AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh feels the earlier Mayawati-led BSP government was better than the SP government led by Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh.

With the RSS firm on Gujarat CM Narendra Modi as its choice as the BJP’s PM candidate, his anointment seems just a matter of time. It is speculated that with the RSS asking the BJP to take a final call on this “settled issue” soon, Mr Modi may be named before the “pitrapaksh” (inauspicious) period sets in Septemeber 20, as sought by the Sangh cadre.

The Union home ministry has prepared a draft Cabinet note on the creation of a separate Telangana state.
Sources from the ministry for home affairs sources said it will be sent to the Cabinet Secretariat to be laid before the Cabinet once Congress president Sonia Gandhi is back from the United States, as “political clearance” is needed on this sensitive subject.

After Parliament recently passed the Land Acquisition, Rehabili-tation and Resettlement Bill, rural development minister Jairam Rame-sh said if implemented well, the new law would also defeat Maoist insurgency in India.

The Trinamul Congress has snubbed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s overture and ruled out any alliance with the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Party MP and spokesperson Derek O’Brien said Sunday that Trinamul will go it alone in the polls.

The crime branch of Delhi police has arrested three poachers and recovered skull, teeth, nails, bones of a tiger from them. One arrested accused Sarju and his father Daliya are said to have worked as poachers for Sansar Chand, a notorious criminal. The accused have been booked under Wildlife Protection Act.

A 22-year-old jilted lover allegedly attacked and opened fire at the parents of a girl who spurned his advances. The incident has been reported from Jyoti Nagar area of northeast Delhi. A senior police official said that the incident took place at around 10 am on Sunday morning.

A 40-year-old man was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Karawal Nagar area of northeast Delhi.
A senior police official said that the family members of the deceased have alleged that he was shot dead at the behest of his wife by her friends.

A 22-year-old autorickshaw driver was stabbed at Tilak Vihar Colony, west Delhi, by two youth for reportedly having an affair with a girl.

A 30-year-old man was stoned to death in New Usmanpur, northeast Delhi, on Saturday night.
A senior police official said the deceased, Rajesh Shukla, had an autorickshaw business. Shukla was discussing a matter with his nephew Jitender in a vacant plot near his office when unknown persons hurled bricks at him from a house. Several bricks hit Shukla on his head and he received critical injuries.