New Delhi, Mar 26 (PTI) These are the top stories from the northern region at 5 pm

These are the top stories from the northern region at 5 pm JAIPUR ELN20 RJ-LD-RAHUL-POVERTY Jaipur: Congress president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday termed his party's promise of minimum guaranteed income to the poorest 20 per cent households a "surgical strike on poverty" and said nobody should be poor in 21st century India. LUCKNOW ELX25 UP-LD AKHILESH Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party Tuesday announced an alliance with the Nishad Party, Janwadi Party (Socialist) and the Rashtriya Samanta Dal for the April-May Lok Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh.

NEW DELHI DEL18 POL-BJP-LD JAYA PRADA New Delhi: Former Samajwadi Party MP and actor Jaya Prada joined the BJP on Tuesday and may be fielded as the party's candidate from Rampur constituency to take on her bitter rival and SP nominee Azam Khan. DEHRADUN ELX27 UKD-BJP-KHANDURI Dehradun: The BJP on Tuesday rejected Congress president Rahul Gandhi's charge that it had insulted senior leader B C Khanduri by removing him from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on defence, saying it was the BJP which made him the head of the panel. CHANDIGARH DES6 HR-ABHAY-CHAUTALA Chandigarh: In another setback for the INLD, the Haryana Assembly speaker Tuesday removed Abhay Chautala as the Leader of Opposition after strength of party legislators dropped to 15 following resignations of two of its leaders.

SHIMLA ELN22 HP-MANDI (Recasts overnight story) Shimla: It may well be a Jai Ram versus Sukh Ram poll battle for the Mandi Lok Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh in the ensuing general elections, even though neither of them is actually in the fray. NEW DELHI DES1 DL-JNU-VC New Delhi: A day after alleging that some students forcibly entered his house and confined his wife, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) vice chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar said on Tuesday that he had "forgiven" them and would not file a complaint with the police.

JAMMU DES13 JK-RALLY-BJP Jammu: Over two lakh people will attend the rally in Jammu and Kashmir's Akhnoor, from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will kick-start the BJP's election campaign in the state, party state president Ravinder Raina said Tuesday. KATHUA ELX8 JK-POLL-JITENDRA-UDHAMPUR Kathua (J&K): Union minister Jitendra Singh will have a direct contest with Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh, the grandson of erstwhile Maharaja Hari Singh, on the Udhampur-Doda parliamentary seat. ALLAHABAD ELX9 POLL-UP-COFFEE HOUSE Allahabad: In first glance it may not seem like a regular coffee house, but this six-decade-old building with its church-like facade has been attracting scores of people who sit for hours over endless sips of steaming tea or coffee and debate over politics.

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