Election news wrap: Congress unveils manifesto, Modi’s Bihar rallies, EC examining Yogi’s comment and more

Cong unveils poll manifesto with focus on jobs, farmers, ‘Nyay’ scheme

Congress president Rahul Gandhi unveiled his party’s manifesto, making jobs creation, addressing farm distress, bringing a single moderate rate of GST and giving Rs 72,000 per annum to poorest 20 per cent households as key focus if the party comes to power.

In the 55-page document with a tagline ‘Congress will deliver’, the grand old party also pledged to bring out a separate budget for farmers, fill up 22 lakh government vacancies, allocate 6 per cent of GDP to education, assured 50 more days of guaranteed jobs from current 100 under the MNREGA, boosting healthcare infrastructure and enhance safety of women.

VIDEO | Rahul Gandhi reveals 5 big promises in the Congress manifesto

“When we started a year ago, I made it clear that nothing in this can be a lie, because we live in a time where we hear a large number of lies every day,” Gandhi said, after releasing the manifesto in the presence of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and senior party leader P Chidambaram. Read more here

Cong’s manifesto unimplementable, agenda of India’s balkanisation: Jaitley

Terming the Congress’s poll manifesto as “dangerous and unimplementable”, the BJP sought to corner the opposition party over the national security issue on its promise of repealing and reviewing certain laws and alleged that it was an agenda of India’s “Balkanisation”. Senior BJP leader and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley took a swipe at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, wondering if his “friends” from “tukde tukde” gang drafted the parts of manifesto dealing with issues of Kashmir and national security.

Addressing a press conference, Jaitley trained his guns at the Congress’s stand on issues of national security and promises on economy, saying, “When out of ignorance, he (Gandhi) makes unimplementable and dangerous promises, I am sure the country will not be in a mood to oblige” to allow him to execute them.  Lashing out at the Congress for promising to repeal Section 124A of the IPC, often termed as sedition law, make bail for accused a provision and not exception and to review the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which is in force in Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the Northeast, he said a party which says that “treason” will no longer be a crime does not deserve a single vote. Read more here

Opposition acting like spokespersons of Pakistan: Modi at rally in Bihar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed two election rallies in Bihar during the day, one at Jamui while the other one in Gaya. He launched a blistering attack on the opposition parties for seeking proof of military operations against terror camps and said they appear spokespersons for Pakistan more than political parties representing India.

In his maiden rally in Bihar after the announcement of Lok Sabha polls, Modi said the electorate must decide whether they want the madadgars (helpers) of Pakistan to be in power..those who are out to destroy the morale of armed forces by seeking proofs.

In an apparent rebuttal of the RJDs repeated allegation that his government was planning to do away with reservations to forward the RSS agenda, he said let alone Modi, nobody can abolish quotas. We have provided 10 per cent reservations for the economically weaker sections among the general category, but we have done so without diluting reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs, he pointed out. Read more here

EC gets report on Adityanath’s ‘Modiji ki sena’ comment; examining it

The Election Commission Tuesday said it has received a factual report on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s reported remarks referring to the Indian Army as ‘Modiji ki sena’ and has started examining it to ascertain whether it violated the model code of conduct.

The district magistrate of Ghaziabad has furnished a report in this regard. “It is under examination,” official sources told PTI. “Congress ke log aatankwadiyon ko biryani khilate the aur Modiji ki sena aatankwadiyon ko goli aur gola deti hai. (Congress leaders would feed biryani to terrorists, while Modi’s army gives them bullets and bombs). This is the difference. The Congress people use ‘ji’ to refer to Masood Azhar to encourage terrorism,” Adityanath had said at an election rally in Ghaziabad on Sunday. Read more here

EC issues notice to railways over BJP slogan on tea cups, PM Modi’s picture in tickets

The poll watchdog Tuesday described the railways approach towards enforcing the model code of conduct “lackadaisical” after allegations that poll norms were violated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s picture on tickets and the slogan “Main Bhi Chowkidar” on tea cups. The poll panel has issued a notice to the railways, asking it to submit a report by Thursday on the slogan on tea cups, so that it can take a call on whether it was a poll code violation. The issue came to the fore after a passenger on the Kathgodam Shatabdi tweeted a picture of tea cups with the slogan, the post went viral. Read more here

With PTI inputs