Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was on Friday chosen by the ruling UPA as its candidate for the President’s post, ending months of speculation. The nomination of 77-year-old Congress veteran from West Bengal was made at a meeting of the UPA chaired by its Chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

“Leaders of the constituent parties of the UPA met. It was decided to propose Pranab Mukherjee as candidate for the office of the President of India,” Gandhi said at the meeting that lasted nearly an hour.

Gandhi put the name of Mukherjee, the trouble-shooter for the UPA government, and it was approved by the alliance leaders. Key ally Trinamool Congress chief, who along with another ally Samajwadi Party has floated the names of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and two others, stayed away from the meeting. She read out a statement at the meeting which said Pranab Mukherjee has a long and distinguished record of public service spanning over five decades.

“There is broad support for his candidature. The UPA appeals to all the political parties and all MPs and MLAs to support the candidature of Mukherjee for the office of President,” she said. Gandhi’s announcement was greeted by a round of applause from leaders of allied parties.Home Minister P. Chidambaram and DMK leader T.R. Baalu presented golden shawls to Mukherjee and to the Prime Minister and Gandhi.

A father raped and killed his 15-year-old daughter in Anthampally village of Bhiknoor mandal (Andhra Pradesh) in the early hours of Thursday. According to the police, after raping his daughter in an inebriated condition, Jeedi Bhupal, 44, poured toilet cleaner and kerosene over the girl and set her on fire, trying to pass it off as an acid attack. The girl died while undergoing treatment in the hospital.

The police suspected Bhupal as he gave conflicting versions of the incident. After being taken into custody, he confessed to the crime on Thursday evening.

Rapist dad gave cops another version: The daughter, Jeedi Kalyani, was studying in Class X at Zilla Parishad High School for Girls at Bhiknoor mandal headquarters.The police said that Bhupal, 44, had initially stated that he found Kalyani in the house with severe burns on Thursday morning. She was immediately shifted by the family members to the government area hospital in Kamareddy, where she died while undergoing treatment. Bhupal told the cops that two unidentified persons had entered their house and attacked his daughter with acid. He said that since they slept in different rooms, no one had witnessed the attack. Kalyani apparently slept alone in the front room of the house where she watched TV at night.

Going by this statement, Kamareddy DSP B. Manohar and Bhiknoor CI Karunakar Reddy started an investigation. As the news spread, Bhiknoor Tahsildar Srinivas Reddy and MPDO Mallikarjun also rushed to the village. Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy directed the district collector and the SP to take stringent action against the culprits of the alleged acid attack. Bhupal’s contradictory statements, however, made the police suspicious, and during questioning he confessed that he had raped his daughter in an inebriated condition on Wednesday night. To divert attention from himself, he had poured toilet cleaner and kerosene on Kalyani and set her on fire. He said that his family members, including his wife, knew of the attack. But he had threatened to kill them if they told anyone. While the attack took place between midnight and 2 am of Thursday, the girl was shifted to the hospital only by about 4 am.

2012 has been quite remarkable for Chiranjeevi. His family members Ram Charan and Pawan Kalyan had scored hits in the form of Racha and Gabbar Singh. Ram Charan was married to Apollo hospitals heiress, Upasana Kamineni in a big event which has caught the attention of the entire nation. Several bigwigs of film and political circles including Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth flew down to Hyderabad to bless the couple.

But the happiness did not last for Chiranjeevi for a even a day. The result of Tirupati bi-election had completely grounded him. Chiranjeevi took the Congress win in this constituency as prestige issue as it is his own seat, which he resigned after he was nominated for Rajya Sabha.

TDP senior leader Revanth Reddy has alleged that there was a clear collusion between the Congress and the YSR Congress under which the ruling party had helped the latter in the just-concluded by-elections.

Speaking to the media here on Thursday, he said that the Congress party had entered into this “dark” agreement to defeat the TDP. He said that this was the reason why the Chief Minister has taken several steps that would generate sympathy to the YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.

