Indian Sub-continent

New Delhi, Feb 10 (PTI) The government has sought over Rs 1,637 crore in the current fiscal to allow the law ministry make payments to two suppliers of EVMs and paper trail machines ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

The government, in the third batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2018-19, has sought Parliament's approval for Rs 1,637.14 crore to allow the Law Ministry pay Electronics Corporation of India Ltd and Bharat Electronics Ltd for electronic voting machines and paper trail machines, according to the document.

New Delhi, Feb 11 (PTI) Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday joined Twitter and garnered a massive response with tens of thousands following her on the social media platform within hours.

Her logging on to Twitter with the account @priyankagandhi came on the day of her maiden visit to Uttar Pradesh as an AICC general secretary.

"Smt Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is now on Twitter. You may follow her at @priyankagandhi," a tweet from the Congress' official Twitter handle said.

Bengaluru, Feb 9; PTI/GANASHAKTI: Sri Lanka's opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa Saturday said here there was a "major breakdown" in bilateral relationship between India and his country after a new government was formed in New Delhi in 2014, but the opposition coalition he is heading now has a "good understanding" with India's ruling party.

He emphasised that the rule of thumb with regard to India-Sri Lanka relations should be that if an outgoing government has an adequate working relationship with his country, the incoming one should give due recognition to this.

Kolkata, Feb 09; GANASHAKTI:  The questioning of Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajiv Kumar in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam by a CBI team in Shillong is likely to continue till 9 pm, a senior official of the agency said on Saturday.

The marathon questioning began at 11 am this morning at the highly secured CBI office at Oakland in Shillong as per the directions of the Supreme Court, the official said.

Jaipur: In the wake of the ongoing reservation stir by the Gujjar community in Rajasthan, five trains were cancelled and one was diverted in Kota division of West Central Railway zone on Saturday.

Meanwhile, members of Gujjar community, who have been agitating on railway tracks in Rajasthan, demanding reservation, appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to pay heed to their demands.

New Delhi, Feb 10 (PTI) State-owned State Bank of India (SBI) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) have put on sale various financial accounts to recover dues of around Rs 5,740 crore.

The country's largest lender SBI has invited bids from asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) and financial institutions (FIs) to recover an outstanding of Rs 4,975 crore.

The bulk of accounts up for sale by SBI are of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that have dues amounting to Rs 4,667 crore.

Islamabad, Feb 10 (PTI) Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will meet IMF chief Christine Lagarde in Dubai on Sunday to discuss the conditions of the bailout package for his cash-strapped country.

Khan is paying a day-long trip to the UAE to take part in the 7th edition of the World Government Summit on the invitation of Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.

New Delhi, Feb 10 (PTI) Robert Vadra, who was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for three consecutive days last week in connection with a probe into allegations of money laundering to purchase assets abroad, said on Sunday that truth will always prevail.

"Morning, Just want to say thank you to all my friends and acquaintances who have reached out in support from all over the nation, at this time," Vadra said in a Facebook post.

Lucknow, Feb 9 (PTI) Newly appointed Congress general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will have her hands full during her four-day visit to Lucknow as she will meet senior leaders and office bearers of the party.

This will be Priyanka Gandhi's maiden visit to Uttar Pradesh after she formally entered politics last month.

Bhopal, Feb 9 (PTI) The Congress-led Madhya Pradesh government has transferred 221 police personnel, comprising 34 Indian Police Service (IPS) and 187 state police service (SPS) officials, across the state.

The transfers were announced in two orders issued by the state's Home department on Friday evening and Saturday morning.

According to the circular, the 187 SPS officers transferred comprise 35 Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and 152 Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) rank officials.