The ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh will face the crucial bypoll to seven Assembly seats in the state on the plank of development, chief minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy said here on Sunday.

Decades before India made a name for itself in the field of education, the tiny princely state of Travancore aimed it high in higher education and even made an unsuccessful bid to enlist services of great physicist Albert Einstein as Vice Chancellor of its fledgling university for a monthly pay of Rs 6000.

Sulking former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on Monday virtually set a deadline for BJP leadership to give him a suitable position, saying he will wait till January 15 for the party to take a decision.

In the backdrop of statements by Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leaders vowing to not let him tour Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu Saturday dared his political detractors to stop him from visiting the area.

Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on asserted her government would not sacrifice the state’s rights at any point and vowed to create a “golden era” in the state.

The deaths due to cyclone Thane that hit the Tamil Nadu coast Friday morning went up to 46 Saturday. Though life started limping back to normalcy in the worst affected Cuddalore district, people were poised to usher in the New Year in darkness.

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Saturday asked social activist Anna Hazare to get rid of “street-smart people” around him and alleged their whole campaign was anti-Congress and pro-BJP.

A severe cyclone dumped heavy rain and sent wind gusts up to 140 kmph after it hit the Tamil Nadu coast on Friday killing at least 33 persons and left a trail of destruction and threw life out of gear in Cuddalore district and adjacent Union Territory of Puducherry.

Andhra Pradesh director-general of police V. Dinesh Reddy has stirred a hornet’s nest nationwide by linking increase in rape cases in the state to the clothes worn by women.

Severe cyclonic storm ‘Thane’ on Friday claimed 18 lives as it hit the Tamil Nadu coast, leaving a trail of destruction and throwing life out of gear in Cuddalore district and neighbouring union territory of Puducherry.