The Election Commission has issued a show cause notice to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav over his bribery remark. The UP CM has bee asked to explain his remark by 5 pm latest on March 7. 

Down comes the Commissioning pennant. #INS Viraat Decommissioned

Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi is in the news and once again for all the wrong reasons. Referring to the new blessings in Karan Johar's life -- twins (a boy and a girl) through surrogacy, Abu Azmi today asked, "Why didn't Karan Johar get married? He is old now. Can't he get married? If he had any medical issue, he could have adopted. Why this surrogacy theatrics?"


This comes a day after Karan Johar took to twitter to announce to the world that he had welcomed two children in his life through surrogacy.

"I am ecstatic to share with you all two of the most beautiful additions to my life, my children, and lifelines Roohi and Yash. I feel blessed to be a parent to theses pieces of my heart," Karan had announced on Sunday.


This is not the first time Azmi has made objectionable statements. Reacting to the assault on women on the New Year's Eve in Bengaluru, Azmi said, he blamed the 'attire' of the women for attacks. "In these modern times, the more skin women show, the more they are considered fashionable. If my sister or daughter stays out beyond sunset celebrating December 31 with a man who isn't their husband or brother, that's not right," Abu Azmi had said, adding that "if there's gasoline, there will be fire. If there's spilt sugar, ants will gravitate towards it for sure".

Claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "grown old" and must be "feeling tired", Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today said his party and ally SP would form a "government of youth" in Uttar Pradesh.


This government of youth, he claimed, will make UP "the factory of the world" and even former first lady of the USA Michelle Obama would find 'Made in Jaunpur' embossed over her kitchen utensils.


"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has grown old, and hence a government of the youth will be formed in UP. And this government will make the state -- the factory of the world. Products with 'Made in Uttar Pradesh' embossed on them will be made available throughout the world," he said.


Continuing his jibe, Rahul claimed that since Modi has grown old, he must be feeling tired. "I told Akhilesh that we must extend some help to Modiji. Let's give him some time...some moments of peace. You (Akhilesh) become the Chief Minister, and he (Modi) would get some rest," he said. Taking a dig at the PM's roadshows in Varanasi, Rahul said, "Repeated re-takes of Modiji's film are taking place." In four days, there have been four re-takes, but things did not materialise, he said. "Two days ago there was a roadshow, it did not yield desirable results, then there was a roadshow yesterday, it too did not result in anything positive. I heard that today Modiji is walking on foot," said Rahul, taking a swipe.


Continuing his attack, he said that Modiji's film of 'Achhe Din' has flopped and will not be available for public viewing. "In fact, Modiji is afraid, and hence for the last three days he has been camping in Varanasi," he alleged.


In his speech, Rahul said that five years from now, if a farmer from the state goes to the US, he would find that the phones available there are manufactured in UP. "We would emboss 'Made in Uttar Pradesh' over it, and whichever shop he visits, the entire stock would be from UP," Gandhi said.


Referring to the former US First Lady, Rahul said, "When Obama's wife would be cooking food in her kitchen, she would admire the utensils. After admiring the cooking utensils she should read the lines 'Made in Jaunpur' embossed over them."

Congress National Spokesperson Manish Tewari, in his book Decoding A Decade -- The Politics of Policymaking, details how the United Progressive Alliance government functioned, how it could have saved the blushes and how it was in many ways better than the present Narendra Modi government. Tiwari spoke to Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Mumbai. Read the interview here.

Rishi Kapoor is again in news for something that he does always- unabashed replies to trolls or online criticism.

The actor has now abused a woman on Twitter, who was trolling him.

It all started when Senior Kapoor posted a quiz asking his followers to guess what is common between him and Karan Johar.

While some gave the right answer, others trolled him.

Instead of ignoring them, the 64-year-old messaged them personally and abused them.

While many started criticising the actor, a woman claimed that this is not the first time he is using curse words.

She posted the screenshot of the message received from Rishi Kapoor.

No bidder turns up for prime real estate assets of Vijay Mallya's defunct Kingfisher Airlines in Mumbai and Goa during auction by lenders.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is no longer crying Ram Mandir (since there is no masjid to demolish any more); the Samajwadi Party is talking laptops and expressways rather than 'social justice' and job quotas; and Mayavati is promising development and not revenge of the oppressed castes. But for all that, the flavour and the fault-lines that animated the heartland state more than two-and-a-half decades ago seem to have returned with a vengeance. And so have the possibilities of fresh realignments, new coalitions between former partners-turned-bitter adversaries to take on an old foe in new clothes. Read Manini Chatterjee's piece in the Telegraph.

