New Delhi/Mumbai, Mar 27 : The nine-day ''Navratri'' festival began across India with religious fervour on Friday.

In New Delhi, devotees queued up outside the temples early in the morning to pay their obeisance to Goddess Durga.

"Today is the first Navratri so we have come here to pay obeisance. We have firm faith in goddess. She has always listened to our prayers and fulfilled them," said Vijay Singh, Bhandari, a devotee.

"Navratri", dedicated to Goddess Durga is celebrated twice in a year, during the spring and the autumn season.

Mumbai, Mar 27 : Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray on Friday asserted that there is a conspiracy against Hindus, and added there is along term aim to corner and kill them.

"There is a conspiracy afoot to corner Hindus and finish them. In this election, Hindus should unitedly show their iron fist and unfurl the saffron flag atop the Red Fort," Thackeray was quoted by party mouthpiece Saamna.

Chennai, Mar 27 : The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) on Friday released its manifesto for upcoming general elections.

The manifesto, released by the PMK founder Dr. S. Ramadoss here said the party would be persuaded to create 50 states from the existing 28 to promote equitable accelerated development in various regions.

Ramdoss said efficiency and good governance could be provided in smaller states.

The party said the concept of creamy layer for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) would also be removed.

Ahmedabad/New Delhi, Mar 27 : Gujarat Women Development and Child Welfare Minister Mayaben Kodnani was forced to resign from the State ministry on Friday as the High Court cancelled the anticipatory bail granted to her.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi has accepted the resignation.

Kodnani, a three-time MLA from the Naroda constituency is an accused in the Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya massacre cases in which around 95 people were killed in the communal violence of 2002.

New Delhi, Mar 27 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi has decided to withdraw his anticipatory bail application from the Delhi High Court.

The Uttar Pradesh Police now has no legal bar to arrest Gandhi. The Delhi High Court had granted him anticipatory bail on March 20.

Gandhi took the decision to withdraw the bail application after the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday rejected his petition seeking quashing of two FIRs registered against him for his speeches in Pilibhit on March 7 and 8.

Washington, Mar. 27 : The chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry has said the United States may seek cooperation from India, China, and Iran to stabilize Afghanistan.

"We also need to reach out to Afghanistan's other neighbours, including India, China, and Iran," the Dawn quoted Kerry, as saying at the confirmation hearing for the new US ambassador to Afghanistan.