Amit Shah to launch BJP poll campaign with rally in Agra
BJP president Amit Shah will launch the party’s poll campaign with a rally in Agra in Uttar Pradesh on March 24, and its top leaders will hold rallies in every constituency across the country till March 26.
Asserting that national security plank will figure high on the party’s ‘Vijay Sankalp’ (Pledge for Victory) rallies planned for March 24 and March 26, senior party leader Mulkhtar Abbas Naqvi has said the BJP will launch “ground strike” against “abusers of security forces“.
Top party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have been accusing the Opposition of lowering the morale of armed forces with its comments following the Balakot air strikes by the Indian Air Force.
Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal, J.P. Nadda, Dharmendra Pradhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani and other party leaders are scheduled to address rallies on Sunday and Tuesday, Mr. Naqvi has said.
Many senior leaders, who are contesting the elections, will also address public meetings in their respective constituency.
Mr. Naqvi, who is not in the fray, will address rallies in Rampur and Amroha, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan in Bhopal and Puri and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Varanasi and Gandhinagar.
Union Minister Arun Jaitley will attend a political programme in Delhi while BJP general secretary Bhupendra Yadav will speak in Ranchi and Gandhinagar.
Mr. Shah will address a rally in Moradabad on March 26.
Mr. Naqvi has said the BJP will share the details of the work of the Modi government, which he added has been committed to the country’s development and pride, in these rallies. “We will also caution people against the insult being caused to security forces by the Congress and other opposition parties.”
Mehbooba to contest from Anantnag
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti to contest Lok Sabha election from Anantnag seat; party won’t field nominees from Udhampur, Jammu constituencies.
Congress-NCP seat-sharing pact announced
The Congress and the NCP have announced their seat-sharing pact in Maharashtra with the two parties agreeing to contest 26 and 22 seats respectively.
Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar have said 56 parties and organisations have come together to support the alliance to take on the BJP-Shiv Sena combine.
From its share of seats, the Congress will give Palghar seat to the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi and another undeclared seat to Raju Shetti’s Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana.
From its 22 seats, the NCP will leave Hatkanangle seat for Mr. Shetti, who is the sitting MP from there, and give another to Independent MLA Ravi Rana’s Yuva Swabhiman Party.
JD(S) fields Deve Gowda from Tumkur
Ending days of suspense, Janata Dal (Secular) has said its national president and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda will contest the Lok Sabha poll from Tumkur.
The 85-year-old JD(S) patriarch earlier expressed doubts about contesting the polls, saying he was thinking about his “usefulness” in the national capital.
“Former PM and JD(S) National president Sri H.D. Deve Gowda will contest from Tumkur Parliamentary constituency as JD(S)-Congress combined candidate,” JD(S) spokesperson Ramesh Babu has said in a statement.
Mr. Gowda will file his nomination on March 25, he has said, adding that JD(S) and Congress leaders will be present on the occasion.
Mr. Gowda has ceded the Hassan seat to his grandson Prajwal Revanna.
Interestingly, JD(S)’ announcement on Mr. Gowda’s constituency comes on a day when Congress sitting MP from Tumkur S.P. Muddahanumegowda has said he would file his nomination as the party candidate.
Mr. Muddahanumegowda’s decision goes against the seat sharing arrangement reached between the Congress and JD(S), according to which Tumkur seat has gone to the regional party.
If Mr. Muddahanumegowda contests from Tumkur as a rebel, it will add to the Congress-JD(S) coalition's worries as the alliance is facing backlash at several places, including Mandya and Hassan, with party workers unhappy with the seat arrangements.
In Tumkur, there is simmering discontent within the Congress local leadership about ceding the seat to JD(S), despite party having a sitting MP there.
For the coalition to emerge as a formidable opposition to BJP and win more number of seats, it is crucial for the Congress to transfer its votes to JD(S) and vice-versa, including Mandya.
BJP has fielded G.S. Basavaraj as its candidate from Tumkur.
Shah Faesal's party opts out of Lok Sabha polls
Former IAS officer Shah Faesal has said his recently formed party, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Movement (JKPM), will not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, but asked the people to vote in large numbers for electing the “right candidates“.
“We have had several meetings of the core group of our party over the past few days and we have decided that we will not contest the Lok Sabha elections this time,” Mr. Faesal has told reporters.
The former IAS officer has said the main reason for not contesting the polls was to focus more on the mass contact programme.
