Politics

Extending his wishes for electoral victory of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, senior Congress leader Narayan Dutt Tiwari on Friday asked his son Rohit Shekhar to meet Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and learn “tips” on politics.

“My son Rohit Shekhar should soon meet Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who is like his elder brother, take his blessings and learn tips of politics from him,” 88-year-old Tiwari said in a press statement on Friday.

President Pranab Mukherjee will visit Jharkhand on Saturday, a statement from Rashtrapati Bhavan said on Friday.

“He (Pranab Mukherjee) will attend the annual convocation of the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad,” the statement said.

The Indian School of Mines was opened Dec 9, 1926, and has 18 academic departments covering engineering, applied sciences, humanities, social sciences and management programmes with emphasis in areas of earth sciences.

—IANS

Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh today said here that Varanasi District Magistrate acted in an impartial manner by denying permission to a rally of BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

“Modi is facing a threat to his life and in the absence of police and Intelligence Bureau report it is not possible for the district administration to grant permission to him for holding a rally. Had anything happened, the DM could have lost his job,” said Digvijay.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah on Friday said the party is open to support from any other political party in forming the next government at the centre after the Lok Sabha elections. He asserted that the BJP is against political untouchability, and said all parties are welcome to join the NDA for the sake of the development of this country. Reitirating that NDA will get a comfortable majority, Shah said, “The NDA will get more than 300 seats in these elections.

Amid the row over Narendra Modi’s caste, Congress today attacked the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate over his “neech jati” (low caste) remark, accusing him of insulting the OBCs and demanded that he must apologise to people.

“It is unfortunate that Modi used such words and made a reference to certain community as ‘neechi jati’. Congress condemns it,” Union Minister Vayalar Ravi said.

Apprehending violence in the fifth and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, the Congress and BJP Friday asked the Election Commission to ensure extensive security as well as monitoring systems were in place during the May 12 polls.

As many as 17 constituencies, including the two in state capital Kolkata, will go to the hustings Monday.

Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar handed over a video recording to chief electoral officer Sunil Gupta, of the rigging seen in the elections in Asansol May 7.

BJP today said Mamata Banerjee likening Narendra Modi to Hanuman setting fire wherever he went was an “insult” and the West Bengal Chief Minister was wrong.

“This is insult to Hanuman. She doesn’t know the work of Hanuman and second, she doesn’t know history. She must read it again,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said here about Banerjee’s comment at an election rally a few days ago.

BJP Vice-President Kalyan Singh today accused Congress of stooping to the level of questioning the caste of its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, which he said the rival party was doing owing to its “frustration” over the impending results of the general elections.

“Frustrated over its clear debacle in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress is now stooping to questioning the caste of Narendra Modi leaving aside all national issues,” Kalyan claimed.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah on Friday said the party is open to support from any other political party in forming the next government at the centre after the Lok Sabha elections.

He asserted that the BJP is against political untouchability, and said all parties are welcome to join the NDA for the sake of the development of this country.

Reitirating that NDA will get a comfortable majority, Shah said, “The NDA will get more than 300 seats in these elections. Our prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will be the next Prime Minister.”

The BJP on Friday claimed that Rahul Gandhi made it very clear yesterday that he wanted to tie up with Mamata Banerjee and her party Trinamool Congress after the Lok Sabha election.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told a press conference here, “What Rahul Gandhi has said is he wants cooperation of Mamata after the election.

The Congress is desperate to stop Modi, so they are ready to support Mamata.”

“This means voting for Mamata is voting for the Congress and voting for Congress is voting for Mamata,” he alleged.

This Lok Sabha election has seen a major jump in the number of ‘crorepati’ candidates from the 2009 poll, at more than 950, while there has also been a rise in the number of candidates with criminal records, according to National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Extending his wishes for electoral victory of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, senior Congress leader Narayan Dutt Tiwari today asked his son Rohit Shekhar to meet Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and learn “tips” on politics.

“My son Rohit Shekhar should soon meet Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who is like his elder brother, take his blessings and learn tips of politics from him,” 88-year-old Tiwari said in a press statement today.

Wishing electoral success to Yadav, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Tiwari said he has old ties with him.

BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi Friday targeted Congress president Sonia Gandhi, saying she is “using words like `oonch-neech’ for vote bank politics”.

“Madam, you are president of the party but using words like oonch-neech (high-low) for vote bank politics. It does not look good,” Modi said while addressing an election meeting in Motihari in Bihar.

He said the likely defeat of the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls has disturbed and worried Sonia Gandhi.

