Some days I'm so confused, Lord,

My past gets in my way.

I need the ones I love, Lord,

More and more each day.

That's Glen Campbell in his new album, Ghost On The Canvas. But there's something amiss here. Read the story in the Guardian

Actor Anupam Kher has come out in support of Om Puri, who is facing wrath of the politicians for making derogatory remarks against them at the Ramlila Maidan.

"I stand by Om Puri who merely echoed publicly what is openly said a million times in millions of homes every day. He apart from being an outstanding actor, is also a true Indian who echoed thoughts of millions of us. I stand by him," Kher tweeted.

The 61-year-old Bollywood veteran had made a no holds barred attack on politicians at Ramlila maidan on Friday where Anna Hazare was on the 11th day of his fast. However, Puri has apologised, saying he went overboard
with his words.

Ask any BJP leader about whom the party might project as its prime ministerial candidate in 2014, and you'll likely be subjected to incoherent waffling that indicates great uncertainty. 

If Narendra Modi's name comes up as a potential candidate at all, it is only in hushed and defensive tones, since even the BJP reasons that it is still paying the political price of the 2002 riots.

Yet, in faraway China where electoral politics as practised raucously in India, is an alien beast, Communist Party leaders and policymakers may have read their own tea leaves and come to two conclusions on the Indian polity.

Read Venky Vembu in Firstpost.com

Climb the political grapevine with R Rajagopalan.

Inside Parliament today:

Wrong pronounciation of a word "prosecution" by Labour Minister Mallikarjuna Kharge while replying to a question on Child labour on Monday in Lok Sabha landed him in a major problem and scene was pathetic. 

Kharge a senior parliamentarian and three times Minister in Karnataka went on to pronounce it as prostitution.Video recording of the proceedings now being edited to save embarrassment to Hon Minister.

That and much from Rajagopalan's blog

LJP leader Ramvilas Paswan today said the Parliamentary Standing Committee, of which he is a member, that is looking into the Lokpal Bill will finalise a strong
draft that will work for the eradication of corruption.

"We will discuss various drafts on the Lokpal Bill that has come to the Parliamentary Standing Committee, including the three-point agenda of Team Anna....We will endeavour to come up with the best possible piece of legislation on the Lokpal issue with a goal to ensure eradication of corruption." 

The LJP chief said the members of the Committee have no difference of opinion among themselves on the contours of the Lokpal Bill. On a time-frame for finalisation of the draft, Paswan said it will take about three months to deliberate upon various aspects of the proposed bill before making a recommendation to the government.

Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi today said rain and wind appear to be the reasons behind a Gulf Air plane skidding off the runway while landing at the
International Airport in Kochi even as DGCA ordered an inquiry into the incident. Ravi said initial reports suggest the incident took place due to the weather conditions and the runway is "long enough."

At least 137 passengers and six crew of the plane from Bahrain had a narrow escape when the Airbus A-320 skidded off the runway into a muddy area while landing at the airport, while seven passengers were injured.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad chief Ashok Singhal yesterday declared that the cadre of the right-wing organisation was involved in Anna Hazare's movement against corruption. In a report in India Today, the assertion only confirmed speculation that the Sangh Parivar was supporting Anna.

Singhal praised VHP members for having done an "extremely good job" in making Anna's movement a success. "Members of the Dharma Yatra Mahasangh, a wing of the VHP, had opened stalls at Ramlila Maidan to offer food to over 20,000 people every day," Singhal said.

He said it was routine work for the VHP, dismissing suggestions that the organisation was trying to ride piggyback on the unprecedented support to Anna.

Visiting national security advisor Shiv Shankar Menon has discussed itinerary details of Indian premier Manmohan Singh with prime minister Sheikh Hasina, reports bdnews24.com. 

Singh is scheduled to visit Dhaka Sept 6-7 when he is expected to sign a number of significant deals for cooperation between the two neighbours.  When Menon met Hasina today at her official residence Ganabhaban, the advisor hoped that the ties between Bangladesh and India would strengthen, her press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters in a post-meet briefing.

