BJP gears up for polls; targets Congress on terror and graft

NEW DELHI: BJP president Rajnath Singh today gave a call to his party cadre to put up a united fight in the next general elections to oust the "corrupt, ineffective" UPA as he took on Congress-led government over its alleged failure on internal security, economy and foreign policy fronts. Delivering the inaugural speech at the BJP National Council here, Singh while lauding the achievements of Gujarat...

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Firing at Indian posts along LoC

JAMMU: Indian posts along the Line of Control in Mendhar belt of Poonch district came under firing, a BSF official said today.However, there was no report of any causality. There was a firing from across the border on Indian posts in Gagdiayal forward area along LoC last night, the official said. There was small arms and rocket firing, he said adding there was no loss of life or injury to anyone...

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Manik Sarkar, son of tailor, to be Tripura chief minister again

AGARTALA: Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar, set to assume office for a fourth time after leading the Left to a huge electoral win, is the son of a tailor who still washes his own clothes.An unassuming man, the 64-year-old got down to work no soon than he was declared the winner from Dhanpur constituency. He met CPM leaders and activists at Sonamura, 60km from here. On Thursday, the Communist...

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House panel against considering mercy plea of rape-murder convicts

NEW DELHI: Two months after questioning the rationale behind commuting death sentences of five rape-murder convicts to life imprisonment during then President Pratibha Patil's tenure, a Parliamentary committee has now suggested that the mercy petitions should not be by and large considered for such criminals. Though the Committee is not in favour of completely knocking out the provision of mercy...

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Jaish-e-Mohammad 'threat' to blow up Doon, Haridwar stations

DEHRADUN: Terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad today allegedly threatened to blow up major railway stations and places of religious and tourist interest in Uttarakhand in retaliation to the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afjal Guru, a senior police official said. The letter written purportedly by the Karachi based area commander of terror outrfit Jaish-e-Mohammad contains a threat to blow up Dehradun,...

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Hyderabad blasts: NIA's claim baseless, alleges Bukhari

RAMPUR: Delhi's Jama Masjid chief cleric Syed Ahmed Bukhari has said investigation agencies have the tendency to name perpetrators of any bomb blasts in the country much before initiation and conclusion of their probes. Referring to the recent Hyderabad blasts, Bukhari said the National Investigation Agency's claim that the evidence pointed towards involvement of the Indian Mujahideen in the...

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Finmeccanica chopper scam: CBI gets some documents from Italy

NEW DELHI: Moving forward in its probe into alleged kickbacks in the VVIP helicopter deal, the CBI has procured some documents from Italian authorities in Milan that may help it investigating whether any Indian had received bribes to swing the deal in favour of AgustaWestland. Highly-placed sources in the probe agency said on Sunday that one of the members of the CBI team who returned this morning...

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Hyderabad blasts: PM to visit city tomorrow, cops get 'vital' clues

NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Hyderabad on Sunday to take stock of the situation in the aftermath of twin bomb blasts there. Singh will visit the hospital where the injured are being treated besides taking a briefing from chief minister Kiran Reddy, sources said. Two bombs exploded within a span of minutes in Hyderabad on Thursday evening, killing 16 people and injuring...

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Government seeks time from high court to study material against NCP minister

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government today sought time to examine the material submitted along with a public interest litigation filed by BJP leader KiritSomaiya in the high court against state water resources minister Sunil Tatkare over allegations money laundering and land grabbing. The Mumbai high court had earlier pulled up the city police for "casual attitude" in probing the case, and directed...

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Hyderabad blasts: NIA, NSG teams flying to blast site, home secretary says

NEW DELHI: Elite teams of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the National Security Guard (NSG) will be flying to Hyderabad, which has been rocked by twin blasts that killed 10 people and injured 50, an official said. "We have a news of two blasts. We have spoken to state chief secretary, DGP (director general of police) and governor (E.S.L. Narasimhan)," Home secretary R.K. Singh told reporters...

