#WeekdayNewsCapsule Episode 39 US Elections, Ahmed Patel’s demise and the future of Congress

Sree Iyer: Hello and welcome to PGurus Channel, I am your host Sree Iyer.  Welcome to episode number 39 of the weekday news capsule with Sridhar ChityalaJi. SridharJi  Namaskar and welcome to PGurus Channel.

Sridhar Chityala: Namaskar, good morning to you, sir

 Sree Iyer:  Today, we have a fair amount of topics to cover but, I would like you to just touch upon what is happening on the US Election results for the President of the United States and the quick summary on the Senate races in Georgia, sir.

Sridhar Chityala: The quick summary is that you know, there is still, a case under the contention.  The Supreme Court is looking at the Pennsylvania response by the Democrats, in terms of what the Republicans had filed as to not to nullify or not to certify the election. So, there are a lot of court cases under consideration, having said that, Nevada has announced certified, Michigan has certified, Pennsylvania has certified, Georgia is not yet or pretty close to certification, but, there’s a recount that is underway. So, in the election process we will have much more clarity around, where we are heading, particularly around the litigation early next week. So, we may have some news over the weekend, because it’s Thanksgiving here, so therefore it’s a big holiday week in the United States.

With regard to Georgia runoffs with Jon Ossoff, people have found some transactions and there has been a request for 735,000 plus if, my number is correct, request for what you call absentee votes, which is 3x times the volume, which they saw last time is about 250 or 260. So, it seems like, there’s the magic portion or magic formula for remote polling, which has been very controversial in terms of the verification, qualification and validation process, could be an issue in the Georgia runoffs, that’s the highlight from the US Elections.

Sree Iyer: On Covid, now the world has crossed the 60 million mark and there are a lot of developments happening on the Covid vaccine preparation, availability and of India as a viable destination. What can you share about what is happening in that part of the world regarding the Covid vaccine, sir?

Sridhar Chityala: Yes, first I want to touch on the US and then we go to India, which is becoming, what I call, the Global Centre of excellence. In the United States, I think that there are two things to point out, President Trump announced that he would have the vaccines by end of the year and that is a euphoric success that the media is unwilling to recognize and unwilling to respect. Today, we have Pfizer, we have Moderna, we have Regeneron, we have Eli Lilly, we have Astrazeneca, very soon, and we will also have Johnson & Johnson. So, there is a massive program of vaccines coming into the Market.

Regeneron, which is the plasma implant, is coming in this week. And I think it’s next week or the week after next, you will begin to see Pfizer roll out. Pharmacies have been orchestrated organized $50 self-development test kits have been established. So, therefore President doesn’t get any kind of credit but, as he promised he has delivered and I think that as we go into next year, this issue will be addressed. I think we would advise or we would provide input to Mr. Biden not to put fear in a politically rhetoric not to talk about deaths but, to focus on recovery, just as in the United States, 7.6 million people have recovered and 5 million people are being treated of which critical cases are less than 23,000 or 24,000 number. So, therefore, I think has been a very successful attempt to address the issue, not knowing the source and not knowing the Cure.

India, I think India is going to be one of them just as they are to through their PLI programs. India was one of the first countries which along with the United States raised its hands and said it is ready. Remember at the early inflexion, it came up and shipped to no less than 70 plus countries the Hydroxychloroquine immunity booster tablets and it continues to supply to the world.

At that point in time Modi, stood up and said we will not only do, we will also develop the vaccines and storage facilities that are appropriate, is needed and we can be a global distribution center. To that extent, the Serum laboratory in Pune, as well as the Gennova Biopharmaceutical Limited facilities, are going to be visited by no less than 100 country ambassadors at the invitation of the Minister for External  Affairs. Either Mr Modi may watch remotely or may attend in person.  But, this is again another reflection of the ability under the Modi leadership, how India is emerging in several sectors.

I mean, we had mobile, we had the defense, we had pharmaceutical then we have agriculture. So, in each of these sectors, but, most notably, the pharmaceutical is going to be one of the big. I think India is preparing itself to say, we are the trust that people have built-in Modi and India in terms of its viability to supply medication that can treat a pandemic like this, is a very very positive sign not just for India, but for the world that there is more than one large destination other than China, to be a trusted Centre.

Sree Iyer: Thank you, sir. And let’s take a quick look across the world to India.  Ahmed Patel, a senior Congress leader, though, he doesn’t really come out in the news and he’s not the one writing headlines, but he was a very critical cog in the wheel of the party Machinery, passed away yesterday of Covid. What are your thoughts on his demise? Do you think this is going to land a crippling blow on the congress party?

