A day after gangster Abu Salem was shot at in Taloja jail, four security personnel were suspended on Friday pending a high-level probe even as his lawyer is planning to move Portuguese authorities for his repatriation. An attempt to murder case was also registered against his assailant Devendra Jagtap alias JD.
It is curtains down for Maharashtra and Haryana assembly polls. Here's a look at political biggies, who made it and who didn't.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, on Wednesday, sought to revoke the four year suspension of four of its legislators, saying it had already apologised for any "disrespect" caused to a woman MLA during Monday's mayhem in the Maharastra assembly but made no mention of the assault on Samajwadi Party member Abu Asim Azmi.
'I want to thank Sonia ji also. Parties with different ideologies have come together...those who were friends for 30 years, did not trust us. But those against whom we fought for 30 years have trusted me,' Thackeray said.
Samajwadi Party, whose leaders Amar Singh and Abu Asim Azmi have been the perennial target of Raj's ire, on Monday hit back, demanding that the MNS chief be arrested and charged under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act. "Such rogue elements should not be allowed to roam freely, endangering communal and regional harmony," Azmi said.
Top political leaders of Bihar, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, on Monday strongly condemned the attack on Samajwadi Party Member of Legislative Assembly Abu Asim Azmi.Nitish Kumar condemned the incident and declared that it had again exposed the MNS' true colours "We will take the matter up with the Union government as well as the Maharashtra government."
The first day of the newly elected Maharashtra assembly got off to a stormy start, with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena carrying out its threat and assaulting Samajwadi Party legislator Abu Asim Azmi, who too carried out his threat to take his oath in Hindi. Action was quick in following, with four MNS legislators -- Vasant Geete, Shishir Shinde, Ram Kadam and Ramesh Wanjale -- being suspended for four years by the pro-tem speaker for the violent incident
SP has fielded Shivpal from Jaswant Nagar seat in Etawah district.
Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar said on Friday there was no Modi wave in the country but argued that the new government at the Centre should be stable in the larger interest of the economy and the country. He observed that development would be a major plank in the run up to the coming parliamentary elections.
Media personnel trying to reach Thackeray's residence were told to wait several meters away.
"We realised that we don't have the required numbers to form the government and we don't want to indulge in horse-trading," Fadnavis told reporters after announcing his decision.
"Two women from Uttar Pradesh were raped and no complaint has been lodged so far. Local people know the culprits but they are frightened to name them," Abu Azmi said. Azmi alleged that the Congress, heading the coalition government in Maharashtra, is supporting Raj to secure its vote bank and ignoring his activities.Raj should be charged for murder and robbery as the MNS campaign claimed two lives and many north Indians were looted while fleeing Maharashtra, he said.
As the year 2014 draws to an end, we at Rediff.com take to look at some of the ridiculous remarks made by some blundering politicos.
Yakub Memon, a convict in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, is likely to be executed on July 30 if the Supreme Court turns down his mercy plea. It will be the first execution in the serial blasts, which left over 250 dead.
His son Sunil lighted the pyre and a police contingent gave the departed leader a gun salute.
Memon, 53, was found guilty of conspiracy in 2007 for the serial blasts that killed over 250 people.
'The bullet train project is a complete sham'
India's volatile political mix has a new element - 'the Secularati' - that is adept at hijacking Muslim issues and running with them even before the community itself has formulated a response, says Hasan Suroor.
Dhananjay Desai has been allowed to spread his poison to young men in Maharashtra and Goa over the last five years, by a 'secular' Congress-NCP government. The 23 cases pending against him have not stopped him. He and his supporters must have thought they were immune when they lynched a bearded Muslim at night. Neither Desai nor his followers, nor the police, nor their 'secular' political masters, must have expected the nationwide furore that followed, says Jyoti Punwani.
Saroj Kumar Rath, author of the newly-published book Fragile Frontiers: The Secret History of Mumbai Terror Attacks, speaks to Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.