Rahul Gandhi pledges to restore special status to northeastern States

He also accused the BJP of trying to destroy the social and cultural ethos of the people of the Northeast by imposing on them the "RSS ideology".

Gandhi, is on a three-day boat ride on the Ganga as part of the Lok Sabha election campaign that will end on Wednesday in Varanasi.

New Goa Chief Minster Pramod Sawant's wife said that her husband's predecessor, the late Manohar Parrikar, was like a father figure to the couple.

Sawant holds a Bachelor's Degree in Ayurveda, Medicine and Surgery from Ganga Education Society's Ayurvedic College in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra.

Sawant in his political career has generally managed to steer clear from controversy and was handpicked by Parrikar to assume the Speaker's post in 2017.

BJP president Amit Shah, some Union ministers and chief ministers of BJP-ruled states attended the funeral at Miramar.

The JD-S, which currently holds the Mandya seat, announced that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil, 29, as its candidate from the seat.

Party President Rahul Gandhi appointed his younger sibling as the eastern in-charge of Uttar Pradesh on January 23.

Besides, positive cues from other Asian markets too bolstered trading sentiment here, traders said.

Besides, narrowing country's trade deficit and selling of the American currency by exporters supported the domestic currency, dealers said.

Parrikar had undergone treatment in the United States as well as in New Delhi. He took charge as the Chief Minister on March 14, 2017, and held the office till his end.

Dr Vipin Kumar entered the Limca Book of Records for performing a whopping 36,000 sterlisation surgeries on monkeys in a matter of eight years beginning January 2010.

The condition of Parrikar, diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer in February last year and in and out of hospitals, in Goa, Mumbai, Delhi and New York since then, turned "extremely critical" on Sunday

Earlier in the day, BJP core committee leader Dayanand Mandrekar had said Parrikar's health had deteriorated and the party may appoint a new leader soon to succeed Parrikar.

Justice Ghose, who retired from the Supreme Court in May 2017, is a member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

Soon after her arrival at the party office, scores of Congress workers gathered to cheer her and raise slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The HRD Minister, when asked about the "Chowkidar" campaign while defaulters like Nirav Modi are on the run, said, "They are on the run because they know that the chowkidar is here.