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Thiruvananthapuram, April 2 - Kerala's Forest Minister K. B. Ganesh Kumar handed over his resignation to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy late Monday night after his estranged wife accused him of ill-treatment.

Forty-six year old film star-turned-politician was accompanied by his friend and State Labour Minister Shibu Baby John and other friends from the film industry including ace director Shaji Kailas and producer Suresh Kumar at the chief minister's official residence.

Mumbai, April 1 : Sarovar Hotels, one of India's fastest growing hotel management companies, has announced the signing of two more hotels in Gujarat - at Gandhidham and Bhavnagar.

The hotels will be developed under Sarovar Portico brand and will be operational over the next three years.

Sarovar Portico, Gandhidham, will offer 58 rooms and is expected to be operational by 2014, while Sarovar Portico, Bhavnagar, will be a 80 room hotel, slated to open in 2016.

New Delhi, April 1 : Industry honchos as well the common people will get to hear Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's views on economic and growth imperatives for India at an industry body meet April 4, party leaders said Monday.

"Rahul Gandhi would address a special plenary session of the Confederation of Indian Industry on April 4," a senior Congress leader told IANS.

"It would provide an opportunity to the industry, both in India and abroad, as well as the people of the country to get to know his thought process on economic issues confronting the nation," he said.

Mumbai, April 1 : Nature Forever Society (NFS), which works for the conservation of house sparrows, said Monday that President Pranab Mukherjee supports the cause.

NFS founder Mohammed Dilawar said that Mukherjee had invited society representatives to understand their work on conservation of house sparrows.

"NFS representatives also explained to the president how the Common Bird Monitoring of India programme is helping in collecting vital statistical data on the population of house sparrows and other common birds across the Indian subcontinent," Dilawar said.

New Delhi, April 1 : State-run Indian Oil Corp (IOC) said it will cut the price of petrol by 85 paise a litre effective midnight Monday.

Allowing for local taxes, or VAT, petrol will be effectively cheaper by Rs. 1.02 a litre in Delhi. It will cost Rs. 67.29 a litre from Tuesday as compared with Rs. 68.31 per litre currently.

This will be the second petrol price cut since March 15 when state oil firms reduced fuel price by Rs. 2.40 per litre.

An IOC official told IANS Monday that the rate was cut because benchmark international oil prices had dropped.

Chennai, April 1 : German automobile group Daimler restructured its commercial vehicles operations in India by integrating its Mercedes Benz bus division with its truck-making company Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt Ltd (DICV), said a statement.

In a statement issued here Monday, Daimler India - a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler - said the marketing, sales and service operations of Mercedes Benz-badged buses has been integrated with itself.

The business was until now handled by Mercedes-Benz India Pvt. Ltd., Pune.