Patna/Jammu, Mar 17: The Janata Dal (United) has termed the emergence of the Third Front as a "futile exercise".

Addressing reporters here on Monday, Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav said: "There are only two fronts opposite to each other, the NDA and the UPA, with whom larger geographical areas are attached. If there is a third force, then it is the Communists, but I consider the Third Front as a futile exercise."

He said that the main battle would be between the Congress-led coalition and the leading opposition bloc, headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Yadav also ruled out that there were differences between his Bihar ruling party and the BJP over seat sharing.

New Delhi, Mar 17: United Progressive Alliance (UPA) allies Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal have arrived at a seat-sharing formula for 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar on Tuesday.

The formal announcement is expected to be made later today at a joint press conference here.

According to sources, the Ram Vilas Paswan led-LJP will field its candidates in 12 constituencies. Talking to the reporters before the meeting with RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Paswan indicated a climbdown in his party''s earlier stand on contesting either 16 seats or going alone in all forty seats in the state.

The RJD-LJP deal is likely to encourage the Congress to bargain for eight seats that it is demanding from Lalu.

Lucknow, Mar 16: Bollywood actor-turned-politician Sanjay Dutt has promised to work for the betterment of the people, if voted to power.

Addressing reporters after visiting a temple here, Dutt said that he would follow the footsteps of his father Sunil Dutt.

"Lucknow is my home, I will definitely work here. I am the son of Sunil and Nargis Dutt and I would work like my parents," said Sanjay.

New Delhi, Mar 16: The Prime Minister''s Special Envoy on Climate Change, Shyam Saran, on Monday underlined the need to make the strategic shift from reliance on fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy.

Saran added that the shift needs to be made now and should not be delayed any further.

"We need to ensure that energy does not become a constraint on our growth. We demand that we make that strategic shift from reliance on fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy and that shift has to start now," said Saran.

Hyderabad, Mar 16: Mohammed Safiullah, an enthusiastic collector of the rare Nizam photographs in Andhra Pradesh''s Hyderabad, is the proud owner of the photographs of the seven Nizams who ruled the state for two centuries till Indian independence in 1947.

If 42-year-old historian Safiullah is to be believed, Mir Mohammad Ali Khan was the first Indian ruler to be photographed. According to him, before that, only miniature paintings existed.

He added that the first pictures of the Hyderabad city date back to 1850''s.

According to Safiullah''s research, the erstwhile royals used to invite photographers from bigger cities like Bombay and Calcutta.

Pune, Mar 16: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Sharad Pawar and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi derided each other during campaigning in Maharashtra on Monday.

While Pawar condemned Modi by calling him a "frontline leader" of the communal forces in the country, Modi mocked Pawar by saying that the Congress has cheated him on the prime ministership issue.