India Politics

By IANS, Bhubaneswar : Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in Orissa and former Member of Parliament M.A. Kharavela Swain Tuesday resigned from the party protesting alleged interference by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in party affairs. The bureaucrat-turned-politician who was elected to the Lok Sabha for three consecutive terms, from 1998 to 2009, announced he was quitting at a press conference here. "The RSS is physically controlling the Bharatiya Janata Party. There is no character left with the RSS-deputed leaders of the BJP," Swain said.

New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) The Congress Friday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party for the continuing political stalemate in Jharkhand, saying it was trying to take the chief minister's chair by seizing on an "innocent mistake" of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Shibu Soren. "The BJP is taking mileage out of an innocent error of the JMM chief. They are using it to take get hold on power," Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed told IANS.

By Saroj Mohanty, The world fish trade is booming, but benefits are not reaching the small-scale fishers, says the United Nations in a report...

By IANS, Patna : The Election Commission Friday issued the notification for the fifth phase of the six-phase Bihar assembly elections.

By IANS, Hyderabad : Nearly 15 hours after making a dramatic escape from a hospital in Vijayawada, Congress MP Lagadapati Rajagopal reached Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad. The Vijayawada MP, whose indefinite fast opposing the proposed division of Andhra Pradesh entered the seventh day, got himself admitted at NIMS even as pro-Telangana supporters raised slogans against him. Tension prevailed at NIMS as police made massive security arrangements anticipating law and order problems.

By IANS, New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), both constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), have started talks on seat sharing for the assembly polls in Karnataka but with little hope of any alliance in the state. The JD-U has sought 25 seats it contested in the last assembly elections as a junior NDA coalition partner. The BJP, on the other contrary, is at best willing for some token gesture. "All the JD-U leaders are with us, what is left in the JD-U?" said a BJP leader.

By IANS,

Shillong : Meghalaya's opposition National People's Party (NPP) Wednesday demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and Home Minister Roshan Warjri over the...

New Delhi : Members of the public participating in a demonstration should not take the law into their own hands and should show some...

Mumbai : Former Maharashtra deputy chief minister Raosaheb Ramrao Patil, who was diagnosed with cancer recently, is dead, a party spokesperson said here Monday. Patil...

By IANS, Mumbai : Sachin Tendulkar should "keep off the political pitch" for his own well-being, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray said Monday in response to the cricket maestro's comments last week that "Mumbai belongs to all". In a signed, open letter to the cricketer published in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna, Thackeray has given "a friendly advice" to Tendulkar and asked him to stay away from politics for "his own well-being". Thackeray has taken serious umbrage to the cricket legend's statement last week that "he was an Indian first and Marathi too, but Mumbai belongs to all".

By IANS Ahmedabad : Counting of the millions of votes polled in Gujarat's assembly elections began Sunday, election officials said. An Election Commission official said the counting started at 8 a.m. Both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have said they hope to win the electoral battle.

Kolkata: A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee threatened to defy the Election Commission's order for removal of eight officials from poll...

By IANS,

(Courtesy: Hindustantimes) Badre Alam & Sanjay Kumar It will not be an exaggeration, to say that extremism and cultural intolerance has not been growing...

Kolkata: Claiming that the West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress was "afraid", the Left Front on Friday demanded that the civic polls for the reconstituted...

By IANS, New Delhi : Outgoing Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee Wednesday termed as "without any basis or foundation" the statement of Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh that he had requested him to support the Congress-led government on the India-US nuclear deal. Amar Singh made the remarks at a press conference here prompting Chatterjee to issue a statement saying "it is regretted that the speaker has been dragged into a needless controversy".

By IANS New Delhi : The government Saturday began informal consultations to persuade the Left parties to tone down their opposition to the India-US civil nuclear deal, minutes after the Left allies warned it of "serious consequences" if it went ahead with the next steps to operationalise the deal. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and discussed with him the finer details of the 123 civil nuclear cooperation bilateral pact to buffer the government against critics of the deal.

By Gaurav Sharma, IANS,

New Delhi : The National Democratic Alliance government at the centre was free to publicise the achievements of the first 100 days of its...

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi: The Congress Friday lauded Home Minister P. Chidambaram for his offer to step down owning moral responsibility for the massacre of 76 security personnel by Maoists in Chhattisgarh, saying his move should be seen as a "commendable act". "He has taken the moral responsibility. It should be appreciated as a commendable act. The prime minister has not accepted his resignation," Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.

