Indian Sub-continent

Hyderabad, Feb 9 (PTI) AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi Saturday took exception to Yoga guru Baba Ramdev's comments that Lord Ram was the ancestor not only of Hindus, but also of Muslims.

"We are not against anyone's belief. But, it is wrong to thrust your belief on others. Such things are said every time by the Sangh Parivar and RSS. We just want to say that we, Muslims in India, we have become Muslims on our own...," he told reporters here.

Coimbatore, Feb 9 (PTI) The BJP in Tamil Nadu Saturday reiterated that it would fight the coming Lok Sabha polls in alliance with parties which are not part of the DMK-Congress tie-up.

"There is no situation wherein the BJP will fight the elections single-handedly and it will be fought with an alliance as announced earlier," State BJP president Tamilisai Soundarajan told reporters here.

Pune, Feb 9 (PTI) NCP president Sharad Pawar said Saturday that he was "worried" about Union minister Nitin Gadkari as he is being projected as a possible alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Gadkari, a senior BJP leader, was recently in news when he was seen as taking swipes at his party's top leadership after the Assembly poll losses in three states.

Hyderabad, Feb 9 (PTI) The Telangana government Saturday suspended the Vikarabad district Collector as per the directive of the of the Election Commission for allegedly unauthorisedly opening a strong room where EVMs used in the recent assembly polls in a particular constituency, were kept.

"The Election Commission has recommended to suspend him...for unauthorisedly opening the strong room (where EVMs were kept) which he was not supposed to do," a senior state government official told PTI.

Imphal, Feb 9 (PTI) Markets were closed and effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others were burnt and roads were blocked as protests against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) continued across Manipur on Saturday.

Vendors of the Khwairamband Market here, considered the largest women's market in the world, was also closed as they rendered their support to the on-going protest demanding withdrawal of the CAB.

KANPUR: One can easily come to know of the cold impact of the tanneries’ closure over the labourers during the Ardh Kumbh fair. First, they have been rendered jobless and secondly, they are failing to find petty jobs even for their livelihood.

 As a result, one poor couple had to sell their newly born child to a well-to-do childless family living in the city areas. The poor labourer’s wife took this strong decision with the heavy heart and gulped down all the mother’s emotions.

New Delhi, Feb 8; PTI: The Prime Minister's Office was directly involved in negotiations with the French on the Rafale deal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was guilty in the scam, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Friday in a fresh attack on the government over the fighter jet agreement.

It is an open and shut case, Gandhi declared, citing a report in The Hindu newspaper claiming the Defence ministry raised strong objections to "parallel discussions" conducted by the PMO during the negotiations over the Rs 59,000 crore Rafale deal between India and France.

Kolkata, Feb 8 (PTI) In a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trinamool supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday called him "Maddy babu", who has transformed from a "chaiwala (tea-seller) to Rafalewala", and said she supported the views of the Congress on the fighter jet deal.

She also termed the Rafale deal "one of the biggest scam of the country".

Guwahati, Feb 8 (PTI) All Assam Students Union (AASU) members shouted slogans against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and waved black flags at Prime Minister Narendra Modi who arrived here Friday evening on a two-day visit to the Northeast.

The prime minister witnessed the protests when he travelled to the Raj Bhavan here, where he will spend the night, from Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport.

Muzaffarnagar, Feb 9 (PTI) Five stray cows lodged at a temporary shelter home in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district died allegedly of cold, an official said Saturday.

The deaths were reported from a shelter home in Sambhalna village which comes under the jurisdiction of Babri police station and an inquiry has been ordered, said Sub-Divisional Magistrate Prashant Kumar.

The carcasses were sent for postmortem, he said.