New Delhi:  The five-member Justice Srikrishna Committee, which went into the demand for Telangana state, is expected to submit its report to Home Minister P Chidambaram today, a day before the term of the committee expires.

The issue of whether a separate state of Telangana should be sanctioned has been a divisive and emotive debate in Andhra Pradesh. Over the last year, there have been massive and violent protests by supporters and opponents of a Telangana state.

HYDERABAD: Bowing to the pressure from Congress MPs from Telangana, the party’s government in Andhra Pradesh Tuesday decided to withdraw all criminal cases filed during protests for a separate Telangana state.

After a series of discussions Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy had with ministers and other ruling party leaders from the region, the government agreed to withdraw the pending 967 cases. These will be in addition to the cases withdrawn earlier.

The cases were booked during the protests for and against a separate Telangana state in all three regions of the state between November 2009 and September 2010.

HYDERABAD: Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was forcibly given intravenous fluids (IV) at a hospital here but his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) claimed he was continuing his fast for the eighth day Friday, demanding relief for farmers who lost their crops in recent rains.

Doctors at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) forcibly administered IV fluids as his condition had deteriorated Thursday night. NIMS director P.V. Ramesh said they had no other option as there was an imminent risk of Naidu slipping into irreversible health complications.

HYDERABAD: On the sixth day of his indefinite fast, TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu is in a bad state at the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad. About 260km away on the banks of the Krishna, YS Jaganmohan Reddy is also on a fast: but with a difference.

Jagan’s is a 48-hour fast. Even though both he and Naidu are fasting for the same cause — relief for farmers — Jagan is drawing more public attention. Why? Part of the answer is that Jagan’s fast is a public mela: a highly publicized affair with two lakh people in attendance. In contrast, Naidu started his fast in the MLAs’ quarters and has now been bundled by the police to the confines of a hospital. But more than that it’s the image that Jagan portrayed of himself that’s grabbing eyeballs and attracting crowds.

MUMBAI: Kings XI Punjab has won again. In its second legal victory against the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) within a week, an appeal bench of the Bombay high court paved the way for the Mohali IPL franchisee owned by actor Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia, Mohit Burman and Karan Paul to participate in the forthcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) seasons.

The setback to the BCCI came when a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Anoop Mohta rejected the board’s appeal against the stay granted by a single judge on the termination of the Kings XI franchise agreement.

HYDERABAD: After making suitable vastu changes in the CM camp office-cum-residence at Begumpet, chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy is all set to move in there on Friday morning.

According to sources, the CM will move in around 9.15 am. After performing ‘gruhapravesh puja’ with his family members, he will proceed to the assembly to take part in the winter session. There are no political invitees for the puja, the sources said.

Architects, specialised in vastu, have spruced up both the camp office and his residence, located behind the camp office. CM’s wife Radhika Reddy personally supervised the entire operation and ensured proper vastu alterations, they added.

LONDON: Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki have been named ITF World Champions for 2010.

Nadal, who won the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, won the award given by the International Tennis Federation for the second time.

Wozniacki, a Dane who won six tour titles this year to take the No. 1 ranking but failed to reach a Grand Slam final, won for the first time.

Nadal, who completed a career Grand Slam by winning in New York, says “after a difficult year in 2009, it was an amazing feeling to regain the No. 1 ranking and finally win the US Open.”

MUMBAI: Kings XI Punjab’s owners, who have moved the Bombay high court in a desperate bid to get their termination order from the Indian Premier League (IPL) rescinded, could now face more heat, this time from within.

The franchise, owned by Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman among others, has not yet cleared the dues of its players – including big names like Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan.

Sources said that Yuvraj was initially paid Rs 1 crore in August but he is still waiting for the rest of his salary, which is more than Rs 3 crore. BCCI had paid Kings Rs 14 crore as advance in May this year.

Lakshmi Menon, the sultry babe from Bangalore, has become the first Indian model to feature in the world renowned Pirelli Calendar.

For the calendar’s 2011 edition created by designer photographer Karl Lagerfeld, Lakshmi is seen posing (extreme right in the pic below) along with international models Erin Wasson (far left) and Bianca Balti (centre).

The calendar has all the three models posing in the nude. The theme of the calendar is Greek mythology and the models are made to look like Greek gods and goddesses.

HYDERABAD: Trouble is brewing in the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh barely a day after 39 ministers were sworn in. Two ministers have already quit the ministry unhappy with the portfolios given to them. Ten more ministers are said to be unsatisfied and want to go to Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi to represent their cases to her.

Early on Thursday, a few unhappy ministers met at the home of one of them, called up Sonia’s political secretary, Ahmed Patel, and requested him to organize a meeting with “Madam”. However, Patel is believed to have told them to stay put in Hyderabad and await the arrival of AICC members Ghulam Nabi Azad and Veerappa Moily. The ministers were also advised to attend the cabinet meeting scheduled for later in the day.

