Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday urged the new generation to brush up their knowledge of history and not fall prey to the BJP's "misleading" campaign on social media. "Teams of social media are at work. They (BJP) are spending crores of rupees to attack... conspiracy is going on to mislead people of the country," he told reporters in Jaisalmer district. "People in the BJP are misleading the new generation through social media. I appeal to youths to limit the use of smartphones and read history," he said. Gehlot also asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not come back to power. He claimed that there was a wave in favour of the Congress in the entire state and an undercurrent against Modi due to the environment of "fear, hatred and violence" created by the Centre. Meanwhile, BJP's Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly Rajendra Rathore hit out at Gehlot's recent remarks on surgical strikes. "It seems the chief minister is talking like a spokesperson of Pakistan," he told reporters in Chittorgarh.
The BJP Sunday announced Shankar Lalwani as its candidate for the Indore Lok Sabha seat, a party stronghold held since 1989 by senior leader and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
Mahajan, who turned 76 in April, had announced on April 5 that she would not contest the elections, apparently in keeping with the BJP's reported diktat that leaders above the age of 75 opt out of electoral politics.
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Lalwani, who has earlier been Indore Development Authority (IDA) chairman and Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) president, is from the Sindhi community and is making his Lok Sabha poll debut.
He is pitted against the Congress' Pankaj Sanghvi. (PTI)
The election for the Patkura assembly constituency in Odisha has adjourned due to the death of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate Bed Prakash Agarwalla. The election to the seat was scheduled to be held on 29th April.
The Congress Sunday said national security is an important issue but the issues dominating the narrative in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections were unemployment and farm distress.
Unveiling a report on national security by a task force headed by Lieutenant General (retd) D S Hooda, the Congress said it would be "completely wrong" to say that national security was dominating the poll narrative, though it is an important issue.
The Congress unveiled the report in the presence of senior Congress leaders P Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh and said that its approach towards national security is "not ad hoc and not impulsive".
"As far as the election narrative is concerned, the number one issue remains unemployment. The number two issue is farm distress and the number three issue is security of various sections of the people, women, Dalits, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, forest dwellers, journalists, academicians and NGOs," Chidambaram told reporters. (PTI)
The BJP Sunday releases list of candidates for Delhi, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and UP; Dr Harsh Vardhan to contest from Delhi's Chandni Chowk, Manoj Tiwari- North East Delhi, Pravesh Verma- West Delhi, Ramesh Bidhuri -South Delhi and Hardeep Puri from Amritsar.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma Sunday described the Congress and the NCP as “paper tigers”, who he said would be wiped out in the Lok Sabha elections which are being held in seven phases.
Addressing a press conference here, Sharma said the BJP would improve its tally of Lok Sabha seats from Maharashtra under the leadership of state chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
In 2014 general elections, the BJP had won 23 out of total 48 seats in Maharashtra while its ally Shiv Sena bagged 18 seats. Read more
PM Modi in Barmer: "Today India is hunting the terrorists in Pakistan without waging a war. Pakistan is crying in front of the whole world. The world now stands with India."
PM Modi accused the Congress of losing the upper hand India had after the 1971 war with Pakistan by surrendering the advantage at the Shimla round table conference.
PM Modi in Barmer: We have placed fear in the hearts of terrorists. We compelled Pakistan to go begging around the world. You all think I did right, but Congress and its allies think it was not.
PM Modi in Barmer: Terrorist activities were normal in India as Pakistan was given a free hand. Today terrorists killed innocent people in Sri Lanka. I have decided to teach the terror handlers a lesson; I hit them in their hideouts.
PM Modi in Barmer: From years there was a demand for a war memorial, but the Congress built memorials only for its family members. Your chowkidar made a war memorial in the memory of the soldiers who were martyred while serving the nation.
PM Modi in Barmer: "The demand to give 10% reservation to economically weaker families of the general category was going from a long time. The Congress was busy in dividing the society and it never gave any attention towards it. But your chowkidar implemented this decision without taking away anyone's rights."
Addressing a poll rally in Rajasthan’s Barmer, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday said, “Those who are going to vote for the first time, these elections are very important for them. One who is born in the 21st century, will vote for the 21st century. Because he has a whole century ahead of him. I am ready to sacrifice my dreams to fulfil yours.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is addressing a rally in Rajasthan's Barmer district. He earlier conducted rallies in Chittorgarh in Rajasthan and Patan district in Gujarat.
