Jitendra is in charge of energy in latest portfolio reshuffle

Shanti Kumar Dhariwal is the new home minister of Rajasthan and Jitendra Singh the energy minister. Two days after his first cabinet expansion, chief minister Ashok Gehlot reshuffled the portfolios among his team on Monday lavishing Dhariwal with some important departments that he had kept with himself, until now.

Gehlot who earlier had 38 ministries with him has retained finance, planning and civil aviation portfolios. After the reshuffle, he now has 12 ministries with him.

The Lok Sabha elections for the 25 parliamentary seats in Rajasthan will be held on May 7.

Polling would be held in the entire state in a single phase on the above-mentioned day as per the Election Commission (EC) of India. The counting of ballots in Rajasthan along with those of other states would be done on May 16 to declare the results for the 15th Lok Sabha.

Immediately after the EC declared the schedule of the general elections, chief electoral officer of Rajasthan Vinod Zutshi imposed the model code of conduct in the state, thereby restraining the government from making any political announcements and issuing fresh transfers or postings to its employees.

Amethi, Mar 3: United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and her brother, AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi will arrive here today.

During her visit, Priyanka is expected to interact with party workers and meet Congress representatives of Sonia Gandhi''s constituency Rae Bareli.

Earlier, Priyanka had campaigned for Sonia in 1999 and 2004 parliamentary elections.

Earlier on February 2, Sonia inaugurated a rail coach factory in Rae Bareli.

Kathmandu, Mar 2: Nepali Congress (NC) President Girija Prasad Koirala has said that Maoist’s commitment towards press freedom and human rights is doubtful.

In his meeting with a delegation of Asian Journalist Association Media Mission here on Sunday Koirala said, “The Prime Minister says something and does something regarding the media.”

President Pratibha Patil on Sunday rejected chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami's recommendation to remove Navin Chawla as election commissioner.

BJP's Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the decision was "unfortunate and not a good sign". Congress general secretary M Veerappa Moily said, "The CEC's recommendation was whimsical; it is only natural it was rejected."

The Mumbai terror attack certainly seems to have shaken up the nation's security agencies. Recently, a batch of new paramilitary officers was trained by the elite National Security Guard (NSG) for situations like 26/11.

This is the first time that 82 paramilitary officers have been trained by NSG, especially in handling explosives.

Home ministry sources said a letter was sent to NSG to guide the recruits so that the paramilitary is better prepared to handle Mumbai-like situations. "We want these men to act as a back-up till trained commandos take control of the situation," a senior ministry official said.