India’s stand-in captain Gautam Gambhir cracked an unbeaten 138 off 116 balls to lift the hosts to an eight-wicket win over New Zealand in the second one-day international on Wednesday.

The left-hander’s eighth one-day century enabled India to surpass New Zealand’s challenging 258-8 with seven overs to spare in the day-night match at the Sawai Man Singh stadium in Jaipur.

The emphatic victory gave India a 2-0 lead in the five-match series after the hosts had won the first game in Guwahati on Sunday by 40 runs.

HYDERABAD: All eyes may be trained on how Jaganmohan Reddy weans away MLAs from the Congress, but the scion of the YSR family is quietly trying to lure legislators of Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) to his camp.

According to sources, Jagan is in talks with at least four PRP MLAs. Chiranjeevi’s party has 18 MLAs, so Jagan needs to win only six of them to split the PRP. Since the PRP is in talks with the Congress to join the Kiran Reddy government, this Jagan initiative could affect the ruling party’s plan to use the superstar to stabilize the government.

NEW DELHI: Indian men’s kabaddi team continued their golden run by winning record sixth Asiad kabaddi gold after beating Iran 37-20 in the finals.

With the addition of this gold medal, India have so far won 12 golds, 15 silvers and 32 bronze medals at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China on Friday.

The indomitable Indian kabaddi team dished out a brilliant performance right from the start as they outwitted their opponents to take a convincing lead of 24-3 at the lemon-break.

However the Iranians bounced back strongly in the latter half and fetched some crucial points to reduce the margin.

Hyderabad: Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy, a YSR loyalist and former Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker, was sworn in as the 16th chief minister of the state.

Governor E S L Narasimhan administered the oath of office and secrecy to 50-year-old Kiran Kumar Reddy, who was chosen late last night as the leader of Congress Legislature Party in place of Konijeti Rosaiah who resigned from the chief minister’s post on Wednesday.

Union Ministers and party observers M Veerappa Moily, Ghulam Nabi Azad, outgoing chief minister Rosaiah and a host of Congress leaders, MLAs and MLCs attended the brief swearing-in ceremony in the Darbar Hall of Raj Bhavan.

NEW DELHI: In an interesting development, Andhra Pradesh chief minister K Rosaiah on Wednesday announced his resignation. Rosaiah was scheduled to meet the state governor to later in the day to submit his resignation.

“I have done my best as the CM of the state. No one asked for my resignation, it’s my own call,” Rosaiah said while announcing his resignation on TV.

Senior Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee, Ahmed Patel and Moily are going to Hyderabad to deal with the situation.(TNN)

Beleaguered Karnataka Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa, facing allegations of corruption and nepotism, yet again staved off a mounting challenge to his leadership as the BJP on Wednesday announced that he will continue in office.

“After consultations with senior party leaders and state leaders, the party has decided to continue with B. S. Yeddyurappa as Chief Minister of Karnataka,” BJP chief Nitin Gadkari said in a statement that set at rest political uncertainty in the ruling party in the State.

NAGPUR: Spinners Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha wreaked havoc on a turning track as India recorded one of their most convincing Test wins in recent times by thrashing New Zealand by an innings and 198 runs in third and final Test to clinch the three-match series 1-0 on Tuesday.

The spin duo never looked threatening during the entire series but proved to be an altogether different proposition with turn and bounce that was on offer.

Both Harbhajan (3/56) and Ojha (2/67) got appreciable turn and bounce as the Black Caps batsmen literally struggled to stay put on a track that was suddenly looking difficult to bat on. There was sharp turn on offer and some of the balls were also keeping low.

NEW DELHI: India’s tennis pair Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh won the sixth gold for the country in the men’s doubles event of the Asian Games, when they beat Gong M and Li Z of China on Monday.

The Indian pair won 6-3, 6-7, 10-8 in super tie-breaker.

The gold came after Sania Mirza and Vishnu Vardhan settled for silver medal after losing the mixed doubles final 6-4, 1-6, 2-10 to Chan Yung Jan and Yang Tsung Hua.

Earlier in the day Somdev advanced to the final’s of the single’s event.(TNN)

GUANGZHOU: India opened its athletics campaign in the Asian Games in a spectacular fashion with long distance runners Preeja Sreedharan and Sudha Singh clinching the gold medals in the women’s 10,000m and 3000m steeplechase at the Aoti main stadium on Sunday.

To add to the delight, Kavita Raut secured the silver medal behind Preeja in the in the 10,000m race at the Aoti Main Stadium.

28-year-old Preeja, belonging to Kerala’s Idukki district, and Commonwealth Games bronze winner Kavita of Maharashtra ran a tactical race by staying back of the pack before making the final effort to put back the bunch of nine other runners and cross the finish line with personal best times.

MUMBAI: The fourth edition of the Indian Premier League will begin from April 8 next year, six days after the conclusion of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, with the high profile players’ auction to be held on January 8 and 9.

Like the first three editions, there will be eight teams participating in the Twenty20 event, with 60 matches to be played with the title clash to be held on May 22.