Former BCCI president Anurag Thakur renders unqualified and unconditional apology in the Supreme Court.

Minister of State (MoS) for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region Jitendra Singh on Monday said the so-called 'Kashmir-centric leaders' with separatist leanings instigate poor children to become stone pelters and sacrifice their lives for the so-called 'jihad', whereas they themselves have lodged their children in 'safe havens' in metropolitan cities outside the Valley.


Launching a scathing attack on what he termed as the 'duplicity' of the Kashmiri leaders, Singh said that recent developments in the Valley have made the youth more awakened and, therefore, it was time to unmask these leaders.


"It is also an opportunity for the youth of Kashmir, who are already much more awakened than before to see through this duplicity and also call upon this Kashmir-centric leaders that if they are indeed as sincere as they claim to be to the so-called freedom struggle, then, why don't they offer their own children to become stone pelters and risk their lives?" he told ANI.

Der Spiegel, one of Germany's most well-read publications has this on its latest cover. It's Trump's face merged with Russia's president Vladimir Putin. Or Putin's face with Trump's hair. The cover states: "How much of Putin is in Trump?"

Launching a blistering attack on the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said the former has done a lot of 'Mann ki Baat' and now it is time for him to do some 'Kaam ki Baat'.


"He has done a lot of 'Mann ki Baat' but somehow people could not understand his 'Mann ki Baat'. We would just like to tell Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he has done enough of 'Mann ki Baat' but now it's time for him to do some 'Kaam ki Baat'," Akhilesh said while addressing a rally in Jaunpur.


Terming Prime Minister Modi's back-to-back rallies in Varanasi as a sign of 'desperation', Akhilesh said the BJP does not have any agenda and that the people must not believe them.


Escalating his attack on the Prime Minister, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said while the former was yet to fulfill his promise of 'acche din', the Samajwadi Party government had done a lot of developmental work in the state, including ambulance services, dedicated 100 number for police, medical college, constructions of roads etc.


"The people who promised 'acche din' are nowhere to be seen. The people have failed to understand Prime Minister's Mann ki Baat," he added.


Claiming that the Samajwadi government has managed to give over 22 hours of power in cities and 14-18 hours of electricity in villages, Akhilesh said "Even in Kashi, which is the constituency of the Prime Minister, we gave 24 hours of electricity."


Mocking Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, Akhilesh said people slept in her rally while she was reading long speeches."Who will believe such a leader who created her own statues across the state...beware of my bua, she could join hands with BJP at any time," he warned.


On the last day of campaigning in the marathon Uttar Pradesh elections, star campaigners will today make a final pitch for votes in multiple rallies.

PM Modi addressing a rally at the Rohaniya Assembly segment falling under his Lok Sabha constituency. Highlights...


"Being raised in a poor family, I am aware of the hardships poor face. We would take every step that uplifts them. I have a dream of doubling farmer incomes by 2022. We have brought the Soil Health Card. We are training our farmers using scientific farming methods.

"The UP government is anti-farmer. Why is it that farmers don't benefit from the Fasal Bima Yojana? Why they don't help farmers in distress? 


"We want poor households to have access to clean fuel. We aim to provide 5 crore families with LPG connections in 3 years.

Pakistan's former national security adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani today said the 26/11 Mumbai attack was carried out by a terror group based in Pakistan and called it a "classic" example of cross-border terror. At the same time, he, however, said the Pakistani government had no role in the attack. Durrani was speaking at a conference on combating terrorism at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis. 26/11 Mumbai strike, carried out by a terror group based in Pakistan, was a classic trans-border terrorist event, he said.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has handed over the five visit reports on the health of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to the Tamil Nadu government. The papers were handed over in New Delhi today by V Srinivas, Deputy Director Administration AIIMS to Dr J Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary Health & Family Welfare, Govt of Tamil Nadu.

At the request of Government of Tamil Nadu, AIIMS had deployed a team of senior specialists to visit Chennai five times between October 5, 2016 and December 6, 2016 under the leadership of Dr GC Khilnani, pulmonologist. The Tamil Nadu government requested AIIMS on March 5, 2017 for handing over the visit notes of the AIIMS delegation to Chennai for their official records.

Jayalalithaa died on December 5.

SC notice to Centre, RBI, on plea alleging that people are not being allowed to deposit demonetised currency notes till March 31, 2017 as promised. SC fixes the petitions on demonetisation for further hearing on March 10.

The RBI conditions for exchange of defunct notes for those, including non-resident Indians, who failed to do so till December 30, 2015, the last day for depositing the invalid currency notes in banks are:

1. Resident Indian citizens who were abroad from November 9 to December 30 can avail this facility up to March 31, 2017.

2.  NRI citizens, who were abroad during this period, can exchange their defunct notes up to June 30, 2017.

The Supreme Court will deliver its final orders on the Babri Masjid demolition on March 22.

