Donald Trump reportedly told Theresa May he will not make a state visit to the UK until he is guaranteed a "better reception".

The US President asked the PM to prepare a "warm welcome" before he agrees to set a date, it has been claimed. 

The pair spoke on the phone to discuss the planned state visit, which has now been postponed until next year. 

"I havent had great coverage out there lately, Theresa," Trump told May, according to a transcript of the conversation seen by The Sun. 

May replied: "Well, you know what the British press are like."

But Trump added: "I still want to come, but Im in no rush.

"So, if you can fix it for me, it would make things a lot easier.

"When I know Im going to get a better reception, Ill come and not before."

Over 1.8 million people signed a petition to prevent Trump from being honoured with a formal state visit. 

Though the residents of Chandawa know that the electoral arithmetic is in favour of National Democratic Alliance presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, they clutch on to the hope that Congress pick Meira Kumar will emerge victorious.

And why wouldn't they, considering that a "daughter" of their village now has a shot at becoming the first citizen of India?

"We aren't scanning television channels for information here," says 28-year-old Shveta Rani, one of the two college-going members of the household. "We know the NDA candidate is ahead in numbers, but we have faith in our grandmother (Kumar). She has a spotless record, and her conviction for uplifting the downtrodden is unparalleled."

Shveta and 26-year-old Seema Prakash have been praying day and night for Kumar's victory before their Kuldevata (family deity).

Sixteen Amarnath pilgrims were killed and around 27 injured, 19 of them critically, when a bus skidded off the Jammu-Srinagar national highway and rolled into a deep nullah in the Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday.

Roger Federer defeated Marin Cilic in straight sets 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 to 

pick up his eight Wimbledon title. 

Cilic who received a medical time out after losing the second set appeared to be at a loss against Federer, who has not dropped a set on his way to the finals at this year's Wimbledon. 

Federer's previous wins at Wimbledon have been 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012. 

The official said the ballot paper does have the name of Mishra but it is followed by the word "disqualified."  

On June 24, the EC had disqualified Mishra for three years over paid news charges, holding him guilty of not giving a true account of expenses incurred in the 2008 assembly polls.

Public support for President Donald Trump is dropping, a poll showed on Sunday, as he faces multiple setbacks over his stalled agenda and efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Nearly six months since he took office, Trump is facing a declining approval rating that has dropped from 42 per cent in April to 36 per cent, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll of 1,001 adults. Similarly, his disapproval rating has jumped five points to 58 per cent.

A total of 48 per cent of respondents said they "disapprove strongly" of the president's performance in office - a low threshold never reached by ex-presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, both Democrats, and only reached once by George W Bush, during his second term.

And 48 per cent also see American global leadership weakening since Trump entered the White House, while 27 per cent said it is stronger.

Most respondents (66 per cent) said they do not or only somewhat trust Trump in negotiating with foreign leaders, especially with Russian president Vladimir Putin (also 66 per cent). Of those, 48 per cent said they do not trust Trump "at all" in negotiations with Putin.

A day before the presidential election, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi today described the electoral contest as a fight against a "narrow-minded, divisive and communal vision".

Addressing opposition leaders in the presence of their presidential and vice presidential nominees - Meira Kumar and Gopal Krishna Gandhi respectively, she said, in these contests, the numbers may be against them but "the battle must be fought and fought hard".

   

"We cannot and must not let India be hostage to those who wish to impose upon it a narrow-minded, divisive and communal vision," she said.

According to the text of her speech, she said, "We must stand more aware than ever of who we are, what we fought for in our independence struggle and what future we want for ourselves.

"We must have confidence in the values we believe in. This election represents a clash of ideas, a conflict of disparate values. The election demands a vote of conscience to preserve the India that the Mahatma and that illustrious generation of freedom fighters, joined by thousands upon thousands of ordinary men and women, fought for," she said.

With heavy rains triggering flash floods in parts of Rayagada and Kalahandi districts, the Odisha government on Sunday sought the help of the army and the air force to rescue the marooned persons and urged the Centre to provide four helicopters to intensify relief and rescue operations.

After holding an emergency meeting here with officials, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said due to continuous downpour the water level of Nagabali and Kalyani rivers had risen and many places of Kalyansinghpur block in Rayagada district and Kalahandi district were inundated.