Singh will be accompanied by the chief ministers of West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura during his visit to Dhaka.

Libyan rebel chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil said in Doha today that Muammar Gaddafi still posed a danger inside and outside Libya and urged a no let-up in international action against the strongman.

"Gaddafi's defiance of the coalition forces still poses a danger, not only for Libya but for the world. That is why we are calling for the coalition to continue its support," Abdel Jalil said at a meeting of chiefs of staff of countries militarily involved in Libya, including Qatar.

The 19-year-old Libyan girl with looks that can kill -- literally. Meet Muammar Gaddafi's executioner, Nisreen. Read it in the Daily Mail

Against the backdrop of jailed Suresh Kalmadi seeking its permission permission to attend Lok Sabha, the Delhi High Court today said it will examine whether an MP arrested in a criminal case is entitled to attend the House.
The hearing will be held tomorrow.

Kalmadi has moved the division bench of the high court, challenging the order of its single-judge bench of Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw, who had rejected his plea for such permission, saying it as a "an attempt to get fresh air outside the prison".

Kalmadi sought the court's permission claiming that attending Parliament session is his duty towards his electorate and is linked to his right to freedom of speech
and expression.

Just in: Met department predicts more rain for Mumbai city and suburbs tomorrow. Today, train services on the Central and the Harbour lines of Mumbai were disrupted following heavy rains which lashed the metropolis last night, inconveniencing commuters.  

Water-logging was reported from several places, including Sion and Kurla in central Mumbai, paralysing suburban services between Thane and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on the Central line.

See the pictures.

Blasting Bollywood veteran Om Puri for decrying politicians at the Ramlila Maidan during Anna Hazare's fast, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray today questioned the actor's integrity and demanding cases to be filed against
people who maligned Parliament and politicians.

Cases should be filed against those who maligned Parliament and politicians from the stage at Ramlila, Thackeray said in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamna.
"Om Puri should declare if all the money he took for his work in films was legally through cheque," Thackeray said alleging "maximum black money and underworld funds are (invested) in the film industry."

Read on rediff.com: Om Puri, Kiran Bedi face lawmakers' fury

The Karnataka high court has adjourned the case on alleged land scam by former CM BS Yeddyurappa to September 7. Yeddy has filed a bail application in the case.

Amid demands for commuting the sentence of three Rajiv Gandhi assassins, Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy today said there should no
interference in the decision to hang the three. 

"No power under the Constitution can now stop the hanging of these three convicts whose mercy petitions have been rejected. Hence, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has correctly stated that she cannot interfere," he said in a statement here.

He said after 12 years of "inaction" by the Union Governments a decision has finally been taken by the government and "just in time in view of my threat to file a PIL in the Supreme Court after August 15, 2011 if no action was taken."

"There should be no further interference in the decision to hang these three convicts on September 9. India can no more be perceived as a soft state when it comes to terrorists," he said. Swamy also said commuting of another convict Nalini Sriharan's death sentence "can be set aside" by courts.

After members in both Houses of Parliament have given Privilege notices against actor Om Puri and civil rights activist Kiran Bedi for using "derogatory and defamatory" language against politicians and the matter is under consideration of the Chair, the actor has apologised.

In the Rajya Sabha, a member also attacked lawyer activist Prashant Bhushan for reportedly saying that legislations are passed by Parliament after taking bribes.

Puri today said he was emotional and would love to explain it to Parliamentarians in the house. Puri said he regretted calling politicians naalayak (incompetent) and ganwar( a word often used to describe a backward and an illiterate person), saying the choice of the words were inappropriate.

Puri said he should have used appropriate language for his description of the political class.

