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Amarinder Cong's Deputy Leader, Jyotiraditya chief whip in LS

New Delhi: Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who defeated Arun Jaitley in Lok Sabha elections, has been appointed the Deputy Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha while young leader Jyotiraditya Scindia has been brought in as chief whip of the party.

The decision to appoint Scindia, one of the two party MPs from Madhya Pradesh, signals the party's intent to accommodate the young articulate leadership in the House where both Leaders of the Party Mallikarjun Kharge and Deputy Leader Singh are veterans.

Scindia is considered close to Rahul Gandhi and was appointed campaign commitee chief of the party for Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh last year.

The other MP from Madhya Pradesh is former Union minister Kamal Nath. There were speculations earlier about his being appointed party's Leader in the Lok Sabha, a post which eventually went to Kharge, a Dalit leader from Karnataka, the state which has sent the maximum number of 9 MPs for the party in the elections.

The lone MP from Haryana Deepender Singh Hooda, son of Chief Minister Bhuipnder Singh Hooda, has been appointed one of the two whips, the other being KC Venugopal from Kerala.

Party spokespersn Shobha Oza announced the appointments at the AICC briefing.

In a surprise decision, Kharge was chosen the Congress Leader of Lok Sabha on June 3, ending speculations about either Congress president Sonia Gandhi or vice-president Rahul Gandhi taking up the post to lead the 44 party MPs in the House.

Pb minister narrowly escapes in mishap, 4 cops seriously hurt

Mohali: Punjab Animal Husbandry Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike had a narrow escape today when the pilot vehicle of his cavalcade met with an accident, in which four security personnel were seriously injured on Mohali-Landran-Banur road near Saneta village.

The four security personnel are battling for life at PGI in Chandigarh PGI, police said here.

The accident took place when Ranike was going from Delhi to Chandigarh via Banur-Landran-Mohali road.

As his cavalcade reached near Saneta village, a car coming from opposite direction collided head-on with the pilot vehicle, leaving four security personnel sitting in the vehicle injured, police said.

The injured policemen, Bakshish Singh, Dilbagh Singh, Baljeet Singh and Gurmeet Singh, were rushed to the PGI and their condition is said to be critical.

The driver of the car which hit the cavalcade fled after the mishap, Station House Officer (SHO) Sukhwant Singh Sidhu said. PTI

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asked the people to serve as “trustees” in protecting the environment and utilising natural resources for the present while ensuring happiness of future generations.

On the occasion of the World Environment Day, he said there is a need to reaffirm the pledge to protect environment and make the planet cleaner and greener.

“We are blessed to be a part of a culture where living in complete harmony with the environment is central to our ethos.

Let us serve as trustees, where we utilise our natural resources for the present & at the same time ensure happiness of future generations,”  Modi tweeted.

He said along with government’s efforts, people’s participation can make a big difference in creating a cleaner and a greener planet.

“Let us ensure that even the smallest step we take in our daily lives will be an effort towards conserving nature and natural resources,” he said.- PTI

NEW DELHI: The flagging India-US ties are set to mend with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold a bilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama in Washington in September, sources said Thursday.

Prime Minister Modi, who as Gujarat chief minister was denied a visa by the US in 2005 over the Gujarat riots, has said he is keen to visit Washington, source said.

According to sources, Obama is keen to patch up the damage to the India-US ties as fast as possible.

His meeting with Modi will be the second in the span of a year with an Indian prime minister. He met Manmohan Singh in September last year during the former prime minister's visit to Washington en route to the UN General Assembly summit.

Modi said in interviews before becoming prime minister that individual incidents should not be allowed to cloud bilateral relations - giving an indication of his intent to take forward the ties.

Obama is keen to discuss the stalled talks over the civil nuclear liability laws, which have been a major stumbling block in the execution of the India-US nuclear deal. The US is also keen to increase its defence ties with India, a major market. - IANS

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several of his Cabinet colleagues and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were among those who took oath as members of the 16th Lok Sabha on Thursday.

The Prime Minister was the first to take oath amid thumping of desks. He took oath in Hindi in the name of God and was followed by BJP veteran L. K. Advani. Several Union Ministers took oath in Hindi in the name of God, with Sushma Swaraj, Uma Bharti and Harsh Vardhan taking oath in Sanskrit. Sonia Gandhi made the affirmation in Hindi and so did Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

Several Ministers preferred to take oath in their mother tongue, including D. V. Sadananda Gowda, Ananth Kumar and G. M. Siddheshwara, who took oath in Kannada. Sarbananda Sonowal took oath in Assamese and Jual Oram in Odia.

Senior members Arjun Charan Sethi (BJD), P. A. Sangma (NPP) and Biren Singh Engti (Cong), appointed on the Panel of Chairpersons by the President to help the Protem Speaker in oath taking process, took oath after Modi, Advani and Sonia Gandhi. - PTI

PATNA: Two policemen have been pronounced guilty of murdering three students in a fake encounter 12 years ago by a local court today.

Six others were found guilty of attempt to murder in the case by Fast Track Court-I judge Ravi Shankar Sinha.

The two held guilty are the then station house officer of Shastri Nagar police station Shamse Alam and constable Arun Kumar Singh.

The court will pronounce quantum of sentence to the eight accused on June 12.

The three students - Vikash Ranjan, Prashant Singh and Himanshu Shekhar were killed in a fake encounter case at a market near Ashiyana Nagar locality under Shastri Nagar police station area here on December 28, 2002.

The six found guilty of attempt to murder were shopkeepers of Sammelan Market who had brutally beaten up the three students following a scuffle between them and a telephone booth operator over paying a STD bill.

The six were Kamlesh Kumar Gautam, Raju Ranjan, Soni Rajak, Kumod Kumar, Rakesh Kumar Mishra and Anil.

Alam, who had arrived at the spot with Singh on being informed, fatally shot the three students in the head and dubbed them as dacoits in a report of the police station.

Mukesh Ranjan, brother of slain student Vikash Ranjan was an informant of the fake encounter case.

The case was first probed by the local police, then CID and subsequently handed over to CBI.

As many as 33 witnessed were examined by the court during the protracted trial. Alam, the prime accused, was denied bail by various courts ever since he was arrested in the case in 2003. - PTI