The Evening Wrap: Yogi Adityanath returns in U.P.; AAP drowns Congress in Punjab

The BJP has retained Uttar Pradesh after winning 208 seats and leading in 47 more at the time of publishing this newsletter. The Samajwadi Party has bagged 87 seats so far and maintains a lead in 38 constituencies. Former Chief Minister Mayawati-led BSP is currently leading in just one seat, down from 19 in 2017, as per the ECI website. The Congress has won two. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath created a record of sorts by not just breaking the pattern of alternation in the State that had set in three decades ago but also by becoming the first Chief Minister of the State from the BJP to complete a full five-year term. In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swept the polls winning 92 of the 117 Assembly seats. Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal and former CM Amarinder Singh are among the heavyweights who lost. AAP CM candidate Bhagwant Mann won Dhuri seat by a margin of 58,206 seats, beating his closest rival and Congress MLA Dalvir Singh Goldy. In Uttarakhand, the ruling BJP secured a comfortable majority with its candidates winning in 45 Assembly seats and leading in two more. The main opposition Congress was way behind winning 17 seats and leading in two more. In Manipur, the ruling BJP is all set to return to power, as it bagged 32 seats. The Congress has managed only five. The BJP is also set to form the government in Goa. Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis who is BJP’s election in-charge for Goa, said that his party will take independents and regional parties along to form the next government in Goa. The BJP has won 20 seats in the State, just one short of the magic figure of 21 required to form a majority in the 40-member Assembly. No progress on Ukraine ceasefire in Lavrov-Kuleba meeting Talks between Russia and Ukraine’s foreign ministers on Thursday made no apparent progress towards a ceasefire in the two-week-old conflict or on a humanitarian corridor from the southern Ukrainian port of Mariupol. Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba said after the talks that he had sought a 24-hour ceasefire across the whole combat zone as well as the opening of a Mariupol corridor, but that his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov did not commit to either. Lavrov said he reminded Kuleba that Moscow had presented proposals to Kyiv, and that Russia wanted to see what he called a friendly, demilitarised Ukraine. The meeting, in the southern Turkish resort of Antalya was the highest-level contact between the two sides since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. It lasted just under an hour and a half. Both Kuleba and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who hosted the talks, said it was not an easy meeting. “I made a simple proposal to Minister Lavrov: I can call my Ukrainian ministers, authorities, president now and give you 100% assurances on security guarantees for humanitarian corridors,” Kuleba told a news conference. “I asked him, ‘Can you do the same?’ and he did not respond.” At a separate news conference Lavrov said there had been no discussion of a ceasefire, and that the talks in Turkey could not be an alternative to the “real, main diplomatic track”, referring to lower-level meetings in Belarus, an ally of Moscow. “I am not surprised that Mr Kuleba said that it was not possible to agree about a ceasefire. Here, no one was intending to agree a ceasefire,” he said. Responding to Kyiv’s condemnation of Wednesday’s bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Lavrov said the building was no longer used as a hospital and had been occupied by Ukrainian forces, though the Kremlin separately said the incident was being investigated. “Three days ago at the U.N. Security Council meeting our delegation presented facts that this maternity hospital had long been seized by the Azov battalion and other radicals,” he said. Russia’s invasion has uprooted more than 2 million people in what the United Nations calls the fastest-developing humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War Two. Moscow has said that all of its demands -- including that Kyiv takes a neutral position and drops aspirations of joining the NATO alliance -- must be met to end its assault. Moscow calls its incursion a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and dislodge leaders it calls “neo-Nazis”. Kyiv and its Western allies dismiss that as baseless pretext for an unprovoked war against a democratic country of 44 million people. Lavrov said he did not believe the conflict would spiral into a nuclear war but he cautioned the United States and Europe that Moscow never again wanted to be reliant on the West. “We will do everything to ensure that we never again depend on the West in those areas of our life which have a significant meaning for our people,” he said. Turkey, which hosted Thursday’s meeting, shares a maritime border with Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea and has good ties with both. It has called Russia’s invasion unacceptable and appealed for a ceasefire but has opposed sanctions on Moscow. U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris’ Poland trip caught in rift over plan for Ukraine jets U. S. Vice-President Kamala Harris will meet Polish leaders in Warsaw on March 10 amid disagreements with the eastern European country over how to arm Ukraine with warplanes to fight Russia’s invasion. The United States on Tuesday rejected a surprise offer by Poland to transfer its Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets to a U. S. base in Germany and put them at the disposal of the United States as a way to replenish Ukraine’s air force. Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said any supply of fighter jets to Ukraine must be done jointly by NATO countries. However, U. S. officials said they were caught off guard by the proposal and the Pentagon quickly deemed it untenable. