Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu today requested Governor E S L Narasimhan to ensure that bifurcation process of Andhra Pradesh is done in a transparent manner, leaving no scope for any misgivings.        

Naidu, who is set to take over as the first Chief Minister of new residual post-bifurcation state of Andhra Pradesh, made a "courtesy call" at the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad this evening, along with newly-elected MLAs of his party.        

 

"I have requested the Governor to ensure complete transparency in the bifurcation process. There should not be any misgivings from any side. There is a special situation in Andhra Pradesh due to bifurcation and I have sought the Governor's co-operation," Naidu told reporters after his meeting with the Governor.        

 

Lamenting that despite being the longest serving CM as well as the longest serving opposition leader, Naidu said, he was unable to understand what was happening with regard to the bifurcation.        

 

Being the only political party with a presence in both the states, it is TDP's responsibility to work for development of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Naidu said.

Jockeying for positions in the new Cabinet gained momentum today as Narendra Modi is all set to be elected as leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party and the NDA grouping tomorrow, ahead of his being called to form the government by the President.

Modi will meet President Pranab Mukherjee tomorrow after his election in the first formal step before he is sworn in as Prime Minister probably by the weekend. A number of names of top BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari, Murli Manohar Joshi and Venkaiah Naidu were doing the rounds for possible inclusion in Modi's Cabinet.

Besides, some leaders belonging to allies like Shiv Sena, TDP, Akali Dal and LJP may also be included. The 282 newly-elected Lok Sabha members of BJP along with its Rajya Sabha members will assemble in the Central Hall of Parliament around noon to elect the 63-year-old Modi as their leader.

Shortly later, they will be joined by their counterparts from the allies who will elect Modi as the leader of the NDA coalition. A delegation of the coalition will call on the President later in the day to convey to him the decision of the two Parliamentary groups that will pave the way for President to invite Modi and ask him to form the government.

For the third day in succession, hectic discussions were on regarding government formation with Modi himself receiving leaders.

Narendra Modi to meet President tomorrow

Presidents of Russia and France have congratulated Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi on BJP's landslide victory in the general election and hoped that bilateral ties will further improve and strengthen under his leadership.

In his message, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Modi for BJP's "convincing victory" and hoped that both the countries will be able to achieve greater success and further bolster the relationship. "From the bottom of my heart I wish you, esteemed Mr Modi, every success for the benefit of prosperity of the people of friendly India and comprehensive strengthening of mutually beneficial Russian-Indian cooperation," Putin said. The Russian President talked about "large scale" projects in the economic, military-technical, scientific, cultural and humanitarian spheres and hoped that by joint efforts "we will succeed in augmenting the previous achievements".

"We highly appreciate traditionally friendly relations between our countries based on the declaration of strategic partnership, this fundamental document signed at the time when your party was in power, which determined the development of our interaction for the years ahead," he said.

French President Francois Hollande called Modi to congratulate him and assured him of his "commitment to the strategic partnership and friendship between France and India", French Embassy sources said. The President invited Modi to come to France "when he wished", added the source.

This is how the Congress performed state-wise in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections

Seats
Andaman & Nicobar
0
Andhra Pradesh
0
Chandigarh
0
Dadra & Nagar Haveli
0
Daman & Diu
0
Goa
0
Gujarat
0
Himachal Pradesh
0
Jammu & Kashmir
0
Jharkhand
0
Lakshadweep
0
Nagaland
0
Delhi
0
Odisha
0
Puducherry
0
Rajasthan
0
Sikkim
0
Tamil Nadu
0
Tripura
0
Uttarakhand
0
Arunachal Pradesh
1
Chhattisgarh
1
Haryana
1
Mizoram
1
Meghalaya
1
Bihar
2
Uttar Pradesh
2
Madhya Pradesh
2
Maharashtra
2
Manipur
2
Telangana
2
Assam
3
Punjab
3
West Bengal
4
Kerala
8
Karnataka
9

Controversial self-styled godman Asaram, who has been behind bars since August last year for allegedly sexually assaulting a girl, will have to remain in jail for now with the Supreme Court today putting off hearing on his bail plea till July 3.

A bench of justices B S Chauhan and A K Sikri adjourned the matter and posted the hearing for July, after the court's annual summer vacation, on a bunch of petitions filed by the 75-year-old seeking bail and dropping of charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Asaram has challenged the minor status of the alleged victim, claiming that she was born in 1995 and not in 1997, as stated by her father. The Rajasthan High Court had earlier in February denied bail to Asaram in the case of alleged sexual assault of a minor girl in his ashram in Jodhpur.

