-The Economic Times   Stepping up Kerala's demand for a new dam at Mullaperiyar, chief minister Oommen Chandy said he will meet the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Thursday, even as the opposition leader VS Achuthanandan decided to go on a fast on December 7 on the issue.  In an attempt to find a solution to the vexing issue, Chandy would write to his counter part in Tamil Nadu about...

-IANS Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday met Congress MPs after calling on party president Sonia Gandhi to discuss the standoff over the decision to allow foreign equity in retail.  The government's known troubleshooter held a brief meeting with Gandhi at her 10 Janpath residence before meeting party MPs to allay their apprehensions on the decision to allow 51 percent foreign direct investment ( FDI) in multi-brand retail and 100 percent in...

-The Economic Times   The row over opening up of the retail sector escalated on Monday with Congress' Kerala unit backing the rollback demand of 12 Opposition-controlled state governments and UPA allies DMK and Trinamool Congress.  The fissures within the ruling alliance and the potential of the issue to bring disparate Opposition groups together saw Congress president Sonia Gandhi intervening to cut political losses for her party. Sonia, who held consultations with Prime...

—PTI Differences in the Congress over allowing FDI in retail surfaced on Sunday with Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ramesh Chennithala writing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opposing the move and asking the party government in the State not to implement it. Party equations The Congress in Kerala has been opposing FDI in retail fearing that the Opposition Left will capitalise on it by weaning away small and marginal retail shop owners from...

-The Hindu None of the reasons given by the Tamil Nadu government for imposing a ban on the film Dam 999 holds water. The right to freedom of speech and expression, as enshrined in the Constitution and upheld time and again by the Supreme Court of India, is too dear to be sacrificed at the altar of political contingency. Everything the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary, Debendranath Sarangi, stated about the film...