The Trinamul Congress supremo, Ms Mamata Banerjee’s move to not contest Assembly polls is proving costly for the Marxists in Bengal. While the face of the Marxists, West Bengal chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, is virtually caged in his Jadavpur Assembly constituency, struggling to save his own berth, Ms Banerjee is all over the state touring and campaigning.

The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to rights activist Binayak Sen, who has been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a Chhattisgarh trial court for sedition and helping Naxalites to set up a network to fight the state.

The CBI on Friday sought "detention" of five corporate executives chargesheeted by it for their alleged role in the 2G scam, saying that they might "abscond" and impede the trial.

Union minister and nationalconference President Farooq Abdullah was on Friday hospitalised after suffering a bout of vomiting.

Minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid today welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to grant bail to Binayak Sen, who has been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a Chhattisgarh court for sedition and helping Naxalites.

The Andhra Pradesh government on Friday told the Supreme Court that it would be agreeable to a CBI inquiry into the killing of top Naxalite leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad and journalist Hemchandra Pandey by state police in a gunbattle in July 2010.

Home minister P. Chidambaram on Friday expressed happiness over the Supreme Court decision to grant bail to rights activist Binayak Sen, who had been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for sedition by a Chhattisgarh court.

Sharp divisions were witnessed on Friday in the Public Accounts Committee over its continuing the probe into the 2G spectrum scam.

The BJP on Wednesday said its government in Gujarat will bring in the Lokpal Bill in the state Assembly, provided the Opposition Congress puts its weight behind the move.

Disregarding hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Shah’s boycott call, Kashmiris, including women in large numbers, turned up at the polling booths on Wednesday to vote in the first phase of panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The polls are being held for the first time in more than a decade in the state.