The state government sought the help of the army and the Indian Air Force to evacuate the marooned villagers. The IAF choppers will be used in Kalyansinghpur block, where people are trapped on rooftops of submerged houses.

The chief minister said while the situation is being closely monitored by senior officials, the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, Central Reserve Police Force and fire services units have been rushed to expedite rescue operations.

The BJP parliamentary board would meet tomorrow to pick the ruling NDA's vice presidential candiadate.

A parliamentary board member said the meeting is expected tomorrow evening.

An alliance of 18 opposition parties, including the Congress, has already announced Gopalkrishna Gandhi as its candidate for vice presidential poll scheduled for August 5.

July 18 is the last date for filing of nominations.

The electoral college for the election consists of 790 MPs of the two chambers of Parliament.

The ruling bloc enjoys an overwhelming majority in the electoral college and BJP has expressed confidence about garnering anywhere between 500 and 550 votes.

Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa is "analysing" the evidence against Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, sentenced to death by a military court, and will decide his appeal on merit, the army said.

Jadhav filed a mercy petition before Gen Bajwa last month, according to an Inter-Services Public Relations statement issued on June 22. The statement said the former Indian Navy officer had filed the petition after the Military Appellate Court rejected his appeal.

Pakistan army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor told reporters today that Gen Bajwa was "analysing the evidence against Jadhav. The army chief will decide on Jadhav's appeal on merit."

Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in April for his alleged involvement in espionage and terrorist activities. The International Court of Justice in The Hague in May halted his execution on India's appeal.

The Delhi Police was thrown into a tizzy when it was alerted by a man about a threat call about blowing up the Red Fort.

The call later turned out to be a hoax, officials said.

The matter was reported to the Begumpur police station around 7.30 pm yesterday. Later, the accused, who had made the call "just for fun", was nabbed, the police said.

Nitin Kumar, who informed the police about the call, recalled the almost three-hour long ordeal that he went through yesterday.

"I was in my digital marketing class when I got a call around 7 pm from a man, claiming to be from Pakistan.

"He said that there will be a bomb blast at the Red Fort around 8.30 pm. He also claimed that there is a bomb planted in a hotel in Connaught Place," Kumar said. 

It was a Delhi number from which the call was made, he said, adding that he alerted the police soon after.

Kumar said that Police Control Room vans rushed to his residence in Rohini within no time, making his mother worried.

Kumar said he was called to the Prashant Vihar police station since he was closer to it, and the caller was traced to a hotel in Paharganj.

Personnel from the Paharganj police station visited the hotel and arrested a 22-year-old man, identified as Mehfuz.

Mehfuz is a resident of Kishanganj in Bihar and was working as a manager in the hotel for the last couple of years.

He told the police that he had made the call just for "fun" and had randomly dialled a couple of numbers.

A day after a promotional event in Pune for the upcoming film Indu Sarkar had to be cancelled due to ruckus created by local Congress workers, an alleged repeat of their attack was reported in another Maharashtrian city. Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar said that he was forced to cancel today's press briefing in Nagpur as well. He also asked Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi if he approved of the "hooliganism" of Congress workers.

In his tweet, the director said, "Dear @OfficeOfRG after Pune I have 2 cancel today's PressCon at Nagpur. Do you approve this hooliganism? Can I have my Freedom of Expression?"

Local Congress workers yesterday barged into a Pune hotel where the filmmaker and the crew were staying and protested against the movie which is set in the backdrop of the Emergency and has characters inspired by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi.

The filmmaker was supposed to talk about his film but after constant disruptions the event had to be called off. Mr Bhandarkar said it was "baffling to see self-proclaimed custodians of freedom of expression creating huge ruckus."

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today met with the families of 39 Indians who have been kidnapped by the terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq in 2014.

She said on the day Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared Mosul liberated from the IS, she asked Minister of State for External Affairs General VK Singh to go to Erbil, a city in Iraq's Kurdistan region.

The fall of Mosul marked the end of the Iraqi half of the IS rule, which also includes territory in Syria.

Swaraj said sources in Iraq Mr Singh the missing Indians have been most likely kept in a jail in Badush in northern Iraq, where fighting is still going on.