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been pleading for NATO to impose a no-fly zone or provide it with fighter jets. The United States and its allies are eager to help Ukraine but are wary of any step that might draw them into direct conflict with Russia. The U. S. decision not to go ahead with the transfer was criticised by many Republican lawmakers. “The President should explain exactly why he vetoed fighter jets for Ukraine,” Senator Ben Sasse said. “Two days ago, the Secretary of State gave a green light to MiG transfers but now the Department of Defence is raising red flags — what’s going on?” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said U. S. ties with Poland remain strong and she doubted Harris would discuss the issue in a major way on her trip this week to Poland and Romania. The countries, which are NATO’s easternmost members, have been anxious about increasing Russian aggression in the region. They share a border with Ukraine and thousands of refugees are crossing it. During her visit, Harris is expected to discuss ways NATO members can implement the economic sanctions put in place and how they can stay aligned. She will also meet Ukrainian refugees in Poland and discuss humanitarian and security assistance to Ukraine and the region. South Korean conservative declares win in presidential race A conservative former prosecutor declared victory in South Korea’s presidential election on Thursday after his liberal ruling party rival conceded defeat after a bitter battle in the politically divided nation. With around 98% of the ballots counted as of 4:00 a.m., People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk Yeol won 48.59% of the votes, narrowly edging liberal rival Lee Jae-myung who garnered 47.80%. Yeol thanked his supporters outside his home in capital Seoul after what he described as a “long night.” He spoke shortly after Jae-myung conceded defeat during a news conference at the campaign office of his Democratic Party, where he congratulated Yeol and called for him to heal the country’s divisions. Yeol will take office in May and serve a single five-year term as leader of the world’s 10th-largest economy, which is now grappling with stark income inequalities and soaring personal debt and facing growing threats from nuclear-armed North Korea. In brief More than 1 million children have fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries in the less than two weeks since Russia started its invasion of Ukraine, the head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday. At least 37 children had been killed and 50 injured, Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 4,29,82,123 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 5,16,376. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 11 MARCH 2022 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Yogi Adityanath returns in U.P.; AAP drowns Congress in Punjab The [BJP has retained Uttar Pradesh]( after winning 208 seats and leading in 47 more at the time of publishing this newsletter. The Samajwadi Party has bagged 87 seats so far and maintains a lead in 38 constituencies. Former Chief Minister Mayawati-led BSP is currently leading in just one seat, down from 19 in 2017, as per the ECI website. The Congress has won two. Chief Minister [Yogi Adityanath created a record of sorts]( by not just breaking the pattern of alternation in the State that had set in three decades ago but also by becoming the first Chief Minister of the State from the BJP to complete a full five-year term. [Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath celebrated at the BJP office in Lucknow on March 10, 2022 ] In Punjab, [the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swept the polls]( winning 92 of the 117 Assembly seats. Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal and former CM Amarinder Singh are among the heavyweights who lost. AAP CM candidate Bhagwant Mann won Dhuri seat by a margin of 58,206 seats, beating his closest rival and Congress MLA Dalvir Singh Goldy. In Uttarakhand, [the ruling BJP secured a comfortable majority]( with its candidates winning in 45 Assembly seats and leading in two more. The main opposition Congress was way behind winning 17 seats and leading in two more. In Manipur, [the ruling BJP is all set to return to power]( as it bagged 32 seats. The Congress has managed only five. The [BJP is also set to form the government in Goa](. Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis who is BJP’s election in-charge for Goa, said that his party will take independents and regional parties along to form the next government in Goa. The BJP has won 20 seats in the State, just one short of the magic figure of 21 required to form a majority in the 40-member Assembly. No progress on Ukraine ceasefire in Lavrov-Kuleba meeting  Talks between Russia and Ukraine’s foreign ministers on Thursday [made no apparent progress towards a ceasefire]( in the two-week-old conflict or on a humanitarian corridor from the southern Ukrainian port of Mariupol. [Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. File] Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba said after the talks that he had sought a 24-hour ceasefire across the whole combat zone as well as the opening of a Mariupol corridor, but that his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov did not commit to either. Lavrov said he reminded Kuleba that Moscow had presented proposals to Kyiv, and that Russia wanted to see what he called a friendly, demilitarised Ukraine. The meeting, in the southern Turkish resort of Antalya was the highest-level contact between the two sides since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. It lasted just under an hour and a half. Both Kuleba and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who hosted the talks, said it was not an easy meeting. “I made a simple proposal to Minister Lavrov: I can call my Ukrainian ministers, authorities, president now and give you 100% assurances on security guarantees for humanitarian corridors,” Kuleba told a news conference. “I asked him, ‘Can you do the same?’ and he did not respond.” At a separate news conference Lavrov said there had been no discussion of a ceasefire, and that the talks in Turkey could not be an alternative to the “real, main diplomatic track”, referring to lower-level meetings in Belarus, an ally of Moscow. “I am not