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Deshmukh, Patil assume office in Maharashtra

         Mumbai: Senior Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh was today sworn-in as the 24th chief minister of Maharashtra. R R Patil of the NCP was sworn-in as the state's deputy chief minister. Maharashtra Governor Mohammed Fazal administered the oath of office and secrecy to both at a simple ceremony at the Raj Bhavan here. Both Deshmukh and Patil took the oath in Marathi amidst loud cheers by their respective party workers. Deshmukh replaces Sushil Kumar Shinde who led the DF government for around two years. Patil, who held the Home portfolio in the previous DF government, took over from senior NCP leader Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil. Deshmukh and Patil were elected as the legislative party leaders of Congress and NCP respectively on October 29. The Congress-NCP led alliance had bagged 141 seats in the 288- member Assembly and stormed back to power. The ruling alliance has submitted a list of 165 legislators to the Governor while staking its claim.

S Laxminarayanan is inter-state council secretary (Go To Top)

        New Delhi: S Laxminarayanan, an IAS of the 1970 cadre, presently Additional Secretary, Department of Information and Technology has been appointed Secretary, Inter-State Council Secretariat in the Ministry of Human Affairs in place of former Cabinet Secretary Kamal Pande who retired on Sunday. Baleshwar Rai, presently Additional Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment has been appointed Secretary of the Department of Official Languages in place of Anupam Dasgupta.

Hyderabad tense after boy's death (Go To Top)

      Hyderabad: Tension prevailed in the old city of Hyderabad throughout the day on Monday, a day after a youth was killed while trying to prevent the arrest of an accused in the Haren Pandya murder case. Violence broke out in Hyderabad's Saidabad locality when the body of Mujahid, 26, was being taken out in a procession. Mujahid was killed in police firing when he tried to prevent a Gujarat police team from arresting POTA-accused Maulana Naseeruddin on Sunday night. A non-bailable warrant had been issued against Naseeruddin in connection with the Haren Pandya murder case. Naseeruddin's supporters are now demanding action against the Gujarat police officer, Narendra Kumar Amin, who opened fire. "They came to execute a court order. Some people tried to stop that and even attacked the police party. So, they say they fired in self-defence. A probe has been ordered,'' said S R Sukumara, DGP, Andhra Pradesh. Naseerudin was arrested by the Hyderabad police in August this year on charges of being involved in a Lashkar-e-Toiba plot to foment communal trouble. The Hyderabad police have accused him of making inflammatory speeches and inciting youth to carry out subversive activities. Naseeruddin has already been taken to Gujarat.

RSS urges BJP brass to stay true to Hindutva plank (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: The RSS today told BJP president L K Advani to ensure that his party remained true to the sangh Parivar's Hindutva plank, which it described as its core ideology. "All political outfits have a right to their ideology. BJP also has that right. Now Advani will see how to handle the allies," said RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav. The unambiguous message came after a two-hour long meeting between Advani, former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and top RSS leaders at the Sangh's headquarters in Delhi today. Advani is now scheduled to meet JD(U) leaders, who have threatened to end their alliance with the NDA if the BJP rejuvenates the Hindutva plank. Party General Secretary Arun Jaitley confirmed on Monday that Advani would be meeting with JD (U) President George Fernandes to sort out the issue.

PM calls in cabinet for dinner: performance review (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has invited his Cabinet colleagues for dinner this evening and is also expected to use the occasion to review their performance. National Advisory Committee chairman Sonia Gandhi would also be attending the meeting.

Naidu to join BJP Parliamentary Board (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: Former BJP president M.Venkaiah Naidu will be part of the BJP's parliamentary board and a member of the party's Central Election Committee. However, Naidu will not have an official deignation. Sushma Swaraj has been appointed as one of the party's spokespersons, the others being Manvendra Singh, son of senior leader Jaswant Singh, Arun Jaitley and Yashwant Sinha. Karnataka BJP leader Ananth Kumar has been nominated to the Central Election Committee.

