L A T E S T      N E W S

Voting on NCTC amendment in RS

New Delhi: The UPA may have sailed through voting on NCTC in the Lok Sabha but it faces another big test in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday (March 20). With no assurances from allies and numbers not stacking up favourably for the Congress in the upper house, will the UPA manage to get through the half way mark?

The UPA government may have stumped the opposition by winning the vote on the contentious NCTC in the Lok Sabha but in doing so the congress might have exposed it's minority in the house.

A simple majority in the Lok Sabha is 272, which has a total of 543 seats. The government came in under that mark. But members of the Trinamool Congress and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj party walked out during the vote reducing the number of mps present and voting by 40.

With the amendment coming up for voting in the Rajya Sabha today it is another litmus test for Manmohan Singh's government with the numbers not exactly stacking up in its favour.

The UPA has a strength of 96 in the Rajya Sabha which has a strength of 245. So the cong has to target a number of 123 to reach the half way mark.

If the TMC stages a walkout again the UPA will further fall short on the numbers. But if the Samajwadi party decides to back the govt the UPA's number will shoot up but it will still remain short of 23 members. But incase the BSP along with the sp chooses to vote in favour of the amendment the numbers will still be short by 6.

Leaving the UPA govt on a sticky wicket, despite voting with the UPA in Lok Sabha on Monday Mulayam Singh remained non-committal on his stand. And if the congress's gamble of placing Mamata’s man Mukul Roy at the helm of the railway ministry actually works remains to be seen.

With no definite assurances from its allies and the numbers in the Rajya Sabha not adding up favourably for the congress it could well be anybody's game in the upper house today.

Yeddy's camp claims support of 70 MLAs

Bangalore: In a further hardening of stand, former chief minister turned rebel BS Yeddyurappa has refused to go to Delhi for talks with BJP central leadership till he is reinstated as chief minister if Karnataka.

As per reports, Yeddyurappa has refused to leave Bangalore till his demands are met. His reluctance to head to Delhi is understandable as he had, over the weekend, whisked away almost 50 MLAs to a resort outside Bangalore and would not want any breaking away from his ranks while he is away.

Importantly, the number of MLAs supporting Yeddyurappa has swelled to 70; a news channel said quoting an MLA. However, party chief Gadkari has reportedly managed to make the Lingayat strongman agree to allow current chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda present the state’s budget tomorrow.

15 killed in UP train accident

New Delhi: Fifteen people were killed and two others seriously injured when the Mathura-Kasganj Express rammed into a jeep at an unmanned railway crossing on Tuesday morning.

The accident took place at the unmanned railway crossing near Madu Railway Station at 7:19 am in the district.The jeep was carrying 17 passengers, superintendent of police Chandra Prakash said.

While 15 people were killed on the spot, two of the injured have been admitted to a hospital, he said. Railway sources in Delhi said the mishap took place when the jeep tried to cross the track even as the train was approaching.