The actor courted controversy when he launched a no holds barred attack on politicians from the stage at Ramlila Maidan on Friday. He also denied that he had made the caustic comments in an inebriated state, claiming they were said in the "heat of the moment" on seeing Hazare's condition on the 11th day of his fast and the kind of political response to the Gandhian's agitation for a strong Lokpal Bill.

Anna Hazare health update.

A day after the Lokpal drama ended and Hazare was whisked off to the Medanta Mediciti Hospital, weak and dehydrated, doctors said he was inching towards normalcy.

"Nobody knows when he will be discharged. His condition is stable. He has to be monitored. Usually, it takes 2-3 days. When his parameters are established and his body starts tolerating and digesting food, only then he can go," Chairman of Medanta Medicity, Dr Naresh Trehan, who was monitoring
Hazare's health during his fast, said. 

Hazare wants to take rest and has declined requests to meet him because he is "still very weak", Trehan said, adding various tests have established that the activist's liver and kidneys were normal. 

"His condition has improved 30 per cent between yesterday and today. He has not started eating properly but progress is satisfactory," Trehan said.

From the Hindustan Times, a report on the CVC revisiting the ONGC chief's appointment. Apparently Anna Hazare's anti-corruption drive seems to have made the government machinery extra vigilant. In a new turn of events, the case of Sudhir Vasudeva's selection as the next chief of India's highest profit making firm Oil & Natural Gas Corporation has been re-opened, with the Prime Minister's Office refusing to give a clean chit for alleged corruption charges against Vasudeva. Read

Incidentally, since this report was filed Reliance Industries today reclaimed the numero uno position in the domestic market capitalisation charts, racing past ONGC to to emerge as the country's most-valued company yet again.

The Karnataka High Court today dismissed as withdrawn a petition filed by former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa praying for quashing of Chapter 22 of
the Lokayukta report on illegal mining that indicted him.Yeddyurappa's counsel filed a memo before the bench, comprising justices K L Manjunath and H S Kempanna, seeking to withdraw the petition, citing "subsequent developments," as well as liberty to challenge it at a later date. Yeddy will appear before the Lokayukta court today.

After raising sniggers and laughs in Parliament on Saturday over the anti-graft Lokpal bill, the fodder scam has returned to bite RJD chief Lalu Prasad today.

The former Bihar CM along with Jagannath Mishra and 32 other accused today appeared before a CBI designated court for framing of charges against them in the fodder scam case.

CBI judge B.K. Jain, however, did not take up framing of charges against the accused after six accused of them, including Mishra, moved a petition praying that they be allowed to challenge in Patna High Court the CBI court's August 18 order rejecting their discharge petitions in the case.

Filmmaker Karan Johar is all set to launch the teaser of his upcoming movie Agneepath today, a remake of the 1990 Amitabh Bachchan starrer of the same name.

The film which is directed by newcomer Karan Malhotra stars Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra and Sanjay Dutt in lead roles.

'On my way to the teaser launch Of Agneepath! Will put it up soon,' Johar has tweeted. The movie will hit the theatres on January 13.

Don't know about you all, but we sure are waiting to see the trailer and the film!

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today said she has no power to alter the Presidential order rejecting the clemency plea of the three Rajiv Gandhi assassins -- Murugan, Perarivalan and Santhan.

Making a suo motu statement in the state assembly, Jayalalithaa said, "I don't have any power to alter the Presidential order rejecting the mercy petitions of the three." She also appealed to political parties "not to send signals" that she had powers to overturn the Presidential orders and save the three from the gallows.

The three, sentenced to death in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, are scheduled to be hanged on September 9.

There's an unexpected windfall from the Arab Spring, it seems.

An investigation by The Times, London, has found that Britain's arms exports to the Middle East and North Africa have grown by almost 30 per cent since the revolution. 

Between February and June this, year, arms worth 30.5 million pounds were exported by Britain to countries including Libya, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, compared to 22.2 million in the same period in 2010.

Interestingly, the investigation found that the weapons exported include those capable of being used for internal repression, such as small-arms ammunition, sniper rifles, shotguns and submachine guns.

