Union minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari fainted on stage Saturday evening during an election rally near Shirdi in Maharashtra.
He soon recovered and later walked to his car.
Gadkari was campaigning at Rahata near here for Shiv Sena candidate from Shirdi Lok Sabha seat Sadashiv Lokhande.
After finishing his speech, Gadkari fainted while walking back to his seat on the stage.
Fielding Pragya a tactical mistake of BJP: NCP
NCP general secretary Jitendra Awhad. File Photo
Fielding Malegaon blast accused Pragya Singh Thakur in the Lok Sabha elections is a “tactical mistake” of the BJP, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) general secretary Jitendra Awhad said on April 27.
Ms. Thakur was fielded from Bhopal Lok Sabha Constituency against Congress’ Digvijay Singh to cover up failures of the Narendra Modi government, he said.
Delhi Police file FIR against Gautam Gambhir for holding rally without permission
Former cricketer Gautam Gambhir addresses a press conference after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, in New Delhi. File
Delhi Police on Saturday booked cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir under the Delhi Police Act for holding a public rally without permission on April 25.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Southern range) Devesh Srivastava said the Delhi Police received a complaint from East Delhi Returning Officer (RO) that Mr. Gambhir had held a public meeting without permission.
Foolishness of DeMo, ‘Gabbar Singh Tax’ weren't done in 70 years: Rahul
Congress president Rahul Gandhi. File
“In the past 70 years, the foolishness of demonetisation and Gabbar Singh Tax (Gandhi’s coinage for the Goods and Services Tax or GST) was not done by anyone,” Mr. Gandhi said at an election meeting in Unchahar in Rabeareli from where UPA chairperson and his mother Sonia Gandhi is seeking reelection to the Lok Sabha.
His remarks come against the backdrop of repeated attacks by the Prime Minister on the Congress, holding it responsible for all ills since the country got Independence.
“ Chowkidar (watchman) has done ‘ chori ’ (theft) of factories and employment of people of Raebareli and Amethi (the Lok Sabha seat represented by the Congress chief),” he said.
Senior ex-servicemen join BJP
Seven senior retired officers of the armed forces , including five Lieutenant-Generals, joined the BJP on Saturday in the presence of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the BJP headquarters here.
Two former Deputy Chiefs of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. J.B.S. Yadav and Lt. Gen. S.K. Patyal, were among those who joined the party. The other three former top officers who joined the BJP were Lt. Gen. R.N. Singh, who had served as the director general of military intelligence, Lt. Gen. Sunit Kumar, the former director general of information services and IT, and Lt. Gen. Nitin Kohli, who had served as the signal officer-in chief at Army headquarters.
Colonel R.K. Tripathi, who had served as judge advocate general, and Wing Commander Navneet Magon, a former Air Force medical services doctor, also joined the BJP.
Inducting them into the party, Ms. Sitharaman said at a press conference: “It is indeed my pleasure to receive such very well-decorated senior officers of the armed forces into the party...The BJP benefits from the presence of such senior ex-servicemen. They can guide on policies on nation security building.”
My caste is most backward caste: PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election rally on April 13, 2019.
Hitting back at BSP chief Mayawati for dubbing him a “fake OBC,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday aggressively pitched his backward caste identity in Uttar Pradesh. He declared he was not just an OBC, but was “born” into the “most-backward caste.”
“You are distributing pramaan patr (certificates) of caste, a game I have never played. But I want to tell you, my caste is most backward caste,” Mr. Modi said in Kannauj.
Addressing a public meeting in the Yadav-clan bastion, Mr. Modi countered the jibes by Ms. Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav over his backward identity, by saying that being born into a backward caste may be a “political game” for them, but for him it was the “good fortune of serving Ma Bharti.” — Omar Rashid
Art 370 to be withdrawn from J&K if voted to power: Amit Shah
BJP president Amit Shah. File photo
BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday said that Article 370 will be withdrawn from Jammu and Kashmir, if the saffron party is voted to power again.
“We will remove Article 370 if you make Narendra Modi the prime minister again,” Shah said at a public rally here in Palamau district in Jharkhand.
Shah said during the Congress-led UPA government, terror groups from Pakistan used to target India continuously. Jawans were beheaded by terrorists also, he said.
“We cannot compromise with the security of the nation.Pakistan wants to separate Kashmir from India. We will not allow it.
“Pakistan se goli aayegi to yahan se gola jayaga (if a bullet comes here, a shell lands there),” the BJP president said.
Kavita Vinod Khanna expected party ticket for Gurdaspur
BJP member Kavita Vinod Khanna addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday.
“I understand that the party has a right to decide who the candidate is, but there is a way to do it,” says Kavita Vinod Khanna, wife of the late actor and four-time MP Vinod Khanna. The BJP has fielded actor Sunny Deol from the Gurdaspur constituency, a seat where Vinod Khanna used to represent.
“I felt abandoned, rejected. I was made to feel absolutely insignificant. Nobody from the party called me to say there is another candidate. I was in Delhi when he [Sunny Deol] joined. I would have gone had they called. I have been approached by many other parties.”
“The BJP has my support, my PM has my support. At the same time, I have to insist that this can't happen again, because I am making a personal sacrifice.”
She adds: “I'm confident that had I stood as an independent, I would have won.”
BJP faces grand alliance challenge in Jharkhand
(Left to right) RJD Jharkhand unit president Gautam Sagar Rana, Congress Jharkhand chief Ajoy Kumar, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha chief Babulal Marandi, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha working president Hemant Soren and Congress MLA Alamgir Alam during a Mahagathbandhan meeting in Ranchi on March 31, 2019.
Jharkhand, a State that has largely remained a bastion of the Bharatiya Janata Party since the party’s emergence in national politics in the early 1990s, is poised for an interesting battle in the general election that could well present a template for Opposition unity to halt the saffron bandwagon in the country.
Fifteen years after Opposition parties stitched together an alliance and swept the small State, leaving the BJP with but one seat of the 14, a four-party, Congress-led coalition has shaped up that is targeting a reprise of 2004.
Tejashwi Yadav: Reviving social justice as a counter to Hindutva in Bihar
Rain or sun, enthusiasm for politics doesn’t easily dampen or wilt in Bihar, but this summer, it appears different. Pulled in multiple directions and crowded by issues and personalities, the mood is listless. Tejashwi Yadav, 29 — standing in for his jailed father Lalu Prasad, chief of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) — is campaigning hard to enthuse his base and define the 2019 Lok Sabha election as a battle to further social justice politics.
“When my father was around, nobody could dream of stealing our rights. They have put him in jail to steal our rights... But let me tell you, his son, your son, is standing here. And we shall not allow anyone to take away our rights.” Opening his speeches thus, Mr. Tejashwi Yadav makes a conscious effort to imitate his father’s style and represent his politics. Mr. Lalu Prasad, in his absence as the key campaigner, is the key campaign issue for the RJD-led Grand Alliance (GA).
(With inputs from agencies)
