Nagpur: Former Bharatiya Janata Party chief Nitin Gadkari yesterday claimed that a “senior leader” of the United Progressive Alliance wanted his support to topple the Congress-led coalition government in New Delhi.
“The UPA leader who had approached was capable of bringing down the government. However, after that, the kind of assurances which they wanted, we were not in a position to give,” Gadkari said.
Gadkari added that he had rejected the proposal outright, but declined to name the leader who had “approached” him.
He also refused to divulge whether the leader was from the Congress or one of the constituents of the ruling coalition.
Lata launches music academy
Pune: The Vishwashanti Sangeet Kala Academy, an international music education institute, was inaugurated here yesterday, fulfilling a dream of the late actor Raj Kapoor.
Inaugurated by Lata Mangeshkar, the academy, with a sprawling 125-acre campus, is situated around 25km from Maharashtra’s academic and cultural capital.
The building has a unique design: Eight domes, seven symbolising the seven ragas of Indian classical music, and the eighth, central dome symbolising ‘Om’, the first word in the universe.
Six Maoists killed in Maharashtra
Gadchiroli: Seven persons, including a policeman, were killed yesterday in a shoot-out between police and alleged Maoist cadres in a village in Gadchiroli district, an official said.
The Maoists had opened fire on a police team near Sindesur village in the eastern part of the district. The police team retaliated, killing at least six, following which others escaped into thick forest.
Gadchiroli is over 1,000km from Mumbai.
The police claimed that four of those killed had been identified as Maoist cadres through their uniforms. Two others in civilian clothes were also suspected to be Maoists. Police recovered some weapons from the spot.
Four die in Kashmir road accident
Jammu: Four people were killed and a dozen others injured, two of them critically, when a minibus rolled down a mountainous road in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir yesterday, police said.
“The injured were taken to Kishtwar district hospital, where doctors described the condition of two as critical,” police said.
The critically injured were airlifted to Government Medical College, Jammu for specialised treatment.
Manzoor Ahmad, a shopkeeper in Kishtwar, said: “The road where the accident happened is in very bad shape. Many roads in this mountainous district are in poor condition with government paying no attention to maintaining them.”
Truck rams nine vehicles; two perish
Mumbai: Two people were killed and four injured when a truck rammed into nine vehicles on a busy arterial road in northwest Mumbai yesterday, police said. According to initial reports, the truck’s brakes might have failed. The accident occurred on the arterial Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road that connects northwestern and central suburbs of the city. No arrests have been made so far.
IANS