"We called all family members of those who were abducted in Iraq. I have already met them nine-ten times, but this time the situation was different as the Iraqi prime minister declared that Mosul has been liberated from the ISIS. That very day I told VK Singh to go to Iraq and try to evacuate our people," Swaraj said.

Scores of Tamil Nadu farmers, who had grabbed eyeballs with their unique protest earlier this year, today landed in the national capital to resume their agitation for loan waiver and drought-relief package.

Around 70 cultivators were, however, detained when they tried to stage a demonstration near the prime minister's residence on Lok Kalyan Marg. They were later taken to Parliament Street police station.

"Our demands were not met as promised by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan. So we have decided to resume our protest for another 100 days," farmers' leader P Ayyakannu said.

The farmers from the southern state have been demanding a drought relief package of Rs 40,000 crore, farm loan waiver and setting up of Cauvery Management Board by the Centre.

They will join an indefinite protest after their counterparts, taking part in 'Kisan Mukti Yatra', reach Jantar Mantar here on July 18.

The group led by Ayyakannu had in March staged novel protests by holding human skulls outside the prime minister's house, stripping naked outside the president's and drinking urine. 

Union Minister Ananth Kumar quoting the PM said, "There is a widespread belief that cow is like mother but this should not let people take law in their own hands."

The comments come amid reports that the Opposition is all set to raise the heat on the government over issues like lynching incidents and vigilantism during the monsoon session of Parliament that begins on Monday. 

Earlier in June too, the PM had condemned cow vigilantism, saying, "Killing people in the name of gau bhakti is not acceptable. This is not something Mahatma Gandhi would approve. Lets all work together. Lets create the India of Mahatma Gandhis dreams. Lets create an India our freedom fighters would be proud of. No person in this nation has the right to take the law in his or her own hands."

National Award winning filmmaker Suman Ghosh plans to release his censorship controversy-mired documentary on Nobel laureate Amartya Sen online in a "couple of months" in its entirety, including four words that the Indian censor board has objected to.

The Argumentative Indian, originally scheduled for a 14 July release, was refused the green signal by the Indian censor board over the use of the words "cow", "Gujarat", "Hindu India" and "Hindutva", by Sen.

The hour-long documentary, structured as a free flowing conversation between Sen and his student and Cornell economics professor Kaushik Basu, has already been screened in New York and London. It had a special screening in Kolkata on 10 July.

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) officials in Kolkata verbally asked Ghosh to mute at least four words, including "cow" and "Gujarat", from Sen's interview in the film.

"I will do that (release the film online). I have some screenings organised abroad so I can't release it before that. It will take a couple of months. It will be there in its entirety," Ghosh said. 

Ahead of the Monsoon Session of the Parliament and the Presidential polls on Monday, the National Democratic Alliance government has convened an all-party meeting on Sunday to seek the Oppositions support for smooth conduct of proceedings in both the Houses. 

The government will face the Opposition a host of 18 parties on a host of issues including the Goods and Services Taxand the ongoing military stand-off with China. 

According to reports, Trinamool Congress, which has been involved in a blame-game with the BJP over the communal violence earlier this month in the North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal which it rules, boycotted the meeting. 

It is also expected that the Bharatiya Janata Party will discuss the name of its vice-presidential nominee during their Parliamentary party executive meeting in the evening.

Voting for electing the next President of India will take place on July 17, and the winner will be sworn in to office by the Chief Justice of India, in a time honoured ritual in the Central Hall of Parliament on July 25.

In between these fixed points of rituals of state, is a world of preparation, protocol and politics.

Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, the Indian Air Force chief, will begin a four-day official visit to France on Monday in an attempt to further strengthen the existing defence corporation between the two countries.

During his visit, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa is scheduled to hold bilateral discussions with senior military officials of the French armed forces.

In addition, the air chief who has flown the MiG 21 and Tejas, will also fly the Rafale plane during his visit. 

Back in September, India signed a 7.878 billion euros (Rs 59,630 crore) contract with France's Dassault Aviation to supply 36 Rafale jet fighters.

Amid the ongoing crisis in Bihar's ruling Grand Alliance,JD-U spokesperson Neeraj Kumar on Sunday said everything is all right and senior RJD leader Raghunath Jha has requested RJD chief Lalu Prasad and chief minister Nitish Kumar to sit together to solve the crisis.

