BJP chief Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said though he wants former party leader Uma Bharti’s back in the party fold, the saffron sanyasin has asked for more time for contemplation and to recuperate from ill health.

Maharashtra chief minister Prithivraj Chavan, whose first priority is transparency in governance, will face the first test as how to tackle the all-powerful builders lobby which has huge influence on mantralaya (secretariat) in Mumbai.

RSS ideologue M.G. Vaidya on Saturday urged Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to file a defamation suit against former RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan for using defamatory language against her.

On the occasion of Children’s Day, Punjab National Bank launches the PNB Bal Vikas deposit scheme exclusively for children.

Delhi high court judge Ajit Bharihoke has directed parents of a 22-year-old girl, who apprehends honour killing as she refused to go back to her husband’s house after being forcibly married, to appear before the court on March 13.

Noting that India is “most vulnerable country” to climate change, environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday said the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) was “put together” by experts who thought “they knew what the country knows best.” The minister pitched for involving common people in drafting policies in that regard.

Following an all-out attack by the Opposition on the 2G spectrum controversy, Union law and justice minister M. Veerappa Moily came out in defence of telecom minister A. Raja on Friday.

Tamil Nadu has posed a big challenge for the Centre and the Congress high command on the issue of controversial 2G spectrum allocation and the role of telecom minister A. Raja in it. Now, they would either have to defend or disown him inside and outside Parliament. This is because the issue is uniting the Opposition whose target is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Alleging that the Congress had surrendered before its alliance partner, the DMK, the main Opposition BJP on Friday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must reply whether his office gave assent to 2G spectrum allocation without auction as suggested by telecom minister A. Raja. The party said Mr Raja had made PM a “co-accused” in the scam by suggesting that he kept the PM informed of every decision he took during 2G Spectrum allocation.

Both the RSS and the BJP on Friday expressed regret over derogatory remarks against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi by former RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan, saying it was “unfortunate”.