Puducherry, Jul 18 (PTI) The administration in Yanam, an enclave of Puducherry in Andhra Pradesh, on Saturday announced that restrictions will be tightened on Sundays in view of the rise in number of COVID-19 cases.

Shivraj Meena, the Regional Administrator of Yanam, said in a release the stricter curfew would come into force in the region from July 19 in an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

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Yanam is the first region in the whole Union Territory to announce a stringent curfew reminiscent of total lockdown.

He said only medical emergencies and government and essential services would be permitted during the curfew period (6 am on Sunday to 6 am on Monday).

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Milk booths would function from 6 am to 8 am and from 6 pm to 8 pm on Sundays.

Any violation would attract action under the Epidemic Act and Disaster Management Act, the official said.

Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao had been seeking a total lockdown in the Union Territory to contain the virus, but the Chief Minister had taken the stand that "lockdown alone would not be the panacea to battle the spread of the infection."

However, Yanam from where Rao has been elected to the territorial Assembly, has now come out with stricter restrictions to counter the pandemic on Sundays.PTI Cor SS PTI PTI 07182333 NNNNficial added.

ACB Director General Alok Tripathi said it has registered an FIR on a complaint by Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi.

The FIR mentions details of conversations of (rebel MLA) Bhanwarlal Sharma with Gajendra Singh (Congress claims it is a reference to Union minister Gajendra Singh) and a third man called Sanjay Jain.

The Congress alleges that Jain, whose name had surfaced in the audio recording about horse trading of legislators to topple the Congress government, is a BJP leader but the saffron party rejects the allegation, saying it has no connection with him.

Jain, who was arrested on Friday night, has been remanded to four days of police custody.

In Delhi, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra asked if the Congress government in Rajasthan had resorted to "unconstitutional" methods to tap phones of politicians and demanded a CBI probe into what he called a "saga of illegalities and concocted lies".        His counterpart in the Congress Pawan Khera hit back, telling reporters that the demand for a CBI probe into the audio tapes shows a conspiracy to topple the Gehlot government and amounts to an “admission of guilt" by the BJP.

It is now clear that the party was behind the rebellion by Pilot and others, the Congress said, adding that the fact its dissident legislators took shelter in hotels in BJP-ruled Haryana is further evidence of saffron party's involvement in "horse-trading".        Back in the Rajasthan capital, Gehlot was quiet for much of the day but tweeted photographs of himself with the two Bharatiya Tribal Party legislators in the evening.

Amid the brewing crisis in the Congress-ruled state, Gehlot also called on Governor Kalraj Mishra for what a Raj Bhavan spokesperson termed a courtesy meeting during which the coronavirus pandemic was discussed.        

Ending days of speculation, BTP legislators Rajkumar Roat and Ramprasad said they will back the Gehlot government on the condition that demands related to development of the state are fulfilled.            

With the party split between Gehlot and Pilot, who was sacked as deputy chief minister earlier this week and has the support of 18 MLAs, each seat counts.            

In the house of 200, the Congress has 107 MLAs, including the 19 dissidents who have been issued notices of disqualification by the speaker and have challenged them in the high court. Congress has maintained the claim that the Gehlot government has the support of 109 MLAs, including the two BTP MLAs.

The court resumes hearing on the disqualification notices on Monday and Speaker C P Joshi will not take any action on the issue till 5.30 pm on Tuesday.

Breaking her silence on the raging political strife in the state, former chief minister and senior BJP leader Raje alleged that some people were trying to create confusion on the political developments and insisted she stands with her party and its ideology.        

Her remarks came in the backdrop of Nagaur MP and convenor of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, an NDA ally, Hanuman Beniwal accusing her of having an “internal alliance” with Gehlot, who is facing a rebellion from his former deputy Sachin Pilot.          

Raje, who has been conspicuous by her silence, said in a statement earlier in the day that it is unfortunate that the people of Rajasthan are paying for the discord within the Congress.          

"There is no point in trying to drag the BJP and the BJP leaders' names through the mud. It is the interest of our people that must remain paramount!" she said.          

Raje went on to list the many problems facing the people of Rajasthan.         

“At a time when COVID-19 has claimed more than 500 lives and positive cases are close to 28,000… locusts are attacking farmers fields… crimes against women are at an all-time high… when there is a problem of electricity across the state… And I'm only naming a few of the problems faced by our people,” she said.              

“Think of the people!!!!!” she ended the statement in which she took no names.

As the political drama continued to escalate – ahead of its denouement perhaps next week – the legislators in Gehlot's camp were sequestered at a resort on the Jaipur-Delhi highway.            

Images of them doing yoga, taking part in cooking lessons and watching “Mughal-e-Azam” did the rounds of television and social media, prompting the BJP to ask caustically about social distancing in corona times.            

There was little news of the Pilot camp. While the former PCC chief was silent, there was little information of the whereabouts of him or the MLAs who had mounted a rebellion with him.            

They had been in a resort in Haryana till Friday evening when the Rajasthan SOG reached for their voice samples but could not meet them.

Some Congress leaders alleged they had been taken to another BJP-ruled state but no one was quite sure.            

BSP leader Mayawati also weighed in with her views and said the governor should take cognisance of the instability in the state and recommend President's Rule.            

Gehlot, she said, had openly violated the Anti-Defection law and cheated the BSP for a second time by getting its MLAs included in the Congress.

"And it is also evident he did an illegal and unconstitutional thing by phone tapping," Mayawati said in a series of tweets in Hindi.            

All the problems, added veteran state BJP leader Kailash Chandra Meghwal, were because of the internal feud in the Congress.            

"Rajasthan politics has been derailed. It is unfortunate that attempts are being made to destabilise the government when the state faces the danger of COVID-19 pandemic and also unemployment among its poor. This is not appropriate. This is due to internal feud within the Congress," he told PTI.

He said it was "condemnable" that people had resorted to "immoral tactics, ugly politics and horse-trading" to destabilise the government.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)