Delhi received sporadic rains on Thursday, which helped bring down the temperature and brought a sigh of relief from people in the mostly hot and humid days.

The meeting of the Union Cabinet that was scheduled to be held on Thursday morning had to be postponed as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was unwell. It is learnt that Dr Singh has been suffering from fever.

Ruling that the 2008 Batla House encounter was a genuine one, a Delhi court on Thursday pronounced its verdict in the five-year-old case, holding lone Indian Mujahideen operative Shahzad Ahmad guilty of killing Delhi police inspector M.C. Sharma and assaulting other policemen. The court will decide on the quantum of punishment to Shahzad on Monday.

A fresh controversy erupted Thursday over BJP MP Chandan Mitra’s demand for stripping Nobel laureate Amartya Sen of the Bharat Ratna, with the economist himself offering to return it if former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee asked him to do so.

The Juvenile Justice Board Thursday again deferred its verdict in the December 16 gangrape to August 5.

Rubbishing Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s criticism of the UPA for the current economic slowdown, the Congress on Thursday dared him to join an open debate on his “Gujarat model” of development, which has failed to achieve anything substantial on social indicators.

The battle for OBC votes in Uttar Pradesh has begun in right earnest and the BJP will now present Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as its mascot for OBCs in UP.

Meetings of floor leaders have been convened by the government and the Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar separately in the first week of August to ensure smooth session of Parliament, beginning August 5.

With his image taking a severe beating following May 25 Darbha Naxal attack leading to killing of key Congress leaders of Chhattisgarh coupled with bribery charge slapped against him by a bank scam accused during his purported narco-test, chief minister Raman Singh has reportedly decided to rope in his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi to bail him out at this crucial juncture.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday that there was a great deal of anger in India and efforts must be made to reduce this anger.