Will RSS Nominate Modi For PM, Admit Its Irrelevance?

By M H Ahssan / Hyderabad

To declare or not to declare, that is the question facing the BJP and the sangh parivar. Declare Modi as the prime ministerial candidate and storm into the 2014 general elections on Moditva? Or not declare a Prime Ministerial candidate at all and leave the field open for a less overpowering, more consensus-building leader?

'Indian Premier Leauge' Needs Exposure, Not Closure!

By Rajinder Puri / New Delhi

Responding to the IPL cricket scam Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh told media: “I only hope that politics and sports don’t get mixed up.” One does not know whether he said this to protect the reputation of sport or of politics. There is little to choose between the two now.

Consider some bald facts about the current IPL cricket scam.

It is over two weeks since the scandal erupted. For all that period there has been a clamour for the resignation of the BCCI President  N. Srinivasan.

'Delhi Cops To Train Turkish Police To Use Water Cannons'

By Sandeep Chauhan / Delhi

A crack team of Delhi police is all set to leave for Istanbul to train their Turkish counterparts on the use of water cannons “democratically”. The team is going there on personal request of Turkish PM, Tayyip Erdogan.

Speaking exclusively to this reporter,   Erdogan said, “We used tear gas and water cannons once and everyone started calling me a dictator. We have seen Delhi police use tear gas on students and nobody was labeled a dictator. Women protesting for safe Delhi were beaten up with sticks and nobody was called a dictator. They use water cannons for fun every other day and nobody calls Indian PM a dictator. We need to learn from them how they manage to appear democratic even when they are crushing all these protests.”

Actress Jiah Khan's Journey: From Nishabd To Housefull

By Niloufer Khan / Mumbai

Bollywood upcoming actress Jiah Khan committed suicide by hanging herself with her dupatta to ceiling fan in her Juhu apartment here in Mumbai last night. 

Jiah Khan’s foray into Bollywood didn’t follow the usual song and item-dance routine. In fact, the concept of Nishabd (2007) her debut film, where she was the subject of the obsession of a much older man played by Amitabh Bachchan, didn’t go down too well with most Bollywood fans. The film sank at the box office and many people questioned Bachchan’s decision to act in the Ram Gopal Verma film.

However, the film made Jiah, then 18-years-old, an actor to watch out for given her apparent willingness to  take up roles categorised  as ‘bold’ in Bollywood. Therefore, almost immediately after her debut, Jiah was perhaps conveniently categorised as a girl who would never fit into a Yash Chopra or a Karan Johan romance.

Opinion: Can Andhra Pradesh Be The Game-Changer?

By Syed Amin Jafri (Guest Writer)

On completion of its nine years in office, the UPA was flooded with gloomy forecasts about its future. The surveys on the mood of the nation—sponsored by various media houses—had one thing in common. They all predicted that BJP-led NDA would have better prospects than the UPA if elections were to be held to Lok Sabha now. However, there was a rider. The NDA would not be able to garner a majority on its own and it would have to wean back its erstwhile allies to stake a claim to form the government. 
    
The Indian politics today is much more complex than what it was quarter of a century ago. The political scenario has undergone a sea-change from the heady days of Janata Party in 1977 and Janata Dal in 1989 and 1996.

'Bad Business': 220 Parrots Seized From 'Fortune Tellers'

By Bismah Fatima / Hyderabad

The Hyderabad’s ‘soothsayers’ seem to be afflicted by a spell of bad luck, with the forest department officials deciding to crack the whip on them for caging birds. In a series of rescue operations conducted across the city, around 220 roseringed parrots were seized from these ‘fortune tellers’ who use these birds to draw customers and supposedly predict their future. 

Srinivasan To Dalmiya: BCCI Done Nothing To 'Fix The Rot'

By M H Ahssan / Hyderabad

At Sunday’s meeting of the BCCI in Chennai, when it seemed that N Srinivasan would have to bow to the inevitable and resign as board president, he pulled out the oldest trick in the book: a pose of injured innocence. “I have been under terrible pressure,” Srinivasan evidently told the meeting, which had been convened in the context of allegations that his son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings principal Gurunath Meiyappan had been involved in the betting and spot-fixing scandal that has enveloped the IPL.

Bookies Fixing 'Kabaddi Matches' Too, No Media Hype Yet

By Paagal Patrkaar / Mumbai

Leading bookies and gamblers betting during Kabaddi matches have expressed huge disappointment with Indian media for having ignored their achievements.

“These news channels are behaving as if cricket is the only field where fixing and corruption is taking place. We have been contacting reporters to interview us and break news about how Kabaddi matches are fixed, but bloody no one listens,” Kobad Duddi, a leading bookie told to this writer.