Rahul Gandhi will be the prime minister if our party gets the maximum seats in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said on Sunday.
“Leaders will decide who will be the next PM. It all depends on which party leads. If it is the Congress, then the next PM will be our chief Rahul Gandhi,” PTI quoted Sharma as saying. He also said that the party has made pre-poll alliances and will think about post-poll coalitions depending on the results. Read more
Congress General Secretary from UP East Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Sunday said that she would not mind contesting from Varanasi Lok Sabha seat if Congress president Rahul Gandhi wishes. Varanasi is also the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Hardik Patel in Bajrangpur village: I thank you all for coming out in this hot afternoon. You're lucky that you've got chance to vote again in less than two years. You've not got water. We are here to fight on behalf of you. I request you to vote for Congress candidates.
Concluding his speech in Chittorgarh, PM Modi assured to form a 'Jal Shakti' Ministry to resolve the water crisis across the country.
"Congress has three realities 'naamdaar parivar', corruption and plenty of false promises," PM Modi said.
"Do you want to see an India that responds to Pakistan or the one that bows before them? An India that gives a strong reply to terrorists or an India that stays mum after terrorist attacks? A Congress that weakens the country or a BJP that strengthens it?" PM Modi told the crowd.
"Not political parties but the citizens are fighting the elections. Today, the country is convinced that Modi can tackle any attack on India's soil. You can put politics at risk but you will not let the country bow down; you will not allow it to weaken," PM Modi added.
Taking a jibe at the Opposition, PM Modi said, "Those sitting in air-conditioned rooms have no clue about how people are gathering in large numbers under the sun to attend poll rallies."
Rajasthan's ruling Congress is misusing the entire state government machinery against me, Union minister and BJP candidate Gajendra Singh Shekhawat who is up against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav in the high-stakes electoral battle told PTI. According to Shekhawat, Vaibhav Gehlot has no identity among the people of Jodhpur and is riding on his father's shoulders. Shekhawat, who defeated Congress' Chandresh Kumari by over four lakh votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, is hoping to repeat the feat in the polls on April 29. "He (Vaibhav) is contesting elections riding on his father's shoulder… there is no magic of Ashok Gehlot in Jodhpur," Shekhawat said.
Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) Chief Shivpal Singh Yadav today called the SP-BSP 'mahagathbandhan' "a flop show". "The SP-BSP alliance is a flop show. It has taken shape only for convenience as they knew their existence was threatened. Otherwise, they have been sworn enemies for the past 25 years. Now, how come they have come together?" Shivpal said at a rally in Uttar Pradesh. "This is opportunism at it's best. In the last Lok Sabha, the BSP won zero seats. Now if you multiply any numbers with zero, then the result will always be zero. This coalition will fall apart very soon," he added.
Predicting a hung Parliament, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath said the Congress will do “very, very well” but is unlikely to get a majority and there will have to be a post-poll alliance to form a new government in Delhi. While speaking to PTI, the Congress veteran said that the ruling BJP will not be able to occupy the power seat as it will not get the numbers and no other major political party will form an alliance with it either. "Of course, we are going to do very, very well but I do not see us reaching a majority and there will have to be a post-poll alliance and this post-poll alliance will throw up different types of combinations," Nath said.
The citizenship bill does not require any changes if Clause 6 of the Assam Accord is implemented properly, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal told PTI about the proposed legislation which the top BJP leadership has vowed to bring back if voted back to power. Sonowal also said that the bill will be brought after arriving at a consensus with all stakeholders. "It (amending the Act) is not a new thing as amendments were taken up nine times before this also. This is a continuous process since 1950," he said, adding the BJP will ensure constitutional safeguards to Northeast's political, cultural, social and linguistic identity.
Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel also hit out at the BJP’s “double standards” by promising to fight terrorism while giving tickets to those criticizing martyrs. “The BJP has given tickets to such people. What message do you want to convey? On one side, the BJP talks about fighting terrorism. And those who are actually fighting terrorism are criticized by the BJP candidates. Why these double standards? There is a huge difference between what the BJP preaches and what it actually does," he said. Read full story here.
