Patna: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday claimed that he was getting “full support” from “uncle” Nitish Kumar, the JD(U) president who is a BJP ally, in his fight against the saffron party.

Yadav made the remark, in an obvious bid to drive a wedge between the newly realigned NDA partners, at a rally in Bihar’s Madhubani district.

The RJD leader, who lost his job as Bihar Deputy CM as a result of Kumar’s abrupt exit from INDIA bloc, said “chacha (uncle) may have been hijacked by the BJP. But he taught me the importance of driving out of power those whose ascent came in 2014. Deep down, he retains the sentiment”.

“I know his blessings are with me because I am carrying forward his fight. Just take note, he has taken ill on the very day Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to file his nomination papers. It is clear I am getting his full support”, remarked Yadav.

Interestingly, the comments of the young, but deft, politician came on a day the Chief Minister’s office came out with an unusually short statement declaring that Kumar’s “all programmes for the day have been cancelled because of illness”.

Sources close to the leader claimed the septuagenarian had flu-like symptoms and he has also been pensive since Monday night when he received the news of the death of his close friend Sushil Kumar Modi, a senior BJP leader who had served as his deputy for more than a decade.

However, the absence of Bihar’s longest-serving Chief Minister in Varanasi, where the PM was accompanied by most allies, including coalition partners from the state like Pashupati Kumar Paras, Chirag Paswan, Upendra Kushwaha and Jitan Ram Manjhi, has triggered speculations in a section of the media here.

Many news outlets claim that Kumar felt slighted over the treatment he got at Modi’s roadshow in Patna on Sunday when the JD(U) president was made to stand quietly beside the PM as he waved at the crowds and obliged a couple of channels with interviews.

Kumar was also conspicuous by his absence at the Vidhan Sabha premises where mortal remains of Sushil Kumar Modi were brought, though senior JD(U) leaders like Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Devesh Chandra Thakur were present to pay tributes to the late leader who passed away at a Delhi hospital, battling cancer.

Berhampur (Odisha) : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asserted that the expiry date of the BJD government in Odisha is June 4, the day the assembly election results will be announced.

Addressing his first election rally in the state, Modi urged people to give a chance to the BJP to make Odisha the number one state in the country.

In an apparent dig at BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the prime minister said, “Odisha needs a CM who understands Odia language and culture.”

“The BJP will form a double-engine government here after elections. The expiry date of the BJD government is June 4, 2024,” Modi said at the Berhampur rally.

He also claimed that Odisha has not benefitted from Ayushman Bharat Yojana as the “BJD government did not implement” it in the state.

The Centre gave Rs 10,000 crore under the ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ scheme to Odisha but the BJD dispensation could not spend the money properly.

“You have given 50 years to Congress and 25 years to BJD. Just give five years to the BJP. We will make Odisha the number one state in the country,” Modi said at the rally.

Odisha has fertile land, mineral resources, and sea coasts, but people are still poor, he claimed.

“We released a visionary manifesto for Odisha promising jobs for youths and women and health facilities for senior citizens. BJP fulfils what it says: Modi added.

The assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Odisha will be held simultaneously.

“I have come here to invite you to the swearing-in ceremony of BJP’s CM on June 10. On the very day, we will implement the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana which the Naveen Patnaik government has been resisting. This son of Lord Jagannath will take care of all senior citizens under this scheme,” Modi said.

Referring to Patnaik’s alleged weak command over Odia language, Modi said: “A person, who lives, understands and takes pride in Odia culture and tradition, can help resolve the problems of Odisha at a faster pace…”.

He appealed to the people to allow BJP to serve the state for once and it is Modi’s guarantee that Odisha will be turned into the number one state in the next five years.

The prime minister said Odisha lags behind in every development parameter despite having huge resources like water, fertile land, rich mineral wealth, and a vast coastline.