Sridhar Chityala: I don’t know sir. All I can say is, he was probably the linchpin and behind the scenes, person and I think personal confidant of the two Gandhis  – Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. So, I think clearly that it leaves, notwithstanding the fact they have been some Purge going on in the elderly leaders within the Congress Party, he remained an important figure. So, I would assume that soon that there is going to be some element of disruption as a result of his unfortunate demise due to the Covid. I think, in October he contracted covid complications and he passed away.

But, I think Congress has that problem that is beyond Ahmed Patel because the reason is, I think now, many leaders are coming out into the open and talking about the need for organizational revamp with the same formula tested again, and again and again and repeated failures. So, I think that this certainly would probably break to some extent the status quo,  the status quo was preserved because they were probably the hidden hand ofMr. Ahmed Patel.

Sree Iyer:  Well, sad to see him go and let’s take a quick look at Nepal and what is happening vis-a-vis its border to China. China is beginning to start flexing its muscles in Nepal also, and there was an incident yesterday perhaps, you could touch upon that tour as to what really happened and now the Nepalese are beginning to see the ugly face of China.

Sridhar Chityala: Well, China is only to you know, sadly to say Democratic Party People and the leadership of Mr. Biden and prior. Mr. Biden and Mr. Obama, China seems like a palatable player non-rules based only, they can explain their mindset around this. But, it has created trouble everywhere and the latest addition to that case Nepal.  I think is the Lapcha-Limi which is the north-west or northwest border of Tibet. It looks like they are one of the MPs, he’s visited and he found that a lot of encroachment in the Tibetan border area by the Nepalese. So, the headlines were flashing, which is to say that Nepal turns red,  looking at red, red is obviously China, the flag. It has always had the dominance, it wants to dominate every region that it wants and it wants to own the region on its terms. So, it will try to pollute the atmosphere and create circumstances that become very unworthy. So, the fact is that there are now realizing that these guys are going to become a problem. They are not only interfering in the political but, they could be making Nepal into another kind of Tibetian type of a situation.

One can say what has happened in the South China Sea with China. One can say, what has happened to Uyghur Province, which the world doesn’t want to talk about our human rights.  They want to talk about human rights on everything else but did not want to talk about human rights and nobody, has said that China should be a democratic Nation, nobody because the reason is they use money and they use muscle and the use this kind of power to drive the agenda forward. So, I think, Nepal may need to be rescued.  I don’t know whether to what extent they would go beyond the norm to reach out to India, obviously, the United States was moving towards me that one Tibet policy and if Trump continues, that would be pursued if you Biden comes in and takes charge. What would be the policy? We don’t know but it’s certainly a big cause for alarm in that particular region, sir.

Sree Iyer: Sir. I just can’t help but observe a couple of things regarding covid. Sir, sorry to go back to that one. One is the Biden administration is now talking about so many people dead and so on and so forth. I fully expect them to take the exact opposite stand when they come to power after the January 20th swearing-in ceremony and then they would want to not have these numbers flashing across because then it is on their watch. So this is a very very odd thing.

The other thing that I find very very odd is that all these companies waited for the elections to finish before starting to announce their vaccine results. I find it very strange that by the law of averages though 20 companies working on a vaccine, how is it that not one of them discovered it before November 3rd and then all of a sudden they’re all coming out of the woods. Now, you’re seeing all these vaccine proclamations. So it remains to be seen what exactly is going to be efficient. And what is not efficient. And also may I add that many of these are too short vaccines that means you have to take two trips to go and get yourself vaccinated, the first one maybe some sort of test to see which way you are reacting and then the second one will be a follow-up based on what the reaction to the first test is. I don’t know all the details but it is very very, I don’t know what to say, but it is kind of interesting how this whole plan of putting vaccines is coming out.

Sridhar Chityala: I want to respond to your questions since you said I don’t know but I let me tell you, I know why it is and what it is. The liberal-left media around the world does not believe in data. Okay. It does not believe in data. The moment you have a debate with them on data they shrink and shrivel. Okay. That data is very simple. The vaccine is not born overnight. Just as a child is not born overnight. It takes nine months for a child or whatever the case may be the numbers. I am not a gynecologist, but the story is whatever the time maybe. So this vaccine has taken time from concept, research to testing on-field. So Mr. Biden could not have invented. Mr. Biden has invented only the numbers reporting the death. That’s all he has. He does not talk at any point in time, the number of people who have recovered and the number of active and critical cases. Even if you take the United States active and critical cases is less than 24,000. He does not take about 69 million people who were infected with the bird and H1N1 virus. What kind of work they did? They have no credibility. They only have politicization and what you call sensationalism in pointing or some numbers. Today he is going to address. The first and foremost point. That’s the number one point.

Number two on the darker side, $1.9 billion was paid to Pfizer, as an advance 100 million vaccines ordered. They used that money to fund. No bio-medical company without a government-sponsored our internal capital allocation and commits capital to a program that has no defined outcome. So, when you create Lipitor, Pfizer put maybe $15 billion to treat and still diabetes is speeding being treated, it is not cured. So, therefore, this thing is complete bullshit by the Democrats, complete bullshit. So, I’m just telling you data and time is not active media, and liberal media, and left media’s kind of core competency. Their only thing is sensationalism and political activism.