By IANS, New Delhi/Patna: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called up Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Tuesday, though the two did not discuss politics but use of funds for flood relief - over which the state and central government have traded charges. "The prime minister called me and said that he will have a relook at the entire matter (of flood relief)," Nitish Kumar told reporters in Patna. "This is a matter of Bihar's rights. It is a not a personal ego question for me," he added.

By IANS,

By IANS, Lucknow: Shown the door by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and facing a cold reception by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership to his rejoining it after two acrimonious exits, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh Saturday announced he was setting up his own "pro-Hindutva" party. The two-time Uttar Pradesh chief minister told mediapersons here Saturday that his supporters wanted him to form an independent political outfit with Hindutva as its chief agenda.

By IANS, Mumbai : Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray Saturday said MPs from his party will be his representatives acting as the state's "trustees" in New Delhi. Thackeray said he would be "personally accountable" for all the deeds and misdeeds of MNS candidates voted to the Lok Sabha. Releasing the MNS election manifesto here this afternoon, he said that all his MPs would safeguard the interests of the state in New Delhi. Thackeray warned that anybody insulting Maharashtra or its people would have to face the wrath of its MPs from the state.

Ahmedabad : BJP president Amit Shah arrived to a roaring welcome from party activists here Monday, a day before Narendra Modi will make his...

By IANS,

By IANS, Kolkata : A delegation of West Bengal's Left Front Monday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and requested him to give a new look to central-state government relations in the country.

By TwoCircles.net staff reporter, Guwahati: Rising in one voice, members of Parliament (MPs) from Assam – those from Congress and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) – have raised the issue of cruel mob lynching at Dimapur earlier in the month and demanded a stop to racial profiling in the line of language and religion.

By R.K. Misra, IANS,

By IANS, Kannur (Kerala) : The Indian National League (INL), an ally of Kerala's ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), Thursday decided to snap its ties with the alliance and to work with the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF). The decision was announced after a meeting of the state committee of the party chaired by national president Mohammed Sulaiman here. The INL was set up by the late Ibrahim Sulaiman Sait, who quit the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992

By IANS New Delhi : The Congress has already conceded defeat in the crucial Gujarat assembly elections, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani said Wednesday, as he replied to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's taunting remarks. Talking to reporters at his residence here, the veteran leader said: "I am a bit surprised at the prime minister's statement. It only shows that the Congress has admitted that it cannot compete with (Chief Minister Narendra) Modi in Gujarat. Modi will emerge victorious. "I won't say anything beyond this."

By IANS, New Delhi : Former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin, who will be formally inducted into the Congress party Thursday, says he is confident the party would put up a good show in Andhra Pradesh in the upcoming general elections. "I am sure it (Congress) will do well. I don't know where I will be standing from. I don't decide that as I am not the captain anymore," Azharuddin told IANS ahead of his initiation.

By IANS Kolkata : West Bengal shut down amid arson and clashes in a 24-hour general strike called by the opposition parties as Nandigram returned to an uneasy peace with the entry of para-military forces after a week-long bloodbath between supporters and opponents of the ruling Marxists who sought to extend their control over the disputed region. Along with the Congress and Trinamul Congress and Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a minor force in West Bengal, also called for a 48-hour shutdown.

By IANS, Ranchi : Maoists Monday asked people to boycot Jharkhand's first panchayat elections scheduled to begin in the state Nov 27.

By IANS, Hyderabad : Three Telangana leaders, including Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao, were Tuesday booked for making provocative statements.

By IANS, Lucknow/New Delhi : Chastened by the disappointing showing in the elections, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav Wednesday handed over the Uttar Pradesh baton to his Australia-educated son Akhilesh Yadav on the plea that he was going to spend more time in New Delhi henceforth. It was a tacit admission that the party, that he ran with an iron grip and which had its primary base in Uttar Pradesh, needed a generational change in leadership, especially after Rahul Gandhi, 38, piloted the Congress party's amazing comeback in the state.

Agartala : The Tripura state assembly on Monday witnessed bedlam over assassination of former Tripura health minister Bimal Sinha and his brother in 1998,...

By IANS, New Delhi : The Congress Wednesday insisted that the text of the India-specific safeguards pact with IAEA was a privileged document and placing it in public domain could lead to "nuclear terrorism". “Article 15 of the text clearly talks about confidential clauses. Putting the information about nuclear facility in public domain pertains to nuclear terrorism,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari said here.

