Once marginalised by his party, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi appears to have bounced back with his party planning to make him its most visible face in the run-up to next year’s Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. The party has chalked out a comprehensive plan to shortly launch its “Mission UP” with putting on the fore front Dr Joshi’s exploits as the chairman of the PAC.

The Planning Commission on Wednesday refused to be drawn into the controversy surrounding the Commonwealth Games infrastructure developed in the capital. Deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, on Wednesday said that the plan panel members were satisfied with the infrastructure

Union minister for development of Northeast B.K. Handique on Wednesday said that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may arrive in Itanagar to pay their last respects to Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu.

Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Wednesday told chief minister Sheila Dikshit that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be informed about the urgency to take up the issue of shortage of water in the capital after Ms Dikshit told the plan panel that “radical measures” are needed to deal with the increasing water shortage in the city.

The late chief minister Dorjee Khandu was the sixth chief minister of the state who first took over the office on April 9, 2007, replacing the powerful Gegong Apang, who had ruled the state for 23 years.

The Reserve Bank’s 2011-12 monetary policy review will burn a hole in the pockets of the salaried classes. The half per cent rise in the repo rate (that at which banks borrow from the RBI) will translate into home loan rates rising to 9.75 per cent from 8.75 per cent. The rise will be even sharper for those borrowing to buy a car, personal needs like emergency funds, travel or hospitalisation.

Senior Congress leaders met at 10, Janpath here on Tuesday evening against the backdrop of the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and polling in five states.
Though there was no official word about the nature of the meeting the leaders had with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, a leader who was took part in the deliberations said it was a joint meeting.

Pakistan on Tuesday prepared for a backlash over Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s killing in Abbotabad on Monday as the Army, Inter-Services Intelligence and other security agencies and the police were put on high alert, with the Taliban threatening revenge attacks.

Security agencies are exploring the possibility of the copter carrying Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu exploding in the air since no signals were transmitted from the copter, which happens in cases of crash landing. The copter is missing for four days and Isro images on Wednesday showed presence of metallic

The public works department of the Delhi government is believed to have dispatched a letter to the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Tuesday in response to the allegations made against the agency by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), said sources. However, senior officials were not available for comments.