'The Congress is a
party of sycophants'
V Ramamurthy, former Union minister and outspoken Congressman, on Sonia Gandhi, the Congress organisational poll and a likely general election.
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Pawar won't withdraw from race
''Those who are worried about the future of the Congress and its survival will support me,'' he declared.
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Probe judicial records on terrorism: Gill
The former director general of the Punjab police said the judicial officers who failed to discharge their constitutional obligation during the period of terrorism should be taken to task.
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Give them quota, only women can save India!
N Sathiya Moorthy on why Parliament needs to pass the controversial Women's Bill.
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What's wriggly, 4 inches long, and cures asthma?
Every year, on June 7, about 50,000 people from all over the world travel to Hyderabad for the fish cure.
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MAY 31

Advantage Sonia
Sitaram Kesri and Sharad Pawar have offered to withdraw from the electoral fray if Sonia Gandhi takes over the reins of the Congress party.
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Laloo threatens to sack 'defiant' JD poll official
The Janata Dal chief on Friday issued a show-cause notice to national returning officer P K Samantray for not accepting his proposal to hold elections at Patna.
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Punjab police may revolt against Badal government: Bhattal
The former chief minister told the Centre that senior police officials were feeling suffocated due to the state government's harassment.
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Afghan envoy claims Pak army, ISI backing Taliban
He claimed hundreds of Pakistan defence personnel had joined the Taliban forces to take control of a number of provinces of Afghanistan.
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Taliban war cries give Afghan neighbours sleepless nights
Of the three central Asian republics that border Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan feel threatened by the emergence of a fundamentalist government in Kabul.
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Future rivalry between India and China is likely to be economic, not military
Gaurav Kampani on why India must exercise nuclear restraint.
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Breathless Kathmandu gasps for tourist revenues
Once famous for its natural beauty, the city has turned into an urban slum.
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MAY 30

Hawala fiasco bails out Gujral

The Central Bureau of Investigation's failure to corroborate charges against prominent politicians in the sensational Jain hawala case has forced the Inder Kumar Gujral government to withhold permission to prosecute a number of former public servants in the controversial Bofors scandal.
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Kesri will have a cakewalk if Pawar gets his pound of flesh
Pawar has reportedly flung the gauntlet to retain his bargaining power in the post-poll scenario.
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Will justice ever be done?
The Samba spying case remains a dark chapter in the Indian army's history.
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Laloo finds serious irregularities in the electoral lists for JD polls
The Dal chief, who is in the fray to retain his seat, said he had brought these discrepancies to returning officer P K Samant Ray's notice, urging him to rectify it before the polls.
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Pakistan violates Indian airspace the most
Defence sources say of the total 34 violations in 1996 and 1997, 25 were from Pakistani planes.
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BJP woos Congress, MJP factions to topple Vaghela
The party is not averse to supporting the Janata Dal (Gujarat), which is now part of the Congress, if it decides to form the government.
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Film on child prostitution on DD irks viewers, writers in Kerala
Viewers are upset because the film dealt with child prostitution, writers are angry because DD apologises for a clean, titillation-free exposé
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MAY 29

Look, Who's Talking!

Sharad Pawar decides to challenge Sitaram Kesri for the Congress presidency.
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Defence ministry moves to plug brain drain in armed forces
Rising brain drain in the Defence Research and Development Organisation, and an acute shortage of officers and soldiers in the armed services has forced the defence ministry to provide some incentives to defence personnel entrusted with the country's security.
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Arjun, Dhawan, Scindia, Tiwari cleared in hawala case
A Delhi court finds another lot of politicians innocent of wrongdoing in the political scandal.
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Mayawati provokes BJP to consolidate vote banks
The Uttar Pradesh chief minister creates seven new districts and names them after dalit leaders in just two months, much to the BJP's dismay.
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'Jinnah regarded Gandhi as representing traditional Hinduism in its opposition to the Muslim faith'
Alan Campbell-Johnson is in sparkling form on the rediff Chat. Don't miss the transcript!
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Delhi high court finds 'highly inexplicable' words in Tanwar's post-mortem
It is surprising that there was no smell or putrification of the body, said the judges.
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'Sharief's coming has worsened law and order in Pakistan'
However, the majority still believe his government will deliver, given time; but are alarmed at the increasing sectarian violence. In the past four months, clashes between the militant Sunni and Shiite Muslims have left more than 50 dead.
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MAY 28

'Sonia will emerge as the undisputed leader''
Says K Karunankaran, one of many Congress leaders angry with Kesri's attempts to reduce the organisational elections to a farce.
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Advani spares rivals, keeps options open
As the Swarna Jayanthi Rath reaches Tamil Nadu, the BJP chief gives amples clues that he hopes to negotiate with the DMK, the TMC and the AIADMK for their support in forming a government at the Centre.
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Delhi high court tells govt to end rail passengers's woes
''All seats should be given to paying passengers and not reserved for a select few. It is the common people who pay taxes and these facilities should go to them,'' the judges said.
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Bihar MPs step up smear campaign against Kesri
In a final effort to discredit Congress president Sitaram Kesri, dissidents Jagannath Mishra, S S Ahluwalia and Gyan Ranjan staged a protest at the party's Akbar Road headquarters to focus attention on the alleged poll rigging in the Congress's Bihar unit.
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After BSP debacle, UP Congress now looks to Mulayam for succour
The party has lost its charisma. So much so that it now depends on Mulayam Singh to contest a by-election.
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Goa moots monsoon tourist plan for Arabs
Such packages will also help the local tourism industry since business is usually slack during the rains. Hardly seven per cent of the 237,000 foreign tourists who visit Goa come during the monsoons.
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MAY 27

'Kesri cannot hold the Congress to ransom'
Rajesh Pilot speaks out!
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Left opposes petrol price hike
It was clear that the petroleum price hike had pushed the issue of Laloo Yadav's resignation to the background, at least for the time being.
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Neither do half the capital's VIPs need security, nor are any of them really secure
Delhi VIPs's obtrusive security cover provides an assassin 10 to 15 minutes to execute his operation.
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Delhi high court issues show-cause notice to Congress
Counsel Prashant Bhushan charged the government with ''wasting time'' and said that action should be immediately initiated against the Congress for receiving foreign contributions.
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High court notice on petition claiming CBI going slow on HDW probe
The petitioner contended that the CBI had done little since registering a first information report in March 1990 about alleged kickbacks of more than Rs 300 million in the Rs 4.2 billion deal signed by India with Germany for the purchase of submarines.
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Pak president warns against 'false euphoria' over Indo-Pak talks
About the ''core issue'' of Kashmir, Farooq Leghari said, ''We don't see it resolving overnight.''
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Naga extremists offer Rs 500,000 to new recruits
With public sympathy sharply waning, internal dissent picking up and the army stepping up its operations against the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Miviah group), the extremist outfit is now offering Rs 500,000 each for new recruits.
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Charkhi Dadri collision occurred in "heavy clouds": US pilot
''Finally, the glow of the cloud diminished, and the two plumes reached the ground, continuing to burn as two distinct fires. That's when we realised that it might have been a mid-air collision," Captain Timothy Palace said.
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Hong Kong struggles to find its identity as China prepares to take over
Like the Germans before the Berlin wall fell, Chinese and Hong Kong people while sharing a common ethnicity, culture and customs, have grown up against the backdrop of different political events, differing values and exposure to the outside world.
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Giving children a say in their education
Three years away from its goal to bring primary education to every nook and corner of the country, the Bangladesh government's strategy of giving students a say in how and what they should be taught is producing encouraging results.
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