The dozen-odd Muslim legislators in the BSP, who have been dumped and denied tickets for the Assembly polls, are now working overtime in their respective constituencies to ensure the defeat of the official BSP candidate.

Talking about the lokayukta appointment issue in Gandhinagar, the Gujarat government’s spokesperson and health minister Jaynarayan Vyas said, “We accept the verdict of the high court. But our points remain and we will challenge this decision in the Supreme Court after consultations with legal experts.”

In a major setback to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, the Gujarat high court on Wednesday endorsed the governor’s appointment of the lokayukta, which was challenged by the state government. This decision comes three months after the high court delivered a split verdict on the issue.

Seven mutilated bodies showing marks of their brutal murder were discovered in a secluded jungle area in Jharkhand’s Maoist-affected Khunti district on Wednesday noon, putting both the people and the police on tenterhooks.

Learning lessons from their disastrous third Front experiment in 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the CPI(M) has abandoned plans of leading any non-BJP and non-Congress secular front. The party, however, is not averse to joining hands with and extending support to any like-minded secular forces in the states which are going to polls.

Barely a day after chief minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that her government has been able to reduce infant death rate in West Bengal by two per cent, 10 more infants died in the Malda Medical College and Hospital within 36 hours. While minister of state for health Chandrima Bhattacharya informed that seven infants reportedly died on Wednesday, the hospital sources claimed eight deaths.

S.M. Krishna on Wednesday used his visit to this former LTTE bastion, the first by any Indian leader in recent years, to assure the war-weary Tamils of northern Sri Lanka of India’s unflinching support and help as they pick up their lives following decades of bloodshed.

With the judicial inquiry commission probing the Forbesganj police firing on poor Muslims failing to submit its report within the stipulated six months, the Bihar government has extended the single-member panel’s term by a year.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday frankly accepted the title of Lakhpati. As the long list of followers is inching closer to 1 lakh mark, Mr Abdullah wrote on the micro blogging site, “I am almost a Lakhpati”.
He is likely to touch the milestone shortly. The list of his followers have already crossed 99,900 mark.

The Indian railways can be expected to make production of proof of identity mandatory for all passengers travelling in air-conditioned classes anywhere in the country starting February 15.