Dawood 'had to face the law': Pawar 
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday admitted that he had received a proposal about underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's surrender to India during his tenure as Maharashtra chief minister in the 1990s. However, Pawar said he had rejected the proposal submitted by senior advocate Ram Jethmalani because of the condition that Dawood should be be allowed to stay in a house and not a prison as he feared for his life. Pawar said that the proposal was not accepted because Dawood "had to face the law".

Rahul, Vadra beneficiaries of my hospitality: Lalit Modi
Former Indian Premier League Commissioner Lalit Modi on Saturday said that Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and his brother-in-law Rahul Vadra had been beneficiaries of his hospitality. Modi posted a picture of the two watching a cricket match on Twitter, saying that they had sat in the box meant for him. Later, the Congress accused Modi of trying to divert attention from the controversy over his links with leaders in the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, party leader Ajay Maken did not deny that Gandhi and Vadra had accepted the hospitality extended to them by Modi. “The question is who helped Lalit Modi and who benefitted from him,” Maken said.

RSS holds iftar for Muslims across the country
For the first time in its history, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Saturday held an iftar for Muslims across the country. The move by the Bharatiya Janata Party's parent organisation comes amid criticism of its hard-line agenda including programmes such as ghar wapsi and love jihad. The event in the capital was attended by ambassadors of a few countries including Egypt and representatives of various Muslim countries. Union minister Harsh Vardhan was also present.

Modi has ‘contempt’ for the poor, Congress says
Following the release of the provisional findings of the Socio-Economic Caste Census, the Congress on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having contempt for the poor. Party spokesperson Rajiv Gowda said that the National Democratic Alliance-led government had tried to cut down on various programmes that benefit the poor, including withholding the funds required for the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The findings of the census, which were released on Friday, showed that 74% of India's rural households are surviving on less than Rs 5,000 a month.

'Land should not be acquired without consent'
Land should not be acquired without the consent of farmers, an ally of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre has told the Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the Land Acquisition Bill. Shiromani Akali Dal patron and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Saturday said that all SAD MPs in the Lok Sabha had submitted a memorandum detailing the party’s stand on the matter to the JPC. Badal said that farmers needed to be given various options regarding compensation, including allowing them to become partners in a proposed project through a land pooling policy.