The Congress Working Committee meeting ends. According to Anita Katyal/Rediff.com, Sonia and Rahul had offered to resign, but their offer was rejected unanimously, by the members.

Earlier reports said that while Sonia and Rahul Gandhi would be insulated from the poll debacle, the entire CWC would give in their resignations for 'collective responsibility' in the party's worst poll results ever.

Nitish today told his party that his decision to quit was not an ordinary one and nor was it emotional. He said it took a lot of courage."For whatever reasons, the mandate was not in my favour," he said, a day after JD (U) legislators insisted that he should take back his resignation and refused to choose another leader. With Manjhi as the new CM, Nitish says he will travel across Bihar to work for the party. 

Manjhi is the SC/ST welfare minister. Nitish Kumar and Manjhi are now with the Bihar governor, DY Patil. He lost the elections from Gaya, and came third.

Yes, Nitish Kumar names Jitan Ram Manjhi as the next chief minister of Bihar. 

Just in: Nitish Kumar, Sharad Yadav meet Bihar governor DY Patil.  Sources say Jitan Ram Manjhi could be the next chief minister of Bihar. He was the party's candidate from the Gaya constituency of Bihar.

Just in: AAP rejects Congress support offer, Delhi set for repoll.

Live, but don't learn: Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram says it's premature to suggest that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may want to join active politics. She is yet to make up her mind on what she wants to do.

Meanwhile, at the CWC meet which is still on, ministers say it was wrong to say that some of the blame for the party's abysmal performance at the polls lay with the uncommunicative Dr Manmohan Singh.

"To this writer, it has been evident for some time that the only real route to revival for the Congress is a diminished -- or even extinguished -- role for the Family. The results of this general election confirm me in this view. The sometimes noble, sometimes ignoble, "structure of renown' erected by Motilal Nehru and his descendants is now merely a heap of rubble."

A must-read for the Congress party, especially the CWC members. That's historian Ramachandra Guha on the downfall of the Gandhi family. Read

JUST IN: Nitish Kumar to meet Bihar governor any time now with the name of new CM.

Youth Congress workers shout slogans in support of Rahul Gandhi outside the party's HQ.

And some humour, while we wait for the CWC decision...

Actor Ashwin Mushran tweets: "Rahul Gandhi writing "Sorry"  5000 times as punishment for the Congress defeat."

Additional Solicitor General of India, Indira Jaising, has given in her resignation. She says the move is 'traditional and will be accepted by the incoming government'. 

Jaising was instrumental in demanding action against former Supreme Court justice AK Ganguly for allegedly sexually harassing a woman law intern.

OK, buzz from the Congress HQ at 24 Akbar Road, Delhi, is that Punjab deputy CM, Sukhbir Badal, entered into a secret deal with Amarinder Singh to get his wife Harsimrat Kaur elected from Bhatinda.

We are also being told that a former finance secretary was seen meeting senior BJP leaders with a plea to make him Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. There is speculation whether the BJP will keep Raghuram Rajan, an UPA appointee as the governor or replace him.

Senior secretaries -- IAS bureaucrats -- to the government of India paid a courtesy call on the Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi in Gujarat Bhavan today. 

Narendra Modi tweets: "My gratitude to @UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon for his good wishes. India values our long & proud relationship with the UN."

And this one...

"Had a telephonic conversation with PM of Spain Mr. Mariano Rajoy. We look forward to working with each other to strengthen India-Spain ties."

Suggesting that Muslims have contributed to Narendra Modi's victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, SP leader Azam Khan, who had indulged in a vitriolic attack on the BJP leader, said they had proved that they were a "secular" community.

"Narendra Modi's victory in the Lok Sabha polls has amply proved that Indian Muslims were and are secular," he said last evening.

The UP Minister, however, said that the Muslims were lured by "false promises" made by BJP even as he defended Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and SP supremo Mulayam Yadav and blamed UPA's policies for the party's drubbing in the state.

An army jawan was killed and three were wounded in a fierce gunbattle with militants in Kashmir's Budgam district today, police said. Security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in village Kausarmullah in Chadoora area following information about the presence of militants there, a police spokesman said.

Nitish Kumar said he consulted other party members, explained his decision and now everyone is proud of his decision. "Extraordinary situations call for extraordinary measures to be taken and it was my moral responsibility to take this decision," he says.

Nitish Kumar speaks after JD-U meet, says decision to quit was not an emotional one. 

