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Yet another Congress stalwart today voiced reservation over Rahul Gandhi’s elevation as party president, with former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit saying there was “skepticism” over his leadership qualities and pitched for continuance of Sonia Gandhi at the helm.

The 77-year-old veteran said under Sonia Gandhi there was a “comfort feeling” and that the party could rely on the incumbent president’s “overpowering and very successful” leadership for its revival.

The Shiv Sena has demanded proper and honourable rehabilitation of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits of Jammu and Kashmir who were forced to flee their home-state over 25 years ago.

“Jammu and Kashmir now has a stable government of the BJP and the PDP, and a strong administration led by Narendra Modi at the centre. Since Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s government has been formed with the BJP support, he must take a decision on ‘ghar wapsi’ of displaced Kashmiri Pandits,” it urged in an edit in Saamana on Tuesday.

Maulana Furqan Raza, who met with as many as 500 members of dalit Valmiki community on said: “They have been terrorised. They are not doing this for their love for Islam. They believe that they would be able to protect their houses by adopting Islam.

However, any conversion under fear is not permitted in our religion. So we have refused to be part of any conversion programme.”

According to a report published in Mailtoday, As many as 500 members of Dalits in Rampur (western Uttar Pradesh), have said that they will convert to Islam on Ambedkar Jayanti,i.e. on April 14.

A court here has directed registration of a complaint against Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi on charges of hurting religious sentiments.

Chief Juducial Magistrate, Lucknow, Sunil Kumar gave the directions on the complaint filed by senior IPS officer Amitabh Thakur under section 200 CrPC (examination of complaint by magistrate) against Raut and Owaisi.

The court asked Thakur to get his statement recorded under section 202 CrPC (in an enquiry the magistrate, if he thinks fit, takes evidence of witness on oath) on April 25.

A prominent leader of TRS who is also Chairman of Telangana Legislative Council while addressing a gathering on the occasion of Mahatma Jyothi Rao Phule spread venom and gave an impression that he also has the same ideology as Hindutva leaders. In a meeting held at press club Mr. Goud told that increase in population is a danger for Hindu society and advised the community to produce 4 children each family. He did not end by saying this but he alleged that the Muslims are eradicating the history of those who rebelled against the Nizam of Hyderabad.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the midst of a three-nation foreign trip, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today questioned his frequent visits and suggested that he must first know his country and its people.

Reiterating the Congress party’s demand for a CBI probe into the Alair encounter wherein five under trials were killed in police firing, Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir has described the assigning of probe to Special Investigation Team (SIT) as an eye-wash.

The Moroccan embassy in Libya’s capital Tripoli was early on Monday rocked by a bomb blast for which the Islamic State terrorist group has claimed responsibility

The IS claimed responsibility for the bombing at the Moroccan embassy and an earlier blast at the South Korean embassy in Tripoli.

IS’s claim of responsibility for the two bomb blasts was issued via Twitter accounts used by the group for propaganda.

A statue of Mahatma Gandhi has been defaced by a group of people who threw buckets of white paint on it amid racist taunts.

The incident occurred yesterday when the group came in a car at about noon and threw buckets of white paint on the statue and surrounding plaques detailing Gandhi’s history in South Africa, security guard Ntandzo Khwepe said.They were bearing placards reading: ‘Racist Gandhi must fall’.

The statue in the centre of the city is believed to be the only one in the world showing Gandhi as a young lawyer in his court robes.

After organising ‘Ram Mahotsava’ to rally support for buiding Ram temple at Ayodhya, seers of Vishwa Hindu Parishad are planning to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek speedy resolution of the Ram Janmbhoomi dispute.

A two-day meeting of Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal will be held at Haridwar from May 25, in which the date to meet the Prime Minister will be decided,” VHP spokesman Sharad Sharma told PTI.

The meeting of the seers would also be attended by top VHP leaders, including Ashok Singhal and Praveen Togadia.

Thousands of women on Thursday took out a rally in Diphu demanding a high-level inquiry into the alleged rape of three women by army jawans in Dokmoka on Monday. The women, under the banner of the Karbi Nimso Chinthur Asong (Karbi Progressive Women’s Association), later gheraoed the office of Karbi Anglong deputy commissioner Mukul Gogoi and submitted a memorandum.

Hitting out at Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut for demanding revocation of voting rights of Muslims, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi today said the BJP cannot dissociate itself from his statement and asked it to take action against him.

“He (Raut) has no right whatsoever to seek such a revocation of any Indian. He has no right whatsoever, leave aside Muslims,” Owaisi told PTI here.

Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti held Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan responsible for the failure of the state government.

