India not backing terror: Holbrooke
Islamabad, April 25
Pakistan should focus on militancy within its borders instead of worrying about India’s presence in Afghanistan as there is no evidence to suggest that New Delhi is backing the extremists, US Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke has said. “Pakistan does not have to worry about India in Afghanistan. They need to worry about the miscreants in western Pakistan,” Holbrooke said in an interview with Geo News channel at the US State Department in Washington.

US for stronger ties with Pak
Special US envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke has reiterated the US commitment that Pakistan and America are true friends and there is no tension between the two countries.

Pakistani infiltrator arrested
Captured militant Moieen Ullah being produced before the media by the Army in Srinagar on Saturday. (Right) The arms that were recovered following a tip-off by Ullah. Tribune photos

No space for wheat in mandis
Labour shortage slows down loading
Bathinda, April 25
Wheat stocks have started overflowing on the streets around grain markets of the Malwa belt because of glut caused due to the slow pace of lifting due to shortage of labour. The sprawling grain market here was choked with bags full of wheat awaiting carriage by procurement agencies. The farmers reaching here from rural areas with their produce were facing difficulty in finding space to offload the grain.

Alliance talks only after polls, says Rahul
Kolkata, April 25
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said today that he was not ready to be prime minister yet and added that the issue of post-poll alliances would be decided by “senior leaders” of his party after the Lok Sabha elections. “I would refuse (the prime minister’s post)...for two reasons. One is that I am now working on the organisation of the Congress. It is important that a pro-poor youth Congress organisation is developed,” Rahul Gandhi told mediapersons.

Modi as PM: Chorus grows stronger in BJP
Vadodara/Bangalore, April 25
More support today poured in from within the BJP for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the party’s prime ministerial candidate with senior leaders Arun Jaitley and M. Venkaiah Naidu saying they will be happy to see him in the top post. However, both Jaitley and Naidu made it clear that Advani is the party’s prime ministerial candidate for the current Lok Sabha poll.

Third Front will miss majority, says Pawar
New Delhi, April 25
NCP leader Sharad Pawar today expressed doubts about CPM general secretary Prakash Karat’s assessment that Third Front would have good numbers and the Congress may have to provide outside support to it in forming the next government. He maintained that the Third Front would not have “sufficient” numbers to form the government.

India Votes In lions’ den, a polling booth for a solitary voter While politicians and officials derive their importance from the office they hold in a country with its repulsively strong VIP culture, 59 year-old Bapu Bharat Das certainly qualifies to be an EP (exclusive person) if not a VIP. He is India’s only voter with a polling booth all to himself. Since Bapu has been a conscientious voter, this booth has been recording cent percent polling for the last decade.