Stating that all those who had started splinter groups of Congress earlier had merged them in the Congress, Revanth Reddy said Jagan, who had purchased the YSR Congress from one Shiva Kumar of Nalgonda would either merge it in Congress or sell it to the ruling party.

Revanth Reddy has alleged that Congress leaders have worked for the victory of the YSR Congress in the by-elections. He said that at every seat where TDP had winning chances, Congress leaders had worked for the victory of the YSR Congress candidates.

The TDP official spokesperson also said that it was to generate sympathy for him that Jagan was brought to the court in a van in which petty thieves are generally brought. Jagan created a big scene over it and gained the sympathy of the voters, he added. He said that it was strange that the YSR Congress leaders, who had entered into a dark agreement with the Congress, were criticizing the TDP. He said that the collusion of Jagan with Congress was evident as he had launched Indira Media, in the name of the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He questioned why the government was not canceling the mines allotted to Bharati Cements and Saraswati Cements of Jaganmohan Reddy. He said that it was mean politics that Jagan was working in tandem with those who called his late father Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy a corrupt person

The YSR Congress party has established clear leads as results of first and second rounds of the 18 assembly and Nellore Lok Sabha constituencies have been announced. YSR Congress has established clear leads in 14 constituencies as well as Nellore. TRS has established lead in Parakala constituency of Nellore district.

However here YSR Congress candidate Konda Surekha was in second place and not BJP, which tried to project itself as the only champion of the Telangana cause. Here TDP stood in the third place, pushing the BJP to the fourth. Congress party has occupied a miserable fifth place. It is doubtful if BJP and Congress would retain their deposits.

Fortunes kept changing in Tirupati and Narasannapet. In Tirupati the seat vacated by Chiranjeevi, Congress and YSR Congress have been establishing leads alternately. In a similar situation, in Narasannapet fortunes kept oscillating between the Congress and the YSR Congress as both parties are represented by two brothers of minister Dharmana Prasada Rao. In Ongole however, TDP has established margin in the first round

All the MLAs who resigned in favour of YS Jagan all seeing scores in their favour, but Ministers who supported him are getting their fuse blasted.

Konda Surekha and Pilli Subhashchandra Bose are the two ministers in erstwhile Congress cabinet who resigned in favour of Jagan. Surekha contested from Parkal and Bose from Ramachandrapuram. Both of them are falling behind in their respective regions while TRS and Congress ousted them all ways. Though Jagan wave has impacted all the poll bound regions, the negative publicity around these two contestants helped opponents to gain upper hand.

Surekha is losing the show because of her lack of clarity about bifurcation of state. Bose is given thumbs down because of the sentiment for a particular community in Ramachandrapuram.

With YSR-Congress leading in most of the places of by-poll constituencies, Jail authorities too bent ways for YS Jagan. Right now he is watching his own channel in Chanchalguda prison.

As counting is going on at a jet speed in all the poll bound regions, YSR-Congress is leading in almost 15 places. Till now, Jagan is allowed to watch only National channels that don’t give any minute to minute ‘breaking news’ about the happenings in AP by-polls. At last prison authorities have thought that it will be injustice if they don’t allow Jagan to taste the fruits of his first and massive success in the state. Insiders revealed that he is now allowed to watch all the channels freely, while the YSR-C chief has struck to ‘Sakshi’ only.

May be he is ‘accused’ in a biggest scam, but if walks out, he is the leader of a party that can surely alter the fate of ruling government in the state. This is the one reason that is shaking jail authorities.

Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and his auditor Vijay Sai Reddy on Thursday filed their counter to the CBI plea seeking narco tests on them. They made it clear that they are against conveying their consent to such tests and told the court that the Supreme Court has already held that such tests are illegal without consent from the individuals. They sought dismissal of the CBI’s petition.