"Mahagathbandhaan mein sab kutch theek thaak hai," Neeraj Kumar said.

The development comes after leaders of both the parties on Saturday targetted each other. JD-U leader Neeraj Kumar, in fact, on Sunday said, "Gathbandhan dharam mein kheench taan hota hai."

According to sources in the JD-U and RJD, leaders from both parties will now attack BJP rather than each other.

However, JD-U has called a meeting of its legislators and senior leaders at Nitish Kumar's official residence on Sunday evening to discuss issues related to the presidential polls on July 17.

Similarly, RJD and Congress legislators will meet to discuss the same.

Days after the ministry of external affairs said that diplomatic channels were being used to defuse the stand-off with China in Doklam in the Sikkim region, Chinese state media indicated on Saturday that there was no room for negotiations and withdrawal of Indian troops was the pre-condition for any diplomatic solution.

In a commentary, Chinas official press agency, Xinhua, which works directly under the state council, reiterated that the border line was the bottom line for Beijing. This is not the first time this particular phrase has been used by Chinas state media in articles, opinions and interviews with experts. It was used by Xinhua and Communist Party of China-run Peoples Daily in editorials last week.

India has repeatedly ignored Chinas call for pulling its border-crossing troops from Doklam area back to its own territory. However, turning a deaf ear to China will but worsen the month-long stand-off and put itself further into embarrassment, said the article.

India should not regard the existing situation as the same as or even similar to the previous two stand-offs in 2013 and 2014 near Ladakh, a disputed area between China, Pakistan and India in southeastern Kashmir. Diplomatic efforts led the troops frictions there to a well-arranged end. But this time it is a totally different case, it said.

The current stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops is considered the longest in almost three decades. It began on June 18, after Beijing said New Delhi had violated border agreements after Indian troops allegedly entered Doklam and stopped the Chinese Army from constructing a road. India maintained that the boundary is yet to be settled and asked China to desist from changing the status quo, referring to the road construction.

According to Xinhua, the June 18 incident marked the first time India crossed the only determined border between the two Asian countries. 

Many arguments and protests from China have failed to bring India back to reason. India has to know illegal stay of its troops in Doklam will by no means force a fait accompli there, and that it has to change its mind before things go even worse, said Xinhua.

The article, however, took note of Foreign Secretary S Jaishankars recent remarks as a positive sign. As an old Chinese saying goes, peace is most precious. It has been noticed that Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar recently has made positive remarks in Singapore, saying that India and China should not let differences become disputes. What China would like to see more are corresponding actions taken by India, it said.

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday took to Twitter to stress on the prevailing instability in the Kashmir Valley and blamed the Centre for aggravating the problem by taking "a maximalist position."

"On many occasions in the past I had cautioned that the Kashmir issue or problem (or by whatever name it is called) was a festering wound. The people of the Kashmir Valley are caught between the two maximalist positions. Just as the militants have taken a maximalist position that has to be rejected out of hand. The Central government has taken a maximalist position that has aggravated the problem. The casualties are the people of J-K (especially those in the Valley) and the future of the state," Chidambaram said in a series of tweets.

The Congress leader's tweets come a day after Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti pointed out that the instability in the Valley is not due to a lack of law and order, but due to few external dimensions, while also urging the entire nation to come together to resolve the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

"The instability in J-K is due to external dimensions, where our neighbouring country is also involved. There are internal dimensions too and they have been there for the past 70 years. I think these issues will only get resolved if all the parties come together and the entire nation stands together as they are doing in the matter of China," she said.

Maryam Mirzakhani, 40, who became the only woman to receive the highest honor in mathematics, died yesterday after battling with cancer.

In 2014, the Iran native and a Stanford University professor became the first woman to receive the highest honor Fields Medal, in mathematics and equal in reputation to a Nobel Prize.

In 1936, the International Mathematical Union established the award and has presented it to at least two people every four years since 1950. However, all 52 recipients before Mirazkhani were men, CNN reported.

"Maryam is gone far too soon, but her impact will live on for the thousands of women she inspired to pursue math and science," Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne said.

