Domestic news of the week

Saturday

New Delhi: In India two months after being forced to skip Jaipur Literary Festival, controversial author Salman Rushdie hits out at Congress, suggesting that his presence there was blocked because of "useless electoral calculations" and tells Rahul Gandhi that "it did not work".

New Delhi/Dehra Dun: Congress says Union Minister Harish Rawat will be given "his due" but rules out changing Vijay Bahuguna as Uttarakhand Chief Minister even as the rebel leader claim he is not in the race for that post.

Sunday

New Delhi/Kolkata: Dinesh Trivedi resigns as Railway Minister ending his defiance and bringing to a close five-day drama after he incurred the wrath of Trinamool Congress for hiking passenger fares in the Railway Budget.

Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: Two Italian tourists are abducted in the tribal-dominated Ganjam district of Orissa by Maoists, who are demanding an immediate end to anti-Naxal operations and release of some of their jailed colleagues.

Monday

New Delhi: Carrying forward his revolt, former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa fields a rebel candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections as BJP denies renomination for its Deputy Leader SS Ahluwalia as filing of nominations closed in the biennial polls in 15 states.

New Delhi: Going by the controversial daily consumption number of Rs 28.65 per day, one out of every three Indian is poor as per the new Planning Commission's estimates which has pegged the poverty ratio in FY10 at 29.8%, down from 37.2% in FY05.

Tuesday

New Delhi: Within hours of the Supreme Court dismissing the review petition in the Vodafone's tax case, government refunds about Rs 2,500 crore plus 4% interest to the firm.

New Delhi: Kingfisher Airlines decides to suspend all international flights from March 25 and further curtail domestic operations even as Government warns the ailing carrier that its flying licence can be cancelled if it fails to meet safety norms.

Wednesday

Gandhinagar: After Karnataka, BJP is hit by another porngate scandal in the Assembly where two ruling party MLAs in Gujarat allegedly watched obscene pictures of women prompting the Speaker to order a probe and also target the media.

New Delhi/Bangalore: BJP leadership is locked in hectic consultations over the crisis in Karnataka as former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa arrives in the capital to mount further pressure for his reinstatement while Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda rules out his own removal.

Thursday

New Delhi: Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai expresses deep anguish over leakage of an audit report on coal block allocation and seeks from Prime Minister a probe into the source of the leak.

New Delhi: With an aim of striking a balance, India worked behind the scenes to tone down the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN while ensuring dignity for ethnic Tamils, an act Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says was in line with the government's stand.

Friday

New Delhi: The contentious provision relating to Lokayuktas in the Lok Pal Bill may undergo change as key UPA constituents join the Opposition in demanding its deletion but differences still persist on some other provisions.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court refuses to stay a Bombay High Court judgment making remarks against former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in a case involving allotment of 20 acre land to filmmaker Subhash Ghai's institute.