By IANS Ahmedabad : Gujarat's tradition of bipolar politics remains intact. All political parties other than the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress failed to make any headway in the assembly elections. According to the results announced Sunday, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), contesting elections in alliance with the Congress, won only three seats. Chandubhai Vaghasiya (Gondal), Tusharsinh Maharaul (Devgadh Baria) and Jayant Patel (Sarsa) were the winning candidates for NCP.

By IANS,

Thrissur (Kerala) : Congress president Sonia Gandhi Monday appealed to voters to defeat the "forces of darkness" while slamming the BJP for being divisive...

By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS Guwahati: The Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF), a pro-minority party with the third highest number of seats in the 126-member state assembly, is trying to cobble up a third front against the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since its fragile links with the main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) seem to have snapped.

Tashkent : Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Monday accorded a ceremonial welcome by Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov at the Kuksaroy presidential...

By Faisal Fareed, TwoCircles.net,

By IANS,

By IANS,

By TCN News

Hyderabad : Protests over suicide of a Dalit research scholar continued unabated on Thursday at the University of Hyderabad, with the teachers slamming union...

By IANS, Hyderabad : Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao's condition is worsening as he is not taking medicines and intravenous fluids, doctors said Wednesday. As Rao continued his fast-unto-death on the 11th day demanding a separate state of Telangana, doctors monitoring his health at the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) here said his condition would deteriorate if he continued the fast. The Mahabubnagar MP is not cooperating with the doctors and even his blood samples could not be sent to the laboratory Wednesday morning.

By IANS, Ranchi : The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were Wednesday morning vying for the support of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which emerged the key to government formation following the messy, fractured electoral verdict that gave no clear leads to any political grouping. Latest results and trends indicated that the Congress-Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) combine and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led alliance will get 22 to 26 seats and JMM will be close behind with 16 to 19 seats in the 81-member assembly.

By IANS, Chandigarh : Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh Saturday defended the Congress' decision to drop Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar as its candidates for the Lok Sabha elections following protests against them by Sikhs. Addressing the media here, Amarinder Singh said the Congress responded on the issue keeping in mind the sensitivity of the minority Sikh community.

By IANS, Panaji : Shantaram Naik, Congress MP from Goa, has "appealed to all the political leaders" to refrain from meeting 'sadhus' and 'babas' in the interest of the state and its people. The Rajya Sabha member said in a statement Sunday: "Several politicians, irrespective of political affiliations, visit such people in the hope of finding solutions to their political problems."

Agartala : The information and broadcasting ministry will organise exhibitions in 480 locations across the country as part of its voter awareness campaign, an...

New Delhi, May 18 (IANS) Majority of people feel the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) would win if an election was to be held tomorrow, an NDTV opinion poll said. The poll which surveyed 34,277 people said despite the problems in the UPA, the government has emerged stronger on account of the opposition being divided.

By IANS, Ranchi : The second phase of Jharkhand elections saw a 54.2 percent turnout Wednesday, with people coming out to vote even in Maoist strongholds. Polling was largely peaceful, barring one incident in which a security personnel was killed. According to election officials, 54.2 percent of eligible voters cast the ballot for polls to 14 of 81 assembly seats. Twelve of these fell in Maoist areas. The polling percentage was marginally better than that in the first phase Nov 25.

By IANS, New Delhi : The union cabinet Thursday decided to add more castes and communities to the central list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

By IANS Mumbai : In a surprise development, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar called on Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray at the latter's residence Sunday. Pawar went to Matoshree, Thackeray's residence in the suburb of Bandra, just before 1 p.m. and stepped out after nearly two hours. Details of what transpired at the unexpected meeting are not known. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut told IANS that it was "a meeting between two great leaders who are also old friends". Since it was lunchtime, they may have had lunch, Raut said in a lighter vein.

By IANS, Bangalore : Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa Thursday expanded his ministry inducting three people who recently joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party from the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S). With this expansion, the Yeddurappa ministry strength went up to 34, the maximum allowed under constitutional provisions. Anand Asnotikar, Balachandra Jarkhiholi and Shivanagouda Naik were sworn in by Governor Rameshwar Thakur at a simple ceremony at Raj Bhavan here.

By IANS New Delhi : The Lok Sabha was adjourned for 15 minutes Thursday following a row between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Tamil Nadu MPs over a shipping canal that will cut sailing time between India's west and east coasts. V.K. Malhotra of BJP raised the issue during the zero hour, questioning the government's unwillingness to explore an alternative canal route instead of the present one that is expected to destroy remains of an ancient footbridge that once linked southern India with Sri Lanka.