surprised that Mr Kuleba said that it was not possible to agree about a ceasefire. Here, no one was intending to agree a ceasefire,” he said. Responding to Kyiv’s condemnation of Wednesday’s bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Lavrov said the building was no longer used as a hospital and had been occupied by Ukrainian forces, though the Kremlin separately said the incident was being investigated. “Three days ago at the U.N. Security Council meeting our delegation presented facts that this maternity hospital had long been seized by the Azov battalion and other radicals,” he said. Russia’s invasion has uprooted more than 2 million people in what the United Nations calls the fastest-developing humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War Two. Moscow has said that all of its demands -- including that Kyiv takes a neutral position and drops aspirations of joining the NATO alliance -- must be met to end its assault. Moscow calls its incursion a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and dislodge leaders it calls “neo-Nazis”. Kyiv and its Western allies dismiss that as baseless pretext for an unprovoked war against a democratic country of 44 million people. Lavrov said he did not believe the conflict would spiral into a nuclear war but he cautioned the United States and Europe that Moscow never again wanted to be reliant on the West. “We will do everything to ensure that we never again depend on the West in those areas of our life which have a significant meaning for our people,” he said. Turkey, which hosted Thursday’s meeting, shares a maritime border with Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea and has good ties with both. It has called Russia’s invasion unacceptable and appealed for a ceasefire but has opposed sanctions on Moscow. U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris’ Poland trip caught in rift over plan for Ukraine jets    U. S. Vice-President [Kamala Harris will meet Polish leaders]( in Warsaw on March 10 amid disagreements with the eastern European country over how to arm Ukraine with warplanes to fight Russia’s invasion. The United States on Tuesday rejected a surprise offer by Poland to transfer its Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets to a U. S. base in Germany and put them at the disposal of the United States as a way to replenish Ukraine’s air force. Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said any supply of fighter jets to Ukraine must be done jointly by NATO countries. However, U. S. officials said they were caught off guard by the proposal and the Pentagon quickly deemed it untenable. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been pleading for NATO to impose a no-fly zone or provide it with fighter jets. The United States and its allies are eager to help Ukraine but are wary of any step that might draw them into direct conflict with Russia. The U. S. decision not to go ahead with the transfer was criticised by many Republican lawmakers. “The President should explain exactly why he vetoed fighter jets for Ukraine,” Senator Ben Sasse said. “Two days ago, the Secretary of State gave a green light to MiG transfers but now the Department of Defence is raising red flags — what’s going on?” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said U. S. ties with Poland remain strong and she doubted Harris would discuss the issue in a major way on her trip this week to Poland and Romania. The countries, which are NATO’s easternmost members, have been anxious about increasing Russian aggression in the region. They share a border with Ukraine and thousands of refugees are crossing it. During her visit, Harris is expected to discuss ways NATO members can implement the economic sanctions put in place and how they can stay aligned. She will also meet Ukrainian refugees in Poland and discuss humanitarian and security assistance to Ukraine and the region. South Korean conservative declares win in presidential race   A [conservative former prosecutor declared victory in South Korea’s presidential election]( on Thursday after his liberal ruling party rival conceded defeat after a bitter battle in the politically divided nation. With around 98% of the ballots counted as of 4:00 a.m., People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk Yeol won 48.59% of the votes, narrowly edging liberal rival Lee Jae-myung who garnered 47.80%. Yeol thanked his supporters outside his home in capital Seoul after what he described as a “long night.” He spoke shortly after Jae-myung conceded defeat during a news conference at the campaign office of his Democratic Party, where he congratulated Yeol and called for him to heal the country’s divisions. Yeol will take office in May and serve a single five-year term as leader of the world’s 10th-largest economy, which is now grappling with stark income inequalities and soaring personal debt and facing growing threats from nuclear-armed North Korea. In brief [More than 1 million children have fled Ukraine]( to neighbouring countries in the less than two weeks since Russia started its invasion of Ukraine, the head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday. At least 37 children had been killed and 50 injured, Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The [number of reported coronavirus cases from India]( stood at 4,29,82,123 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 5,16,376.  Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. Today‘s Top Picks [[We are confronting the West, not Ukraine, says Russia’s Consul General in Chennai] We are confronting the West, not Ukraine, says Russia’s Consul General in Chennai]( [[India, China hold 15th round of Corps Commander talks] India, China hold 15th round of Corps Commander talks]( [[Co-pilot killed, pilot injured as Army chopper crashes in north Kashmir’s Bandipora] Co-pilot killed, pilot injured as Army chopper crashes in north Kashmir’s Bandipora]( [[School not so easy after two years] School not so easy after two years]( Copyright @ 2022, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. If you are facing any trouble in viewing this newsletter, please [try here]( If you do not wish to receive such emails [go here](