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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Left Democratic Front cadres in general and the CPI(M)’s rank and file in particular have heaved a collective sigh of relief with the Kerala CPI(M) averting a pre-poll disaster.

Already under pressure from the Left Front (LF)-Congress alignment in West Bengal, the pre-Assembly poll campaign of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) suffered a body blow from a sting operation launched by the Narada news group: its videos (duration 23 minutes) showed no fewer than 11 TMC leaders calmly accepting bribes from persons claiming to represent a non-existent consultancy firm, promising future favours! They include five MPs, the Mayor of Kolkata and a senior state minister.

CHANDIGARH: Diversity of Indian civilization, saved from being collapsed like many Asian civilizations, is now under threat.

Until recently, the BJP was eyeing Assam as the only winnable among the five States that are going to the polls this summer. But the situation has changed in the last few weeks. Its exercise at striking an alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad has resulted in a vertical split in the regional party. Sunil Rajkonwar, the leader of the break-away faction which calls itself the AGP (Anchalik) has announced that the new party will contest 45 of the 126 Assembly seats.

The truth about the total stressed asset of the state-run public sector banks may never be known. Rating agency ICRA estimates for the first half of this financial year put banks’ gross stressed assets at Rs.9 lakh crore. If they are wholly reliable, business gamesman Vijay Mallya, accused of payment default to the tune of Rs.9,000 crore, may account for only one per cent of the gross bad debts of the banking sector. Other official estimates of the Indian banking industry’s bad debts vary from Rs. 4 lakh to Rs. 8 lakh crore. The question is: why are those banks not moving against other ‘wilful’ defaulters to attach their assets and book those, who used fraudulent means to overstate value of mortgaged assets or even pledged non-existent assets? How dependable are annual reports of bank auditors? What is the responsibility of the bank management for ‘creation’ of large non-refundable debts to those dubious businessmen?

What used to be a tenuous, undercover tie between the BJP and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living (AoL) organization, blossomed into an openly flaunted friendship when Narendra Modi graced the spiritual guru’s vaudeville on the flood plains of the Yamuna in Delhi last Friday.

A flutter in Tamil Nadu political circles in Tamil Nadu over the surprise move of DMDK leader Mr Vijaykant to lead his party singly in the May 16 Assembly poll, upsetting electoral calculations of non-AIADMK parties, chiefly Mr Karunanidhi's DMK, which was banking on coaxing him into the DMK-Congress alliance.

Poll bugle has been sounded. Upcoming round of assembly elections are a big test for the BJP and the Congress. Much is at stake in the four states—Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala—and one union territory, Puducherry, that go to poll between April 4 and May 16.

The hiatus between India and Nepal seems to have been resolved with the recent visit of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to New Delhi with the latter getting assurance that it would not remain as a land-locked country but would be transformed into a land-linked country. Earlier, there was s signing of motor vehicular movement agreement amongst Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) and now with PM Oli’s visit there were exchanges of letters on transit routes that would simplify the modalities for traffic of goods through Kakarbhitta (Nepal)-Banglabandha (Bangladesh) Corridor via India. Further down south the Nepali goods will get transit facility at Vishakhapatnam port. Rail transport facility through Singabad in India for Nepal’s trade with and through Bangladesh will be operationalised and the rail transport facility would extend down south to Vishakhapatnam port.

LUCKNOW: Nobody seems to be satisfied with Justice Vishnu Sahai commission report on Muzaffarnagar riots tabled in Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha recently.