The Delhi high court on Tuesday issued a contempt notice to veteran Congress leader Narayan Dutt Tiwari for defying its earlier order asking him to give his blood sample in a paternity suit filed by a 32-year-old city-based lawyer claiming to be his biological son.

The Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh is now caught in a dilemma with its major ally, the Janata Dal (United), demanding its share of 50 seats for the upcoming UP Assembly elections.

The main Opposition BJP on Tuesday maintained whisleblowers cannot be charged in a case when others have been charged for bribe-giving in the same. Reacting to the arrest of the former aide of senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, Mr Sudheendra Kulkarni, in the cash-for-vote scam, the BJP said it was unfortunate

The Andhra Pradesh high court on Tuesday ordered a CBI probe against home minister Sabita Indra Reddy and prohibition and excise minister M. Venkata Ramana based on allegations made by their own Cabinet colleague, handlooms and textile minister P. Shankar Rao.

Mr Sudheendra Kulkarni, former aide of senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, allegedly “masterminded” the conspiracy to bribe three BJP MPs ahead of the voting on confidence motion in the Lok Sabha.

Union home minister P. Chidambaram and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee are expected to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday. The PM, on his way back from the US, rallied behind Mr Chidambaram, saying, “He enjoys my full confidence”.

The Congress has undertaken a damage control exercise following the growing perception that “all is not well” between two of its top ministers against the backdrop of the finance ministry’s note to the PMO with regard to 2G spectrum allocation.

Pilgrims perform the ritual of Tarpan (ritual offerings to their ancestors) on the banks of the Hooghly river in Kolkata on Tuesday, the occasion of Mahalaya. — Debajyoti Sarkar

The CBI on Tuesday gave a presentation to law minister Salman Khurshid on its proposal to file a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against the judgment of the Gujarat high court which acquitted 12 people accused of murdering senior BJP leader and former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya.

Every time her 6-year-old son asks her when she would buy him a pair of shoes instead of the borrowed ones he always gets to wear, Indu makes yet another false promise and consoles him again. For 38-year-old Indu’s son, getting his own shoes is like a dream, whose realisation doesn’t seem to be anytime soon.