New Delhi/ Patna/ Ranchi: The Congress Party on Monday asked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to tender apologies for the Babri mosque demolition and communal statements made by its leaders.

Reacting to BJP leader L K Advani''s demand for an apology from Congress President Sonia Gandhi for her critical remarks on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said, "Advani should begin by seeking an apology for Babri; he has to seek an apology for keeping quiet during Varun Gandhi''s reprehensive divisive speech, Praveen Togadia, Vinay Katyals and Narendra Modi have to seek apology."

Amethi, Apr 13: Priyanka Gandhi on Monday accused the Mayawati- led Uttar Pradesh Government for creating impediments in the developmental works in Amethi, which is represented in Parliament by her brother Rahul Gandhi.

"A non-Congress government in Uttar Pradesh or at the Centre has always tried to create hurdles in executing development works. For instance, the Uttar Pradesh Government did its best to halt the proposed Rail Coach Factory project in Rai Bareli," she said while addressing an election rally here.

Amethi, Apr 12 : Priyanka Gandhi on Sunday gave some indications of possibility of her brother and Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi becoming Prime Minister one day.

"I have full faith in my brother. He is hardworking. He is, according to me, qualified for the post. So, one day he will. He will do a good job of it," she told reporters while campaigning for Rahul Gandhi in Amethi parliamentary constituency.

Priyanka, however, added that Manmohan Singh would assume the post, if Congress comes back to power.

Amethi, Apr. 11: Congress party’s star campaigner Priyanka Gandhi has lashed out at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for comparing the Congress party to a ‘budhia’ (old woman), and asked people if she looked old.

“Do I look old to you? Does Sonia Gandhi (Congress president and her mother), Rahul Gandhi or I look old to you,” she asked people of Khalidpur village, while addressing a rally there.

Paris - French naval forces overwhelmed pirates who had seized a private yacht in the Indian Ocean a week ago, but at the cost of the lives of one of the hostages and two pirates, Paris disclosed Friday evening. The presidential office said the three other pirates involved in the capture of the yacht Tanis on April 4 had beencaptured.

President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his condolences to the family of the hostage who had died. He stressed France's determination not to give in to blackmail and to keep the pirates in check.

New Delhi - As the decibel level rises in the run-up to India's general elections, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his sharpest reaction to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader LK Advani's charge that he was a weak premier, said Friday that he should be judged by his actions and not his speech. "One cannot be judged strong or weak by merely talking loudly," Singh told journalists in Delhi.