Priyanka Vadra has admitted to mistakes in submitting multiple applications for Director Identification Number (DIN) while Karti Chidambaram has been asked by the Corporate Affairs Ministry to explain his position on a related issue.

Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had filed complaints against Priyanka Vadra and Karti Chidambaram with the Ministry alleging that the two had multiple DINs, which is not permissible under the Companies Law.

Karti Chidambaram is the son of outgoing Finance Minister P Chidambaram. In a letter to Swamy, Corporate Affairs Secretary Naved Masood said that Priyanka Vadra has admitted having made multiple DIN applications.

Just in: Crucial Congress Working Committee meeting begins. Congress Working Committe members could offer their resignation at its meeting today in the wake of the party's worst-ever performance in the Lok Sabha polls, amid indications that it could witness an attack on advisors of Rahul Gandhi while insulating him from criticism.

While there has been no official word about such a move, the talk about the CWC members offering to resign in the first meeting of the party's highest decision making body since the poll debacle began following remarks of Ahmed Patel, Political Secretary to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, that "all, including myself, are responsible for the party's loss."

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has Sahara to come out with proposal which is logical and acceptable to it on payment of Rs 10,000 crore for release of Subrata Roy. The SC has refused to allow a plea for putting Roy under house arrest in Lucknow instead of keeping him in Tihar jail. Sahara tells SC that it is willing to sell hotels located in New York and London to raise Rs 10,000 crore. 

And here's why the Upanishads are trending on Twitter...

Expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh, who fought as an Independent candidate from Barmer constituency of Rajasthan, and lost by a big margin against BJP's Colonel Sonaram, has decided to vacate his official bungalow in New Delhi by the end of this month.

Sources tell us that Jaswant,wants to avoid the ignominy of being issued a notice to vacate the bungalow in Lutyen's Delhi.

Always courteous, Jaswant wrote a one-line congratulatory letter to Narendra Modi on his and the party's victory.

Read our interview with Jaswant Singh before Barmer went to the polls.  

Eight Congress MPs are in constant and close touch with senior BJP leaders since the party decimated the Congress -- 336: 59. The how and when their services will be utilized -- has been left to an industrialist-turned-BJP MP to decide. Few of them will start to issue press statements against Congress leaders and in the Budget session, it will be these MPs who will cross the floor or float a group -- watch out for them.

India's next prime minister is planning a quiet trip to India's borders within the first two weeks of assuming office. Narendra Modi plans to visit the Wagah border, NJ 9842 in Siachen and Petrapole near Bangladesh in what is believed to be a morale boost to the armed forces.

In September last year, Modi questioned the need for dialogue between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif when "soldiers and innocent people were being killed day and night by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir". He had attacked the Centre for "pursuing a weak" policy in dealing with Pakistan.

While Modi's foreign policy is expected to continue in the same lines as the UPA, his key aide Amit Shah has said his government would however, never compromise with the honour and security of the country.

The world's largest democracy makes a statement at the polls: No to corruption, bureaucracy and dynastic politics, and yes to Narendra Modi's promise of a country ready to do business. Read

He hasn't even been sworn in, yet India's next Prime Minister has already changed the world's biggest democracy. Narendra Modi's stunning, crushing victory at the polls this week reverses a trend that was beginning to define India -- the localization of politics. Read

Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu today said it is shocking to see Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi not having the courtesy of greeting Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi following the massive mandate received by him.

"Though the American President, British Prime Minister, and scores of Prime Ministers from across the globe, including our neighbours like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have greeted Narendra Modi, the Congress president and vice president do not have the courtesy or the basic culture of India to greet the person who has got such a massive mandate," Naidu said.

People of the country have punished Congress for its alleged failure to keep up promises, and the corruption, misrule and policy paralysis, he claimed.

JD-U legislative party authorises Nitish Kumar to decide on the new chief minister for Bihar. JD-U says Nitish is firm on his decision to step down and he has quit on moral grounds. The party says it has the majority and will meet the governor this evening.

Jaganmohan Reddy meets Narendra Modi in Delhi.

Fan boy Anupam Khar tweets this picture and says, "Wonderful to meet our future Prime Minister @narendramodi ji at Gujarat Bhawan. Jai Ho to his dynamism & patriotism." His wife, Kirron, is the BJP MP from Chandigarh. 

From a mere 22 in 2009, the BJP has taken its tally to nearly 93 out of the 120 seats in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Here's how it happened. Read

The Supreme Court grants three weeks interim bail to journalist Tarun Tejpal, facing rape charges, to attend the cremation of his mother and subsequent rituals.Tejpal was arrested and sent to jail on November 30. 

