Mathura, Oct 10 : Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh has slammed religious preacher Asaram Bapu for passing comments against party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi.

Bapu had mockingly called Gandhi a ''kid''.

Addressing mediapersons here, Singh said Bapu should refrain from making such comments.

Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh), Oct 7 : Lawmaker and actress Jaya Prada has said that India has to get together to fight against the menace of corruption.

Speaking to mediapersons after praying for eradication of widespread corruption in the country on the auspicious Dussehra, Prada said: "Today the entire country is grappling under the issue of widespread corruption and militant attacks. On this auspicious day I hope that good wins over the evil and that the country is corruption free."

Mathura/Noida, Sep 26  Stepping up pressure on the government, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Uma Bharti has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to dismiss Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram over his alleged role in the 2G scam.

Addressing a rally here on Sunday, Bharti urged the Prime Minister to accept Chidambaram''s resignation at the earliest.

Varanasi, Sep 26 : Social activist and lawyer Prashant Bhushan has criticized Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh for turning a blind eye to the multi-billion 2 G spectrum scam.

Talking to reporters here, Bhushan said Dr. Singh had let key ally, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), run riot in the context of distributing 2G spectrum licenses to a favoured few.

Lucknow, Sep 9 : Two people were detained in Uttar Pradesh Friday in connection with the Delhi High Court blast two days ago which claimed 13 lives, police said here.

"One person was detained in Varanasi and another in Bela village on the outskirts of Balrampur district, essentially on account of their resemblance with the sketch of suspects released by Delhi Police," said a top police officer.

The man detained at the Shivpur police station in Varanasi was identified as Lekhma Ram, a resident of Ajmer.

Chandauli (Uttar Pradesh), Sep. 8 : A special team of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) conducted raid at the residence of suspected Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) militant Shameem at Launda Jhansi village near Mughalsarai in Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh late on Wednesday.

Incidentally, Shameem''s name had cropped up in the 2006 blast at the Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh state.

Lucknow, Sep 6 : Calling WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange "mad", Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Tuesday rubbished US embassy cables leaked by the online whistleblower that said she had sent a special jet to Mumbai to bring in her favourite sandals.

"These reports are baselesss," Mayawati told reporters here.

She said Assange should be sent to a mental asylum. The cables that portray her as a dictator, she said, were a ploy by some vested interests to malign her image and that of her party.

Lucknow, Sep. 6 : A visibly angry and irritated Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday condemned the recent revelations of the whistle-blowing web site WikiLeaks website about her as utter rubbish and an international and political conspiracy.

Addressing the media here, Mayawati said a report that quoted her right hand man -- Satish Chandra Mishra as telling the United States that she had a "penchant for corruption" was completely baseless.

Lucknow, Aug 27: Expressing solidarity with Anna Hazare, a young farmer of Uttar Pradesh's Mathura district lay down on a bed of thorns for 10 hours.

Satya Narayan, 25, a native of Mathura's Tarauli village, some 300 km from Lucknow, went on his quaint form of protest in Kosikala town Friday.

"From today (Saturday) onwards, I would lay on the bed for a longer time period, and would consume only hot water till Annaji breaks his fast," Narayan told reporters.

Mumbai/Lucknow/Chandigarh/New Delhi, Aug 11 : With the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Government banning Prakash Jha''s latest release ''Aarakshan'' (Reservation) in Uttar Pradesh, the security has been stepped up for the casts of the film starring Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone.

Mau (Uttar Pradesh), May 28 : A local court in this Uttar Pradesh district Saturday issued a non-bailable warrant against filmstar Sanjay Dutt for making provocative utterances during the election campaign for the 2009 general elections, officials said

Issuing the warrant, Judicial Magistrate Krishna Kumar has directed the Mau district magistrate to arrest Dutt and present him in the court on July 8, 2011.

The order came on a complaint filed by the local station house officer Vijay Shankar Yadav, charging Dutt of violating the election code of conduct by making objectionable speeches.

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), March 6 : The rhapsodic ragas of shehnai and sonorous sound of conches reverberated the Kamkoteshwar temple as the wedding rituals of Bharatiya Janata Party MP Varun Gandhi and graphic designer Yamini Roy started here Sunday morning.

The Kamkoteshwar temple on Hanuman Ghat, one of the most sacrosanct temples in the holy city of Varanasi that wore a bridal look, turned into a fortress with district police, provincial armed constabulary (PAC) and other security personnel standing at its every nook and corner.

Swine flu has taken on more life in Lucknow after a gap of 5 months, where 30 years old women, Jyoti Singh die on Tuesday at Chattrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University. She was tested H1N1 positive and undergoing is treatment when she breathes her last breath.

Health officials said that there is nothing to panic about because this incident is an isolated case.

Jyoti Singh was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia when she was admitted to the hospital on July 15 with breathlessness.

During a statewide blackout in Bihar, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan stated that the central administration should roll back the hike in fuel price.

Paswan said that the increase in price should be withdrawn in "people's interest".

The central administration terminated curbs on petroleum rating and increased the prices of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas in June 2010.

The LJP and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) imposed the statewide stir to protest the fuel price hike and growing costs.

Unable to cope with his impoverishment, a father cuts the throats of his three minor daughters, aged between 6-14 years, in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi district early Tuesday.

According to police officials, the 40-year-old Ahmad murdered his three daughters in his house at Kamauli village, about 300 km from here.

Ahmad has confessed to his offense.

Suspecting the participation of his wife Sitara in the slaughters, police have also detained her.

Uttar Pradesh government has decided to plant over three crore saplings in the state that will take care of around 55 thousand hectares.

Through a report released by the forest department it was noted that the forest department aims to plant the saplings in 40,300 hectares where the entire target of planting saplings over 55 thousand hectare will be taken up by different departments of various regions.

He further adds that 3.57 crore saplings of different varieties will come up on the grounds.

With the changing face of Bihar as a tech-savvy state, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is coming forth as a hot favorite on cyberspace as his attempts to alter the image of the state are earning him lots of fans among the Gen Y.

Keen netizens have given voice to this new poise on different news portals, internet sites and social networking sites where one can discover numerous online communities that interestingly have come up within the last four and half years of Nitish Kumar's regime.

The majority of these sites have projected Mr. Kumar as the ''hero'' of Bihar.

According to weathermen, Bihar is all set to see the monsoon this year between June 11 and 15.

This will give relief to the people, particularly agriculturists, of drought-prone Bihar, Met functionaries said.

Meteorological department functionaries said that monsoon clouds would hit Bihar after June 10.

An official said, "Monsoon is set to enter the state before the end of second week of June."

Mr. Animesh Chandra, Patna meteorological department director told hat unlike 2009, monsoon will not be delayed in the state.

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan will face a probe after an UP court directed police officials to take a look at a claim of cheating a village dweller by not constructing a women's college in his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai's name.

The complaint was registered on May 29 by the village head of Daulatpur village, Raj Kumari, about 40 km from here in Barabanki region, before the chief judicial magistrate, who had fixed May 31 for hearing.

According to an official, the girls outshine the boys in class 12th examination of the UP Board of High school and Intermediate, which were declared today.

Mr. Sanjay Mohan, director of Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad, Sanjay Mohan told, "The total pass percentage of girls is 89.62, while that of boys is 73.55. The overall pass percentage is 80.54."

According to officials, 80.54% pupils passed the XIIth examinations in UP in which the pass percentage of girls is higher by 16%. Only 73.55% boys passed the exams.