So, therefore, I think Mr. Biden will be well advised to acknowledge that he’s continuing what good work has been done by Trump. Should he become the president, he should acknowledge. That is the sign of a leader. If he continues in political rhetoric he is going to dig further and further, because none of his competencies has been used for none of his team’s competencies have been used in terms of getting there.

It is the same issue, I’m going to jump into another topic because it is relevant, it is the same issue that they’re raising around $455 dollars which Steve Mnuchin has set aside. He said he gives you that money for the austerity as well as for the stimulus program. $450-455 million remain unspent, why it remained unspent because there was no demand on for the credit for it. So, therefore, I’m sorry, I’m looking at the time, so 455 billion, so has popped the within the treasury, so he said, go back, get approval from the new Senate and then you can use it. I have not rolled my money back. The money is within the treasury, funds set aside with a program identified and approved. You can’t take the money allocated for a program that was approved in the current administration and extended it. There is no accrual budgeting and accrual accounting in the government, money is incurred for a program, if not incurred, finished.

Sree Iyer:  So now you have this interesting situation where many of these Pharma companies took money from the US government to develop this vaccine, no risk, all rewards kind of a situation, and now some of them start to read the benefits provided they get their vaccine, right? We will wait and watch that column and we are going to back at you with data day in and day out. Data doesn’t lie, data does not left or right, data is data, data is the truth and that’s what we serve to help you and to understand what is going on.

Sir, last one minute to sign off on the various things that are happening in markets and as well as the South China Sea. What is the real potential buried underneath that? Why is it that nobody is talking about it? And I’m all of a sudden seeing that Japan is also trying to ink some deals with China. A lot of things, China, China, China. Why is it that China is in the middle of all these different things happening? Perhaps you can round-up this by in one-minute time and then we can call this program done.

Sridhar Chityala: Thank you. There are two specific issues that have triggered this. One is, there is a belief which is Mr. Trump will be leaving and Mr. Biden will be taking over and Mr Biden has a historical record by virtue of his association with the prior 8 years with Obama. He will give an inclusive warm welcome. China’s policy is not about making America great. It is about how do we make China look greater. That is the policy of typical Obama, it is called the inclusive foreign diplomacy and policy of the potential Biden administration that is likely to come. So what they see is, I’ve got a free reign and a free hand and so they are now talking to Japan, the Chinese foreign minister met with the Japanese foreign minister and said, ‘Hey, let us now open the doors. Let us do bilateral, let us have an exemption on business visits etc. Not Xi Jinping, but the business leaders. We want to enter a trans-pacific partnership because the reason is we want to be in this on the back of the RCEP. All this is effective, and then we should bring Korea together. So whenever the Chinese speak, they speak about Korea, Japan and Australia, they want to isolate India because they recognize India to be not only the security deterrent, it is the big gorilla in town. Okay, the next United States, the country that has stitched up major strategic partnership in the South China Sea. yesterday we talked about the Philippines, be it with Vietnam, be it with the Philippines, be it with Indonesia, be it with Singapore, and be it with Thailand, the strategic partnerships sits with, even Australia going all the way to the other side. India is a strategic partnership. So it wants to relegate India to an observer, while it dismantles the policy of the Trump administration on 3 facets, trade, security and energy. Why energy? Because we again touch, below the china sea, what is the potential? There are 500 billion cubic feet of natural gas, 1.2 billion barrels of crude, that is what is at stake in terms of China occupying the position, It does not see, a large number of small nations does not see a big gorilla in town. If Trump continues then we could have as we said the First Fleet port in Singapore, because the 7th Fleet is in Nagaoka all the way to Japan covering a wide span of the region from Hawaii to India, Pakistan. So they want to have a second augmentative fleet which is out of Singapore, proximate to South China purely for deterrence. So you will also begin to see very similar to what we see in United States media rhetoric being propped up in that part of the World by China.

Sree Iyer: So very interesting days ahead. Thank you very much, Sridharji. As again, we will be back tomorrow with more news. We are going to be on air on Thanksgiving Day. Happy Thanksgiving. Stay safe. And if you are going to go and meet your loved and dear ones, please drive carefully, and we don’t know which part of the world you are in. But once again, thanks for tuning in. Please do not forget to subscribe to the PGurus channel. We are very very close to the 100,000 mark. Remember we want to get to the 1 million mark and this is but a small step in that direction. Sridharji, as always a pleasure to have you on our channel. Namaskar and see you tomorrow.

Sridhar Chityala: Namaskar Ji and thank you. Have a wonderful day.