Witness identifies 5 Best Bakery accused (Go To Top)

      Mumbai: In a significant development, an eyewitness to the infamous Best Bakery burning and rape incident on Monday identified five of the 21 accused in the case. Raees Khan deposed before designated judge Abhay Thipsay, saying that the five he had identified were definitely part of the alleged riotous crowd that attacked the bakery on March 1, 2002, killing 14 persons. Among those identified were three persons who were earlier identified by first eyewitness Taufel Ahmed Habibullah. Last week, Taufel had identified seven people. A Gujarat court had earlier acquitted all 21 since not a single witness had turned up to give evidence against them. The Best Bakery case was shifted out of Gujarat after witnesses complained that they were too scared to testify as long as the case was being heard inside the state.

Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by six wickets (Go To Top)

      Karachi: Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by six wickets in the Karachi Test at the National Stadium on Monday levelling the Test series by 1-1. Pakistan needed 137 runs in their second innings to win the Test match. However, they lost four wickets before achieving the victory target. However, Shoaib Malik and Abdul Razzaq lead the team to the series levelling victory by six wickets in their fifth wicket unbeaten partnership. Malik scored 53 runs in 60 balls while Abdul Razzaq made 35 runs on 71 deliveries. Govt could review Special Powers Act: PM New Delhi, Nov.1 (ANI): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that the government could consider reviewing the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act and replacing it with a more humane law. The Prime Minister made this statement during a meeting with the Apunba Lup, a Manipuri body consisting of 32 social organisations, this evening. The group has been heading an agitation against the Act in Manipur, where they accuse security forces of human rights violations by misusing the Act. The Prime Minister will visit Manipur later this month. Ahead of the meeting, the Manipur government released 36detainees, 18 of whom were detained under the National Security Act. On its part, the Apunba Lub lifted the ban it had imposed on teaching Hindi and the National Cadet Corps in the state.

Ganguly finally heads for Kolkata (Go To Top)

      Mumbai: Indian captain Sourav Ganguly was today officially ruled out of the fourth Test against Australia beginning here on November 3. Team sources said that Ganguly would now see a specialist to find out the reason for his upper thigh strain before returning home to Kolkata. ''Saurav is not fit and would miss the Test. It was on the cards last evening itself, but we waited to see how it goes today. He is to see a specialist today in Mumbai to find the source (of the problem). He will return home before the start of the Test,'' Coach John Wright told reporters.

Kalmadi can't let go of IOA (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: Suresh Kalmadi was on Monday unanimously re-elected the President of the Indian Olympic Association for a record third consecutive term, notwithstanding the doping scandals and the poor show by the country in this year's Olympics in Athens, Greece. Kalmadi, who was also authorised by the IOA's General Body to select his team of office bearers, nominated incumbent Randhir Singh as the Secretary General while replacing Treasurer Raj Chopra, who was made the vice-president, by A K Matoo. The General Body of the IOA also nominated Madhya Pradesh Sports Minister Ramlal Thakur as the Chef-de-Mission for the 2006 Doha Asian Games and B K Saha for the 2006 Commonwealth Games to be held in Melbourne, Kalmadi told reporters after the meeting held at the recently built Indian Olympic Bhavan here.

IOC nets 3 billion dollar Iran gas project (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: The Indian Oil Corporation has reportedly clinched a three billion dollar deal to develop a gas block in the gigantic South Pars gas field of Iran and sell LNG from it. According to news reports received here, IOC will partner Iran's Petropars in bringing to production one of the 30 phases planned to develop the 500 sq mile South Pars field that is estimated to hold 436 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves Official sources were quoted as saying that the two would also put up a liquefaction plant in South Iran which would be designed to produce nine million tonnes per annum of LNG to be exported to India and other countries. The Indian company will have 40 per cent stake in the upstream development with the remaining being with Petropars. Petropars is a subsidiary of National Iranian Oil Co. The NIOC has 60 per cent stake in Petropars while Iran's IDRO (Industrial Development and Renovation Organisation) Pension Fund has the remainder.