By IANS, New Delhi : The use of the word "satyanas (ruined)" prompted an adjournment of the Rajya Sabha Thursday morning when a question on what the government was doing for the development of the four "BIMARU" states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh escalated into a full fledged row over the Bundelkhand region. The opposition seemed to get riled when Satyavrata Chaturvedi of the Congress got up to say that the Bundelkhand region, which straddles Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, was being ignored by both states.

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : Sheila Dikshit, who defeated anti-incumbency predictions to steer the Congress to a win in the elections, took oath as Delhi chief minister for the third consecutive term Wednesday. Amidst loud slogans of "Congress Zindabad", Dikshit beamed with confidence as Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna administered the oath of office in his official residence Raj Niwas. Dikshit's council of ministers also took oath on the occasion -- A.K. Walia, Rajkumar Chauhan, Arvinder Singh Lovely, Mangat Ram Singhal, Haroon Yusuf and Kiran Walia.

By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net Hunderman Brok (Kargil) : A barbed wire can often represent the idea of security, but...

By Sujit Chakraborty, IANS, Agartala : Refugees from Mizoram camping in Tripura have threatened to boycott the assembly election in their state if they are not repatriated to their home soon. Over 31,000 members of the Reang tribe are living in relief camps in Tripura for the past 11 years following ethnic clashes with the majority Mizos in Mizoram. The Reangs are a Hindu minority in Christian-majority Mizoram.

By IANS, Shimla : Counting of votes began Tuesday morning in two assembly constituencies of Himachal Pradesh that saw by-elections Saturday. The counting in Rohru and Jawali began at 8 a.m. The results are expected before noon, state chief electoral officer Anil Khachi told IANS. While Rohru in Shimla district saw 69.36 percent polling, Jawali in Kangra district witnessed 66.99 percent polling. The main contest is between the opposition Congress and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

By IANS, Kolkata : The electoral battle in the coming Lok Sabha elections will be tough for the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) if the Congress and the state's main opposition Trinamool Congress formed an alliance in West Bengal, veteran communist leader Jyoti Basu said here Friday. "It'll be a tough for us (CPI-M) if there is an alliance," Basu told reporters at the party headquarters at Alimuddin Street here. He said the CPI-M might lose some seats in the coming Lok Sabha polls if the Congress-Trinamool alliance finally materialised.

By IANS, Jammu: On the day when the nation paid homage to the victims of Mumbai's 26/11 terror attack on its first anniversary Thursday, most of the top Jammu and Kashmir leadership kept itself off the issue. Jammu and Kashmir, which has been battling terrorism for the past 20 years that has left more than 50,000 people dead, did not find its top leadership - neither from the main ruling party National Conference nor the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party - paying tributes to the victims.

By IANS, Mumbai: Terming the Lokpal Bill passed by the Lok Sabha as "a threat to democracy", a key member of Team Anna said here Wednesday that it would not serve any real purpose.

Shillong : The Meghalaya Chief Minister's Office was one of the least functioning offices in the state due to the regular absence of Chief...

By Brajendra Nath Singh Allahabad : With assembly polls due in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP leadership will brainstorm here on June 12-13 to chalk out...

By IANS,

By IANS, Lucknow : Even as Chief Minister Mayawati was busy taking political centrestage in New Delhi for over a week, back home in Uttar Pradesh the law was closing in on four of her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislators. The four BSP lawmakers, including a minister, have been slapped with criminal charges during the past one week. The district court of Muzaffarnagar Tuesday asked the police to produce Bulandshahr BSP legislator Mohammad Aleem in a case of kidnapping and rape.

By Rajeev Khanna, IANS Ahmedabad : Call it a commitment to Mahatma Gandhi's ideals or plain gimmick, the Congress party released its manifesto for the Gujarat assembly elections at a dhaba in Rajkot district of Saurashtra. Senior party leader Sushil Kumar Shinde was quick to point out: "We have always followed the principles of Mahatma Gandhi. I feel happy releasing the manifesto in a dhaba instead of a five star hotel."

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By IANS,

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By IANS, Bangalore: The Congress is all set to rule Karnataka after six years, but more than the grand old party it might be former BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa who will be celebrating.

Patna: The Janata Dal (United) Monday expelled its Lok Sabha candidate from Sheohar, Sabir Ali, from the party after he praised BJP's prime ministerial...

