New Delhi  - Jai Ho, the Oscar-winning song from Slumdog Millionaire, has been chosen by India's Congress Party as its theme song for the coming general election, news reports said Wednesday.

The right to use Jai Ho, which roughly translates as "let there be victory," has been bought from music distributor T-Series for an undisclosed sum, the Times of India newspaper reported.

The song from the rags-to-riches film based in Mumbai slums represented hope and possibility, which was what the Congress Party means to the people of India, party sources were quoted as saying.

New Delhi - In his first official engagement after undergoing a heart bypass surgery in January, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held talks with Benin President Bon Yayi in New Delhi Wednesday.

Singh joined the African nation's leader in a photo opportunity at his residence, after which the two men engaged in delegation-level talks.

The talks will be followed by the signing of several agreements for institutionalizing bilateral cooperation between the two countries, a release from India's External Affairs Ministry said.

Bon Yayi is on a three-day state visit to India.

New Delhi, Mar 2 : UP Congress President Rita Bahuguna Joshi said on Monday that the party would like to contest at least 25 seats in the Uttar Pradesh.

Talking to the reporters here, she expressed her confidence that a consensus would be reached with Samajwadi Party, the alliance partner.

The Samajwadi Chief Mulayam Singh and party General Secretary Amar Singh had met Congress President Sonia Gandhi on March 1 and clarified that their party would not give more than 17 seats to the Congress.

The issue remained has unresolved.

New Delhi, Feb. 25 : Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal said on Wednesday that the Congress Party is confident that people will vote them back to power in General Election 2009, as it has fulfilled all the pledged promises of people.

"If we are able to go to the people in united fashion and to convey to the people that we have fulfilled the pledged promises that we have made in the 2004 Lok Sabha (national) elections, having fulfilled them if we go to the people we believe that the people will bring us back to power and we will be back in the 15th Lok Sabha forming government at the center," said Sibal.

New Delhi, Feb. 18 : If UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi is projected as the ruling coalition's prime ministerial candidate in the 2009 elections, more women will vote for the Congress, a web site has claimed in a poll.

According to Politicsparty. com, this finding emerges from a poll of 1000 persons in each Lok Sabha constituency.

According to the web site, the women swing fro Gandhi is more in non-BJP states.

New Delhi, Feb 18 : A Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam delegation on Wednesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and sought India''s intervention in stopping the killing of civilians in Sri Lanka.

Tamil Nadu''s PWD Minister Duraimurugan led the delegation and discussed the current situation in the island nation.

The DMK team also asked the Centre to approach the United Nations to investigate the situation in Sri Lanka''s Tamil-dominated northern region and asked for the deployment of an international peace keeping force in Sri Lanka to maintain peace.