Thursday, December 28, 2006, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

NDA backs Mamata, seeks help of President
New Delhi, December 27
The NDA today decided to seek President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s intervention to save the life of Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, who has been on an indefinite fast for the past 24 days in protest against the acquisition of fertile land for the Tata Motors project in Singur in West Bengal.

Rivals stoking trouble: Tata Tata Group supremo Ratan Tata today blamed competitors for "fuelling" fire in the controversy over the proposed Rs 1-lakh car project at Singur in West Bengal, but resolved not to pull out of the state.	PM orders medicare Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today instructed Central authorities to extend whatever medical care is required for Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee who is on an indefinite fast in Kolkata.
Nation page: Governor says Tata can wait, CM not amused

Tehelka case
CBI stings Jaya again
New Delhi, December 27
The CBI today chargesheeted Ms Jaya Jaitley, a close associate of former Defence Minister George Fernandes, one of her party colleagues and a retired Major General for alleged bribery and criminal conspiracy in the Tehelka scam.

Punjab Prof’s daughter raped in Delhi
New Delhi, December 27
A schoolgirl, daughter of a university professor of Amritsar, was abducted and raped in a moving car for over seven hours by four people who have been arrested, police said today.

PM speaks of Muslim needs New Delhi, December 27 Underlining the need to reduce social and economic inequalities without disturbing the process of growth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the UPA government was committed to redress imbalances and eradicate inequities so that everyone could have an equal share in the growth of the country.

Degrading: BJP "By calling them (Muslims) backward time and again, the Prime Minister, in fact, is degrading the community," senior BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra told reporters.

Lucknow varsity expels 38 students
Lucknow, December 27
Cracking the whip in the wake of campus violence, Lucknow University authorities today expelled 38 students, including all office-bearers of the present students’ union.

SAD agrees to allot 22 seats to BJP
New Delhi, December 27
The Shiromani Akali Dal today agreed to 22 of the 23 seats demanded by the BJP for the coming Assembly poll in Punjab.

Punjab page: Rajpura seat given to BJP

Bhattal behind threat to my life: Niece
Chandigarh, December 27 Ms Rozy Bhattal, a niece of the Punjab Deputy Chief Minister, Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, today alleged that she was facing threats to her life from her father’s younger brother, Mr Kuldeep Bhattal.	The allegations are no more than an election stunt as she was keen on contesting from Dhanaula. — Rajinder Kaur Bhattal

India: The Tasks Ahead
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT
125TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS,
INAUGURAL SESSION

	PUNJAB: Seat sharing: SAD, BJP reach consensus
	HARYANA: Officers ‘not serious’ about re-employing retrenched staff
	HIMACHAL: Uproarious scenes in HP Assembly
	J&K: 2 LeT militants among five killed
	CHANDIGARH:  Glass bottles of glucose stage comeback in city hospitals
	LUDHIANA: Emigration scam: Main accused held
	DELHI: Master Plan focuses on weekly markets
	OPINIONS: Don’t hang Saddam
	BUSINESS: HAL to set up Rs 100-cr plant in Orissa
	NATION: Governor says Tata can wait, CM not amused
	WORLD: Saddam’s hanging may not need President’s nod
	SPORTS: Sachin arrests Indian wobble

HOROSCOPE

WEEKLY

Dullo lambasts police Reacting to the reports of brutal lathicharge on farmers, the Punjab Pradesh Congress president, Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo, said here today that the police should not have resorted to such an action.

A debut too far for Ishant
Mumbai, December 27
Teenaged paceman Ishant Sharma would not fly to South Africa after all.

Sports page: Sachin helps India score a little

Guru Lalu mesmerises Harvard students New Delhi, December 27 “There is nothing new in his theory. But, the novelty is that he has put it into practice and it has yielded results. That’s how he is different from other management gurus,” said Simmons Jones, a Harvard student impressed with the classroom session with Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav meets students of the Harvard and Wharton Business School at the National Rail Museum in New Delhi on Wednesday.