The Centre has objected to the Andhra Pradesh government’s decision to issue pre-closure notices to the contractor building the multi-purpose Polavaram irrigation project. Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat warned that the state’s move could seriously hold up work on the project. The Centre’s objection Shekhawat said that a fresh round of bidding would push up the overall cost sharply and make it impossible to predict when the project would be finished. “The responsibility of completing the project lies withRead More

A group of mainstream Kashmiri politicians met Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik in Srinagar on Friday night, asking him to address the rumours that had spread alarm across the Valley. The Governor told them that a purely security-related step was being wrongly tied to unrelated matters, and that this was what had caused the panic. The meeting took place against a backdrop of extra troop deployment, the curtailment of the Amarnath Yatra and little official explanation from the administration, all of which had fuelled talk of a worseningRead More

All BJP MPs are attending a two-day training programme in New Delhi on Saturday and Sunday, and party president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are among the leaders expected to address them. Attendance required Last week the party told all its MPs to make sure they attended the “Abhyas Varga”, which begins on August 3. A message from the party’s parliamentary office asked members to be in the national capital on August 3 and 4. J P Nadda, the BJP’s working president, is also due to take part.Read More