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Major challenge before nation is to create jobs: Anand Sharma

MUMBAI: Commerce & industry minister Anand Sharma has admitted that the creation of jobs is a major challenge before the nation. It is necessary to go back to a high rate of economic growth rate of around 9 per cent per annum, he added. Speaking on the issue of corruption and scams, the minister claimed India has in place an "effective mechanism in the form of free judiciary to fix the problem"....

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Russia should induct BrahMos missile: Antony

NEW DELHI: Russia should induct the joint venture BrahMos supersonic cruise missile to fully appreciate its tie up with India for developing the weapon system, defence minister AK Antony said on Tuesday."Russia should induct BrahMos in their fleet so that the success achieved in the joint venture will be fully appreciated," he said here.The missile is yet to be inducted into the Russian armed forces....

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Court issues production warrant for Haryana MLA Ajay Chautala

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Monday sought before it the presence of sitting Haryana MLA Ajay Chautala in a disproportionate assets case in which he is an accused.Special CBI Judge Manu Rai Sethi issued the production warrant for Chautala for March 5 as he was not brought to the court from jail, where he is lodged after he was sentenced to a 10-year prison term in another corruption case. CBI had...

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Lokpal, right to reject can eliminate graft: Anna Hazare

HYDERABAD: Declaring that he would mobilize six crore people over next one and a half years for his anti-graft campaign, Anna Hazare on Sunday said Jan Lokpal alone cannot root out corruption and called for comprehensive electoral reforms and empowering of village-level bodies.Addressing a public meeting, he said his fight was for changing the entire system and called upon youths to join hands with...

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Irish hospital's doctors failed to treat Savita Halappanavar, leaked death probe report says

LONDON: Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar died as a result of a litany of failures by hospital staff, a leaked draft of a probe report said, proving her family's claim that her death was avoidable. The report by Ireland's health ministry revealed that doctors caring for the 31-year-old dentist seriously failed to investigate, recognize and treat the infection which led to her death. Savita died...

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Don't let politics come in way of development: Raj Thackeray

MUMBAI: Targeting Shiv Sena on its opposition to Jaitapur nuclear power project in Ratnagiri district, MNS president Raj Thackeray today asked the people of Konkan not to encourage petty politics obstructing the progress and development. Addressing a rally at Khed town in the coastal district, Raj said, "If the project is bad, it should be thrown out. But do not derail a project if there is opposition...

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We are building same reactors for ourselves that we are selling to India: Hollande

NEW DELHI: From defense to cyber security, India and France are in a strategic embrace. France is building India's largest nuclear power complex at Jaitapur and has bagged the biggest fighter aircraft deal for Rafale. The new French president, Francois Hollande, on his maiden visit to India tells The Times of India in an exclusive interview that France is also becoming one of the top investors in...

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Afzal Guru's family lawyers quit

NEW DELHI: Citing "unseemly controversies", ND Pancholi and Nandita Haksar Wednesday quit as the family lawyers of Afzal Guru, the parliament attack convict who was hanged here Feb 9. "There have arisen unseemly controversies and we do not wish to be part of these discussions," Pancholi and Haksar said in a statement. The duo were representing Guru's family members who have asked Tihar jail authorities...

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Govt shuffles key diplomatic pack

NEW DELHI: After months of administrative silence, the government has cleared key ambassadorial appointments. Ashoke Mukherji is likely to be India's next Permanent Representative (PR) to the UN, taking over from Hardeep Singh Puri, who retires in end-February after two years of steering India through a rare stint in the UN Security Council. Arun Singh is likely to take over as India's ambassador...

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Suspend, book cops who 'detained' Gilani: Katju

NEW DELHI: Slamming the police for "detaining" journalist Iftikhar Gilani on Sunday, Press Council of India chairman Markanday Katju on Monday asked Union home secretary to charge and suspend the cops if the allegations of "high-handedness" against them were correct. In a letter to the home secretary RK Singh , Justice Katju also sought immediate institution of criminal proceedings against such officers...

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