Sabarimala

Vijayan told reporters after the Opposition walkout: “The government was not stubborn. But we have no other option but to implement the apex court verdict. If tomorrow the court takes another decision, the government will follow that.”

Vijayan reiterated his government was duty-bound to implement the order by the highest court in the country. “The government is with the judiciary and devotees... The Constitution is supreme.”

Reminding traditionalists that the state could not dilute the SC’s historic verdict, he added, “The government is with the believers.”

“There is no need for any concern,” he said, adding that security would be provided to women who wanted to enter the temple. lipped about the reason for the injury, people who spoke on condition of anonymity said the tiger may have landed in a snare set by poachers for catching wild boars and deer. “It’s possible that the tiger suffered injury on its neck while trying to get out of the snare,” said one person.

Wildlife conservationists expressed surprise how the tiger’s movement hadn’t been detected despite it having a radio frequency and satellite collar fitted to its neck. Two surveillance teams were supposed to keep a watch on the tiger’s movements, but officials said they did not detect any unusual movements in the last couple of days.

Tiger conservationist Ullas Karanth said the Odisha forest department personnel may have lacked the expertise to track it. “Just having a radio-collar on the tiger’s neck isn’t enough. Expertise is needed to track it on a regular basis,” said Karanth.

He also said the authorities including NTCA and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) should have taken into account the prey base of the reserve before introducing the tigers into it. “At least 500 prey is needed for a tiger for its survival. A proper prey-base study using line-transact method is the proper procedure. I doubt if this was done,” he said.

PK Sen, former director of Project Tiger, in an earlier interview with HT, had also questioned the relocation exercise on grounds that the prey base in Satkosia wasn’t sufficient to support the big cats. “Satkosia is not an inviolate area by any stretch of imagination and there is hardly any herbivores there. In 1996, I had opposed declaring Satkosia as a tiger reserve. It’s a disastrous exercise,” he said. worth Rs 1.30 crore.

Dr Sagar, who has already started campaigning, said: “I was always interested in contesting elections in 2013 elections also, but this time I got the ticket from the BSP.” Countering the charges against him, he said: “I have been a scapegoat while the main players have been allowed to go free, and I am sure I will get justice.” BSP state president, Pradeep Ahirwar, said Dr Sagar has not been convicted so far, and is eligible to contest.

Phundelal Singh Marco, the Congress candidate from Pushparajgarh, Annuppur district,is another accused in the case — in his instance, he is charged with paying money and helping his son cheat in the 2009 medical entrance test. In his affidavit, Marco has written “Vyapam” and then listed the various sections of Indian Penal Code dealing with fraud, cheating, and conspiracy under which he has been charged. Despite several attempts, Marco could not be contacted over phone. His office said he was busy campaigning. Marco has previously denied the charges and said the court would clear him.

Madhya Pradesh Congress media cell in-charge, Shobha Oza, didn’t have an immediate response when asked why the Congress, which has made Vyapam an issue in the elections, gave a ticket to Marco.

Interestingly, two whistleblowers who helped unearth the fraud, Dr Anand Rai and Ashish Chaturvedi, and who were given tickets by the Jai Adivasi Yuva Shakti (JAYS), a tribal party, have decided not to contest after the party’s leader abandoned it and defected to the Congress, which has fielded him from Manawar.

Rai claims he was “assured by Congress leaders that I would be given ticket from Indore-5, but the promise was not kept”. Oza said she was not aware of any such promise.

Another whistle-blower and a former independent legislator from Ratlam city, Paras Saklecha, is disappointed that neither he nor any other whistle-blower has been fielded by the Congress. “I feel betrayed and hurt. I was promised a ticket from Ratlam and joined the Congress in March 2018 on that assurance.” Saklecha, who raised the Vyapam issue repeatedly in the assembly when he was an independent, said he is still campaigning for the Congress, and expects it to form the government.