With the whole of Punjab on the boil for the past two days, the Centre on Wednesday decided to stay the hanging of Balwant Singh Rajoana, on death row for the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh. The hanging was scheduled for Saturday.

Lt. Gen. Tejinder Singh (Retd.), who had earlier denied allegations of offering bribes, was quoted by a TV channel as claiming that Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh had earlier even recommended his name to the government for a post-retirement senior position but that this had happened before the meeting between the two in September, 2010, on the “personal matter”.

A visibly-emotional defence minister A.K. Antony turned the tables on Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh on Tuesday, telling Parliament he had asked him (Gen. Singh) to take action against the person who allegedly offered bribes, but the Chief didn’t want to pursue the matter then. Mr Antony told the Rajya Sabha Gen. Singh had named Lt. Gen. Tejinder Singh (Retd) as the man who offered the bribe.

Amid a furore in Parliament, defence minister A.K. Antony on Monday ordered a CBI inquiry after Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh said he was offered a Rs 14-crore bribe from a lobbyist to clear the purchase of about 600 vehicles (tank-transporting trucks) into the Army.

The CBI on Saturday conducted a lie-detector test on Dhruv Narayan Singh, a BJP MLA from Bhopal, in connection with the Shehla Masood murder case. The role of the BJP MLA is under the scanner of the agency because of his alleged closeness with Zahida Parvez, a Bhopal-based interior designer and a prime suspect in the case.

The crisis triggered in the Karnataka BJP by former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa’s determination to regain his lost post is set to go down to the wire with the former CM saying his demand for replacing Mr D.V. Sadananda Gowda as chief minister on the eve of the Assembly’s Budget Session was backed by 62 legislators and supported by several party MPs. They are said to have signed a letter seeking Mr Yeddyurappa’s reinstatement by Tuesday, prior to Wednesday’s session.

Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday made a fresh appeal to the Maoists for releasing the two Italian tourists who were taken hostages by the rebels on March 14.

Bowing to Tamil sentiments expressed worldwide, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Parliament on Monday that India was “inclined to vote” in support of the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka for alleged war crimes at the UN Human Rights Commission.

The BJP top brass, who met Karnataka MPs have counselled against the BSY group’s boycott of the Budget Session as it could precipitate the fall of the first saffron government in the House. The legislators will, however, attend the House on Tuesday to pay their last respects to the recently deceased minister V.S. Acharya.

Mr Dinesh Trivedi decided to resign as railway minister on Sunday evening shortly before his party boss, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, reached the national capital later in the night.