The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Union government on a fresh petition on the Radia tapes and clubbed it for further hearing along with industrialist Rattan Tata’s petition seeking probe into leak of the tapes to media.

The government on Monday said it was viewing the recent incident of loss and recovery of a secret defence file “seriously” and that an inquiry was on in the matter.
The file of the Indian Air Force — pertaining to the offset provisions of the `42,000-crore MMRCA (fighter aircraft) acquisition process — was in the possession of the MoD

AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh may have the last laugh on his claim that he had a telephonic conversation with slain Mumbai ATS chief Hemant Karkare a few hours before he was assassinated, as he plans to hold a press conference on Tuesday with call details.

The government may facilitate the release of incarcerated top leaders of Assam’s tribal insurgent groups National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) by not opposing their bail applications to pave way for peace dialogue following the recent release of Ulfa chairman Arbinda Rajkhowa on bail.

Ahead of the Assembly polls in Assam, the BJP has urged the Election Commission to delete names of illegal migrants from Bangladesh from the voters’ list and prepare a corrected list.

The Congress on Monday refused to give instant reaction on the I-T tribunal findings that kickbacks of `41 crore were paid to late Win Chaddha and Ottavio Quattrocchi in the Bofors gun deal, but main Opposition BJP found this an opportunity to take a swipe at the ruling party.

Concerned over the logjam between government and the Opposition on the issue of constituting a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into alleged 2-G spectrum allocation scam, the ruling Congress on Monday, while offering the New Year greeting to one and all, appealed to the Opposition to allow reason to prevail on them and give constructive cooperation.

Senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh has been entrusted with the task of building ties with other political parties. BJP chief Nitin Gadkari announced this on Monday.
With Assembly polls scheduled in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Assam in 2011 and the NDA’s impressive performance in the recently held Bihar Assembly polls, the BJP is keen to strengthen the NDA fold.

With the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and the BJP refusing to attend the January 6 meeting on Telangana, the government on Monday said that it was convened just to share the Srikrishna Committee report on a separate Telangana state with political parties and not to go into the issue in detail.

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to TRS chief K.C. Rao, his MLA son, daughter and filmstar-turned-politician Vijayashanti and eight others on a contempt petition alleging that an agitation related to Telangna supported by lawyers inspired by them had “obstructed” the functioning of the AP HC during September 2010, which