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Karunanidhi takes a U-turn, says never threatened to quit UPA CHENNAI: DMK president M. Karunanidhi on Wednesday threatened to pull out of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government over the hike in petrol prices but later took a quick U-turn. Shortly after he made the threat while leading protests against rising prices, the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister told reporters that he had not threatened to quit the Congress-led UPA. Speaking at the DMK office, he said he never said he would leave the UPA Government and added that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was looking into the issue of fuel prices. "The Prime Minister has promised action," he said. His clarification came after the media began speculating the future of the UPA coalition if the DMK were to pull out. "We will stay with them (UPA) only till it is possible. If it is not possible, we will go our separate way and stress our policies," he said to loud applause from a crowd of DMK activists in the morning. He was talking about last week's petrol price hike. "Being part of the coalition has not prevented us from protesting anti-people policies. If our basic principles are threatened, we would persuade the centre to correct it," he said. Kaunanidhi was leading the party's protest against the petrol price hike as well as the rise in milk, power and bus fares in Tamil Nadu. He said it was not just the Opposition parties, but also the DMK and other UPA constituents who wanted the petrol prices rolled back. "Even Defence Minister A.K. Antony has (made the demand)," he said. He said it would be a race between the Central and the AIADMK governments on who would pay heed to the plight of the common person and reduce prices that he said had hit the common man hard. — IANS
7 jawans injured in militant attack Srinagar: Seven CRPF personnel were injured in a militant attack in Srinagar early Wednesday. Reports said two bike-borne militants opened indiscriminate firing on a CRPF vehicle in which jawans were travelling. The incident occurred in Rainawari area. "Seven CRPF troopers were injured in the firing. The jawans were immediately evacuated to hospital for treatment. The condition of two is critical," an officer said. Authorities rushed heavy reinforcements to the area, which has now been surrounded for searches to trace the two motorcycle-borne assailants who fired at the vehicle. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. 
Team Anna defends comments on PM New Delhi: Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan has defended his allegations of corruption against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and reiterated his demand for a special investigation team to probe the charges against him and 14 other ministers. Reacting to the Prime Minister's assertion that he would quit public life if any allegation of corruption against him was proved to be true, Bhushan also clarified on his comparing Manmohan Singh to mythological character Shikhandi in the Mahabharata epic who is used as a shield. "If the Prime Minister is serious about what he said, he should accept the offer of a special investigation team for probing the allegations we have made and 14 other ministers," Bhushan told news channel CNN-IBN. "We can't trust CBI with this probe, and in absence of Lokpal, we have suggested the committee," he said. On his comment of comparing Prime Minister to Shikhandi, he said: "I said that the Prime Minister's clean image is being used as a shield". His Team Anna colleague Arvind Kejriwal also said Bhushan never meant to call the Prime Minister Shikhandi. "He never called the Prime Minister Shikhandi, he just said the Prime Minister was being used as a shield, the way Shikhandi was used," Kejriwal said.
Revolt brews up in Odisha BJD Bhubaneshwar: A meeting of about 30 Biju Janata Dal legislators, including three ministers, at party MP Pyarimohan Mohapatra's house on Tuesday has triggered speculations about an imminent revolt in the party which has ruled Odisha for more than a decade. The meeting, which started at the evening, ran well past mid-night. The speculations have reportedly made chief minister and party president Naveen Patnaik to cut his London trip short. He is expected to return to Bhubaneswar on Wednesday, a party source said.In view of the development, leaders loyal to Patnaik held another meeting at the chief minister's residence, Naveen Niwas. Large number of party workers assembled at the Naveen Niwas raising slogan of "Naveen Patnaik zindabad". Party vice-president and former minister Damodar Rout told media persons the gathering at Mohapatra's house was uncalled for when Patnaik was on a foreign trip, his first since he became the chief minister. "It can be termed as anti-party activity," he said.
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