“The unanimous view was that we are a party still in the stages of infancy and that we should also focus on mass contact programme. This was also our response to those elements who were accusing us of being stooges of the Centre for dividing votes in the current elections,” he has said.
He has said it will be communicated in due course of time as to which party or candidates the JKPM cadres will support.
Mr. Faesal, however, has said people should come out in large numbers to participate in the democratic process.
“Whether there is boycott or not, elections will be held and people will be elected to Parliament. So, people should take part in the democratic process so that the right candidates are elected,” he has added.
On his party’s stand on the challenge to Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution of India, he said they stood for protection of these provisions, which give special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
“These provisions are the link between the Union of India and the state of Jammu and Kashmir and we will strive for their continuation and protection,” Mr. Faesal has said. He came into limelight after becoming the first Kashmiri to top the UPSC civil services exam in 2009 but quit the IAS in January.
Digvijaya Singh is Congress candidate from Bhopal: Kamal Nath
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh will be the party’s nominee from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat — a BJP stronghold since the last three decades — Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath has said.
The announcement has been made at the “Holi Milan” programme organised by the Congress in Bhopal and comes a week after Mr. Nath said that if Mr. Singh wants to contest the Lok Sabha polls, he should choose the “toughest seat” in the State.
Mr. Singh, a former Chief Minister and a royal, accepted the “challenge” the next day.
Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency, which was represented by Shankar Dayal Sharma in 1971-77 and 1980-1984, has been held by the BJP since 1989. The Congress last won the Bhopal seat in 1984.
Mr. Nath has said, “I have a list of party candidates in my pocket but I can’t disclose. However, I can make an announcement. (Congress) Election Committee yesterday (March 22) finalised the name of Digvijaya Singh ji from Bhopal“.
“I had requested Digvijaya Singh that you had been the chief minister for so long, and it doesn’t suit you if you say that I will contest from Rajgarh (Digvijay’s home turf),” he has said.
Mr. Singh, who served as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh between 1993 and 2003, is currently a member of the Rajya Sabha.
Bhopal is represented by BJP’s Alok Sanjar, who won the seat in 2014 by a margin of 3.70 lakh votes.
BJP tries to co-opt leaders, but follows people who they opposed: Akhilesh
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav Saturday has termed the BJP “schizophrenic” and alleged that the party tries to co-opt icons like Mahatma Gandhi, B R Ambedkar and Ram Manohar Lohia but follows people who these leaders disagreed with.
The remarks by the SP leader came in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s blog in which he has dubbed the efforts of regional parties to form a grand alliance with the Congress as “reprehensible”, saying socialist ideologue Ram Manohar Lohia would be “horrified” as most of these parties claim to be his followers.
Accusing the BJP of practising double standards, Mr. Yadav has tweeted: “I wonder which principles are being spoken of. The BJP seems to be schizophrenic.
“On the one hand they try to co-opt Gandhi ji , Bhagat Singh, Sardar Patel, Dr Ambedkar and Dr Lohia and on the other hand they follow people who these leaders opposed and disagreed with.”
In a blog to mark the 109th birth anniversary of Lohia, Mr. Modi has alleged, “Today those parties that falsely claim to be Dr Lohia’s followers are desperate to form an opportunistic ‘maha-milawat’ or adulteration alliances with the same Congress (which Lohia opposed). It is both ironical and reprehensible.”
The Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (Secular), Rashtriya Janata Dal and Sharad Yadav’s Loktantrik Janata Dal, which will merge with the RJD after the Lok Sabha polls, claim to follow the socialist ideology.
On the other hand, Mr. Modi has said Lohia would be “proud” of the NDA government led by the BJP for following his ideas.
Hitting out at the Congress, Mr. Modi has said whenever Lohia spoke, the Congress “trembled with fear“.
He said Lohia had once claimed that during the Congress regime neither agriculture and industry nor the Army improved.
Modi keeps on lying all day: Rahul
Congress president Rahul Gandhi has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of lying all day and said he is the chowkidar of the corrupt and fugitives like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya.
Congress is fighting to keep the country united and the upcoming Lok Sabha elections will be a fight between ideologies of the Congress and the BJP-RSS, he has said at a rally in Malda kicking off his party’s campaign in West Bengal.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi speaks at a rally in Malda on March 23, 2019. Photo: Twitter/@INCIndia
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi keeps on lying all day. Wherever he goes he lies... The upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the State will be between ideologies. On one hand you have the Congress party which is fighting to keep the country united and on another hand the BJP-RSS-Narendra Modi who want to divide the country on religious and caste lines,” Mr. Gandhi has told the rally.
