BSP
to go alone in Bihar, Jharkhand: Mayawati
Patna:
Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) president Mayawati on
Friday said her party would contest all the assembly seats
in Bihar and Jharkhand on its own. "BSP will not enter into
alliance with any party and field candidates in all 243
assembly seats in Bihar as well as all the 81 in Jharkhand
going to polls in February," she told the 'Parivartan Rally'
of the party. The party was getting "tremendous support"
from dalits and even upper caste people in Bihar and "We
will prove in the assembly elections that BSP is no push
over in the state," she said. In the last assembly polls
in Bihar in 2000 five persons won on BSP tickets, but all
of them including the party's state president Mahabali Singh
switched to the ruling RJD and were made ministers in the
Rabri Devi cabinet. She said BSP would decide on its poll
strategy in Haryana in the next two-three days.
Madras
HC reserves Kanchi seer's bail orders till Jan 3 (Go
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Chennai:
Madras High Court on Friday reserved orders for January
3 on the bail application filed on behalf of Kanchi Acharya
Jayendra Saraswati seeking his release on bail in the two-year-old
Radhakrishnan attack case. Justice R Balasubramanian reserved
orders after hearing elaborate arguments from the prosecution
and the defence. Senior counsel KTS Tulsi argued for the
prosecution, while M Sathayanarayanan appeared for the seer.
Meanwhile, the judge posted for Janaury 18 hearing in the
bail petition of eight other accused, also in the attack
case. Auditor S Radhakrishnan, a former associate of the
Kanchi Mutt, was attacked in September 2002. The prosecution
case is that he was attacked at the instance of the seer,
who believed that Radhakrishanan was responsible for circulating
anonymous letters about him.
New
Air Chief Tyagi takes over (Go
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New
Delhi: Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi took over as the new
Chief of the Air Staff today. He succeeds Air Chief Marshal
S Krishnaswamy who retired today. Having actively participated
in both the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars, Tyagi was commissioned
into the fighter stream of the IAF on December 3, 1963.
He also holds the distinction of having commanded three
Air Force Commands, Western, Central and Gandhinagar-based
South Western command. A recipient of Param Vishist Seva
Medal in 2003, and Ati Vishist Seva Medal, Tyagi has the
experience of flying MiGs, Jaguars, SU- 30s and a variety
of transport aircraft and helicopters. A graduate of the
Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Tyagi has attended
a variety of specialised courses in India and abroad.
Ex-DMK
minister murdered (Go
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Chennai:
Former Rajya Sabha member and ex-DMK Law Minister Aladi
Aruna and his friend were killed by armed assailants at
Aladivilai near Alankulam in Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district
on Friday morning. Police said Aruna and two of his friends
Ponraj, a school teacher, and Chakratis were strolling along
the Puthupatti road when three men on two motorcycles fired
gunshots at and attacked both Aruna and Ponraj with sickles
near a petrol bunk, killing both on the spot. Chakratis
managed to escape. The villagers of Alangulam and 19 other
villages nearby blocked the highway to Tenkasi in protest
against the killing. Vehicular traffic was paralysed and
tension ran high. Police suspect that the attack may have
been the result of personal enmity in connection with the
murder of a local community leader some years ago. Elaborate
security and intensive patrolling was being made in and
around Alangulam area, police said. Aruna had resigned from
the DMK during the recent Lok Sabha elections when he was
denied ticket by the party high command. He is survived
by his wife, five sons and a daughter. The bodies have been
taken to Government hospital at Tenkasi for post-mortem.
Mumbai
hooch toll rises to 81 (Go
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Mumbai:
The toll in the suburban Vikhroli illicit liquor tragedy
near Mumbai, rose to 81 on Friday. Two more deaths were
reported from hospitals, while over 100 people were still
undergoing treatment. Twenty are said to be in serious condition
at Rajawadi, Sion and KEM Hospitals.
