A day after Narendra Modi suggested that he shares a good relationship with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, she did not return the compliment. In her sharpest attack yet on the BJP and its prime ministerial candidate, the chief minister said at a rally that Mr. Modi needs to check his facts.

Referring to a rally in Chennai at which Mr. Modi had said that neither her AIADMK nor the Opposition DMK had helped Tamil Nadu, Ms Jayalalithaa said, “I would like to tell him (Modi) that the AIADMK is the only party which has done good work and constantly thinks of the people.”

Ms Jayalalithaa also said Gujarat’s development is a “myth”; Tamil Nadu’s growth has been far more impressive than that of Gujarat. Mr. Modi and the BJP say that his chief qualification for the country’s top job is the development he has brought to Gujarat during his four terms as chief minister.

In the past, Mr. Modi and Ms Jayalalithaa have been openly supportive of each other – when she was sworn in as chief minister of Tamil Nadu in 2011, he attended the ceremony. When Mr. Modi won an impressive victory in the Gujarat election in December, 2012, Jayalalithaa attended his swearing-in.

But the BJP and she did not strike a pre-election alliance, and she has said recently that she believes in the potential of a Third Front- a conglomerate of parties that are not affiliated to either the BJP or the Congress.

Ms Jayalalithaa’s attacks on Mr. Modi became more direct after his meeting with superstar Rajinikanth in Chennai on Sunday, just before the rally in which he criticized her government.

Her remarks against Mr. Modi have been attributed by analysts to the fact that the state’s two main Muslim parties are aligned with her rival, the DMK. Mr. Modi and the BJP are accused by detractors of indulging in communalism and divisive politics and critics say they don’t enjoy the confidence of Muslims.

Mr. Modi, asked about recent criticisms that Jayalalithaa and he have swapped, said, “We may have different ideologies, but at a personal level, I have excellent relations with Jayalalithaa.”

The Aam Aadmi Party has blamed the BJP for a “fake” letter that has the party’s chief Arvind Kejriwal thanking jailed politician Mukhtar Ansari for supporting him in the contest against Narendra Modi in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

Mukhtar Ansari, the chief of the Qaumi Ekta Dal, withdrew as a candidate from the temple town last week, saying that “secular votes” should not be divided. His exit is seen by some as a potential game-changer, as he is as an influential Muslim leader.

The Aam Aadmi Party or AAP strongly refuted reports of Mr Ansari supporting them and accused the BJP of spreading lies for political gains.

“BJP people are so afraid of losing Varanasi that they are spreading fake pics of AAP thanking M. Ansari for support (sic),” AAP tweeted, threatening to sue those in the media showing the party’s purported ‘thank you message’ to Ansari with a fake letterhead.

“We will take legal action for defamation and false news,” AAP said.

In the letter, “Arvind Kejriwal” says after Ansari’s support, “Muslim votes will come to the AAP and we would be able to keep communal forces out of Varanasi.”

Mukhtar Ansari is currently in jail in connection with a murder case. He had contested the 2009 general elections as the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate and lost by a slim margin to the BJP’s Murli Manohar Joshi.

Ajay Rai, who is the Congress candidate in Varanasi this time, contested as a Samajwadi Party candidate and came third.

AAP sources say the fake letter to Ansari are part of an attempt to mislead Muslim voters as well as damage Mr. Kejriwal’s prospects among voters who see him as an anti-corruption icon. Setting the record straight, AAP declared on Sunday that it would not take the support of Ansari.

Mr. Kejriwal, who has vowed to defeat Mr. Modi in the national election, has faced posters in Varanasi calling him a “Bhagoda (deserter) from Delhi”, a swipe at his abrupt resignation after 49 days in Delhi.

At a district in Madhya Pradesh notorious for violence during polls, officials believe they have found the perfect remedy – keep the candidates at the police station during voting.

All the candidates at the Morena constituency were made to sit at a police control room for nearly three hours this morning, so they could cause no trouble. The rivals spent time together, reading newspapers and bonding over coffee. Once allowed to leave they all got into a car and drove off for lunch together.

The candidates, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s nephew Anup Mishra of the BJP, Govind Singh of the Congress and BSP’s Vrindavan Singh Sikarwar, were summoned at 9 a.m., when voting usually picks up pace.

Officials said they wanted to ensure that the candidates did not intimidate voters or incite their own party men.

District officials say Morena, which borders Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, is prone to clashes during polls. In the Madhya Pradesh assembly election last year, more than a dozen fights between rival party workers were reported from the six assembly seats in Morena.

An election official changed the direction of an Electronic Voter Machine or EVM allegedly at the request of candidate and Union minister KH Muniyappa to make it ‘Vastu’ compliant, following which he was shifted from a polling centre in Kolar Lok Sabha constituency.

“The official has been shifted from Harohalli polling centre, which is in the city, for changing the direction of the Electronic Voting Machine on Muniyappa’s request to make it Vastu complaint,” Kolar Deputy Commissioner and Returning Officer DK Ravi told reporters.

Changing the direction or position of the EVM is unlawful, he said.

As soon as Mr. Muniyappa entered the polling centre to cast his vote, he was displeased to see the EVM facing south and placed it in the north-eastern direction with the help of his supporters, Mr Ravi said.

“On receiving the information, I shifted the election officer for carrying out Muniyappa’s instructions,” the deputy commissioner said.

Mr. Ravi, however, did not respond when he was asked the reason for not taking action against Muniyappa’s supporters who changed the position of the EVM.

“I will get back to you on it soon,” he said.

Vice Admiral Robin K Dhowan is the new chief of the Indian Navy. His appointment has been cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).

Vice Admiral Dhowan had taken over as the acting Naval Chief on February 26 after the incumbent, DK Joshi put in his papers owning “moral responsibility” for a series of accidents.

Vice Admiral Dhowan, who would have otherwise retired on May 31, will now serve for an additional two years.

Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha, currently the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C), Western Naval Command, based in Mumbai, is senior to Vice Admiral Dhowan. He was tipped to be the next Navy Chief but a majority of the accidents that have plagued the Navy in the 7-8 months, have taken place in the Western Naval Command.

Vice Admiral Dhowan is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and has served in various operational and staff appointments. However, he hasn’t headed an operational command, seen as a prerequisite for becoming the Navy Chief.

As the new Naval Chief, Vice Admiral Dhowan will be confronted with the challenge of navigating the Indian Navy through very trying times.

In March, a Commander-rank officer was killed in an accident on board a yet-to-be-operational Kolkata class destroyer. In February, two officers were killed in a fire that broke out aboard submarine INS Sindhuratna off the coast of Mumbai.

In August last year, another submarine, INS Sindhurakshak sank in the Mumbai harbour after an explosion, killing 18 sailors.

An FIR was registered against RJD leader and Lalu Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharti for allegedly breaking an electronic voting machine (EVM) at a polling booth in Pataliputra on Thursday.

The incident happened at booth number 34 in Maner.

The RJD, however, alleged that Misa was manhandled by BJP supporters at the booth.

The BJP, which has fielded a former RJD leader, Ram Kripal Yadav, from the seat against Bharti, refused to comment.
Yadav joined the BJP after he was denied a Pataliputra ticket by the RJD.