Hitting out at Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for his move to return the aid for Kosi floods victim given by Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday said the move is just a “stunt” and has damaged the image of Bihar.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi wants party workers to pay special attention to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the mass contact programmes the Congress has launched across the country. Her directives have come at a time when the Congress is determined to improve its performance in the coming Bihar Assembly polls and return to power in Uttar Pradesh.

A crucial meeting of the BJP’s top brass began on the future of its alliance with the JD(U), in the backdrop of Bihar chief minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar returning the Gujarat government’s Kosi relief fund, began late on Tuesday evening. The meeting was attended by the party top brass, including BJP chief Nitin Gadkari, Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi, state unit chief C.P. Thakur and Ravishankar Prasad.

The Saudi BinLadin group along with IL&FS has made an open offer for 1.54 crore shares of Maytas Infrastructure at a price of Rs 195.72.
These shares will account for 20 per cent of the voting capital of Maytas. Mumbai based Edelweiss is the manager to the offer. Total value of the offer works out to Rs 301.8 crore. The offer opens on August 12 and closes on August 31.

Cheap drugs made in India could transform the global healthcare industry, says Nomura, a Japanese broking and research firm. As healthcare demand in the west increases with ageing populations, cash strapped governments will have to find ways to keep costs under control.

The Indian Army has agreed to depute some officers of the rank of brigadier and colonel to the Union home ministry to act as military advisers for anti-Naxalite operations and strategy in different states, defence sources confirmed. The Army agreed to this after refusing to depute major-generals as it felt officers of such high rank were not needed for such a job.

The Prime Mini-ster’s Economic Advisory Council chairman, Dr C. Rangarajan, on Tuesday said that inflation level has reached an uncomfortable level and the RBI need to step in to prevent it from further rising.

Investigations into the mysterious murder of industrialist Anil Nanda’s driver, Janeshwar Sharma, have revealed that Sharma had received a call from Nanda’s office on the fateful day with a witness claiming that he saw him entering Nanda’s residence with a “bottle-shaped thing wrapped in a newspaper under his armpit”.

The empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on decontrol of fuel prices will meet on Friday to take a view on the issue of freeing petroleum prices from government control.
“There is a meeting on June 25 on fuel prices. I cannot say whether prices will be hiked,” said the petroleum minister, Mr Murli Deora.

The students thronged the Delhi University campus on Tuesday to see whether they have got through in the first cut-off in their choicest colleges. Those not able to make it in the first list have pinned all their hopes on the second cut off list. The admissions will start from Wednesday.