The Tejpal case took a new twist last month with him telling the Supreme Court that his apology to the victim, being used as key evidence against him, was sent "on the terms of the victim" under pressure from Shoma Chaudhury, the then managing editor of the magazine, and the words used were not his.

Tejpal, who has already spent 130 days in jail, said he was shocked to hear from Chaudhury about the complaint on November 18, 2013, and had categorically refuted the allegations.

Congress Working Committe members could offer their resignation at its meeting today in the wake of the party's worst-ever performance in the Lok Sabha polls, amid indications that it could witness an attack on advisors of Rahul Gandhi while insulating him from criticism.

While there has been no official word about such a move, the talk about the CWC members offering to resign in the first meeting of the party's highest decision making body since the poll debacle began following remarks of Ahmed Patel, Political Secretary to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, that "all, including myself, are responsible for the party's loss."

"How can you blame any individual for this result? It is the collective responsibility of both the party and the government. All, including myself, are responsible for the party's loss," Patel has said in the wake of resentment in the party at the way Rahul ran the election campaign.

While party sources have ruled out reports of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi offering to resign in the wake of debacle, the meeting could see some leaders raising uncomfortable questions about the party's campaign and alliance strategy.

The meeting is taking place amid a clamour within for a surgical action to revamp the party.

There are questions being raised about Rahul's style of working but doubts are being expressed whether anyone would be bold enough to raise them in the meeting, which will be presided by Sonia.

An exercise has already begun in the party to insulate him from any blame game. Sonia and Rahul appeared before the media on Friday and took personal responsibility for the drubbing that left the party with just 44 seats in a House of 543, a huge climbdown from 206 seats it had in the outgoing 15th Lok Sabha.

Narendra Modi to meet Union Home Secretary after 4 pm today.

The post on AR Rahman's Facebook page which says his LA home was vandalised.

The Grand Old Party's imminent rout was a given in this general election. Even so, the Congress managed to surpass the worst predictions, embracing defeat on a scale too shocking to behold.

The outgoing ruling party not merely crashed to a historic low of Lok Sabha seats and votes (44 seats for 19.3 per cent), it rendered itself ineligible to claim the position of Leader of the Opposition in the lower House, having secured less than 10 per cent of the total of 543 seats.

Read

In Jaunpur (UP), state Minister Satai Ram dies in an accident at an unmanned railway crossing. His car was crossing the rail tracks when the accident happened. Reports said that Satai Ram's driver and another staff member accompanying him were also killed. Over 200 people have been killed in such accidents in the last three years alone.

As an aside, the Beatles in 1957, when George Harrison was 14, John Lennon was 16, and Paul McCartney was 15.

'Ab Modi teri baari (Modi, now it is your turn)'

This threat from 18 members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India outside a court in Bhopal has alerted security agencies about a possible threat against prime minister-designate Narendra Modi.  Read

Tehelka founder Tarun Tejpal approaches the Supreme Court seeking his release to attend the cremation of his mother who passed away in Goa yesterday.

Tejpal's mother Shakuntala passed away after being ill for sometime, his lawyer said on Monday. She was 87. She was suffering from brain tumour and was living in Tejpal's house at Moira in North Goa.

"She expired last evening at Tejpal's Goa residence. The decision is yet to be taken whether the final rites would be conducted in Goa or Delhi,' Tejpal's lawyer Sandip Kapoor said, adding that the family members will take a call on it.

She had been admitted to a hospital in Mapusa but was later discharged. Tejpal's lawyers are going to move the fast track court in Panaji seeking permission to allow him to perform the final rites.

Narendra Modi tweets: My gratitude to Prime Minister @AbeShinzo for extending his good wishes. Strong relations with Japan is beneficial for both our nations. Personally, I have a wonderful experience of working with Japan as CM. I am sure we will take India-Japan ties to newer heights.

Modi's team has ensured every single congratulatory message was responded to.

The Allahabad High Court has rejected the bail application of Rajesh and  Nupur Talwar in the Aarushi Talwar- Hemraj double murder case. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment by the CBI Special Court.

According to the CBI, this is how the duo were killed. See

Throughout the UPA's tenure, the BJP pilloried the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council as an unconstitutional body which overly influenced Manmohan Singh government decisions.

The NAC was annulled last week, but look at what we have in its place!

