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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and his office, still smarting under the solar scam heat, have been battered by a fresh storm.

NEW YORK: Ms Mamata Banerjee may not be the head of a national government to merit an invitation to speak before world rulers at a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session, but the firebrand West Bengal Chief Minister occupied the centre stage in international diplomacy at least in the course of bilateral talks between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart from Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, on the sidelines of UNGA’s 68th session here. “Mamata is like Julius Caesar’s spirit, more powerful in absence than in presence,” as a Bangladeshi official put it.

WASHINGTON: On a day of remarkable happenings internationally – September 27 - with rare diplomatic breakthroughs for President Obama, a gentle Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was received at the White House by the President as “a great friend and partner of USA, and to me personally”. After wide-ranging discussions on bilateral, regional and global issues at this third summit, the two leaders put a new stamp on the 67-year history of bilateral relations.

New Delhi: Come October 2 the Gandhi Jayanti Day. On this day on the birth of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, India ans Bangladesh will witness bonhomie at the border. The Home Ministers of two countries will witness a historic cultural extravaganza between the neighbours.

A major Indo-Bangladesh joint project has run into rough weather due to the opposition of the local people who have been joined by ecologists and environmentalists.

The UPA-2 Government has no option but to withdraw the controversial ordinance on convicted law makers after Rahul Gandhi dubbed the measure as ‘complete nonsense’ which should be ‘torn and thrown out’. The ordinance stipulates negation of the Supreme Court order on disqualifying convicted MPs and MLAs. Rahul’s rebuff is considered an embarrassment to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his cabinet colleagues. The cabinet will meet next week after return of the PM from US visit, reconsider the ordinance, and withdraw it.

NEW YORK – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today urged upon US companies across industry to take advantage of the latest round of policy liberalization on foreign direct investment (FDI) to invest in India assuring that the country’s economy would return to the high annual growth mode of eight to nine per cent from the middle of next year as a result of the new initiatives.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the powerful ally of the Congress in the United Democratic Front (UDF) coalition Government in the State, has again betrayed its proclivity for pressure politics to have its way.

BHOPAL: No doubt it was a massive gathering. Perhaps ‘massive’ does not be appear to be appropriate word for describing a gathering of over five lakh political workers held at Bhopal on September 25. Great skill, planning and hard work is required to organise such a big congregation. The state BJP had christened it ‘Karyakarta Mahakumbh’ (Mega convention of workers).

WASHINGTON DC - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's last summit with US President Barack Obama here today, before India goes to the polls next year, to reflect the transformation that Dr. Singh has sought in the relationship of the two countries achieved only a partial success with the bilateral summit making little progress on coming together on key issues concerning strategic co-operation, joint defence production and technology transfer, India’s permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Pakistan’s role in cross-border terrorism, India’s role in Afghanistan post US military withdrawal next year, trade and investment, new US law enabling job visa restriction and environment protection laws among others.