Firstpost Editor's Picks: KCR's 'new party'; economists vs CAs row; Love, Death and Robots; today's must-read stories

**KCR’s talk of a 'new party' aimed at dispelling rumours of him being Modi's secret ally** At least for now, keeping away from Congress and BJP is essential for K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) in Telangana in his current scheme of things. While his main rival in the state is the Congress, he is averse to taking any risk of losing the minority vote by joining forces with the BJP. This political template, along with good governance, was the reason he was able to win a landslide victory in the 7 December, 2018 Assembly election. Like that Assembly election, TRS has an alliance with All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), a rabble-rousing Muslim party led by Asaduddin Owaisi, in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. **Christchurch terror attack: Jacinda Ardern's response shows us what a leader should look like** In her speech, New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern underlined the grief and fear that the Christchurch shooting inspired. It left no wriggle room for the kind of thinking that justifies rage against immigrants and/or Muslims as natural or ‘just’ backlash, the kind of thinking that has got prominence through Brexit, through Donald Trump and our own right-wing government in India. The killings were wrong. The man who did it was wrong. He shouldn’t be deified and there will be laws in place to ensure it never happened again. This was her response. And then she put on a headscarf when visiting the mourning families, prompting even more goggling and googling. **Economists vs CAs: What matters is the ground reality** An unseemly tussle seems to have broken out between economists and chartered accountants (CAs) with 131 CAs countering 108 economists and saying what the economists are doing is a smear campaign at the behest of vested interests a la the ‘award wapsi’ gang in the run up to the upcoming general elections. A lot has happened on the societal front also in the five years of Narendra Modi government, with Ujwala Yojana bringing relief to rural women with gas connections and Jan Dhan Yojana making direct benefit transfers possible and leak proof. It is wrong to pronounce verdict on a new government so soon in the day when its initiatives are still a work in progress and have the promise of changing the economy in years to come. **Miami Open 2019: Serena Williams starts as favorite in women’s event** Serena Williams looked as good as she ever has in her win over Azarenka at Indian Wells, but had to pull out of her next match against Garbine Muguruza due to an illness. If she has recovered from that, she should be expected do some serious damage in the draw — Miami is pretty much her home, and she’s won a staggering eight titles here. **Netflix's Love, Death and Robots highlights luxury of ambition that animated shows enjoy** Love, Death and Robots is a spectacular, wildly ambitious anthology animation show by Netflix, helmed by David Fincher and Tim Miller (visual effects maestro, who made his directorial debut with Deadpool in 2016). Going through the eighteen mini-episodes of LDR, one of the first things that strikes you is how each of the stories is set in a visually distinct universe — Witness is set in a vertiginous, surreal world of ominous-looking skyscrapers and off-kilter landscapes.