Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi and state party chief Navjot Singh Sidhu pay obeisance at Golden Temple in Amritsar. (Photo: Twitter/@GurjeetSAujla)2022 Assembly Election Highlights: Raising the poll pitch in Punjab ahead of the assembly elections next month, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Thursday hit out at the BJP over unemployment, demonetisation and the now-repealed farm laws. Addressing the “Navi Soch, Nava Punjab” virtual rally in Jalandhar, Gandhi said the demand for declaring party’s Punjab CM face will be met soon after consulting the Congress workers. Earlier in the day, Gandhi reached the Golden Temple, along with party candidates to pay obeisance ahead of the Punjab assembly polls. He was flanked by CM Charanjit Singh Channi and PPCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu during his visit.
The Bahujan Samaj Party on Thursday announced candidates to 59 seats in Uttar Pradesh, fielding Scheduled Castes (SC) candidates on general seats against Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav in Karhal and his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav in Jaswantnagar. Akhilesh is contesting his first assembly election from Karhal seat in Mainpuri district. Against him, the BSP has given ticket to Kuldeep Narayan. Likewise, against Shivpal in Jaswantnagar, the BSP has fielded Brijendra Pratap Singh.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday, while addressing a ‘Prabhaavi Matdaata Samwad’ (Effective Voter Dialogue) in Greater Noida, said that the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh are not to decide an MLA, a minister or a chief minister, the elections are to decide the future course of the state for the next 20 years. Shah was in Greater Noida to seek support for the BJP’s Dadri candidate Tejpal Nagar with a door-to-door campaign in the constituency that goes to vote on February 10.
The Samajwadi Party on Thursday announced its fourth list of 56 candidates for the upcoming UP polls, including sitting BJP MLA Arun Kumar Yadav's father and four-time MLA from Phoolpur Pawai seat, Ramakant Yadav, who is likely to take on his son in the elections from the same seat.
In the fourth list, majority of the 56 candidates are from the eastern UP belt. A total of 283 candidates, including 19 of the RLD, have been announced by the alliance led by the SP so far for the assembly polls in UP.
Ramakant Yadav had joined the SP from the BJP in 2019, and has also been an MP from Azamgarh on an SP ticket in 1996. He had joined the SP from the BSP in 2004, and had then joined the BJP in 2008. His son Arun is a two-time MLA from the seat, and was also elected as an SP MLA in 2007. In 2017, he had won the seat by 7,295 votes against BSP's Abul Qais Azmi in second place.
Congress Shekhupura assembly candidate Farha Naeem on Thursday resigned from the party and returned her ticket accusing district president of making “indecent” comments against women.
Addressing a press conference here, Naeem made allegations against the character of party district president Onkar Singh and announced her resignation. "I was impressed with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's slogan 'Ladki Hun Lad Sakti Hun' and got the ticket as voice of girls and women but we are humiliated here. “The district president makes indecent comments on character of women. Despite complaints against him in the past, he is still the district president," she said. "He demands money from people. It's not possible to contest polls under him," she said.
When asked about allegations against him, Onkar Singh said he considers women as his “mother” and has never humiliated them. (PTI)
“I am fighting this election to get justice for my son, and many others like him who are oppressed by this government,” says Akbari Khatoon, the Congress candidate from Bijnor. In late 2019, her 20-year-old son Mohd Suleiman was among the 22 people killed in violence during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Suleiman’s family is the only one of the 22 which lodged an FIR against policemen, accusing them of murder.
A housewife and mother of seven, Khatoon says accepting the offer of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for a ticket is their second attempt to get justice. The Congress announced her nomination on Wednesday, and Khatoon filed her papers Thursday. Vadra had met the family after Suleiman’s killing. Read More
Congress names Dhan Singh Negi as its candidate from Tehri Assembly constituency for the upcoming Uttarakhand elections next month. (ANI)
The upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh are not to decide an MLA, a minister or a chief minister, the elections are to decide the future course of the state for the next 20 years, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday.
Addressing a 'Prabhaavi Matdaata Samwad' (Effective Voter Dialogue) in Greater Noida, the senior BJP leader lashed out at the previous state governments helmed by the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party over a host of issues, including law and order. Shah said the state had witnessed mafia rule and open extortion during the previous governments but stressed that the situation has changed over the last five years under the Yogi Adityanath government.
Shah was in Greater Noida to seek support for the BJP's Dadri candidate Tejpal Nagar with a door-to-door campaign in the constituency that goes to vote on February 10. (PTI)
Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Thursday conducted door-to-door campaign in Ghaziabad for party candidate Sushant Goel, accusing BJP of exploiting every section in its five-year term. Goel is the son of former congress parliamentarian Surendra Prakash Goel who died during the second wave of Covid-19. Pilot along with Goel and other party functionaries read the party's manifesto to the public and urged them to oust the BJP from power.
In a press conference, he criticized the double engine government of the BJP. He said that within the last five years, the state government had exploited the traders and all other sections of the society. He said that now the public wants to change the government and the election results would be “astonishing”.
