By IANS,

Mumbai : Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray put a dampener on the Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders by demanding that no Pakistani player should be permitted to play in the league.

"We have been opposing their (Pakistani) players here for many years now," Uddhav told reporters here on the sidelines of a campaign for the forthcoming by-election from Thane to the Lok Sabha.

By IANS,

Kochi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala Friday alleged that the silence of the state Congress on the arrest of a godman on charges of rape could be a pointer to their possible links with the swami.

Controversial godman Swami Amritananthachaithanya alias Santosh Madhavan was arrested here Tuesday morning on three charges, including rape of a teenager.

Addressing reporters here Friday, state BJP vice president A.N. Radhakrishnan said: "It appears that Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan is blackmailing Congress leaders and hence they are silent."

By IANS,

Bangalore : Nearly 40 percent of over 11 million eligible voters exercised their franchise by 3 p.m. Friday in 66 constituencies in 10 districts of Karnataka in the second phase of elections to the 224-member state assembly.

The coastal district of Udupi reported the highest turnout with over 48 percent voting. The iron-ore rich Bellary district, where mining barons are slugging it out in the polls, recorded around 36 percent polling.

Bellary district, which had witnessed pre-poll violence, was incident free on Friday, election officials said at the state capital here.

By Darshan Desai, IANS,

Amethi (Uttar Pradesh) : Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi was Friday stunned when an angry crowd of party workers at his constituency here accused him of failing to help them get work in a state-run company.

As Gandhi reached Jagdishpur village, his first stop after Lucknow some 70 km away, a group of party workers gathered outside the venue of a function forced his car to halt.

By IANS,

Thiruvananthapuram : Former Kerala chief minister K. Karunakaran, who rejoined the Congress last year, Friday aired his resentment against the party because his supporters were not being allotted posts.

Admitting that there were no conditions attached to his return to the Congress, Karunakaran said: "In all fairness, it would only be good for the party if those who returned to the party are accommodated. A united Congress party has already yielded results."

By IANS,

Bangalore : Around 16 percent of over 11 million eligible voters exercised their franchise in the first fours of balloting Friday in 66 constituencies in 10 districts of Karnataka in the second phase of elections for the 224-member state assembly.

"Polling has been peaceful at all places, including at Bellary," a police officer said. Balloting is taking place in central, coastal and parts of north Karnataka.

By IANS,

Bangalore : Voting began Friday morning in 66 constituencies in 10 districts of central, coastal and parts of north Karnataka in the second phase of elections for the 224-member state assembly.

Over 11 million people are eligible to vote to decide the fate of 589 candidates - an overwhelming majority of them independents - in Raichur, Koppal, Uttara Kannada, Bellary, Chitradurga, Davangere, Shimoga, Udupi, Chikmagalur and Dakshina Kannada districts.

By IANS,

Thiruvananthapuram : Veteran Congress leader and former central minister Henry Austin passed away here Thursday. He was 88.

The end came at his daughter's home here late in the evening.

Austin won from the Ernakulam Lok Sabha constituency in the 1971 and 1977 polls. When the Congress split and faced the elections in 1980 he lost to Congress candidate Xavier Arackal.

Austin held the portfolio of food and civil supplies, independent charge with the rank of a state minister, in the government headed by Charan Singh.

In 1985 he was appointed ambassador to Portugal.

By IANS,

Kozhikode (Kerala) : The bickering between ruling allies - the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) - in Kerala intensified Thursday with the senior leaders of both parties lashing out at one another over proposed food security scheme.

The scheme aims at increasing paddy and milk production in the state.

"The CPI is trying to sabotage the food security scheme. The party is taking steps that are detrimental to the scheme," said CPI-M state secretariat member E.P. Jayarajan at a meet to protest price-rise here.

By IANS,

New Delhi : India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has conveyed its concerns about cross-border terrorism to visiting Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Maqdoom Amin Faheem, a party spokesman said here.

"Cross-border terrorism is the biggest hurdle in the peace process between India and Pakistan. We have conveyed our concerns about terrorism," Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told IANS Thursday, a day after BJP president Rajnath Singh met Faheem, who is currently on a private visit here.