Is the Left Front finally disintegrating? After the CPI’s scathing remarks, it was the turn of the CPI(M) on Saturday to lash out at its partner.

CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat’s political ambition to form a third front was virtually smashed with the central committee of the party rejecting any proposal to work towards a Left-led non-Congress and non-BJP front.

Ahead of crucial Assembly polls in Punjab which already faces a serious threat of disruption by elements from across the border, the Union home ministry has issued an advisory to the state administration cautioning it particularly about the role of the Punjab police not to favour one political party over the other. Interestingly, apart from politicians, those who have jumped into the poll fray this time are also top Punjab police officers and their wives, bureaucrats and other officials.

Smarting under the humiliating defeat of the Left Front in West Bengal and Kerala, the CPI has for the first time openly blamed “big brother” CPI(M) for the disintegration of the Left movement in India.

The banned CPI(Maoist) have upped its offensive ahead of the forthcoming party congress during which the outfit will give the call for “intensifying its war against the state’’.

As Priyanka Gandhi hits the campaign trail for the crucial Assembly elections, the Intelligence Bureau has shot off an urgent missive to the five poll-bound states sounding a threat from ISI-backed terror outfits. Priyanka Gandhi is expected to extensively campaign in Uttar Pradesh in the coming days.

The intelligence agencies warned the government Wednesday of a possible threat to writer Salman Rushdie from the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India. The Simi leadership has asked its cadre to “target Rushdie” at this weekend’s Jaipur Literature Festival. It is speculated Rushdie might arrive in India Thursday.

The Union home ministry has in an advisory to state governments said those behind Internet offences like “cyber-stalking”, “cyber-bullying” or “sending obscene videos (and) audios containing explicit sexual content to children” can be booked under existing provisions of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008 and the Indian Penal Code, which carry sentences ranging between two to five years.

At a time when the government is pushing for transparency, the move to amend the Official Secrets Act (OSA), of British colonial vintage, has been put on the backburner following stiff resistance from security agencies and differences among stakeholders.

At a time when the government is pushing for transparency, the move to amend the Official Secrets Act, of British colonial vintage, has been put on the backburner following stiff resistance from secur