Close on the heels of L.K.

Sri Lankan foreign minister G.L. Peiris on Sunday asserted that the island nation would want Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) at Colombo in November.

Amidst talk of convening an all-party meet to discuss the vexed issue of a separate Telangana state, the Congress core group on Friday discussed the matter inconclusively.

In the backdrop of the Opposition LDF baying for his blood and some of is own party men insisting that he made way for some one else over his alleged role in the solar scam, Kerala Chief minister Oommen Chandy on Saturday called on Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi to explain his side of the story.

In the backdrop of the DMK desperately seeking the support of the Congress for the June 27 Rajya Sabha polls from Tamil Nadu, senior DMK leader T.R. Baalu met defence minister and Congress alliance committee head A.K. Antony, ostensibly to hand over a cheque of `25,00,000 towards the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund on behalf of the DMK.

The DMK and DMDK risk the prospect of losing a Rajya Sabha seat this July as also next March, if they fail to come together. Sources in both the parties regret that DMDK chief Vijayakanth is yet to make any moves towards aligning with the DMK. The DMK has already dropped enough hints intending to tie up with the actor-turned-politician.

Political parties on Friday threw their weight behind attempts to cleanse the electoral system of all its ills by demanding that reforms be introduced to that effect at the earliest.

The ambitious yet controversial National Food Security Bill was taken up for consideration in the Lok Sabha on Monday amid pandemonium. Almost 67 per cent of the population will benefit from it, which will entitle them to procure 5 kg foodgrain at a fixed price of `1-3 per kg through ration shops.

With the leaking of the JPC draft report on the 2G scam that sought to exonerate Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union finance minister P. Chidambaram and pin all the blame on former communications minister A. Raja, it appears the Congress has lost the DMK as an alliance partner for the forthcoming general election in 2014.

Amnesty International has faulted India on two counts over the hanging of Ajmal Kasab, the lone Pakistani gunman sentenced to death for his role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.