New Delhi (PTI): Vice President C P Radhakrishnan will be holding his first formal meeting within a month of his assuming charge as Chairman of the Rajya Sabha with some floor leaders of various parties on October 7, sources said.

Radhakrishnan won the vice presidential election on September 9.

The sources said he would meet some opposition leaders in the evening of October 7 and would later meet more of them in the coming days.

The move comes days ahead of the Winter session of Parliament, which is likely to begin next month.

The exercise of meeting floor leaders is part of his efforts to ensure better ties with opposition leaders, the sources said, adding that this could be seen as a familiarisation move.

Though some opposition leaders met Radhakrishnan on September 12, soon after he assumed charge as Rajya Sabha Chairman, to congratulate him. But the forthcoming meeting is considered his first formal meeting with the leaders of various parties.

His predecessor, Jagdeep Dhankhar, who suddenly resigned as vice president before his tenure, had strained ties with the opposition which had also unsuccessfully moved a motion to remove him from office.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Jammu (PTI): Six persons were taken into custody during an intensified anti-narcotics crackdown, with police recovering contraband substances and over Rs 23 lakh in Doda and Kathua districts of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Monday.

In a parallel action, properties worth over Rs 73 lakh linked to drug peddlers were also attached in Udhampur district under relevant legal provisions, the police said.

Additional Superintendent of Police, Doda, Mohd Aslam said three persons, including a woman, were detained during a raid on a house at Dak Mohalla in the main town following recovery of 85 grams of suspected brown sugar and over Rs 23 lakh on Sunday evening.

He identified the woman as Zareena Begum, stating that she had been under police surveillance following inputs indicating her involvement in drug peddling.

Besides Zareena, officials said her daughter and son-in-law were also picked up by police during the raid.

“We have taken three individuals into custody. Their roles are being examined, and based on that, arrests will be made. We are continuing raids at other suspected locations,” Aslam said.

Three drug peddlers --Pardeep Singh of Hiranagar, Rahees Butt of Billawar and Ali Sen of Amritsar (Punjab) -- were arrested along with heroin at different places in Kathua district, a police spokesman said.

He said while 2.79 gm of heroin was seized from Singh, 2.66 gm were recovered Butt. Similarly, 303 gm of heroin was seized from Sen who was intercepted near Berrian-Pattan village while moving in a private car from Bhagthali to Maggar Khad on the Jammu-Pathankot highway.

All the three were booked under the NDPS Act and further investigations are on, the spokesman said.

In Udhampur, the spokesman said properties worth Rs 73 lakh were attached in two separate cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

The attached properties included a newly constructed residential house, a car, a motorcycle and a mobile phone with a total value of Rs 65 Lakh, belonging to accused Saif Ali who was booked under the NDPS case in Majalta area early this year, he said.

In another action, movable property worth Rs 8 lakh comprising a car, belonging to accused Danish Butt of Doda has been attached under Section 68(F) NDPS Act in connection with an FIR registered at Rehambal police station, the spokesman said.