On BJP candidate from Bhopal, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur's remarks on former Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare, Lt General (Retd) DS Hooda told reporters, "Yes, it does hurt when such things are said about a martyr. Be it from the Army or the police, full respect must be given. Such utterances are not good." Addressing party workers on the outskirts of Bhopal late on Thursday, Thakur had said that she had cursed Karkare because he tortured her in custody, and that the inauspicious period that began with her incarceration ended when terrorists killed Karkare. Following a national uproar, she retracted the comments and apologised for her remarks. She was later served a notice from the Election Commission.
PM Modi also said that he has decided that either he will be alive or the terrorists. Taking a swipe at NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Modi said, "Sharad Pawar says I don't know what will Modi do. If he is unaware of what Modi will do tomorrow, how will Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan know? Had Pakistan not returned our IAF Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, that day would have been 'katl ki raat' (night of murder)."
"It is the duty of the people of my home state to take care of the 'son of soil' by giving all the 26 seats in Gujarat to me. My government will come back to power but if Gujarat doesn't give the BJP all the 26 seats, TV discussions will be held on May 23 as to why did this happen," PM Modi told the crowd.
The Aam Aadmi Party today announced the names of candidates for three seats in Haryana - Naveen Jaihind from Faridabad, Prithviraj from Ambala and Krishan Kumar Agarwal from Karnal.
Addressing the crowd in Bhadra village of Jodiya taluka, the Congress leader took a swipe at the Narendra Modi-led BJP government over the latter's failure to pay crop insurance to the farmers. Patel also accused the state government of delaying the process to grant him permission to land his chopper permission.
Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit on Saturday said the names of candidates for the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital will be announced in a couple of days. She was talking to reporters after inaugurating a control room at the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) office for the Lok Sabha election campaign. "The party will announce the candidates either on Sunday or Monday," Dikshit said. When asked about her fighting the polls from Chandni Chowk, she said, "I have also heard about it. Let the party decide."
A group of 48 pages accounts for more than half the political advertisements in all the purchases above Rs 50,000 on Facebook. Most of these pages are labelled “community”, “news” or “personal blog”, and they are not directly linked to political parties. A majority of the ads promoted content to favour the BJP. Over the last six weeks, 48 pages bought 18,000 of the 35,000 ads spending Rs 5.3 crore of the total Rs 12.7 crore, an analysis of all ad purchases above Rs 50,000 on Facebook by The Sunday Express has found. In total, Rs 14.7 crore was spent on 72,694 ads on Facebook and ads of above Rs 50,000 account for over 85 per cent of the money spent. Read full story here.
BJP president Amit Shah is keeping count: 96 rallies since polls were notified, he will cross his 100th this weekend. On April 19, en route to Gujarat, from where, he says, he’s seeking a public mandate to the ‘highest panchayat (Lok Sabha)’, he spoke with Indian Express' Ravish Tiwari and Raj Kamal Jha. You can read the interview here.
Meanwhile in West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress has sent a letter to the Election Commission of India, demanding the removal of its special observer for the state for comparing the situation in West Bengal today to what it was in Bihar 10 years ago. Speaking to reporters at the Chief Electoral Office in Kolkata, Ajay V Nayak, a 1984-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre who was recently sent to the state to oversee the last five phases of polling, said, “The condition in West Bengal is quite similar to what it was in Bihar around 10 to 15 years ago. During that time in Bihar, total deployment of Central forces at the booths was required. Now it is required in West Bengal as the people of West Bengal have lost faith in the state police…” However, hours later, as his remarks stirred up a row, Nayak told reporters he was “happy with the way things are improving” in the state. Read full story here.
Taking to Twitter this morning, PM Modi said, "Heading westwards today. Will join rallies in Patan (Gujarat), Chittorgarh and Barmer (Rajasthan). Gujarat and Rajasthan have seen the pioneering work of BJP. In Rajasthan, there is a sense of betrayal and despondency after Congress came to power. People will reject Congress."
To boost the BJP’s Lok Sabha election campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address a series of rallies in poll-bound Patan district of Gujarat and Chittorgarh and Barmer districts of Rajasthan today. Stay tuned to our live blog for all latest updates.