The CPI(M) on Thursday said it was “inexplicable” as to how the government was saying it was not aware of the charges against chief vigilance commissioner P.J. Thomas while appointing him to the post. “It is inexplicable. We can’t really understand how the government is saying that they were not aware of certain matters,” CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said here.

The government, which is in a bind over the controversial appointment of CVC P.J. Thomas, is mulling action against certain officials who were allegedly responsible for failing to bring it to the notice of the selection committee that a request for prosecution sanction of Mr Thomas was pending with the government.

In a fresh bid to break the deadlock in Parliament over the Opposition’s demand for a JPC probe into the alleged 2-G spectrum allocation scam, finance minister and leader in the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee has called a meeting of the leaders of all the parties over lunch on February 8.

A 25-year-old man died and his two associates were injured when their speeding car rammed into a central road verge in Hazrat Nizamuddin area on Wednesday night.
The deceased has been identified as Mohammad Javed, a resident of Pushp Vihar. “His friends, Danish, 23, and Charan Singh, 28, are in hospital. The accident took place at 1.10 am,” said a senior police officer.

The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) on Thursday appealed to the Prime Minister to expose account-holders with black money. Former chief minister and AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta demanded that the names of those individuals shared by Germany must be made public.

Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (secular) supremo Deve Gowda on Thursday called on the BJP to first set its own house in order by removing scam-tainted Karnataka chief minister Yeddyurappa, before pointing fingers at the Congress led UPA government at the Centre.
Talking to reporters in the national capital, Mr Gowda said, “It is a case of the cat calling the kettle back.”

On a day when the head of the influential Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband, Maulana Gulam Mohammed Vastanvi said that he hasn’t resigned from his post as yet, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind president Maulana Qari Mohammed Usman Mansoorpuri said that it was up to Darul Uloom’s Majlis-e-shoora (governing council) to accept Maulana Vastanvi’s resignation or maintain status quo.

Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi, the vice-chancellor of Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband, has said that development was palpable in Gujarat.
The cleric, however, said that this did not mean that Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi could be given a clean chit on the victimisation of Muslims during the Godhra riots.

The CBI on Thursday questioned corporate lobbyist Niira Radia for the third time in connection with its probe into the 2G spectrum scam involving former telecom minister A. Raja. The agency officials questioned Ms Radia for several hours at the agency headquarters. Earlier, she was questioned by the agency on January 25 at the CBI headquarters.

AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalithaa on Thursday sought cancellation of all 2G licences alleging that the spectrum money trail showed links to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.