Delhi

Panaji, Dec 9 (PTI) Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said political approach of his party and that of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress must converge for good of the country.

The former Union minister also appreciated a recent statement by Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut that the Congress must take lead in bringing together all UPA constituents to take on the BJP at the national level.

New Delhi, Dec 9 (PTI) A total of 622 Indian fishermen are lodged in foreign jails, including 574 in Pakistan, the government informed Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

In a written reply to a question in the Upper House, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said the length of time Indian fishermen spend as undertrials in foreign jails and their terms of imprisonment differ from country to country and depend on several factors, including local laws and charges imposed on them by the local courts.

New Delhi, Dec 9 (PTI) Lok Sabha on Thursday passed two bills to fix the tenures of directors of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate to a maximum of five years, with the government rejecting the opposition charge that the move will rob the investigative agencies of their "autonomy".

Patna, Dec 09 (PTI) RJD state headquarters here on Thursday went into celebratory overdrive, when news broke that the party's de facto leader Tejashwi Yadav has tied the knot with a childhood friend.

The eligible bachelor said 'I-do' at a farm house in Delhi, in the presence of his parents Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi, his eight siblings and their families, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav with whom the first family of Bihar politics shares family ties besides close relatives.

Patna, Dec 8 (PTI) Leaders and workers of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar had a big reason to celebrate on Wednesday when news came in that Tejashwi Yadav, younger son and heir apparent of party supremo Lalu Prasad, is going to get married.

Yadav, who at 32 years is arguably the most eligible bachelor in the state's political circles, is scheduled to get engaged in Delhi on Thursday.

New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had an hour-long meeting with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday to explore the option of an electoral alliance in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh and Goa.

The meeting comes a day after Raut's talks with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

The Shiv Sena leader told reporters that Priyanka Gandhi discussed the political situation in Uttar Pradesh and other poll-bound states with him.

New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) Gen Bipin Rawat, India's first Chief of Defence Staff, his wife and 11 other armed forces personnel died on Wednesday after the military helicopter they were travelling in crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu, the Indian Air Force said.

The lone survivor, Group Captain Varun Singh, is currently under treatment at a military hospital in Wellington, it said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said he was "deeply anguished" by the sudden demise of Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 others in an "extremely unfortunate helicopter" accident.

New Delhi, Dec 7 (PTI) Congress leader Shashi Tharoor hit back at trolls on Tuesday for mocking a picture at a wedding in which he figured, saying he is used to being trolled by an "organised brigade of Bhakts" but dragging non-political people into "your malice is not cool".

Several people on Twitter shared a picture of Tharoor at the wedding, taking jibes at him over his picture with the young couple on their marriage day.

New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) Nagaland People's Front leader K G Kenye on Wednesday raised a demand in the Rajya Sabha for the withdrawal of the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA).

The demand comes days after 14 civilians died in incidents of firing in Nagaland's Mon district on December 5.

New Delhi, Dec 7 (PTI) Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation's largest oil firm, has renewed a deal to buy up to 2 million tonnes of crude oil in 2022 from Russia's Rosneft, the Russian oil producer said.

IOC had in February 2020 signed a deal with Rosneft Oil Company to import up to 2 million tonnes of oil via the port of Novorossiysk. In 2021, the deal envisaged supply of up to 1.7 million tonnes of crude oil but IOC bought just on parcel or shipload as the cost of transporting the oil made it uneconomical, when compared to alternatives.