Patnaik seeks re-deployment of central forces in Kandhamal
Bhubaneswar, July 3 (IANS) Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has opposed the withdrawal of central forces from Kandhamal district, which witnessed communal riots last year, and demanded their re-deployment to ensure peace in the region, officials here said Friday.

“Patnaik has requested the central government to re-deploy the forces till the situation becomes completely normal," a senior official of the chief minister's office told IANS.

Four companies of central paramilitary forces were withdrawn from Kandhamal, about ... Read More

Jayalalitha claims it was Raja who threatened judge
Chennai, July 2 (IANS) While Madras High Court Judge R. Reghupathi has refused to name the minister who allegedly threatened and pressurised him, Tamil Nadu's Leader of Opposition J. Jayalalitha Thursday said Minister for IT and Communication A. Raja was the culprit.

"Though the honourable judge refrained from naming the union minister, it does not require any super-human intelligence to conclude that it was none other than the telecom scam-tainted A. Raja," the AIADMK general secretary ... Read More

I'll answer every question on Liberhan report: Kalyan Singh
New Delhi, July 2 (IANS) Kalyan Singh, former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Thursday said he was ready to face and answer every question if the report of the Liberhan Commission that probed the 1992 demolition of Babri Masjid was tabled in parliament.

“Now the report has come to the government and if the government wants then it can table the report in this session of parliament. There will be a debate on it, I have ... Read More

Punjab's blogger finance minister hits cyber fame
Chandigarh, July 1 (IANS) Many finance ministers around the world may appear icy and unapproachable, but not Punjab's 40-something Manpreet Singh Badal who is blogging his way into cyber popularity and even inviting suggestions for the budget he will present next week.

Manpreet, who turns 47 this month, is scoring several hits every day on his personal blog (www.manpreetbadal.wordpress.com). The blog launched in January is nearing the 10,000-hits mark.

the minister recently asked people to send ... Read More

BSP-HJC combine will win Haryana assembly polls: Bishnoi
Chandigarh, June 24 (IANS) Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) chief Kuldeep Bishnoi Wednesday said his party's alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will win in the next assembly elections due in February.

The HJC went alone in the recently concluded general elections and won just one of the state's 10 Lok Sabha seats. The rest nine seats were bagged by the ruling Congress.

However, there are speculations that Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda would try to ... Read More

Chandrasekhara Rao resigns as TRS president
Hyderabad, June 19 (IANS) Bowing to the mounting pressure of dissidents, K. Chandrasekhara Rao Friday resigned as president of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS).

The former central minister sent his resignation to Telangana Bhavan, the party headquarters, Friday evening. The development came amid the crisis in the party following a spate of resignations of party leaders, who sought Rao's resignation blaming him for the party's debacle in the recent Lok Sabha and state assembly elections.

TRS ... Read More

Congress expels leader for giving Sushma Swaraj a walkover
Bhopal, June 17 (IANS) Former Madhya Pradesh minister Rajkumar Patel has been expelled from the Congress party for six years for allegedly giving a walkover to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj during the recently held parliamentary elections, party sources said Wednesday.

Patel was fielded against Swaraj on the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat but his nomination was rejected since he had submitted a photocopy of the Form-A (meant to inform the Election Commission of the ... Read More

Jaitley steps down as BJP general secretary (Lead)
New Delhi, June 16 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley has quit as the party's general secretary, days after being named leader of opposition in the upper house of parliament Rajya Sabha.

Jaitley, the BJP's chief campaign manager for the Lok Sabha elections, had stepped down in keeping with the party's tradition of one-man one-post, BJP's media cell convenor Nalin Kohli told reporters here.

As speculation mounted about the fresh turmoil in the ... Read More

BJP should seek quota for backward women: Uma Bharti
New Delhi, June 15 (IANS) Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Uma Bharti Monday wrote to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat urging him to ask the BJP to seek reservation for women from the backward classes in the women's quota bill.

Uma Bharti, who formed her breakaway Bharatiya Jan Shakti party, said the BJP should not support the bill in its present form and it should "seek reservation within reservation" for those from the ... Read More

Karat says Third Front still relevant, wants to remodel it
Kolkata, June 12 (IANS) Conceding that the Third Front experiment has failed, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat Friday said there was a need to remodel it as the formation's utility still remained.

"Utility of the Third Front is still there. We have to remodel it," Karat said on the concluding day of the two-day meeting of the party's West Bengal state committee, which discussed the defeat of the state's ruling CPI-M-led Left ... Read More