Reports like this 'Newly-elected BJP MPs, including former Home Secretary R K Singh, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Delhi MPs Udit Raj, Manoj Tiwari and senior UP leader Vinay Katiyar had meetings with RSS senior functionaries at Sangh's Delhi headquarters in Keshavpuram' have become commonplace after Friday's victory.

And yet RSS leader Ram Madhav insists the Sangh will not influence the new government!

Ahead of Cabinet formation, Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi today held discussions with his close aide and BJP General Secretary Amit Shah and senior party leader Arun Jaitley even as newly-elected BJP MPs met senior RSS functionaries at the Sangh office in New Delhi.

Modi held the meeting at the Gujarat Bhawan in Chanakyapuri with Shah and Jaitley, who is likely to be inducted in the Cabinet despite losing in the Lok Sabha election.

Former UP Chief Minister and senior party leader Kalyan Singh also held discussions with Modi, who is likely to soon meet NDA allies' leaders, including Uddhav Thackeray and TDP representatives soon, BJP sources said.

A flurry of meetings took place at Rajnath Singh's Ashok Road residence with former Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Uma Bharti, Gopinath Munde, Yogi Adityanath, Varun Gandhi and several newly-elected MPs calling on the BJP President.

Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal, which is an alliance partner of BJP in Uttar Pradesh, also met Singh. NDA has won 73 out of the 80 seats in UP.

"Our alliance has swept Uttar Pradesh and nobody can ignore the importance of the state. The BJP chief has already said that the interests of the alliance partners would be safeguarded. So, there is no need for us to say anything else," she said.

Newly-elected BJP MPs, including former Home Secretary R K Singh, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Delhi MPs Udit Raj, Manoj Tiwari and senior UP leader Vinay Katiyar had meetings with RSS senior functionaries at Sangh's Delhi headquarters in Keshavpuram.

Police arrested eleven DMK activists in connection with the attack on journalists in front of the party Treasurer M K Stalin's house yesterday. Police said the arrested were produced at a local court which remanded them to 14 days judicial custody. All the arrested were sent to Vellore prison, police said.

"Certainly it is a fascinating election, even if he becomes prime minister. What is fascinating is how, suddenly -- with the feeling that Modi may win -- perfectly intelligent people with integrity jumped ship. Already, the great intellectuals are saying: 'Yes, yes, it doesn't matter. A few thousand Muslims are killed. It is immaterial. Ultimately there will be development.' What development?" That's Girish Karnad's interview to Rediff.com and it's a must read.

"The choice before the people was between worst and horrible," says Rochester, New York-based Dr Arun Gandhi, commenting on the Bharatiya Janata Party's victory in India's general election. They chose horrible and we will have to live with that choice," Dr Gandhi, a grandson of the Mahatma, said. Read the interview on Rediff.com.

Narendra Modi -- and perhaps the next generation -- have ensured a political phone conversation after 20 years between Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar. JD(U)-RJD sources said Lalu Prasad called up Nitish yesterday, a day after the election results reduced Bihar's two giants to single-digit entities and forced the chief minister to resign.

The call is part of the back-channel efforts that are on to build a bridge between the JD(U) and the RJD, both offshoots of the erstwhile Janata parivar.  Read

India's incoming government will face daunting challenges to revive Asia's third-largest economy and get it on a sustainable growth track.

The blowout election victory of the pro-business BJP has raised hopes that a strong government led by Narendra Modi, its prime ministerial candidate, can jump-start commerce. Read

In Narendra Modi's moral majority, words like security become problematic and a moral majority can turn devastatingly inquisitorial.

It turns history into a preferred flatland of the nation State challenging cultural diversity in the name of majoritarianism expressed as patriotism. Dissent almost immediately becomes seditious, says Shiv Visvanathan.

Read

Yadav also ruled out taking support of Lalu Prasad's RJD in formation of a new government in Bihar. "No. Never we have taken and there is no question of taking support from him," he said when asked if the ruling JD(U) will take the support of RJD.

The political crisis in Bihar arising out of the resignation of Nitish as chief minister following the severe drubbing that JD-U suffered in the Lok Sabha elections remained unresolved yesterday with the party failing to elect its "new" leader.

As the political drama unfolds in Bihar, JDU chief Sharad Yadav today said the decision of Nitish Kumar to quit as Chief Minister is "final".

Yadav said this ahead of the the JD(U) legislature meeting to discuss the ongoing situation after Nitish said yesterday he needed time till today to decided on the plea by JD(U) MLAs that he should withdraw his resignation and continue in office.

"The decision (Nitish Kumar's resignation) is in favour of the nation, the party and Nitish ji. It was a difficult decision but is final and right," he said.

