Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged a “political vendetta” by the ruling BJP into the National Herald case, and insisted that he will not be cowed down and will continue asking questions to put pressure on NDA at Centre.“Well I absolutely see a political vendetta. This is the way the Central government functions, the way they think,” Rahul  Gandhi, who was here to distribute aid to flood—hit people, told reporters. He said the government at the Centre thought it could stop him from asking questions “about them” by adopting such “vendetta politics,” but “that is not going to happen.”Rahul Gandhi initially said that he will react on the issue after returning to Delhi where Parliament is in session, however, said that there was “political vendetta” on the issue after reporters’ repeated queries.

Meanwhile, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday rejected Congress charge of political vendetta on the part of Modi government in the National Herald case saying it has nothing to do with it.Attacking the Congress over disruption of Parliament on the issue, he asked party leaders, including Sonia and Rahul Gandhi to face the courts saying India is not a banana republic in which Parliament or media can decide the guilt or innocence in such matters.“No political vendetta. A private complaint was lodged. The government had nothing to do with it. The High Court has dismissed their case and asked them to go and face trial. Nobody in this country has immunity from law. They can challenge the orders in a higher court or face proceedings,” he said.

Sensex tanks 219 points on GST uncertainty, Nifty holds 7,700
Slumping crude oil prices, fears of a slowdown in China and uncertainty over the passage of GST Bill led the equity benchmarks to their 10-week lows on Tuesday.The S&P BSE Sensex shed 219 points, or 0.86 per cent, to close the day at 25,310 while the 50-stock Nifty50 ended the day at 7,701, down 64 points, or 0.82 per cent. GAIL and Vedanta contributed most of the losses in the BSE benchmark.The broader market also took part in the selloff, with the BSE midcap and smallcap indices ending the day lower by 1.17 per cent and 1.33 per cent, respectively. The sentiment on the Street was negative, as 26 of the BSE30 stocks closed with losses. The BSE realty index was the top sectoral loser on the day, down 3.83 per cent.

Sanjiv Goenka gets Pune and Intex gets Rajkot IPL teams
Industrialist Sanjiv Goenka's New Rising and handset maker Intex have won the bid for the two new IPL teams that will play in 2016 and 2017 editions of the league in the absence of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals.New Rising got Pune with bid of minus Rs 16 crore while Intex bid minus Rs 10 crore for Rajkot.The two teams will now pick five players from among the former CSK and RR team through a draft. Among the two new team owners, the one who has bid the lowest — New Rising — will get to pick the first player, which would in all probability be MS Dhoni.Rajeev Shukla, the chairman of IPL announced the new teams after the Indian Premier League Governing Council met in Delhi today.

Swaraj should discuss 'Hafiz Saeed, Dawood' with Pak: Congress
Expressing support for the visit of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to Islamabad today, the Congress Party, however, demanded that the dialogue be held in a way that a concrete outcome can be expected from it, and also urged Swaraj to raise the issue of 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and wanted underworld don Dawood Ibrahim who are allegedly taking refuge on Pakistan soil."We support dialogue between the two nations but it should be a targeted one where some outcome can be expected. The need of the hour is to address terrorism. Hafiz Saeed and Dawood Ibrahim who are hiding in the Pakistan should be discussed during the talks," Congress leader P.L. Punia told ANI here.However, he asserted that after the NDA government came into power, terrorist activities have been on the rise in the nation.

Madras HC notice over flood relief distribution
The Madras High Court on Tuesday ordered issue of notice to Revenue Secretary, Commissioner Chennai Corporation, Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Metropolitan Water Supply, CMD of Avin Milk Producers Society on a petition seeking protection for the organisations and workers carrying flood relief materials.Justice MM Sundresh also directed Advocate General or Additional Advocate General to appear and explain the steps taken with regard to the allegations that relief workers carrying materials for stranded victims of floods were harassed by some sections.The petition was filed by AP Suryaprakasam, an advocate.Noting that he had submitted representations to authorities requesting them to constitute micro level disaster management and relief-providing committees to coordinate with individual volunteers ad NGOs in all flood-affected areas, Suryaprakasam said he had first-hand experience of being accosted by locals from distributing food to the needy.

Rescued by a Muslim man, Hindu parents name their newborn 'Yunus'
Moved by the gestures of a Muslim man Mohamed Yunus who had come to their rescue during the devastating floods in Chenna, a Hindu couple recently named their girl child after him.Reports, Tuesday, said that Chitra and Mohan - a Hindu couple - were stranded in Chennai due to heavy downpour in and around the city. Like them, there were more than 400 families who were left stranded as the water entered their home in Urappakkam area.When Yunus, an engineer by profession, came to know about their plight, he and his friends decided to help them out of this natural calamity.Ironically, the impact of floods was so much that even boatmen were reluctant to bring in boats for rescue. Yunus tried hard to convince the boatmen and it took him nearly four hours to find a vehicle to carry the boats to Urappakkam.After reaching flooded Urappakkam, Yunus swam through the flood water and rescued Chitra, who was in labour pain, her husband and many others.