Election wrap: Modi, Amit Shah attack Oppn over reservations, Ram temple event; Kharge questions PM’s speeches

BJP will ‘throw away’ constitution if it returns to power, warns Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that if the BJP returns to power for the third consecutive term, it will “tear apart” and “throw away” the constitution. “Now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and their MPs have made up their mind that if they get elected, they will tear apart and throw this (Constitution) book. The BJP wants this book to be thrown away and only 20 to 25 billionaires should run the country,” Rahul alleged at an election rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind district. Rahul further claimed that the BJP-led Centre had waived corporate loans worth Rs 16 lakh crore of 22 to 25 people. “But I want to ask whether the loans of farmers, labourers, small traders and employment were waived?” he said.

Congress questions delay in release of final voter turnout

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh questioned the Election Commission’s delay in publishing the final voter turnout of the first two phases of Lok Sabha elections. “For the first time, even 11 days after the first phase of the polls and four days after the second phase, the final voter turnout has not been published by the EC,” the party’s general secretary in-charge of communications posted on X. Ramesh pointed out that in the previous elections, the EC used to publish the data within 24 hours of voting, but at present the poll body was providing only approximate figures.

“Additionally, the number of registered voters in each Lok Sabha constituency and the assembly constituencies included in that Lok Sabha constituency is also not available on the Commission’s website,” Ramesh said. He added that is was important for the EC to be “timely” and “transparent” about all election-related data.

Mamata, Abhishek didn’t attend Ram temple event fearing loss of support of ‘infiltrators’ in Bengal: Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee did not attend the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony in Ayodhya because they were afraid of losing the support of “infiltrators” in West Bengal.

Addressing a public meeting at Memari in the East Burdwan district, Shah appealed to the people to elect Narendra Modi as the prime minister again so the Centre could take bold decisions like scrapping Article 370 of the Constitution, which had bestowed a special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

“For the last 70 years, Congress, Left and the TMC didn’t resolve the Ram Mandir issue. You gave Modi ji 18 seats from Bengal (in 2019), and in the last five years, he not only won the Ram Mandir case but did the ‘bhumi puja’ and also erected the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. An invitation was sent to Mamata Didi and bhatija (nephew) so they could attend the consecration ceremony in Ayodhya. However, they didn’t go in fear of infiltrators here,” said Shah, claiming that “infiltrators” are TMC’s vote bank in Bengal.

Prajwal Revanna suspended over explicit videos’ case

The JD(S) suspended Prajwal Revanna, Hassan MP and the party’s Lok Sabha candidate, in connection with the explicit video clips allegedly involving him. The sleaze video episode rocked Karnataka politics after clips were shared widely on social media platforms and messaging applications. The decision was made following a meeting of the Janata Dal (Secular) core committee held in Hubballi.

Addressing media persons, JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy said the duration of the suspension “was until the completion of the probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT). If allegations against him are proved, then he will be suspended permanently.”

‘In favor of investigation’: Amit Shah on allegations against Prajwal Revanna

Addressing a press conference in Assam, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the Bharatiya Janata Party was in favour of investigation into the sexual abuse allegations levelled against JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna. “..We are in favor of the investigation and our partner JD(S) has also announced to take action against it. Today there is a meeting of their core committee and steps will be taken…” he said.

Shah also blamed the Congress, adding that it was a law and order issue to be addressed by the state government. “I want to ask Congress, whose government is there? The government is of Congress Party. Why they have not taken any action till now?,” he said.

‘Do only Muslims have children? I have five’: Kharge on Modi’s speeches

Referring to PM Modi’s remarks at a rally in Rajasthan, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge asked whether only Muslims had children, adding that he had five.  “We are going to get majority, and because of this, he (Modi) is always talking about ‘mangalsutra’ and Muslims. He says we will steal your wealth and give it to those who have more children. Poor people always have more children… Do only Muslims have them (children)? I have five children,” Kharge said at a rally  in Chhattisgarh’s Janjgir-Champa district.

Last week, Modi had claimed that when the Congress was in power, they had said that the Muslims had the first right to the wealth of the nation. “This means they will distribute this wealth to those who have more children, to infiltrators…” the Prime Minister said.

6-time MP Congress MLA Ramniwas Rawat joins BJP

In another setback to the Congress, six-time MLA Ramniwas Rawat quit the grand old party and joined the BJP in Madhya Pradesh. Rawat was inducted into the saffron party at a programme in Sheopur district, in the presence of MP Chief Minister Mohan Yadav. The veteran leader had been elected MLA from Vijaypur six times since 1990, except in 1998 and 2018.