The stunning defeat of one of India's leading information technology champions has sent a shockwave through the political scene, newspapers said yesterday, with many using computer puns to sum up the drama.
Chandrababu Naidu, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh state, lost his job on Tuesday after the results from state elections showed his push to develop the state into an IT hub had failed to tackle grinding poverty.
"System failure: Cyber CM logged out," read the front-page headline in the Hindustan Times yesterday. "Naidu + delete" read the Indian Express.
It was a result that bodes ill for the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee before today's results of national elections, with exit and opinion polls showing his alliance struggling to form a majority in parliament.
Naidu's party, the second-largest member of the coalition, lost heavily in the state elections, while the opposition Congress party won by a landslide, shocking many in the halls of power in New Delhi.
"Naidu had worked hard -- with a fair amount of success -- to showcase Hyderabad as an infotech destination," said the Express, referring to the state's capital, one of the country's leading IT hubs.
"But he was finally tripped by the realities he was either afraid, or too complacent, to tread: grinding poverty, farmers preferring death over debt, development schemes more virtual than real."
All this, the newspaper said, led to a groundswell of resentment and hinted at a wider disillusionment that ended Naidu's 10 years in power.
Naidu's tech-savvy development message echoed Vajpayee's campaign "feel-good" message of peace and prosperity after five years of strong economic growth.
That message quickly backfired with voters during the national election campaign, with many impoverished farmers regarding the motto as out of touch and smug after seeing little or no improvement in their lives from the economic boom.
"If Andhra Pradesh hit the headlines thanks to Naidu's cyber-savvy CEO image, today, ironically, that very achievement may have become a badge of dishonor for the man," said the Times of India in an editorial.
In an editorial headlined "Reboot in Andhra," the Hindustan Times said Naidu's IT aspirations might have captured the imagination of the middle class. "But it couldn't overcome the expectations of the state's teeming poor or the populist campaign of his adversaries."
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number