The court said it will not accept discharge of BJP leader LK Advani and 12 others on technical grounds.

This means conspiracy charges against Advani and others may be revived in the decades-old Babri mosque demolition case.

The order on March 22 will reveal whether or not Advani and other leaders will face charges.

Advani and a dozen others were discharged by a court of conspiracy charges and the main case against Karsevaks or Hindu activists accused of razing the 16th century mosque in Ayodhya in December 1992 is pending in the Lucknow trial court.

The court was hearing the CBI's appeal against the dropping of conspiracy charges against Advani and others

On the final day of campaign for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be holding a rally in predominantly rural Rohaniya Assembly segment falling under his Lok Sabha constituency.


This will be the third consecutive day of electioneering by the Prime Minister in Varanasi. Since Friday, Modi has addressed as many as three public meetings and taken out two processions in open vehicles. The Congress has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission that prior permission had not been sought for Friday's "roadshow", taken out hours before a similar show of strength by Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav.


The BJP has maintained that these were not "roadshows" but "Jan Sampark yatras" and there was no breach of model code of conduct as the PM merely waved at the cheering crowds, without uttering a word, on his way to a temple on Friday and the venue of his rally yesterday.


Today's rally appears strategically timed and placed as Modi will deliver his speech when less than a quarter of the day will be left before campaign comes to a close at 5 PM.


Rohaniya houses Jayapur, the first village to be adopted by the PM under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. The assembly segment had come into being after the delimitation of constituencies in 2008.


It has stuck out like a sore thumb for the BJP in Varanasi, which is otherwise considered a party stronghold. In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Murli Manohar Joshi won the seat for the BJP though the party trailed in Rohaniya behind the candidates of Samajwadi Party, BSP and Apna Dal, one of the reasons why his victory margin remained a slim 18,000 votes.


In the 2012 assembly polls, the BJP finished a distant fourth with its candidate securing a paltry 9.67 per cent of votes and forfeiting his deposit.


Wary of the tricky nature of this assembly segment, the party entered into a tie-up with Apna Dal (AD), just before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.The AD enjoys a following among the Kurmis, who form a major chunk of voters. AD's Anupriya Patel was the sitting MLA from the seat and she went on to win from Mirzapur in the Lok Sabha polls riding the Modi wave. Her party, though lost Rohaniya in the ensuring

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to allow a plea by Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Gayatri Prajapati's seeking a stay on his arrest and asked him to approach the concerned court. Prajapati, who has been absconding since February 27, had approached the  apex court asking for a stay on his arrest.


After the police failed to trace him, Prajapati's passport was impounded and a non-bailable warrant was issued against him. Meanwhile, on Sunday, Governor Ram Naik also wrote a letter to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav asking him why Prajapati was still continuing as a minister in his cabinet.

The recent attack on a woman actor in Kerala has shaken the state. Both government and employers, including the film industry, are accountable on women's safety. Read more

The Election Commission (EC) has prohibited exit polls for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections till 5.30 p.m. on March 9 following the death of the Samajwadi Party candidate for the Alapur seat, in the wake of which polling, originally scheduled for February 27, has been pushed back to Thursday, an official said.


State Chief Electoral Officer T. Venkatesh said on Monday that if any media organisation published or broadcast exit polls before the stipulated deadline it would be treated as violation of the Model Code of Conduct and strictly dealt with.


The earlier deadline of the exit polls was 30 minutes after the conclusion of the staggered seven-phase polls on March 8.


Voting in Uttar Pradesh began on February 11 and was scheduled to conclude on Wednesday after a hectic, long drawn and caustic campaigning by various political parties.


Results of the 403 state assembly seats would be announced on March 11.
Hectic preparations were underway across the state for the counting of votes. The Electronic Voting Machines are stored under heavy security in the 75 districts of the state.

PM Modi offers prayers at Gadhwaghat Ashram in Varanasi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah will continue their campaign out Varanasi. The PM was at a gaushala at Gadhwa ghat Ashram in Varanasi this morning.

Modi will be spending the third consecutive day at his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi today campaigning for the Assembly election which has now transformed into a do-or-die battle for all the major parties. The last of the seven-phase voting is scheduled to be held on March 8. The PM will address a public rally in Rohaniya, about 200 km from Varanasi, before returning to New Delhi late in the evening.  

On the last day of campaigning in the marathon Uttar Pradesh elections, star campaigners will today make a final pitch for votes in multiple rallies. UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, seeking a second term in UP, will address seven rallies through the day.


