AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa will kickstart her 15-day tour of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for the Assembly polls by addressing a rally in her constituency of R K Nagar on Saturday. Jayalalithaa would campaign for 14 days in Tamil Nadu from April 9 to May 12 and would wind up the Puducherry leg of her tour in one day on April 25.

IPL season 9 will commence as scheduled on Saturday with the first match to be played between the Mumbai Indians and first-timers Rising Pune Supergiants owned by businessman Sanjiv Goenka, at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The Bombay High Court earlier declined to stay matches to be played in Maharashtra on a PIL filed by NGO Loksatta Movement, which challenged the staging of IPL matches in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur at a time of severe drought and water scarcity in the state.

BJP President Amit Shah is to launch the NDA’s campaign in Kerala on Saturday. Kerala goes to the polls on May 16. The Bharatiya Janata Party has yet to open its account in the 140-member Kerala Assembly. However, in last year’s local body polls it doubled the total number of seats it held as compared to that in the 2010 polls.

American Defence Secretary Ashton Carter will commence a three-day visit to the country on Sunday. Carter would hold detailed discussions with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on a range of issues including a tweaked Logistics Support Agreement, cooperation in aircraft carrier technology, besides other issues including Scan Eagle drones for the Indian Navy.

Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom will arrive in India on Sunday on a two-day visit during which he will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the two sides work towards ramping up bilateral cooperation. Gayoom’s official delegation would include Minister of Foreign Affairs Dunya Maumoon, Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Mohamed Shainee and three members of the Maldivian Parliament.

Related Topics