Accusing Mr. Modi of being the chowkidar of “corrupt and fugitive” businessmen Mr. Nirav Modi, Mr. Choksi and Mr. Mallya, he said Mr. Narendra Modi gifted Anil Ambani the Rafale deal and had looted Rs. 30,000 crore of public money.
111 TN farmers to contest against PM Modi in Varanasi
Remember the Tamil Nadu farmers who unsuccessfully protested over 100 days in New Delhi seeking to meet the Prime Minister to press for a farm loan waiver? They are going to contest in Lok Sabha elections against the prime minister in Varanasi.
Tamil Nadu farmers leader P Ayyakannu said Saturday that 111 farmers from the State will contest against Modi from Varanasi.
Speaking to PTI, the farmers leader, who spearheaded agitations in Delhi in 2017 for over 100 days, said the “moment they assure in their manifesto that our demands will be fulfilled, we will drop our decision to contest against Modi.”
Asked why they were raising the demand with BJP alone, Mr. Ayyakannu's response was: “We are not against the BJP or our PM Modi. Before assuming power, Modi ji promised fulfilling our demands and assured to double our income. Even today he is our Prime Minister and the BJP is the ruling party and that is why we are making this demand to them.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accused the political parties claiming to be the followers of socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia of betraying his principles and were desperate to form an opportunistic adulteration alliance with the Congress.
“Dr. Lohia always believed that dynastic politics was inimical to democracy. He would have been flabbergasted to see his ‘followers’ think about their own families first instead of the nation,” Modi said in his blog while remembering Lohia on his birth anniversary.
“Today, these political parties are betraying the principles of Lohia, tomorrow they will also betray the people of India.”
Accusing the parties, Mr. Modi said they were “desperate to form an opportunistic Maha Milawat (adulterated alliances) with the same Congress. It is both ironical and reprehensible”.
He remembered Lohia stating that one who works with samta (parity), samanata (equality) and samatva bhaav (equilibrium) is a Yogi .
Taking a jibe, Modi said that Lohia’s “false followers” believe in satta (power), swarth (selfishness) and shoshan (exploitation).
NDA announces candidates for Bihar
A day after the mahaghatbhandhan announced its seat-sharing in Bihar, the National Democratic Alliance comprising the BJP, JD(U) and the LJP released the list of candidates contesting in all the 40 seats.
Actor Shatrugan Sinha, who has turned a vocal critic of the Union government, has been dropped and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will be contesting from Patnasahib instead.
Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh to contest from East Champaran and LJP's Chirag Paswan will seek Lok Sabha entry from Jamui.
Sena drops MP Gaikwad who slapped Air India staffer
Ravindra Gaikwad
The Sena dropped controversial member of Parliament (MP) from Osmanabad, Ravindra Gaikwad, who had hit an Air India staffer at New Delhi airport in 2017 . Besides, it has made a change in the Hingoli constituency by nominating its member of the Legislative Assembly from the area.
Mr. Gaikwad has been replaced by Om Raje Nimbalkar, the political opponent of the Nationalist Congress Party strongman Padma Sinh Patil, whose son Rana Jagjit Sinh will be contesting.
There are not too many surprises in the Shiv Sena’s first list of 21 candidates announced on Friday for the Lok Sabha elections.
Rajasthan’s dismal track record on women candidates
Participation of women candidates has remained abysmally low in Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan, though there has been a modest increase over the last couple of decades.
In the past 14 Lok Sabha elections held since 1952, 180 women candidates were in the fray, many among them repeat-nominees, and 28 were elected to the lower house from the state which has 25 constituencies.
The highest 31 women candidates were fielded in 2009 while the figure was just two in 1952 Lok Sabha elections when Sharda Bai and Rani Devi Bhargava contested from Bharatpur-Swai Madhopur and Pali-Sirohi seat respectively.
In Maharashtra, BJP drops 4 sitting MPs
The BJP has replaced four sitting MPs in Maharashtra in its third list of six candidates from the state, and has fielded a woman candidate from Baramati, the bastion of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, against sitting MP Supriya Sule.
The latest list includes 36 candidates from various states.
With six candidates from Maharashtra, the BJP has so far announced names of 22 candidates. The saffron party is contesting 25 out of total 48 seats in alliance with the Shiv Sena, which will fight on rest of the seats.
