praise of the throwdown specialists of the Indian team. "These three guys combined would have had 1200 to 1500 wickets very easily. They put in a lot of hard work and prepare us for all kinds of conditions we need to practice in heading into the match. These are the people who give us the confidence that we can perform at this level."

The next assignment for India in their home season is three ODIs against New Zealand, starting from Wednesday in Hyderabad.

--IANS
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Panaji, Jan 16 (IANS) The six opposition MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao, were marshalled out of the Assembly as they tried to disrupt the governor's address during the first day of the winter session on Monday over the Mhadei diversion issue.

Alemao along with Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai, AAP MLAs Venzy Viegas and Cruz Silva, Congress MLAs Carlos Alvares Ferreira and Altone D'Costa were demanding that Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai should first speak on Mhadei diversion issue and not the government programmes.

The Opposition MLAs, wearing black outfits, with placards in their hands with 'Save Mhadei' message went into the well of the House and reiterated their demand that the governor should speak on Mhadei. However, their demand was not fulfilled and they were moved out of the Assembly House by marshals, while the governor began with his address.

Speaking to the reporters, Yuri Alemao said that they had demanded that the governor should first speak on the Mhadei diversion issue as it is important. "Aren't the 33 MLAs in power using Mhadei water? They should resign if they can't resolve the Mhadei issue. This government is not interested in resolving issues pertaining to the peoples' welfare," Alemao said.

"Switching off mike (in the Assembly) of Leader of Opposition shows that this is dictatorship. The opposition will fight this battle unitedly," Alemao said.

Vijai Sardesai said that they wanted the governor to express his opinion on the Mhadei issue first and not the government speech. "Mhadei movement is of peoples' movement. We are supporting this movement. The governor should have expressed his opinion over Mhadei," Sardesai said.

He said that the speech written by the government (for governor) is only boasting about incomplete projects. "Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has sold Mhadei to Karnataka to protect his chair," he alleged.

Since Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced that the Centre has cleared the much disputed Kalasa-Bhanduri dam project in his state, people have started to vent their anger over the issue and political parties are holding public meetings.

Goa and Karnataka are currently battling out a dispute over the Kalsa-Bhandura dam project across the waters of the Mhadei river at a central tribunal.

Mhadei originates in Karnataka and meets the Arabian Sea in Panaji. While the river traverses 28.8 km in Karnataka, it is 81.2 km in length in Goa. Karnataka plans to construct dams on the river, aimed at diverting the waters into its water-starved Malaprabha basin in North Karnataka.

--IANS
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