On Tuesday, the CBI sought permission to subject Jagan to narco and other tests. Charging that Jagan was not at all cooperative and reluctant to reveal anything despite persistent questioning about his assets, the investigation agency filed a petition in the CBI court seeking permission to conduct polygraph, narco and BEAP (Brain Electrical Activation profile) tests on both Jagan and his auditor Vijay Sai Reddy.

The Supreme Court in 2010 held as unconstitutional forcible narco-analysis, polygraph and brain electrical activation profile or brain-mapping tests, in a blow to cops who were increasingly using the procedures as investigation tools. The apex court said they cannot be used even on those accused of serial killings and bomb blasts as they are violative of the fundamental right of a citizen not to incriminate himself and his right to privacy under Articles 20(3) and 21 of the Constitution.

Politics is all about winning, losing and taking revenges. Right now, it is pretty clear as per exit poll survey that YSR Congress is going to top the show in by-polls. But, is this is a good sign for them if the ruling party loses miserably?

Political Analysts say, it is not a good sign for YSRC! If the Congress loses this by-polls, then their leaders will not sit idle and there are chances for the Centre to intensify their investigation on Jagan’s disproportionate assets from now. CM Kiran might cancel all the deals that are doled out to help investors of Jagathi with his pen power. If that happens, some investors will turn ‘approvers’ in the CBI investigation as they have already lost government deals and will lose their money pushed into Jagan’s companies. So, before quitting the state, Congress government will try to push YSR-Congress into neck deep troubles. Off late, more than the corruption done by Cong ministers and MLAs, trouble created by Jagan will be considered as a big blow by the high command.

Even though if most number of MLAs migrate to YSR Congress, they may tumble within an year or so as their driving force will be forced to sit in jail for years. Already, Enforcement Directorate is put in place to move Jagan out of Hyderabad. Sources say that Cong will not just focus on Jagan, but will look into the matters of other YSR-C leaders too. Let us see what happens.

In the worst-ever accident in the history of Viskhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), 16 workers , including some officers, were burnt alive following a huge explosion in the recently commissioned oxygen plant in the steel melting shop III unit on Wednesday night. About 20 workers were injured. The explosion occurred when the officials were conducting a trial run of the oxygen plant. Most of those killed on Wednesday night were contract workers.

At the time of the accident, 31 workers, including DGM-level rank officers, were in the shift. Sources say that the death toll is likely to go up as nobody knows as to how many workers stayed close to the oxygen plant at the time of the mishap. After the massive blast, a huge fire raged across the plant. All the workers and officials present in the oxygen plant were charred to death. The oxygen plant was completely gutted as huge flames swept through the unit. The injured suffered 80-90% burns. The Seven Hills Hospital was filled with the cries of the injured workers screaming in agony.

The new SMS III wing, which was constructed as part of the expansion works of the plant, was commissioned recently. The trade unions and the workers were searching for the bodies at the accident spot while fire fighters were trying to control the fire. Raju, an eye witness, said 10 bodies have been taken out from the charred remains of the gutted plant. “We have never heard of such a tragedy in VSP history,” Shankar, a worker, who escaped the fire, said.

We often see actors playing dual roles in films, but in reality finding a lookalike is a tough task. The TDP leaders, however, succeeded in discovering the lookalike of their party president. TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu and party leaders were in a state of shock for a moment, as a very unusual thing has happened in their presence.

When Chandrababu was campaigning for the party’s win in the ensuing by-polls in Tirupati few days back, a person who looks like him came to the meeting to meet him. Looking at the duplicate Babu, party men including senior leaders Gali Muddukrishnam Naidu and MP Siva Prasad were taken aback in surprise. Even Chandrababu was shocked to find many similarities between him and the duplicate. In fact, No one could differentiate them if they stand side by side.

Meanwhile, few of the party leaders introduced the duplicate as Rukmamgadha Babu to Chandrababu. Rukmamgadha who is a native of Tirupati is an die-hard fan of the TDP Chief. Chandrababu gave a hearty laugh looking at his duplicate from very closely distance and felt happy with the arrangement of party leaders to surprise him.