Former Maharashtra deputy chief minister R.R. Patil, who was tipped to be state unit president of the National Congress Party (NCP) after he stepped down last week, has declined to accept the post. 

Patil, who was also the state home minister before he resigned in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack on Nov 26 that killed at least 180 people, has instead preferred to take a break. 

The former minister told NCP president Sharad Pawar that he would like to have a break till after the forthcoming state assembly elections, said a party functionary.  

At 11am, Indian Stock markets were trading with decent gains. NSE Nifty was up by 76 points at 2790. BSE Sensex was at 9223 with a gain of 258 points. Among sectoral indices, BSE Auto was up by 61 point while BANKEX was up by 138 points at 4845.

Metal and Energy counters were trading strong as well. Almost all sector indices were trading in positive.

Among major gainers on NSE were Unitech, DLF, Suzlon Energy, Idea Cellular and HDFC.

Reliance Infra was trading 5.2% higher at 11 am. SAIL, Cairn India, GAIL, Grasim and Tata Steel were trading with a gain of over 5 per cent.

Among technology stocks, Wipro, Satyam Computers, Infosys Technologies and Tech Mahindra were trading strong.

Nearly 62 pc electorate exercised their franchise during the re-polling in 130 booths across 16 districts of Rajasthan. 

The re-polling was necessitated due to complaints of rigging, booth capturing and malfunctioning of EVMs in the 4th December assembly polls in the state. 

The constituencies where repolling were held included Todabheem, Deeg-Khumher, Pushkar, Khanpur, Kolayat, Kota-South Kotputali, Civil Lines (Jaipur), Sanchore, Bilara, Khandela, Mundawar, Nokha, Dholpur, Sawaimadhopur, Mandalgarh, Dausa Bandikui, Baran-Atru, Fatehpur, Bari, Mehava, Gangapur and Karauli.  

The re-polling was marred by a caste clash between two communities in Todabheem assembly constituency, injuring eight persons, official sources said.  

Tamil Nadu on Sunday sought Rs 1,893 crores from the Centre for flood-relief work. 

Heavy rains brought by Cyclone Nisha battered 12 coastal districts, causing extensive damage and killing 189 people. As many as 1,597 villages were still under water, officials said. Over 3.23 lakh people were living in relief camps. 

The torrential rains have destroyed standing crops in over 550,000 hectares of land. 600,000 farmers have been hit hard by the calamity.  

Networth Stock Broking has suggested a strong resistance for NSE Nifty in 3000-3100 range. US Stock markets ended positive and Asian markets are expected to open strong on Monday. Indian Stock markets may also open with a wide upward gap on Monday.

As per figures from exchange, stocks worth Rs 4.5 crore were sold by FII in cash market on Friday. Domestic Institutional investors sold stocks worth Rs 184 crore in cash market.

Network Stock Broking analysts believe 2510 and 2492 as a strong support level for NSE Nifty.

Nokia and Verizon Wireless made announcement about the launching of their latest mobile device, named ‘Nokia 2605 Mirage’.

Targeting young generation and fashion-conscious users, the new clamshell phone has dimensions of 3.22 x 1.65 x 0.62 inches with a weight of just 2.32 oz.

The Nokia 2605 comes with a 1.8 inch internal display screen with 262K colors and 128 x 160 pixels, a 1.2 inch external display with 65K colors and 128 x 128 pixels, a VGA resolution camera with video recording capability and dedicated buttons.