By IANS,

By IANS,

By IANS, Jammu : Two leading faces of the Jammu agitation of last year for restoration of a piece of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board are likely to contest the Lok Sabha elections as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates, party sources said here Friday. Leela Karan Sharma, the convenor of the Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti (SAYSS) that successfully led the agitation, is likely to contest from the Jammu-Poonch constituency, while leading physician and Samiti spokesperson Jeetendra Singh is tipped to be fielded from the Doda-Udhampur constituency, they said.

By IANS,

Lucknow : The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday affected a major shake-up in the police set-up, transferring 17 Indian Police Service (IPS) officers. District police...

By IANS, Thiruvananthapuram : The Congress party in Kerala Saturday decided to strengthen agitation against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of the state over a controversial Class 7 textbook. The Congress, which is on a campaign demanding withdrawal of the social science book, would organise a series of meetings across the state against teaching from the book, state Congress chief Ramesh Chennithala told reporters here.

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : Congress president Sonia Gandhi Friday flagged off nine trucks carrying relief material for the Bihar flood victims. “It is the first lot of 50 trucks the party will be sending,” Delhi Congress unit president J.P. Aggarwal said here. The event follows Congress general sceretary Rahul Gandhi's two-day visit to the state. Rahul Gandhi had promised additional help for the flood victims. Heavy floods caused by the rampaging Kosi river have swallowed up vast areas in northern Bihar, displacing hundreds of thousands.

By IANS, Hyderabad : The shutdown in large parts of Andhra Pradesh called by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) to press its demand for a separate state evoked total response in some districts and partial in some others Saturday, affecting normal life. Dozens of buses of state-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) were damaged as the TRS activists resorted to violence at several places.

Srinagar: Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Tuesday said he told BJP leader Yashwant Sinha that the government should release all separatist leaders...

By Arun Anand, IANS, New Delhi: Former Karnataka minister Shobha Karandlaje who had to quit the ministry following a revolt in the state's first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, says the political battle which led to her resignation has not affected her political fortunes as she remains in close touch with the chief minister and reports to him on various issues.

New Delhi : Of the outgoing legislators of the 2013 Delhi assembly, the BJP had the largest number of 30 crorepatis among the 31...

Ghaziabad : A total of 15 candidates will contest the Lok Sabha polls from Ghaziabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh, officials said Wednesday on the...

New Delhi: Delhi's water crisis is expected to ease partially from Monday evening after the army secured the Munak canal in Haryana which was...

By IANS, New Delhi : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader B.S. Koshiyari Wednesday resigned as a Rajya Sabha member in what appeared to be his last-ditch attempt to pressurise the party to remove B.C. Khanduri as the Uttarakhand chief minister. "I have resigned as member of the Rajya Sabha. I have sent my resignation to the chairman," Koshiyari, a former chief minister, told reporters here.

New Delhi: The government Friday introduced in the Lok Sabha the Citizenship Amendment Bill which seeks to merge the Person of Indian Origin (PIO)...

Gurgaon : Former Haryana chief minister Master Hukum Singh died in a private hospital here Thursday after a short illness, said an official spokesman....

By IANS New Delhi : The Congress leadership's move to set up a second states reorganisation commission (SRC) to look into the carving of new states appears to have created a deep rift in the party's Andhra Pradesh unit. Pargty leaders from Telangana region say the c omission would delay the creation of a separate state for the region.

By TwoCircles.net News Desk, New Delhi: The fast-expanding Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), a national-level political party with its headquarters in New Delhi, has now formed its unit in Goa with the election of the state-level committee on October 8.

By IANS, New Delhi : The Congress Saturday accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani of politicising the probe into the Sep 29 Malegaon terror blast and the way India is tackling the economic crisis. Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily said at a press conference that the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had come out with credible evidence against the Malegaon blast accused.

Lucknow : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has questioned Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's announcement that 35,000 new policemen will be recruited soon...

By NNN-PTI, New Delhi : Senior Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee and A K Antony are leaving for Mumbai as central observers of the party to oversee the election of a successor to Vilasrao Deshmukh who has been asked to step down in the wake of the terror attacks in the metropolis. "Both of us are going as observers," Antony said this morning. Mukherjee had said yesterday that views of the MLAs on the leadership issue will be sought at the meeting of the state Congress Legislature Party.

By IANS, Bangalore: The Congress Saturday staged a rally demanding resignation of Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa who is facing a police probe into his alleged illegal land deals.