BSP to go solo in LS polls
Lucknow, Aug 23: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Wednesday said her party has decided to contest next year’s Lok Sabha elections on its own in Uttar Pradesh as past experience shows that it doesn’t gain anything from entering into an alliance. At a meeting here with party leaders, Mayawati slammed both the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA and the Opposition’s INDIA grouping. She claimed that whenever the BSP fights elections in alliance with another party in UP, its votes get transferred to the partner but the reverse does not happen. “The BSP had to bear more loss than gain by getting into alliances in UP as its votes clearly get transferred to the alliance partner but the other parties do not have the right intention or the capability to transfer their votes to our candidate,” said a statement quoted her as saying. (PTI)
18 fall ill after toxic gas leak
Bharuch (Gujarat), Aug 23: Eighteen workers were hospitalised after inhaling a toxic gas that leaked in a factory in Gujarat’s Bharuch district on Wednesday, the police said. “As many as 18 workers were hospitalised after inhaling bromine gas that leaked from a tank of a chemical factory located at Vedaj village,” said sub-inspector Vaishali Ahir of Vedach police station. There were around 2,000 workers present in the factory when the leakage was reported around 1 pm. All were safely evacuated, the police official said. (PTI)
Tejas test-fires ASTRA missile
New Delhi, Aug 23: Light Combat Aircraft Tejas LSP-7 successfully test-fired the ASTRA indigenous Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile on Wednesday. The test was carried out at the coast of Goa. According to the Defence Ministry, the missile release was successfully carried out from the aircraft at an altitude of about 20,000 ft. All the objectives of the test were met. The aircraft was also monitored by a Chase Tejas twin seater aircraft. ASTRA, a state-of-the-art BVR air-to-air missile to engage and destroy highly maneuvering supersonic aerial targets, is designed and developed by DRDL,RCI and laboratories of DRDO. (PTI)