Feature
Saffron party predicts Akhilesh Yadav will ditch Mayawati after using her on May 23
Lucknow: Seeking to drive a wedge into their anti-BJP alliance, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Monday said BSP supremo Mayawati would be “ditched” by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav after May 23, the day of the Lok Sabha poll results, “and then, only the BJP will support her”.
“The Samajwadi Party has never given due honour to Dalits. In 1995, when Mayawati was attacked at the State Guest House here by SP leaders on the directions of Mulayam Singh Yadav, the BJP had saved her. Now, his (Mulayam’s) son Akhilesh will dump her after May 23 and the BJP will support her,” Maurya told media persons in an interview at his residence here.
“Whenever Mayawati is in crisis, the BJP supports her and will continue to do so in the future too,” he said.
Asserting that the BJP is pro-Dalits, Maurya said, “At Kumbh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi washed the feet of sanitary workers to give them due honour. Our party leaders are always there for Dalits.”
On the Congress’s prospects in the upcoming general election, he said irrespective of the tall claims of the opposition party, its strength would be reduced further after the polls, adding, “The BJP is going to form the government under the leadership of Modi again, with Uttar Pradesh giving it 74 plus seats.”
The state accounts for the highest number of 80 Lok Sabha seats in the country.
Maurya’s statement came a day after he had targeted Mayawati on her remark at a Deoband rally, where she had asked the Muslim voters not to split their votes.
BSP supremo Mayawati will be ditch by Akhilesh Yadav on Maya 23 predicts Saffron:
“Her statement clearly indicates that she has only used Dalits as a vote bank and has not respected them. She has started hating them after their tilt towards the BJP after the saffron party empowered them. She has now appealed to the Muslims to vote for her but the community knows the reality of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance,” Maurya had said.
The deputy chief minister, however, did not say anything about it on Monday.
Asked about the SP’s poll promises, Maurya said, “(SP chief) Akhilesh (Yadav) is not loyal to his father Mulayam and uncle Shivpal. How can he be loyal to Mayawatiji, whom he calls ‘bua’? He should not be trusted by her (Mayawati). He was taught a lesson in 2017 (UP Assembly polls) by the people of the state and once again, he will get a reply from the people.”
On the achievements of the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh in the last over two years, the deputy chief minister claimed that law and order had improved, due to which the state was attracting investments and people could go anywhere “fearlessly”.
“The ‘jungle raj’ of the previous SP government ended immediately after the BJP came to power. Criminals, who were ruling the roost, are now behind bars or have left the state for good,” he said, exuding confidence that the state would once again give the maximum number of seats to the saffron party in the upcoming polls.
Terming the SP-BSP-RLD pre-poll alliance as “opportunistic”, he said it would end automatically due to conflict of interests in the near future.
Entertainment
Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.