"Maryam Mirzakhani was an inspiration for me, my daughters and so many others. Gone far too soon, rest in peace," Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft Corporation said on Twitter. 

After the Mumbai Police filed a FIR against comedy group All India Bakchod co-founder Tanmay Bhat for posting a meme showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi using the Snapchat dog-face-filter, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and Trinamool Congress MP Derek O' Brien took on trollers by posting pictures using the same filter.

Tharoor was apparently prodded by the Twitterati to defend the AIB's freedom of expression, after which the Thiruvananthapuram MP took the controversy to another level.

The Congress leader took to his Twitter to post a picture of his 'dog-filter'ed face with the caption: "Attn all trolls: I took the #DogFilter challenge! @AllIndiaBakchod"

Derek O'Brien took to Instagram to post his picture and captioned it: "It's the weekend. Time for a little bit of fun."

This was in reply to a Twitter user who had asked O'Brien and Tharoor to be a "sport" and don the "dog-face".

The Mumbai Police Cyber Cell on Friday filed an FIR against Bhat for 'making fun of' nation's Prime Minister Modi.

AIB had on Thursday tweeted a picture of a Modi lookalike peering into his mobile phone at a railway station alongside an actual photograph of the PM, with props superimposed with the help of Snapchat's dog filter, an app.

The dog filter is a special effect application which allows users to add a dog's nose, ears and tongue over their faces while taking a selfie or on other photographs.

The post had a hashtag that apparently referred to Modi's frequent foreign visits.

The Muslim man with links to the Bharatiya Janata Party who was thrashed by alleged cow vigilantes in Maharashtra's Nagpur district four days ago was carrying beef, police have said.

The police had arrested four persons for brutally thrashing Salim Shaha, 34, a member of the BJP's Katol unit, on July 12 and sent the meat he was carrying to a forensic laboratory.

The lab report was "positive", i.e. it was beef, Superintendent of Police (Nagpur rural) Shailesh Balkawde told PTI yesterday.

Police will initiate further action against Shaha in accordance with the law, he said.

Meanwhile, the Nagpur (rural) unit president of the BJP, Rajiv Potdar, expressed shock at the findings.

It was shocking that Shaha has been found to be carrying beef that day, Potdar said, adding he would be dismissed from the party.

Stern action should be taken against him according to the law, but people must not take law in their own hands and resort to violence in such cases, Potdar said.

Shaha's mother had claimed that he was the head of the BJP's Katol tehsil minority morcha, while local leaders said he was a party member.

A group of tourists were allegedly assaulted and robbed by cattle transporters in Odisha's Rayagada after they asked them not to beat up the animals, police said.

The incident took place near Khedapada village on Friday when the tourists were returning after visiting tourist place nearby.

One of the tourists, K Venkateswaran Kannan, a resident of Hyderabad, lodged a complaint at Chandili police station.

Meanwhile in Delhi, a group of people protested outside Odisha Bhawan against the incident.

One of the protesters, Poonam claimed she tried to meet the resident commissioner on the issue but he refused to talk.

Rayagada SDPO Y J Rao said the complainant alleged that they had spotted a few persons beating cows while transporting them.

"When they intervened, the cow transporters attacked them," he said.

Kannan alleged that the accused hit him with an axe, pulled his wife, snatched his mobile phone and wallet, besides attacking his friends who had come to his help.

The tourists, who claim to be animal lovers, also approached District Collector Guha Poonam Tapas Kumar and sought her intervention.

"I have directed the police to take action against the attackers. The district has conducive environment for the tourists and their safety is our top priority," the collector said. 

A woman devotee, injured in the deadly militant attack on Amarnath pilgrims, succumbed at a hospital early today, taking the death toll in the incident to eight.

Lalita, 47, succumbed to injuries at the SKIMS Hospital in Srinagar, a police official said.

Bengali filmmaker Ashish Avikunthak on Saturday claimed that he was denied entry into a city mall for wearing a dhoti, which was denied by the mall authorities.

The Facebook post by the director, which triggered an outrage in the social media, said "Denying entry into the neo-colonial clubs of Kolkata is nothing new. But today I was denied entry into the .... mall because I was wearing dhoti (which I have been wearing for the last 26 years). On resisting and questioning I was told that we have orders because of security reasons to prohibit entry of people in

lungi and dhoti. I was eventually allowed in because I could argue in English and assert myself."