40 assembly constituencies in eastern UP, including five in Varanasi, will vote in the final round of the seven-phase UP assembly election on Wednesday. Votes will be counted on Saturday, March 11.    

The UP assembly election, a contest between the BJP, the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance and the BSP, is seen as a bellwether for the 2019 national election.   


On Saturday, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav along with ally Rahul Gandhi of the Congress too held a roadshow in Varanasi almost crossing the path of PM Modi. 

At least five Pakistan Army soldiers and more than 10 militants have reportedly been killed in a terrorist attack on three border posts along Afghasnistan in Mohmand Agency on Sunday night.


Pakistan army's military media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement that last night terrorists from across the border attempted physical attack on three Pakistan border posts in Mohmand Agency.

"In exchange of fire five soldiers embraced martyrdom and over 10 terrorists were reportedly killed," Dawn quoted the ISPR statement as saying. "Effective presence, vigilance and response repulsed terrorists attempt," it added.

Varanasi: PM Narendra Modi at Gadhwa ghat Ashram

Republican US lawmakers expect to unveil this week the text of long-awaited legislation to repeal and replace the Obamacare healthcare law, one of President Donald Trump's top legislative priorities, a senior Republican congressional aide told Reuters on Sunday.


Since taking office in January, Trump has pressed his fellow Republicans who control Congress to act quickly to dismantle former Democratic President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act and pass a plan to replace it, but lawmakers in the party have differed on the specifics.


Democrats have warned that Republicans risk throwing the entire US healthcare system into chaos by repealing the 2010 law that was passed by congressional Democrats over united Republican opposition. Republicans condemn it as a government overreach, and Trump has called it a "disaster."

Alarmed by incidents of the recent killings of Indian citizens in the United States, the Sikh community in Washington DC has expressed their concerns and conveyed the need to prevent such incidents and protect the Indian community.


"The Sikh community in United States is saddened by the incident in Kent Washington. A Sikh gentleman was shot in the arm. He was told to "go back to your own country. That has really created a heightened sense of alert and concern throughout the United States. It's the similar situation," said Dr Rajwant Singh, Founder and Chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education.


Asserting that there is deep concern for the safety of the community members, Singh said it's very important that the national leadership comes forward and make a very powerful and strong statement against these kinds of hateful acts.


"Our heart goes to all the people who have faced similar circumstances. An Indian-American was killed in Kansas just few days ago and the Jewish community has seen the rise of threats against the community and their centres. So this is not the American that we have always felt so proud of. We feel America is a great country but there are some fringe elements who have now come out and they are trying to create hate among communities and against minorities," he added.

In battleground Varanasi, Akhilesh-Rahul's joint press conference cancelled. The Congress party says the press meet has been cancelled because Rahul's plane has not been allowed to land because the airport is closed due to PM's departure.


Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday held a road show in Varanasi on the sidelines of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit.


Political heat picked up in Varanasi as Akhilesh's wife Dimple Yadav joined in the medga road show, which witnessed a huge crowd cheering for both the leaders.

The Samajwadi Party-Congress road show began from 'Kachehri chauraha' area and will culminate at the 'Girjaghar chauraha'.

Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati also held a rally at Jaunpur where Prime Minister Modi also addressed a rally.

Prime Minister Modi arrived in Varanasi this morning and offered prayers at Kashi Vishwanath temple after a massive road show.

He also visited the Kaal Bhairav temple before leaving for Jaunpur where he held an election rally.

"Uttar Pradesh's voters have already given majority to BJP. We will form government in Uttar Pradesh, will waive loans of small farmers," he said.

Mayawati, while holding a rally on the outskirts around Rohaniya said, "BJP and Samajwadi-Congress are competing for second and third places in Uttar Pradesh."

The BSE Sensex staged a smart recovery by about 217 points to top the 29,000-mark in early trade today as fresh buying by investors led to widespread gains amid a mixed trend in other Asian markets.


The broader NSE Nifty too followed suit, going past the 8,900-mark. The 30-share index, which had lost 152.04 points in the previous two sessions, recovered sharply by 216.60 points, or 0.75 per cent, to trade at 29,049.05.


Brokers said that besides buying by retail investors, pumping of funds into the market by domestic institutional investors too contributed to the recovery. Stocks of auto, banking, PSU, oil & gas, power, capital goods, FMCG, healthcare, realty and metal led the gains.

This is what INS Viraat looked like in its previous birth. HMS Hermes was commissioned by the British Royal Navy in 1959. In 1986, the Indian Navy purchased it and named it INS Viraat

An earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter Scale has hit northwestern Jammu & Kashmir region.