Orissa Congress Member of Parliament Hemananda Biswal escaped an attempt on his life by his erstwhile personal assistant, who reportedly tried to shoot him at his government bungalow at Kamraj lane in Delhi.Reports indicated that the MP was safe but he refused to meet the media.Biswal reportedly contacted the local police station after the incident. The Delhi police are investigating the incident.
Dr V Maitreyan, leader of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's parliamentary party, on Monday arrived in Delhi with ten Members of Parliament to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram. The group of MPs will seek extra protection by personnel of the elite National Security Guards for AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa, as she has received two threats to her life last week.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will undertake a three-day visit to Sri Lanka from Monday. She is expected to visit the north eastern provinces of Sri Lanka -- including Vayunia, Yazhpanam and Trincomalee -- to check the rehabilitation of the Tamil population, who were displaced by the military's offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Rao is also expected to prepare the ground work for the official visit of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to Colombo.
Rebel Congress leader Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday met Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhan in Delhi and discussed the state's political issues, including his controversial Odarpu Yatra.According to sources, Jagan is also looking for a way out of the present crisis that is threatening to split the state unit of the Congress. Neither the Centre nor the state government wants an election in the state right now.
The enrollment of 32 lakh new members of Congress in Andhra Pradesh recently has given the party's top brass and state unit a reason to smile. The Congress' Andhra unit has been struggling with the open revolt declared by Member of Parliament Jaganmohan Reddy and is facing the possibility of a split in the party.All India Congress Committee general secretary Oscar Fernandes has also expressed his satisfaction with the party's membership drive in the last 10 months.
The high-level expert group led by former Reserve Bank of India governor C Rangarajan to formulate a jobs plan for Jammu and Kashmir is likely to meet on Friday in New Delhi. The committee was formed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as part of the Centre's efforts to end the ongoing cycle of violence there. The committee will initially hold a few meetings with senior officials from various ministries including home, agriculture, external affairs.
The recent visit of Pulok Chatterjee, a 1974 batch Indian Administrative Service officer and an Executive Director of the World Bank, to New Delhi has fuelled speculations that the top bureaucrat may be pulled out of his current assignment and appointed as the Prime Minister's Secretary.Speculations are rife that Chatterjee is on his way to the coveted post of the Cabinet Secretary, and he may be formally appointed by early next year.
Two crucial issues will be discussed at the all party meet convened by the Centre to discuss the Telangana crisis on January 5 -- the future status of Hyderabad and introducing a resolution on the creation of a separate state in the Andhra Pradesh assembly.The Centre has already prepared its replies to queries related to these two points, in case they are raised by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti or the Bharatiya Janata Party, during the meeting.
In a letter to the secretaries of the various ministries under the United progressive Alliance government, Union Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar has urged them to ensure that the websites of their respective ministries are updated, accessible and reader-friendly in terms of usability and design.The two-page letter by Chandrasekhar exhorts the secretaries to "take vigorous action to revise and enhance your department's websites".
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje finally resigned as the leader of the Opposition in the state assembly on Friday.Raje, who initially refused to resign, has been dodging the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership for over two months on the issue.However, she did not hand over her resignation letter to party president Rajnath Singh. Raje met Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha L K Advani in Delhi on Friday and handed over her resignation letter.
Sonia Gandhi has made her daughter Priyanka Gandhi a trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.Political insiders believe that Sonia's decision indicates that Priyanka will be inducted into politics within a year or so.The website of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation mentions Priyanka as a teacher and an educationist.Priyanka also makes time to visit the foundation's office every weekday.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Sunday underwent a routine medical check-up.Informed sources confirmed that such a medical check-up is a must before undertaking a foreign trip. Dr Singh is scheduled to visit Pittsburgh in the United States next week to attend the G-20 Summit hosted by US President Barack Obama. Media Advisor Harish Khare said Dr Singh's health was fine and he was attending to his work as usual.
In the last five years, Pratyusha Yalamanchi, 18, has helped provide treatment to more than 290,000 dental patients in Andhra Pradesh.A high school graduate from the International Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, she founded Dental HygIndia, partnering with Dr Kadiyala Rajendra, a dentist in Andhra Pradesh, at the age of 13, after she saw the sorry state of dental hygiene among villagers in India during a trip.
The CEC's letter to the President recommending Chawla's removal is just two pages long while he has dealt with 12 specific cases of partisanship in another 24 pages and annexed more than 800 pages of the Election Commission minutes, internal correspondence, etc in support of the case he has built up.
An Indian intelligence officer told rediff.com, "It's very well possible that when Zardari was out of the country Gilani took a hawkish stand to please the army chief General Ashfaq Kiyani. Right now, a hard stand against anyone perceived to be softer on India or America makes good politics in Islamabad."
The Centre has told the Supreme Court that Congress president Sonia Gandhi can hold constitutional posts. In a counter-affidavit, the Centre also said that Sonia Gandhi has been in India for more than 35 years as a citizen, and she is an Indian.
Editors of the regional grouping met to discuss issues relating to the region.
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