Dissatisfied with the selection of candidates for the coming Lok Sabha and assembly polls, three Congress leaders including former MP T Balagoud and APCC secretary V Suryabhaskar Rao quit the party on Wednesday. Announcing his resignation, Balagoud told reporters in Hyderabad that he quit the party because of the "discrimination" meted out to the backward classes in distribution of tickets. Earlier another party leader P Surya Prakash Rao quit the primary membership of the party and joined the ruling TDP.

Sinha, Joshi in fray for third phase

Battle lines for the third phase of Lok Sabha polls in 74 constituencies in nine states were drawn on Wednesday with Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Murali Manohar Joshi and SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav among the candidates left in fray. NCP's PA Sangma and former minister Ramvilas Paswan were among the prominent candidates who filed their nomination for the fourth phase.

Basu denies pact withCongress

West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu on Wednesday categorically said that his party, CPI(M), was not in alliance with the Congress in the state. "We have no alliance with the Congress and so whether they split or destroy themselves, it is their problem," Basu told newsmen in Calcutta.

Badal govt will be sacked: Amarinder

Congress has said it would not let the Parkash Singh badal-led SAD-BJP government in Punjab continue if the party returned to power at the Centre. "The way Badal and his coterie are managing the fiscal situation of the state... Running the government would become impossible," state Congress chief Amarinder Singh told reporters in Jalandhar.

Vinod Khanna's car stoned

Actor-turned-politician Vinod Khanna and six of his partymen received minor injuries late Tuesday night at Pathankot when around 50 people pelted stones at his car while he was campaigning for the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency. Khanna told PTI telephonically from Pathankot that themiscreants damaged his car while he was going to address a rally in the town.