-The Times of India Former BJP president Bangaru Laxman has been convicted, 11 years after he was caught on camera allegedly taking bribe in a sting operation. A special CBI court here held Bangaru guilty of accepting Rs 1 lakh bribe in 2001 and convicted him under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The court of special CBI judge Kanwaljeet Arora sent Bangaru into judicial custody soon after convicting him. The former BJP chief...

-IANS As a precursor to the proposed state tour for a strong Lokayukta bill, social activist Anna Hazare started his two-day consultations with all political parties to evolve a consensus on the issue, an official said here Thursday. Arriving here from his village Ralegan-Siddhi, Hazare Wednesday night kick-started his tour by meeting Republican Party of India chief Ramdas Athawale here. Hazare Thursday morning will meet Maharashtra Congress chief Manikrao Thakre, Chief Minister Prithviraj...

-PTI BJP Parliamentary Party on Wednesday decided to rake up the Bofors pay-offs issue in Parliament in wake of fresh allegations that the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi may have soft-pedalled the probe to protect Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi. Leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley spoke during the Parliamentary Party meeting about the allegations related to the Bofors scam made by former Swedish police chief Sten Lindstrom in an interview. "The...

-IANS The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left Wednesday demanded an explanation from the government on former Swedish police chief Sten Lindstrom's revelations on the Bofors payoff scandal, including the safe passage to main accused Ottavio Quattrochchi. The BJP said it had always questioned the safe passage to Italian businessman Quattrochchi in the Rs.1,500 crore Bofors gun deal in the 1980s. "The entire government of late Rajiv Gandhi was out to secure...

-IANS RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh government has virtually called a halt to its anti-Maoist offensive till Sukma District Collector Alex Paul Menon is released from captivity, official sources said Monday. "The whole focus is now to secure the safe and early release of Alex Paul Menon. The anti-Maoist operation issue can follow later on," a senior official at the police headquarters here told. The Maoists have demanded freeze on Operation Green Hunt against them...