In a major political development, Nava Telangana Party (NTP) headed by Andhra Pradesh ex-home minister T Devender Goud merged on Thursday with Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam Party (PRP).

NTP, founded in July 2008, is the second Telangana-specific political outfit next only to Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) headed by K Chandrasekhara Rao. “PRP has similar views on Telangana. This merger would only further our fight to achieve a separate state,” Goud said. Goud was appointed PRP vice-president after the merger.

PRP, which is still in its infancy as the elections are round the corner, has been looking for a stronghold in the Telangana region. Though it had tried for an alliance with TRS, the process did not go beyond initial talks.

Govt will revoke special powers act, says Omar

Armed forces may be divested of their special powers in Jammu and Kashmir for the first time since violence broke out in the Valley in early 1990s. Chief minister Omar Abdullah said on Thursday that the government was working towards revoking the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which gives sweeping powers to troops.

Replying to a debate on AFSPA in the state assembly during his maiden address as the chief minister, Omar said: "We have started the process of revoking the AFSPA and Disturbed Area Act (DAA)."

Pak Prez joins hands with Mush's PML-Q

Even as Pakistan was plunged into fresh turmoil on Thursday with PML-N cadres protesting the Supreme Court order barring the Sharif brothers from contesting polls, the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by president Asif Ali Zardari decided to join hands with the Pervez Musharraf-backed Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid) to form governments at the centre and in Punjab province.

Zardari's slain wife Benazir Bhutto had, in a letter, named PML-Q's parliamentary party leader Pervez Elahi as one of her "would be assassins".

The government has started doling out sops to woo voters, though elections are a distance away. In a move to appease minorities (read Muslims), Arjun Singh, human resource development minister, announced on Thursday the government will bear the cost of education of children who opt for modern subjects in madra-ssas and maktabs.

The Assembly session for the vote-on-account on Thursday was lacklustre and short-lived as it barely survived 30 minutes, consigning it to just a routine exercise with the entire Opposition boycotting it.

The BJP MLAs took their seats, their lips sealed with white masks and walked out of the House before chief minister Ashok Gehlot could present the state’s interim Budget. The CPM members declared they were boycotting the House after Gehlot’s speech, but not before blasting the state government.

Gehlot presents vote-on-account, estimates revenue deficit of Rs913 cr

The state government secured a vote-on-account for the first quarter of the financial year 2009-2010 in the state Assembly on Thursday and proposed a plan expenditure of over Rs17,300 crore.

While the BJP walked out of the House demanding a debate on the vote-on-account, the House passed the interim budget for four months after which the Assembly session was adjourned sine die by speaker Deependra Singh Shekhawat.