The big news: Opposition tells EC early Budget will help BJP in state polls, and 9 other top stories
Other headlines: A plea for a CBI probe into Jayalalithaa’s death was dismissed, and four men were arrested for molesting a woman in Bengaluru’s Kammanahalli.
A look at the headlines right now:
- Opposition meets Election Commission, asks for Union Budget to be delayed: Fair elections cannot be held if the budget is tabled three days before the states votes, said senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.
- Supreme Court dismisses Sasikala Pushpa’s plea for a CBI probe into Jayalalithaa’s death: The expelled AIADMK leader had moved the apex court alleging that the death of the former Tamil Nadu CM was ‘suspicious’.
- Police arrest four for molesting woman in Bengaluru’s Kammanahalli area: The main accused – the two scooter-borne men who accosted the woman on New Year’s Eve – and five accomplices were detained earlier.
- Rs 2,000 notes without Gandhi’s image cause panic in Madhya Pradesh village, bank says they are genuine: Officials of a local branch of the SBI, which issued the bills, said it was a printing error and took the currency back.
- Rohingya toddler washes up dead on river bank, brings back memories of Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi: The 16-month-old boy was escaping the Myanmar violence and heading towards Bangladesh when he drowned in the Naf river.
- India should ‘cool its missile fever’, says Chinese state media after Agni tests: An editorial in the Global Times accused New Delhi of breaking United Nations-imposed limits on the development of nuclear arms and long-range weapons.
- Meghalaya court issues non-bailable warrant against MLA accused of raping 14-year-old girl: Julius Dorphang went into hiding after the police registered a case against him following his failure to appear before the investigating officer in the case.
- US court asks Yoga guru Bikram Choudhury to give up income to pay for damages in sexual assault case: He has also been directed to turn over his fleet of 43 luxury cars.
- First scientist from Andhra Pradesh to win Nobel Prize will get Rs 100 crore: Chandrababu Naidu: Researchers said the chief minister was mistaken if he thought they worked for money.
- Indian-American Raj Shah appointed deputy assistant to Donald Trump: He played a leading role in the Republican Party’s campaign against Hillary Clinton ahead of the US presidential elections last year.