The political circle is curiously observing how former PM Manmohan Singh, after rejecting Punjab Congress’ offer to contest LS polls, is not making any statement about his “lack of interest” in fighting another Rajya Sabha poll. As AICC can’t deny him another berth — both out of respect and fear of MMS loyalists launching more pamphlets about “Gandhis suppressing” him — many in the Congress read his silence as a sign of his lingering Upper House interest despite pressure on the AICC to use the few available RS seats for pre-poll local political adjustments.

Telagana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Sunday said that once the Lok Sabha election results are out, if the need arises, he will form a ‘national party’ and get people to come together. He made the comments during a public meeting. Telagana chief minister KCR on Sunday said that once the Lok Sabha election results are out, if the need arises, he will form a ‘national party’ and get people to come together. He made the comments during a public meeting.

According to data by the Election Commission (EC), the country is having a total of 2,293 political parties registered till March 9. The data revealed that 149 political parties were registered with the EC between February and March. However, these registered but unrecognised 149 political parties don’t have the privilege of contesting elections on a fixed symbol of their own.

Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, who was part of India’s 1983 World Cup-winning squad, said that he reckons his life is not interesting enough to be made into a biopic. “I have a very regular, normal routine life. As an audience, even I do not want to watch it on-screen. Why would people do that then?” Gavaskar added.

The family of software engineer Farhaj Ahsan, who was missing after terror attack on two mosques in New Zealand’s Christchurch, has confirmed the 31-year-old died while undergoing treatment. Ahsan originally belonged to Hyderabad and had come to New Zealand to do his master’s in 2010. He was living with his wife, three-year-old daughter and six-month-old son in Christchurch.

The BJP has chosen “Modi Hai to Mumkin Hai” as its slogan for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said. Jaitley further claimed that PM Modi had an “indefatigable approach” and worked round the clock for the past five years, achieving results that would not have been possible otherwise.

Amid demands from party activists, Congress President Rahul Gandhi may contest the Lok Sabha polls from a seat in Karnataka apart from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh where his candidature has already been announced. There have been demands from Congress activists that Gandhi should be a candidate from a seat in southern India too. In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi contested from two seats: Varanasi and Vadodara.

Parineeti Chopra will star in the upcoming biopic based on Saina Nehwal’s life after Shraddha Kapoor exited the film. “We want to wrap up…by this year-end…We’re glad Parineeti has come on board for the film,” the film’s producer Bhushan Kumar said. The film, which will be directed by Amole Gupte, is scheduled to release next year.

After Rahul Gandhi claimed PM Narendra Modi was scared of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Your tweet must be headline news in Pakistan.” Prasad asked, “Why’s Rahul in a celebratory mood when India is pained by China’s attitude?” Rahul made the statement after China blocked India’s bid to designate Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

Actress Sunny Leone has said that Mahendra Singh Dhoni is her favourite cricketer as he is a family man. Sunny was interacting with the media at the launch of a website, 11wickets.com, here on Tuesday. Asked about her favourite Indian cricket player, she said: ‘My favourite is Dhoni. I think he has the cutest child, doesn’t he? I see him post pictures of him with his child (daughter Ziva Dhoni) and it just looks so cute. Therefore, he is my favourite cricketer as he is a family man.”

After a troll shamed her husband and actor Saif Ali Khan for letting her wear bikinis, actress Kareena Kapoor Khan responded, saying, “Who is Saif to stop me from wearing a bikini anyway?” “I think we share a very responsible relationship. He trusts me and when I’m wearing a bikini then obviously there’s a reason I’m wearing it,” she added.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday told students here not to address him as “Sir” but by his first name. Gandhi, sporting a jeans and a T-shirt, surprised the students of Stella Maris College for Women with the request. The Congress leader told the gathering that he was still a young politician.

With the model code of conduct kicking in after the announcement of Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, some of the TDP ministers are now seen using unofficial vehicles. The photos of the ministers have also been removed from some of the official websites. The security arrangements, however, continue as per the rules and this distinguishes them from the common man.

When election strategist, Prashant Kishor, came to Mumbai last month for an informal meeting with Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray, he caused a flutter among political watchers. Second-guessing began whether the Sena chief was hiring Kishor to revive his party’s fortunes in the upcoming elections. But Kishor has said that he is a full-time politician ever since he joined the JDU last year and called his meeting with Thackeray a friendly visit. That said, Kishor was in Mumbai last Friday and yesterday as well. Twice a week is surely more than a social visit, right Mr Kishor?

Amitabh Bachchan revealed that he watched the Ranveer Singh starrer ‘Gully Boy’ 10 times to try and copy the actor’s performance in the film, but failed miserably. “I met [Ranveer] last night and…told him, ‘thank you so much…I’ve…tried to copy you and…failed,” he added. Amitabh further said that veteran actors no longer pull in audiences like they used to.