Questions over Sunil Gavaskar’s role in the consortium powering the Kochi franchise had added a new dimension to the IPL governing council meeting in Nagpur on Wednesday, which till this weekend was just limited to deciding the fate of the faction-ridden team.

THEY SAY there is nothing like wearing your own label to make your brand stronger and better.

DAY FOUR of the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week saw little drama off the ramp and more on it, instead of the usual inverse one is used to.

With just a few days to go before US President Obama lands in India, defence minister A.K. Antony on Monday said there is a “possibility” of a terror threat “whenever a high-level visit takes place”.

When it is Barack Obama, what he does not say will be equally important. So it will be when he comes visiting.
In order to get the optics right, Indian and American officials have been briefing the media, here and in Washington, about what to expect from Obama’s visit. But from New Delhi’s perspective, what Mr Obama will not choose to say about issues such as Kashmir, protectionism and outsourcing, non-proliferation, the Af-Pak situation or China, will be just as significant as what he does say about them.

The BJP on Monday accused the Congress of having a “spoilsport mindset” for alleging that former’s victory in recently held Gujarat local bodies polls was due to tampered EVMs. On the issue of Gujarat local polls results, BJP parliamentary party chief L.K. Advani claimed “The Congress party is the state has been shocked by the results.” Writing on the issue in his blog, he said the results were indication of “decimation of the Congress in Gujarat”.

Ruling out possibility of any post-poll alliance with Congress in the state, senior JD(U) leader and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said he has good “working relationship” with the BJP despite ideological differences.

The interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir on Monday got the backing of state chief minister Omar Abdullah and the Union home ministry over their comments on involving Pakistan in resolving the issue. The Congress too joined in the chorus, suggesting that political parties should desist from playing politics as the interlocutors were dealing with a very sensitive issue.

A 45-year-old witness, who lost his three brothers in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, on Monday testified before a Delhi court in the trial of senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar how he had sought help from an Army officer in order to save his siblings.

Expressing its serious concern over witnesses turning hostile during the pendency of a criminal trial as there was no mechanism to protect them from inducement, threat and coercion, Tis Hazari Court’s additional sessions judge (ASJ) Santosh Snehi Mann has sought a response from the state over its failure to put in place a witness protection programme despite several directions by the higher courts since 1998.