Cong. hopeful of deal with Trinamool
At the end of its day-long deliberations, involving both central as well as State leaders, the Congress(I) expressed optimism over sewing up its alliance with the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.

BJP accuses Mamata of back-stabbing
The Bharatiya Janata Party today charged the Trinamool Congress supremo, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, with ``stabbing'' in the back and snapped ties with the Trinamool.

Arrest Laxman, Jaya Jaitly, says Congress
The Congress today demanded the arrest of the former BJP president, Mr. Bangaru Laxman, and the former Samata Party president, Ms. Jaya Jaitly, in the wake of the recommendations of the CBI Special Public Prosecutor, Mr. R.M. Tewary, to register cases against those featuring in the Tehelka expose.

Vincent George's accounts frozen
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has frozen five bank accounts belonging to Mr. Vincent George, his wife, Mrs. Lily George, and his two children. The CBI registered a case on March 20 under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Mr. George, private secretary to the Congress(I) president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi.

Centre optimistic about wheat export
The Centre proposes to put up at least 50 lakh tonnes of wheat for export through global tenders in the next fiscal on the basis of demand by the exporting agencies.

A major gain for J&K police
Salauddin Ayubi, self-styled chief of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba in Jammu and Kashmir, who was gunned down by Special Operations Group of the State police in Budgam district this evening, was a most wanted man.

President to undergo surgery
The President, Mr. K. R. Narayanan, was admitted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital here this evening for surgery to remove gall bladder stones. The operation is slated for Thursday.

Fake note racket busted
In a major swoop, crime branch investigators busted two gangs involved in circulating counterfeit currency here and arrested 10 persons who have links in Dubai as well as with the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).