Train services on the Central and the Harbour lines of Mumbai were disrupted following heavy rains which lashed the metropolis last night.

Traffic was affected today due to water-logging in the tracks in several low-lying areas in the city, inconveniencing daily commuters and office-goers. Water-logging was reported from several places, including Sion and Kurla in central Mumbai, paralysing suburban services between Thane and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on the Central line.

On Harbour line traffic between Panvel and CST stations was crippled due to inundated rail tracks in Chunabhatti, Chembur and Mankhurd stations.

However, trains on the Western line were running late by 15-20 minutes. "Due to heavy downpour resulting in water-logging at several stations on Central and Harbour lines, train services have been stopped for some time. We are waiting for the water to recede to resume services," A K Singh, Central Railway PRO said.

Vehicular traffic was also affected due to water-logging in areas like Parel, Hindmata, Dadar, Milan subway Andheri, Santacruz, Kurla, Vikhroli, Ghatkopar and Vile Parle.

Air services have remained unaffected as of now and there have been no reports of wall or building collapse.

Losses from Hurricane Irene are estimated to total about USD 7 billion, much less than what was feared from the massive storm that battered the US east coast over the weekend, initial estimates say.

The total damage by Irene may reach USD 7 billion by the time the storm tapers in the coming days, an early estimate by consulting company Kinetic Analysis Corporation said.

The majority of the losses are expected to be from property damaged in New York and New Jersey.

Argentine football coach Alejandro Sabella and goalkeeper Estaban Andrada along with 15 officials arrived in Kolkata this morning following a 39-hour journey for the team's friendly match against Venezuela on September 2.

Seventeen other Argentines -- sans showstopper Messi and his Barcelona teammate Javier Mascherano -- are scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning in two batches.

The Barca duo are held back becuase of their club's La Liga match with Villareal on Monday. As of now, there is no official word on Messi and Mascherano so they are expected late on Tuesday or Wednesday night.

Messi-led Argentina will play two international friendlies in the subcontinent -- against Venezuela in Yuba Bharati Kridangan on September 2 and another versus Nigeria in Dhaka on September 6.

Just in: Shooter Gagan Narang conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.

Check out what he said in a video about the honour, on rediff.com!

Twelve of the 15 persons convicted by a POTA court in the Haren Pandya murder case were acquitted today.

Former Gujarat home minister Pandya was shot dead on March 26, 2003. The case was first probed by city police and subsequently, investigations were handed over to the CBI. A special POTA court had convicted 15 persons for the murder, of whom 12 had appealed against their conviction.

Lakhs of Mumbaikars are gearing up for Ganesh Chaturthi festivities, beginning from September 1, but the pockmarked roads in the city may not provide a smooth ride for the elephant-headed god.

With just three days left for the festival, the local civic body is yet to fill up over 60 potholed stretches that needs immediate repairs.

According to the statistics available with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the maximum number of potholes are in western suburbs, followed by eastern suburbs and city areas.

Reliance Industries today reclaimed the numero uno position in the domestic market capitalisation charts, racing past state-run ONGC to to emerge as the country's most-valued company yet again.

With a market value of Rs 2,42,283 crore at 1027 hours this morning, RIL surpassed ONGC's market cap of Rs 2,38,270 crore to reclaim the top position.

On Friday, ONGC had toppled billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries to claim the title of the country's most-valued company.

Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ijaz Butt has said that the modalities of a possible series between India and his nation are being worked out with the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and cricketing ties between the two neighbours could resume soon.

Butt, who visited India recently and met with the BCCI officials, hinted at a breakthrough during discussions with his counterparts. "I held discussions with Indian officials," Butt told The Express Tribune newspaper in an interview. "Both countries have shown their eagerness for the revival of the series. We are working on finalising terms and conditions and fans will hear the good news soon," he said.

Butt, however, termed reports that the series would be played at a neutral venue as "premature".