Modi said caste-based politics will not benefit anyone in the country.

A day after Narendra Modi drove through this temple town, his opponent AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal on Friday began his roadshow from rural parts of the constituency and took a jibe at the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate’s “helicopter” visit.

Kejriwal also said that he was confident about his victory with a “huge majority” and accused BJP of trying every tactic including communal and caste politics, as well as “violence and bribing media”.

Targeting both BJP and BSP on development front, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today said only his Samajwadi Party was capable of ensuring development in the state.

Without taking name, Yadav slammed BJP prime ministerial Narendra Modi and said, “Initially they tried to create a wave in the name of Gujarat Model designed by RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal. But when it did not work as the people did not show interest in it, they adopted the slogan of ‘Modi sarkar’.”

Arvind Kejriwal’s family, BJP leaders Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley and others involved in campaign but not having voting rights in the city will have to leave the constituency after canvassing ends tomorrow evening in accordance with rules, officials made it clear today.

Aam Aadmi Party’s Amethi candidate Kumar Vishwas had protested after his family members were asked to leave the constituency ahead of polling on May 7, accusing the administration of being biased and favouring his Congress rival Rahul Gandhi.

A day after Narendra Modi drove through this temple town, his opponent AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal on Friday began his roadshow from rural parts of the constituency and took a jibe at the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate’s “helicopter” visit.

Mr. Kejriwal also said that he was confident about his victory with a “huge majority” and accused BJP of trying every tactic including communal and caste politics, as well as “violence and bribing of media”.

Raking up the caste issue, Narendra Modi today charged Congress with starting the politics of “untouchability and hatred” and Sonia Gandhi of resorting to “unch aur neech” politics for salvaging the “lost political ground” in the ongoing elections.

“Who started the politics of untouchability in the country?” he asked the people at an election meeting here in favour of BJP candidate Radhamohan Singh.

“The same people who do votebank politics had started the politics of untouchability,” he said referring to Congress.

Somabhai Modi, the elder brother of Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, on Friday demanded an apology from the Congress Party for raising questions about the lattter’s caste.

“The Congress should apologise for raising this caste question and for trying to mislead the general public,” Somabhai Modi said.

“Raising questions of caste seems like a plot. Narendra bhai has an OBC certificate well before he became chief minister of Gujarat,” Somabhai added.

Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D. Raja on Friday hailed the Supreme Court’s order to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the Saradha Chit Fund Scam in West Bengal.

“We welcome this order of the Supreme Court. We have been demanding this for a very long time, as we could see the dimensions of this fraud,” Raja told ANI here.

“We wanted an investigation by the CBI. This is a very positive order and the CBI should act firmly and neutrally,” he added.

BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi Friday said communal, vote bank and dynastic politics have ruined the nation.

“Vote bank, communal and caste-based politics have ruined the country,” Modi said at a election rally here.

Addressing the rally when Modi asked whether the country should be freed from such politics, the people responded with a roaring “yes”.

Calling out to the youths, Modi said: “If our country continues with such politics, then the way 60 years of your parents’ life got ruined, your future too will be ruined.”

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley on Friday described as preposterous the Congress Party’s claim that BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had misused the caste card during the 2014 general elections.

“Congress is completely out of its depth. It is unable to digest the fact that it and the dynasty which runs it, is going to taste defeat at the hands of a commoner. It cannot accept the fact that the dynasty is going to be demolished by a person from a humble background. This Modi not an OBC issue is preposterous,” said Jaitley.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal began his roadshow in Rural Varanasi on Friday by saying that he was confident about his party achieving electoral victory in Varanasi as also in other parts of the country.

Interacting with the general public, Kejriwal said that he was absolutely sure that BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi would face and taste electoral defeat.

“The AAP is winning with a huge majority in Varanasi. Narendra Modi is going to lose,” claimed Kejriwal.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Thursday accused the Congress vice-president, Rahul Gandhi, of violating rules by entering the polling booth and area where voting machine is kept during penultimate phase of general elections. For the first time in a decade, Gandhi visited his parliamentary constituency Amethi, on the eighth phase of elections on Wednesday, urging supporters to vote in large numbers. Gandhi is battling to win a third successive term in power for the UPA in an election that opinion polls predict his Congress party looks set to lose.

BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi Thursday said BJP will get a clear majority in the Lok Sabha elections and will form “the strongest and most stable government” in the last three decades.

In an interview with Times Now news channel, Modi downplayed his criticism of different regional political parties during the ongoing poll campaign, saying politics was not conducted on the basis of campaign speeches.