Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday questioned the Orissa government’s wisdom to focus on the mining sector instead of agriculture to achieve faster economic development.

The rivalry in Chhattisgarh Congress on Sunday took an ugly turn with the anti-Ajit Jogi group circulating pamphlets apparently to denigrate the alleged rebel party leader’s image in public.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, during the course of his “Jan Ashirwad Yatra” on Sunday said that the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre is responsible for rising prices, corruption and insecurity and this has frustrated the people who now want a Congress-free Madhya Pradesh.

State anti-terror intelligence officials claim that Dawood aide Abdul Karim Tunda, who was arrested on Friday, will prove to be a rich source of information regarding terror networks operating in the city including Lashkar-e-Tayyaba terror operatives like Zaki-ur Rehman.

The Army has also corroborated the statement of the Border Security Force (BSF) that Pakistan is trying to engineer more sneak attacks on Indian troops through its Border Action Team (BAT) which comprises men from the neighbouring country’s commando Special Services Group.

With the CBI terming the issue of “missing files” related to the coalgate scam as a matter of “serious concern”, chief of the probe agency on Sunday said that the Supreme Court would take a final view on the developments.

Terming the issue of missing files related to the coal block allocation scam as “shocking and shameful”, the Opposition on Sunday said government should explain as to what exactly happened and who are responsible for it.

Insisting that the probe agency is not asking for anything which requires “legislative process”, the CBI is all set to argue before the SC that whatever demand has been in its affidavit for making it independent could be provided with an “executive order”.

Security forces on Sunday recovered a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) planted on the route of a search party at Hangamba under Dhansuli block in Chhattisgarh’s Kondagaon district, averting a major disaster, police said.

The 25-odd divers carrying out rescue operation on the INS Sindhurakshak had completed searching five of the six flooded compartments of the submarine, but there was no sign on the remaining 12 Navy personnel. On Tuesday night, the submarine faced a catastrophe with 18 personnel on board, six of whom were found charred to death.