India

New Delhi, Sep 6 (PTI) Disgruntled AAP MLA Alka Lamba on Friday quit the party and announced that she has returned to the Congress.

Lamba, who resigned from the AAP's primary membership, said she met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the evening and joined Congress.

"I stayed away from the Congress for six years but I always stood firm on its ideology. Today I have returned to the Congress. As a member of the Congress, I will work towards strengthening the party," she told reporters outside Gandhi's residence at 10, Janpath.

Bengaluru, Sept 7 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday expressed solidarity with ISRO scientists after Chandrayaan-2's Vikram module lost communication with the ground station during the powered descent leading to huge disappointment.

"Communication has been lost. I could see the anxiety on your faces. There is no need to get disappointed because it is not a small achievement.The country is proud of you," he said.

Bengaluru, Sep 7 (PTI) ISRO may have lost Chandrayaan-2's Vikram lander and rover Pragyan housed inside it, a senior official of the space agency associated with the unmanned moon mission said here Saturday.

Earlier in the day, contact from the lander to the ground stations was lost during its powered descent to the Lunar surface minutes before the planned touch-down.

"Vikram lander descent was as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km.

Chandigarh, Sep 7 (PTI) Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) chief Dushyant Chautala has said his party had believed in strengthening the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and offered it 40 out of 90 constituencies for the Haryana assembly polls, adding that it would now contest all the seats.

The comments come after the BSP had on Friday night announced its decision to part ways with the JJP and field candidates on all seats in the state, less than a month after the alliance was formed.

Srinagar, Sep 7 (PTI) Normal life remained affected in Kashmir on Saturday though authorities lifted the restrictions re-imposed a day earlier in some parts of the Valley as a precautionary measure.

Authorities have been imposing restrictions in vulnerable areas of Kashmir every Friday, apprehending that vested interests might exploit the large gatherings at big mosques and shrines to fuel protests.

A police spokesperson said that the Friday prayers passed off peacefully.

New Delhi, Sep 7 (PTI) The Quinton de Kock-led South Africa team set foot on India on Saturday for the upcoming three-match T20 series.

"Excited to be back in India and looking forward to playing cricket again," pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada tweeted.

South Africa will start the tour with the T20 matches, the first of which is in Dharamsala on September 15 followed by Mohali (September 18) and Bengaluru (September 22).

BENGALURU, India (AP) — India’s space agency said it lost touch Saturday with its Vikram lunar lander as it made its final approach to moon’s south pole to deploy a rover to search for signs of water.

The fate of the lander — whether it crashed or landed — wasn’t immediately known. A successful landing would have made India just the fourth country to land a vessel on the lunar surface, and only the third nation to operate a robotic rover there.

The space agency said the lander’s descent was normal until 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the lunar surface.

The Delhi Police on Friday booked former JNU student leader Shehla Rashid on charges of sedition, promoting enmity and intentions to cause riots. Rashid has called the charge “frivolous, politically motivated and a pathetic attempt to silence” her.

According to Hindustan Times, FIR was filed against her on Tuesday based on a complaint by a Supreme Court lawyer, Alakh Alok Srivastava, against a series of her tweets.

Bengaluru, Sep 6 (PTI) Hours before Chandrayaan-2's 'Vikram' module's proposed soft landing on the Lunar surface, ISRO Chairman K Sivan said on Friday things are progressing as per plan for the much-awaited event.

"We are eagerly waiting for the event. Everything is going according to the plan," Sivan told PTI on Friday.

Ghazipur (UP), Sep 6 (PTI) A woman was allegedly abducted and raped by a policeman and his friend, and thrown near a canal in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur district, police said on Friday.

The incident took place at a village in the district's Mardah area on Wednesday evening.

Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary jawan Abhay Yadav has been arrested, while his friend is at large, they said.