In a relief to 20 trainee IAS and IPS officers who had challenged the Centre's cadre allocation process for the 2018 batch, the Supreme Court Friday said they will be accommodated by increasing of one post in the state cadres of their preference this year.

The Congress on Friday mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not taking any questions in his first appearance at a press conference, with party president Rahul Gandhi saying "showing up is half the battle".

TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, who is spearheading an effort to cobble up an anti-BJP front, Friday said not only the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) but any outfit which is against the saffron party are welcome to join a grand alliance after the election results are declared.

Industrialist Anand Mahindra Friday said Mahatma Gandhi's legacy is "sacred" to us, and equated attempts to damage the same with the Taliban militia's acts of destroying statues in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his first face-to-face with a large contingent of reporters, asserted confidently that the BJP will come back to power with a full majority on its own.

Addressing his last rally of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday said he is sure of the BJP-led ruling dispensation winning over 300 seats in the House.

 Contending that the BJP does not pay heed to its ideas and suggestions, the NPF, a partner in the saffron party-led alliance in the state, has convened a meeting of its leaders on Saturday to decide if it would continue to stay in the coalition or withdraw support.

A JNU student allegedly committed suicide Friday by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in a study room of the university, police said.