National

ERNAKULAM: President Droupadi Murmu on Friday praised women from Kerala for giving leadership to the nation and recalled the contribution of 15 women members of the Constituent Assembly, including three from the southern state, who added rich perspectives in the making of the Constitution of India.

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday launched a scathing attack on RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and the opposition alliance during his campaign rally in Siwan, invoking memories of Bihar’s “dark years” under the Lalu-Rabri regime and the reign of gangster-politician Mohammad Shahabuddin.

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Friday closed a writ petition filed by St. Rita’s Public School against a directive from the Deputy Director of Education, Ernakulam, asking the school to allow a student to attend classes wearing a headscarf.

AHMEDABAD: Two elderly women were killed in a road accident on Mahadevpura–Gwada Road in Bijapur, Mehsana district in Gujarat.

LUCKNOW: Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) released a list of 20 star campaigners on Friday, for the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar. The list of party veterans who will add strength to the Mahagathbandhan (Congress-RJD-Left)’s public outreach also includes Azam Khan, the 10-time MLA who walked out of jail recently.

RAIGARH: Four workers suffered burns in an explosion in the furnace section of the NRVS Steel Plant located in Taraimal, under the Punjipathra police station area in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district on Friday.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala CPI(M) secretariat met here on Friday and decided to uphold the government's signing of the Prime Minister’s School for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme, thereby confirming that the state will not withdraw from the initiative.

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Friday withdrew the protection enjoyed by the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, from future FIRs against him by police without the prior permission of the court.

KARNATAKA: The Kalaburagi Bench of the High Court will hear petitions filed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and five other organisations seeking permission to hold a padayatra on November 2 in Chittapur town, which is represented by Minister for RDPR, IT, and BT, Priyank Kharge.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CPI on Friday attacked its own government in Kerala after the State Education Secretary inked the PM SHRI (Prime Minister’s School for Rising India) project with the Centre.

SRINAGAR: Voting for the four Rajya Sabha seats started in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday at the Legislative Assembly complex in Srinagar, and the ruling National Conference (NC) MLAs were the first ones to cast their votes.

MUMBAI: Amid the ongoing campaign by opposition parties against alleged vote rigging in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena-UBT has convened a meeting of party office bearers on October 27 at Worli to review preparations and prepare a strategy for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls.

BENGALURU: A team from Karnataka has left for Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh to gather information about passengers from Bengaluru following the tragic bus accident in which 11 passengers were feared burnt alive in the early hours of Thursday, stated Minister for Transport Ramalinga Reddy. The bus that was registered in Odisha was travelling to Bengaluru from Hyderabad when the tragedy struck.

HYDERABAD: The government of Telangana has opened a helpline to provide assistance to the family members of passengers involved in the bus fire in Andhra Pradesh that burnt 11 people alive and left many missing and critically inured.

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena(UBT) has alleged that the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government and its functioning constitute a massive scam in Maharashtra. Uddhav Thackeray's party, in its mouthpiece 'Saamana', claimed on Friday that new evidence of a scam in the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana has emerged, revealing that men embezzled the funds intended for the 'sisters'.

NEW DELHI: Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Friday expressed his deepest condolences to the families of passengers who lost their lives in the horrific bus fire on the Hyderabad–Bengaluru Highway in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh. Calling the incident “deeply tragic and painful,” he urged for stronger measures to ensure passenger safety. Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge also took to his social media to express grief on the death of 11 passengers in the blaze.

HYDERABAD: Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have expressed shock over the horrific bus fire in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district that resulted in 11 people being burnt alive.

ANDHRA PRADESH: As many as 11 people were charred to death when a private bus caught fire after hitting a two-wheeler in Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool in the early hours of Friday. As many as 19 people jumped to safety from the burning bus by breaking a window.

NEW DELHI: President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan on Friday expressed deep grief over the tragic bus fire in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, which claimed 11 lives. Both leaders termed the incident “deeply unfortunate” and extended condolences to the bereaved families.

NEW DELHI: The Union government has written to Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai, seeking his recommendation for the appointment of his successor.

BENGALURU: Commenting on the statement of CM Siddaramaiah's son, MLC Yathindra Siddaramaiah, that Minister for PWD Satish Jarkiholi will be his father's successor, the Karnataka BJP on Thursday took a dig at the Congress party, saying that the Siddaramaiah camp was plotting to prevent Deputy Chief Minister and state President D.K. Shivakumar from ever becoming the CM.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a rare and heartwarming moment, President Droupadi Murmu, who is on a visit to Kerala, stepped out of her convoy on Thursday to personally greet a group of schoolchildren who had gathered along the roadside to catch her glimpse near the famed Sivagiri Mutt in Varkala.

NEW DELHI: A new book titled ‘Modi Mission’ is set to join the list of biographies written about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s extraordinary life and political journey and will be unveiled in Mumbai on Friday.

REWA: At least three people were killed and several others injured after two tractor-trolleys collided in Madhya Pradesh's Rewa district.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former president of Congress unit in Kerala M.M. Hassan has accused the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government of attempting to “saffronise” Kerala’s education system to appease the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

AHMEDABAD: Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Thursday performed the foundation stone ceremony for the Rs 805-crore six-lane expansion of the Shantipura-Khodiyar GIDC road in Sanand.

AMARAVATI: With heavy rain lashing parts of South Coastal Andhra and Rayalseema under the impact of low-pressure in the Bay of Bengal, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday reviewed the situation from Dubai.

PATNA: The long spell of dispute and divide that clouded the bonding and bonhomie between two key allies of Mahagathbandhan -- Congress and RJD -- is set to end with all the alliance partners holding a joint presser on Thursday. The presser, which comes on the last day of withdrawal of nominations, has triggered a series of barbs and jibes from NDA leaders.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday unveiled a bust of former President K.R. Narayanan at Raj Bhavan in Kerala, and described him as a source of inspiration for generations.

KOLKATA: A major fire broke out in a printing press in the Amherst Street area of north Kolkata. No casualty was reported so far, said officials.

CHENNAI: Even as senior leaders from both the ruling DMK and the Opposition AIADMK have toured the delta districts to assess the impact of the northeast monsoon, widespread distress among farmers continues to mount across the Cauvery region.

NEW DELHI: The Chief Ministers of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi on Thursday extended warm wishes to the people on the occasion of 'Bhai Dooj', a Hindu festival celebrating the special bond between brothers and sisters.

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir government has sanctioned three-day special casual leave for PM package employees/migrant employees and those belonging to Jammu division and serving in the Valley so that these employees can celebrate Diwali with their families, government officials said.

JAIPUR: Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma has approved the allotment of 82.60 hectares of land to the Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation Limited (RIICO) for setting up a new industrial area in Dhuwala village of Mandal tehsil in Bhilwara district.

NEW DELHI: The BJP launched a blistering attack at the INDIA Bloc (RJD-Cong-Left alliance) on Wednesday, over its “impractical” and “unrealistic” poll promises and sops in the run-up to the Bihar elections and also termed its “parivaarvad” culture as a hindrance to the state’s progress.