"This is unambiguously a new low for this city. Private clubs have always created hierarchies and distinctions because of clothing. Now public spaces are also threatened and a culture of segregation based on class is being practiced unhindered. I write this with a sense of deep disgust," he said.

When contacted Avikunthak told PTI, "What have I to say about the whole incident? Please go through my Facebook post which has narrated the entire consequence."

Avikunthak's companion Debaleena Sen told PTI, "We were about to enter the mall when Ashish was stopped by security guards who said he can't be allowed inside since he was wearing a dhoti. As we argued and Ashis spoke in English the mall officials came and allowed him in.

"Probably after hearing him speak in English they were assured that he belonged to higher social profile and can be allowed in. We immediately came out in protest."

Debleena claimed she was video recording the whole incident on her mobile, which the mall employees asked her not to. "This shows they want to hide their racist attitude."

The mall authorities when contacted denied the charges. They said the security personnel at the gate, who form the first ring of security at the mall, had asked the film director to wait and went to the supervisor to seek his opinion. He was then allowed in.

Social activist Shabnam Hashmi on Saturday approached the Delhi Police alleging that a man who claimed to be a police official has threatened to kill her in  an "encounter".

The police said there was no personnel at Lajpat Nagar police station by the name stated by Hashmi but will inquire into the matter.

She has written to police commissioner Amulya Patnaik and said the man who called her identified himself as sub-inspector Sandeep Malik from the Lajpat Nagar police station.

Hashmi is co-founder of NGO Pehchan, which runs sewing classes. She said a woman, who learnt sewing at her centre, told her that her husband got a call from police asking him to appear at the Lajpat Nagar police station.

The man, autorikshaw driver Mohd Haseen (38), got scared because the "policeman" did not tell him the reason and just asked him to appear at the police station at the earliest, she said.

Hashmi, in her letter to the commissioner, said when she called on the number to know the reason why Haseen was summoned, the "policeman" hurled abuses on her.

The social activist said she disconnected the call and downloaded a phone call recording application before calling back on the same number.

"In the initial conversation, this man was quite abusive. Since I did not have a call recorder on my phone, I disconnected the call and downloaded a call recorder," she said.

"I was directly threatened that I will be killed in an encounter and that there is the new law according to which whoever does not have an Aadhaar card and address proof should be culled out/surrounded and killed (sic)," she stated in her letter.

Delhi Police chief spokesperson Dependra Pathak said the matter will probed.

A museum in honour of late President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam will be inaugurated at Peikarambur area in Tamil Nadu's Rameswaram on July 27, Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan said.

     

The museum would come up on a 3.45 acre site and would also house a planetorium, he told reporters after inspecting ongoing works in the area.

      

Radhakrishnan hoped future generations would draw inspiration after visiting the museum and added that it would become a 'holy place' for one and all.

     

Referring to the vexed fishermen's issue, he said 42 boats of Indian fishermen had been released after the matter was taken up with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that another 100 would be released soon.

     

He said the Centre would give 750 boats to Tamil Nadu fishermen under a central government sponsored scheme.

     

The minister said steps were being taken by the prime minister to solve the problem of Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen straying into each nation's territorial waters.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Sunday asserted that a thorough probe is necessary regarding the alleged VIP treatment being provided to jailed All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary V Sasikala.

Sasikala.is currently lodged in Parappana Agrahara central prison over a corruption case.

"The report that has been presented by Deputy Inspector General (Prisons) D Roopa is indeed shocking. Like Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, a probe is necessary into the matter, after which necessary action needs to be taken," DMK spokesperson Saravanan told ANI.

Lashing out at his rival party, Saravanan alleged that this is not the first time such an incident has come to light, adding that the AIADMK believes money can get them out of any situation.

"This is not the first time such an incident is happening. Sasikala previously has faked illness and avoided prison term. In this sense, it is not at all surprising. The AIADMK's attitude is such that money can be used to bail them out of any crisis, this attitude is of extreme concern," he said.

A recent report by DIG (Prisons) D Roopa had asserted that a bribe worth Rs. 2 crore was given to the prison officials by Sasikala in order to avail special facilities in Parappana Agrahara central prison.