Congress party is in strong position in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab and the election results on 10 March would prove it, claimed former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan. (PTI)
Speaking at the “Navi Soch, Nava Punjab” virtual rally in Punjab's Jalandhar, also attended by Rahul Gandhi, CM Charanjit Singh Channi said that there is no infighting in the party. "Announce the chief minister face for Punjab polls, we (Punjab Congress) will stand united," he said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addresses the “Navi Soch, Nava Punjab” virtual rally in Punjab's Jalandhar.
“Main koi chavanni nahin hoon jo palat jaonga (I am not a 25 paise coin that I will flip),” Jayant Chaudhary said at Khatauli near Muzaffarnagar Thursday, a day after the BJP said its doors were open for the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief who is fighting the elections in alliance with the Samajwadi Party.
“Where were the BJP leaders when our farmers were mowed down under the tyres of a car being driven by a Union minister’s son in Lakhimpur Kheri (Union Minister of State Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish has denied he was driving the car)? Hundreds of our agitating farmers sacrificed themselves on the Singhu border in New Delhi during an agitation for repeal of the three farm laws, but no BJP leader could find time to meet them,” Chaudhary said, addressing a group of people while on his way to Muzaffarnagar, where he is to hold a joint press meeting with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday. Read More
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday attacked SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, saying "goonda raj" will return to Uttar Pradesh if his party comes to power in the Assembly polls. Addressing "influential voters" during a door-to-door campaign, he also accused the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the BSP of promoting dynastic politics and casteism. Shah paid obeisance at the Banke Bihari temple before starting his door-to-door campaign for the state Assembly polls.
Attacking the previous SP government, he asked, "Wasn't there a goonda raj? Didn't the bahubalis (strongmen) trouble people? Weren't the sisters and daughters humiliated?"
"Azam Khan was arrested and CrPC sections fell short under which cases were lodged against him," he said referring to a Samajwadi Party leader. He mocked Akhilesh Yadav of his criticism of law and order, says he has not right to complain about it. "Chullu bhar pani mein doob maro," he mocked in Hindi. (PTI)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah Thursday conducted a door-to-door campaign in Dadri, Gautam Buddha Nagar in support of the BJP candidate for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visits Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar.
The BJP has signed an “agreement of cooperation” with several party members who might be fielded in the upcoming Manipur assembly elections, in a bid to prevent switching of allegiance before the polls. The members include those who could be nominated in Keisamthong assembly constituency in Imphal West district and Sugnu in Kakching district, sources said.
'The party has signed an agreement of cooperation with many probable candidates in the presence of Chief Minister N Biren Singh, so that they don't switch sides amid the developing political scenario' BJP's chief spokesperson in the state, Ch Bijoy, told PTI.
The saffron party has been conducting “sensitisation” meetings to ensure bonhomie and cooperation among members, who are likely to be fielded in the polls. The elections for Manipur's 60-member assembly will be held in two phases on February 27 and March 3, while counting of votes will take place on March 10. (PTI)
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu eat 'langar' at Golden Temple in Amritsar.
Amidst continuing unrest among railway job aspirants in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday accused the BJP of having a narrow mindset of making the youth sell 'pakoras'.
"There has been a huge uproar in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar over UPTNT and now over Railways' RRB-NTPC results, this is a proof of the failure of the governments. Beating up poor and unemployed youths for protesting, and playing with their future is totally unjustified," she said in a tweet in Hindi. "Due to the wrong policies of the government, poverty and unemployment have reached the peak. Government jobs and reservation facility in them have become secondary. In such a situation, it is unjust to not have the examination even for small government jobs for years. BJP should change its narrow mindset of making the youth sell 'pakoras' (snacks)," she added.
Mayawati was apparently referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comments during an interview to a TV news channel in 2018 that selling pakoras is also a form of employment and can be seen in the light of 'job creation'. (PTI)
Apart from being a multi-cornered fight with several parties in fray, next month's Goa Assembly elections will be an interesting affair for another reason - as many as five couples will be testing their electoral luck.
In case all of them get elected, they will form one fourth of the total strength of the 40-member Goa House.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which currently rules the state, has fielded two couples and also given candidature to one of its leader, while his wife will be contesting as an independent. The Congress and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) have given ticket to one couple each. Read More
BJP releases second list of 27 candidates for the upcoming Punjab assembly elections.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah Thursday held a door-to-door campaigning in Mathura ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Undaunted by the prospect of taking on Yogi Adiyanath in his stronghold, Azad Samaj Party president Chandra Shekhar Aazad says the people of Gorakhpur will repeat the history of 1971 when a chief minister of Uttar Pradesh lost elections from the assembly constituency. Confident that victory will be his, Aazad, whose party is heading the Samajik Parivartan Morcha of 36 small outfits, also pitched himself as a chief ministerial candidate from the alliance that is contesting 403 seats in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls beginning next month.
"We need to go back to the history of Gorakhpur… In 1971, a sitting chief minister, T N Singh, was defeated by the people of Gorakhpur. Similarly, Adityanath is the CM now and is responsible for the destruction of UP and Gorakhpur in the last five years," Aazad, who is popularly called 'Ravan', told PTI.
After talks of an alliance with the Samajwadi Party failed, the Azad Samaj Party (ASP) decided to forge a coalition of small parties based on its not-so-good experiences with big and established parties. He also rejected allegations of being a vote cutter and cleared the air about his fallout with the Akhilesh Yadav-led party. (PTI)