India

New Delhi, Jan 29 (PTI) Veteran socialist George Fernandes, who was the defence minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, passed away Tuesday following a prolonged illness, his long time associate Jaya Jaitly said. He was 88.

Fernandes was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, which had forced him out of the public eye for last many years, and had recently contracted swine flu, she said, adding that he died at his residence here.

Raipur, Jan 28 (PTI) Congress president Rahul Gandhi announced Monday that his party would ensure minimum income guarantee for every poor in the country if it returns to power after the Lok Sabha polls due in April-May

He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP of trying to create two Indias -- "one of the Rafale scam, Anil Ambani, Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, Mehul Choksi and the other of the poor farmers"

Kolkata, January 27; GANASHAKTI: Lakhs of determined Left activists  enacted human chain all over the state to observe the 70th Republic Day of the country  and took oath for the upkeepment of the  values of India’s constitution  and for secularism , National Unity  and sovereignty of the country .

New Delhi, Jan 28 (PTI) A Delhi court Monday granted bail to RJD chief Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi Yadav in a money laundering case related to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) scam.

Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj granted relief to each of the accused persons on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and surety of like amounts.

The court had on January 19 extended the interim bail granted to the them which ended Monday.

KANPUR: Whether it was Avon Company or Genus Company, both supplied bad quality meters. This equipment did not last long till the guarantee period of 5.5 years. The poor performance exposed the quality of electricity meters which were never so good in quality.

Thane, Jan 28 (PTI) All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi asked Dalits, Muslims and Adivasis to come together and reject national parties in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Speaking at a rally of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi Sunday in Kalyan in the district, he said it was time for the "deprived" to hit back rather than continue "suffering" as was the case in the past 70 years.

The Vanchit Bhaujan Aghadi is an outfit floated by the AIMIM and the Prakash Ambedkar-led Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM).

New Delhi, Jan 27 (PTI) Acknowledging its made-in-India status, the Indian Railways has named the indigenously manufactured semi-fast Train 18 as Vande Bharat Express, which will ply from the national capital to Varanasi, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said Sunday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to flag off the train soon, which will ply between Delhi and his Lok Sabha constituency.

New Delhi, Jan 27 (PTI) Congress president Rahul Gandhi has all the qualities to make a good prime minister, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has said, and alleged that the BJP's propaganda machinery spent hundreds of thousands of crores to malign the Congress leader's image.

However, he also emphasised that the issue of who will be the prime minister can be settled after the 2019 polls by grand alliance members collectively.

Gadchiroli, Jan 27 (PTI) A 32-year-old villager, who was abducted by a group of Maoists over suspicion of being a police informer, was found dead Sunday here in Maharashtra, police said.

The victim, Sansay Tanu Beig, a resident of Jaravandi village under Erapalli tehsil of Naxal-affected Gadchiroli district, was abducted late Saturday night, a police official said.

Around 40 Maoists entered the village and barged into Beig's house from where they pulled him out after brandishing weapons, he said.

Phulbani (Odisha), Jan 27 (PTI) A man was arrested on Sunday for allegedly raping a 13-year-old tribal girl in Belghar area of Odisha's Kandhamal district, police said.

The 20-year-old man was held for kidnapping and raping the minor girl, a student of Class 7, Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of Belghar Police station, Dasarath Hembram, said.

The arrest was made on the basis of a complaint lodged by the father of the girl on Saturday, he said, adding, medical examination of the accused and the minor have been conducted.