Politics

"If everything is done through marketing, then even Amitabh Bachchan would receive similar response while on US visit...," Shankersinh Vaghela said.

"I have not read the book and hence will not be able to comment. Moreover, if anything has been written in the book, it could also be his (Bharadwaj) personal opinion," Congress spokesperson Raj Babbar said.

"I am extending moral support to her and may meet her any time. There is no setback to Jayalalithaa politically due to her conviction in a wealth case," Congress MP P Kannan said.

Jayalalithaa was convicted in a disproportionate assets case on Saturday by a Bangalore court and sentenced to four years in jail.

CPI(M) state secretary Biman Bose on Monday said the party will take action if any functionary is proved guilty of being involved in the ponzi scheme scam.

For the Assembly polls in 2009, Hooda had declared assets worth Rs 2.70 crore.

On the last day of filing of nominations yesterday, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Home Minister RR Patil filed their papers.

The absence of a recognised Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha has created a hurdle in the process of appointments to key statutory bodies.

The 25-year-old Sena-BJP alliance fell apart this week over the issue of seat sharing in the Assembly polls.

The party has already released a list of 261 candidates to contest for 288-member Assembly.

Ajit appealed to NCP workers not to rebel against official candidates because the number of seats were limited and "everybody wants to become MLA".

"The Supreme Court has accepted our (previous UPA government) suggestion that all the coal block which were allocated since 1993 be cancelled," Jaiswal said.

The BJP chief condoled the loss of lives and voiced concern over damage to property and promised all possible help to those affected.

Narendra Modi will be the first Indian Prime Minister in over a decade to stay at the Blair House during his US visit.

The Model Code of Conduct comes into effect immediately for all the seats going to polls, CEC VS Sampath said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Indian Muslims will live for India, die for India" remark has evoked reactions from political leaders across the party lines.