Munda to take oath as Jharkand CM on Saturday

RANCHI:   Arjun Munda will be sworn in as Jharkand's new Chief Minister on Saturday at the head of a BJP-JMM coalition with the Governor inviting him to form a government today shortly after the Union Cabinet recommended revocation of President's rule in the state.

42-year-old BJP leader Munda, who is getting the chief ministership post for the third time, will be the eighth CM in 10 years since the mineral rich state was carved out of Bihar on November 15, 2000.

No Chief Minister has ever completed a full term in the state. Governor M O H Farooq invited the BJP's chief ministerial candidate to take oath on September 11 at 11:00 am, Raj Bhavan sources said in Ranchi, two days after Munda staked claim.

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Rahul Gandhi scheduled to visit Bihar this month-end

PATNA:   AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi will visit Bihar to attend a party function to be held here between September 28 and 30 next, state Youth Congress President Lallan Kumar said today.

"Gandhi has given his consent to visit Patna to attend the Youth Congress function on any day between September 28 to 30 next", he told reporters here.

He will hold a session with the leaders and workers of the state unit Youth Congress to gear them for the assembly polls to be held in October/November next, Kumar said.

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West Bengal Chief Minister trashes Trinamool's claim

KOLKATA:   West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today rubbished Trinamool Congress claim that he had confided to Union Home Minister P Chidamabaram about his government's fall in the state.

Referring to the news published on Lok Sabha chief whip Sudip Bandopadhyay's claim, the chief minister said "It has come to my notice. It is funny. When I go to Delhi, I will verify what the Union Home Minister said and what the Trinamool MP said."

"We are in power in West Bengal," Bhattacharjee asserted to reporters at the state secretariat. Dubbing the Trinamool as thriving on "falsehood", he said would warn Chidamabaram about it.

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CPI-M to contest 30 Assembly seats in Bihar: Karat

PATNA:   CPI-M will contest in 30 of the 243 Assembly seats in Bihar where the party has forged an alliance with Left parties CPI and CPI-ML (Liberation).

The party's state committee took this decision at a meeting this morning, CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat said today.

Asked whether his party would opt for an alliance with the RJD as in the past, Karat said "the situation at that time was quite different."

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Another BJP-JMM Govt, yet another twist in Jharkhand's political tale

RANCHI:   The shifting sands of political equations in Jharkhand will soon see the eighth government in less than 10 years and Arjun Munda of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) take over as chief minister for the third time.

The union cabinet Thursday approved the lifting of President's Rule in the state, clearing the way for another BJP-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) government. The thirst for power has brought the sometime friends, sometime foes together again after just three months.

'The governor (M.O.H. Farook) called us informally and wanted to know when we will take oath. I suggested Sep 11,' Munda told reporters here Thursday, two days after he staked claim with the support of 45 legislators in the 81-member assembly.

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20 Mizoram militants surrender with arms

AGARTALA:   Twenty separatist militants of the Bru Liberation Front of Mizoram (BLFM) outfit surrendered to the para-military Assam Rifles, police said here Thursday.

Formed in 2003, the BLFM, a separatist outfit of minority Reang tribals locally called Bru, was active in Mizoram and southern Assam, neighbouring northern Tripura.

'The militants led by their commandant Apit Branto surrendered to Assam Rifles' 14-battalion commandant Ratnakar Trivedi at a simple ceremony early Thursday and deposited some firearms,' a police spokesman told reporters.

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Blast derails Assam goods train, driver hurt

GUWAHATI:   Tribal separatists Wednesday blew up a goods train in Assam's Udalguri district, injuring the driver critically, officials said.

A police spokesman said the explosion took place around 11 p.m. near Daifam in Udalguri, about 90 km north of Assam's main city of Guwahati.

'At least 10 wagons were derailed and the driver was seriously injured in the impact of the blast,' railway spokesperson S. Hajong told IANS.

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