Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Monday paid homage to her ministerial colleague N. Mariam Pichai, who died in a road accident. She has ordered a probe into his death. Jayalalithaa flew down here in a special flight to pay her respects to Pichai alongwith senior leaders of the AIADMK party. She later told reporters that a crime branch-criminal investigation department probe has been ordered into the accident as Pichai’s family members …

DMK chief M. Karunanidhi Monday met his daughter and Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi, former telecom minister A. Raja and the family-run Kalaingar TV’s managing director Sharad Kumar at the high-security Tihar Jail where the trio are lodged in connection with the 2G spectrum scam. The DMK chief, who was in the national capital on a “personal visit”, reached the jail premises at 5.43 p.m. and left in an hour at around 6.45 p.m. Director General (Prisons) …

DMK MP Kanimozhi and her close aide Kalaignar TV chief Sharad Kumar, named as co-conspirators in the multimillion-rupee 2G spectrum case, were Friday sent to Tihar jail after a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here dismissed their bail pleas.Addressing a packed courtroom, CBI Special Judge O.P. Saini said: “Both the bail applications (of Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar) are dismissed. They should be taken into into custody immediately.” …

Giving a call to uproot the Mayawati regime in Uttar Pradesh, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said here Wednesday that the plight of the poor and downtrodden in the state was enough reason for her government to go. Blasting the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government for defending its police action on the agitating farmers of Bhatta Parsaul in Greater Noida, Gandhi threatened to take the Congress battle he had put up for farmers to every village …

AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa Monday became Tamil Nadu’s chief minister for the third time since 1991, and immediately unleashed a barrage of sops for women and others from the poor families. Back at Fort St. George, which houses the government secretariat, one of her first decisions was to order 20 kg of free rice for the poor and 35 kg for the very poor through the public distribution system. Jayalalithaa ordered that educated poor women be presented …

Challenging Kanimozhi’s bail plea in the special court, the CBI prosecutor Saturday said the DMK MP was the “active brain” associated with co-accused A. Raja in the second generation (2G) spectrum allotment issue. “It is totally false that she was not at all aware of the transfer of Rs.200 crore to Kalaignar TV, because she was the director at that time. Kanimozhi is the active brain behind the entire episode of the 2G spectrum scam,” CBI prosecutor …

Sathya Sai Baba, one of India’s most revered spiritual leaders, died here Sunday after prolonged illness, plunging millions of his followers across the world into gloom. He was 85. Sai Baba, whom many worshipped as god despite attacks from critics, breathed his last at the Sathya Sai Super-speciality hospital, where he was admitted March 28 with cardiac problems. The spiritual guru’s last rites will be performed Wednesday morning with state honours. …

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu continued his indefinite fast for the seventh day Thursday while the Andhra Pradesh government promised to call an all-party meeting to consider his demands for a relief package to farmers who lost their crops in the recent rains. Despite his serious condition, the former chief minister continued with his fast and refused to take any intravenous fluids at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), …

HYDERABAD: In a classic example of the left hand not knowing the right, the state government’s forest department head C Madhukar Raj on Tuesday evening contradicted what forest and environment minister P Ramachandra Reddy said about the YSR Memorial Park at Kurnool district earlier in the day. Addressing the media, Ramachandra Reddy said CM K Rosaiah would unveil a statue of Rajasekhara Reddy close to the helicopter crash site on September 2, the …

Delhi on Wednesday witnessed major traffic jam due to incessant rain inflicting the city for a week. Traffic jam have been reported from National Highway-24, Nizamuddin bridge, Noida crossing and Sarai Kale Khan. Massive traffic jam was also witnessed near Mother Dairy due to water-logging near Patparganj. Traffic was slow on DND flyover, Ashram, Jahangirpuri. Reports of water-logging have come from Moolchand and Rajghat too. Areas around the …