“The state government is being run by Azam due to which it is a failure and the crime graph is on the rise,” she said yesterday, adding, “Incidents of murder, rape and loot have increased during the present SP regime.”

“By giving Rs 200 crore to farmers and Rs 300 crore to Saifai in Etawah district, Akhilesh Yadav government’s dual character has come to the fore,” Jyoti said.

Known for making controversial statements, BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj has demanded that a strict law for family planning be brought in for all to check population growth and those who do not follow it should be stripped of their voting right.

“When Hindus go for sterilisation, Muslims should also opt for it. There should be one law for everyone. There will be no appeasement of any section in our regime,” he said on the sidelines of a function here.

Known for making controversial statements in the past, BJP’s Unnao MP Sakshi Maharaj on Monday supported the Shiv Sena’s view on revocation of Muslims’ voting rights, stating appeasement politics should end.

While speaking to ANI, Maharaj said, “The politics of appeasement will not work now in the country, It should end now.”

Supreme Court has recently ruled that unmarried couple who are living together as husband and wife would be presumed to be legally married and consequently the woman would be eligible to inherit the property of her partner after his death.

According to the media report, the ruling was passed by the bench of Justice MY Eqbal and Justice Amitava Roy said continuous cohabitation of a couple would raise the presumption of valid marriage and it would be for the opposite party to prove that they were not legally married.

Riyadh said Tehran should not interfere in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies began air strikes.

Saudi Arabia dismissed Iranian calls to end air strikes on neighbouring Yemen on Sunday as Saudi-led attacks hit a military camp in the Yemeni city of Taiz, killing eight civilians according to a medical source.

Riyadh said Tehran should not interfere in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies began air strikes against Iranian-allied Houthi militia fighters over two weeks ago to try and prevent them making further advances.

In the wake of protests arising out of the fake encounter of Viqar Ahmed and four of his companions, police registered cases of violence and is arresting the youths from Old City indiscriminately. Police is in search of Mohammed Adil against whom Bhavani Nagar Police Station has registered two cases of thefts.

It is reported that special police team of south zone and task force has arrested many youths from Chandrayangutta, Bhavani Nagar, Talab Katta, Nasheman Nagar and other areas. They have been kept at unknown places. Police registered 11 cases of stone pelting.

Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik has congratulated his wife Sania Mirza for achieving the number one ranking in tennis doubles.

“Congrats @MirzaSania. Your # 1 fan, Shoaib,” he tweeted.

“Mrs. Malik just became the 1st Indian tennis player to be the World’s # 1! Lots of love from all the Pakistani fans,” he added.

Sania and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis achieved the numero uno rankings after beating the Aussie-Croatian pair of Casey Dellacqua and Darija Jurak 6-0, 6-4 on Sunday to win the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Family Circle Cup. (ANI)

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday launched her long-awaited second presidential bid and promised to be a champion for ordinary American families.

“I’m running for president,” Clinton said in a video released on her official campaign website. “Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion.”

“Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times, but the deck is still stacked in favour of those at the top,” Clinton said in her first 2016 campaign video.

The Muslim United Forum, an umbrella body of various religious, social and political organisations, has rejected the offer of probe through a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the Alair encounter wherein five under trials were killed in the police firing on April 7.

Voting rights of Muslims should be revoked to stop vote-bank politics, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut has said in an article slamming AIMIM leaders Asaduddin and Akbaruddin Owaisi for polarising the community.

Reacting sharply, Congress slammed the ruling alliance for spreading hatred.

(IANS) Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Sunday ordered a probe by Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the killing of five undertrial prisoners by police in a gunfight.

Rao instructed Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma to issue orders on Monday appointing the SIT.

The chief minister has taken the decision keeping in view the doubts expressed by certain organizations and some individuals on the matter, said a statement from the chief minister’s office.

Sania Mirza on Sunday created history by becoming the first woman tennis player from India to achieve the world number one rank in doubles, following her stupendous title win at the WTA Family Circle Cup with partner Martina Hingis, here.

The top-seeded Indo-Swiss pair blew away the challenge of Casey Dellacqua and Darija Jurak 6-0 6-4 in just 57 minutes in the lop-sided final of the USD 731,000 clay court event.

Sania took 470 points from the win to take her tally to 7965 as she jumped past Italy’s Sara Errani (7640) and Roberta Vinci (7640) to sit atop the ranking table.

Ancient organisms like squids, cephalopods, octopus and cuttlefish could hold the key to making soldiers of the future invisible, US scientists say.

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, said they have discovered a way to use proteins in the cells of pencil squid to develop “invisibility stickers” that could be worn by ground troops, CNN reported on Saturday.