Decision (Nitish Kumar's resignation) is in favor of nation, party & Nitish ji, was difficult decision but is final and right: Sharad Yadav

The spectacular victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the general elections of 2014 is something political analysts will discuss for years to come. It was a watershed election that saw a paradigm shift in campaigning.

The changes included a presidential style campaign, innovative use of digital technology and social media, and the active involvement of citizens in roles that were formerly the domain of party workers. Read more

RSS may have decided not to interfere with ministry-making but it feels that BJP president Rajnath Singh and party leader Arun Jaitley should join the government.

BJP sources said Sangh leaders camping in Delhi gave their assessment in the context of Rajnath's stated stand that he would like to continue in the organization.

This was confirmed by sources close to Rajnath although they refrained from spelling out whether the party chief is ready to reconsider his stand yet.  Read more

Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi, says the CWC will look into what brought this defeat on, whatever is decided we will let you know, he tells ANI. He also said that Nitish Kumar took a good step, a responsible step. "I hope it is not a political dram." On Saturday Nitish Kumar gave his resignation to the Bihar governor over the JD-U's poor show in the polls. The JD-U just managed 2 seats out of 40. 

For years, Gujarat Bhavan in Delhi could do little but munch on its vegetarian fare and envy the reign of Andhra Bhavan, the badshah of bhavans that is built on a menu of unrivalled mutton fry.

These days, Gujarat Bhavan has something Andhra Bhavan cannot serve up: Narendra Modi.

With Modi staying in the bhavan -- possibly till the Prime Minister's residence on the nearby Race Course Road is ready -- the three-storey structure has been drawing a steady stream of visitors. Read

Narendra Modi has set cabinet-formation talks in motion amid a general indication that veterans should not get too high on hope and that a few heavyweights may be held back for party work.

Modi dropped a clear hint for ministerial hopefuls this morning when a group of newly elected MPs from Karnataka called on him at Gujarat Bhavan. Read

A senior Congress leader feels the Gandhis should only offer to resign if they are serious about it and have in mind another leader who can take over the party. Rediff.com's Renu Mittal reports from New Delhi. Read

Let this historic win be followed by a historic innings, which stuns the world by surprises your supporters may not want of you but many more would want to see you unfurl, writes Gopalkrishna Gandhi. Read

A small poster mounted in Allahabad asks for Rahul Gandhi to be fired as the no 2 leader of the Congress. The poster suggests Mr Gandhi be replaced by his younger sister, Priyanka.

Gujarat Bhawan - a kilometre away from the Prime Minister's residence at 7 Race Course Road where Narendra Modi will soon live - is the hub of intense political activity. Modi is holding multiple meetings here as he finalises names for his cabinet.

There has been fierce speculation on who will get top posts in his government, but Modi and his core team have played their cards close and are expected to continue doing so until a meeting tomorrow of the BJP's lawmakers.

At that meeting the party's 282 new Lok Sabha MPs will elect Modi as their leader and he will then stake claim to form government.

The date of Modi's swearing in ceremony is yet to be announced and it is not clear yet if he will be sworn in alone or along with some ministers.

Yesterday, Modi met many BJP leaders from different states at the Gujarat Bhawan where he is staying in Delhi. He stepped out to visit veteran leader LK Advani, with whom he talked for about 40 minutes and then later, Murli Manohar Joshi.-- NDTV

The benchmark BSE Sensex trimmed its initial gains but was still trading up by 154 points in morning trade amid buying in realty, capital goods, power, refinery, banking and metal sector stocks and persistent foreign capital inflows.

Foreign institutional investors bought shares worth a net Rs 3,634.82 crore on Friday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. Investors are hoping that the BJP-led government will be better at getting things done and would be more business-friendly than the Congress-led coalition government, which was in power during the past ten years.

The 30-share Sensex opened higher at 24,340,32 and moved up further to 24,427.10 on strong initial buying.

The army soldier killed in the militant ambush in Akhnoor sector has been identified as Sepoy Bhikale of 2 Maratha Light Infantry

Bad news coming in early Monday morning.

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar reports: One Army jawan has been killed and two others injured when militants ambushed an army patrol in the Akhnoor sector near Jammu late Sunday night.

A defence spokesman said on Monday, "An Army patrol was targetted in the Akhnoor sector at 11 pm on Sunday. A soldier was killed while the injured were evacuated to the hospital for treatment."

The Army had foiled an infiltration bid earlier in the day in the BG sector of the Line of Control in Rajouri district of Jammu region