AGP allies with BJP, joins NDA
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Asom Gana Parishad today formally announced their alliance for the coming Assembly elections in Assam for which they will campaign jointly.

Rajnath Singh elected from Hydergarh
The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh, today registered a convincing victory in the State Assembly by-election from Hydergarh. Mr. Singh defeated his nearest rival, Mr. Rampal Verma of the Samajwadi Party, by 40,364 votes.

Move to pacify Karunakaran
The standoff between the senior leader, Mr. Karunakaran, and the Congress leadership today showed signs of abating as both sides moved gingerly towards a rapprochement. Taking heart from Mr. Karunakaran's call to the AICC general secretary in-charge of Kerala, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, the central leadership also launched serious, behind the scene efforts to bring around the estranged Kerala strongman.

Jayalalitha's plea opposed
The Tamil Nadu Government today vehemently opposed the former Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalitha's plea before the High Court for suspension of her conviction in the TANSI land deal cases, even as her counsel contended that the High Court had the power to allow her plea to enable her contest the elections.

PM's Iran visit to deepen strategic ties
The Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, heads for Teheran tomorrow on a four-day visit to deepen strategic engagement with Iran and develop all-round cooperation with the very special neighbour to the West.

PMK-Cong. deadlock continues
An attempt by the AIADMK general secretary, Ms. Jayalalitha, today to break the deadlock in the alliance negotiations in Pondicherry met with little success as both the Congress and the Pattali Makkal Katchi stubbornly stuck to their respective positions.

Disputed structure was a hostage in Kalyan's hands: Rao
The former Prime Minister, Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao, today maintained that the Centre had no role to play except to help the Uttar Pradesh Government in preventing the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.

SC to hear BALCO case
In a significant development in the BALCO disinvestment case, the Supreme Court today directed transfer to itself three writ petitions pending before the high courts of Delhi and Chhatisgarh challenging the sale of the public sector undertaking to the Sterlite industries.

Cong. sees Govt. bid to malign Opposition
The Congress today accused the BJP-led Government of launching a deliberate campaign to malign the Opposition. ``The Government has started a campaign to malign the Opposition by mounting a massive tailing, tapping and surveillance operation,'' said the party spokesperson, Mr. Anand Sharma.