“Who is responsible for Odisha’s backwardness? Why are the people of resources-rich Odisha still poor? The answer is rampant loot by Congress, which ruled the state for 50 years, and then the BJD for next 25 years. The BJD is sinking, while Congress is a spent force and the BJP is the only ray of hope for the people,” he said.

The prime minister also said that the BJP has given the country’s highest post to the daughter of Odisha. “It is my good fortune that President Droupadi Murmu Ji tells me every minute for the development of Odisha. I feel that I will be able to do a lot for the state under her guidance,” he said.

Responding to Modi’s claim, senior BJD leader and Naveen Patnaik’s close aide VK Pandian said: “Naveen Patnaik will take oath as the chief minister of Odisha for the sixth consecutive time between 11.30 am to 1.30 pm on June 9.”

Bengaluru : Repolling is underway at one polling station in Indiganatha village of Hanur, which falls under Chamarajanagar Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka on Monday, amid elaborate security arrangements.

Polling began at 7 am and will end by 6 pm.

The repolling was ordered by the Election Commission following reports that electronic voting machines were damaged at the polling booth in Indiganatha village in Chamarajanagara district on April 26 during a clash between two groups of people over whether to vote or not in the Lok Sabha elections.

According to the district administration, the villagers had earlier decided to boycott the polls citing lack of adequate infrastructure development. However, after assurances and efforts by the local officials, polling was underway.

As per preliminary information, one of the groups wanted to vote while the other was keen to boycott, leading to clashes between them during which they damaged EVMs, and also indulged in stone-pelting, the officials said.

In a letter addressed to the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer, the EC had stated that based on the reports submitted by the Returning Officer and General Observer for Chamrajnagar Constituency and after taking all material circumstances into account, it declared that polling held at polling station number 146 under the Hanur Assembly Constituency on Friday was void.

Thiruvananthapuram: Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha candidate Shashi Tharoor has been booked for allegedly carrying out a false campaign against union minister and rival candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar, police said here on Sunday.

The case was registered by the Cyber Police here on April 15 but its details were revealed only today.

According to police, the case against Tharoor was registered based on a complaint lodged by BJP leader J R Padmakumar who accused the Congress leader of carrying out a false campaign against Chandrasekhar during a television programme.

The complainant alleged that Tharoor, during the programme, had made defamatory statements against Chandrasekhar with regard to influencing voters of coastal regions in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

The case was registered under Sections 171-G and 500 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 65 of IT Act, a cyber police official said adding that an investigation is going on in the matter.

IPC 177-G refers to raising false statement in connection with an election, while IPC 500 relates to defamation.

Tharoor, who is contesting from Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency, is yet to react on the registration of the case.

Thiruvananthapuram: A day after senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar questioned the contribution made by Rajeev Chandrasekhar to the development of Kerala, the BJP leader on Wednesday hit back by saying he does not need the certificate of a “corrupt” politician who is out on bail.

Chandrasekhar, who is facing off against Congress’ Shashi Tharoor in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency, said ever since he began his poll campaign, he has stated what he will do if he wins and will follow through on that.

He further said in the next couple of days he would be releasing a vision document on bringing development and investment to the southern state.

“Once I become an MP and a minister from here, for the next five years I will work to implement that vision document,” Chandrasekhar, also the Union Minister of State for Information Technology and Electronics, told a TV channel.

Regarding comments by Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar against him, Chandrasekhar said everyone knows the Congress leader was “an out on bail and a corrupt politician”.

“I do not require his certificate. Shashi Tharoor can have his certificate. Everyone knows what kind of person Shivakumar is, his politics and his background. So I have nothing to say to him,” the BJP leader said.

Shivakumar, also the Karnataka Congress chief, was in Kerala on Tuesday and at a press conference had questioned what contribution Chandrasekhar had made to Kerala’s development.

He had also said Chandrasekhar was morally obligated to resign as a minister before contesting the elections.

Shivakumar had also claimed there was no BJP or Modi wave in the country and asserted that the INDIA bloc will form the government at the Centre.

The Karnataka Congress chief had taken part in the roadshows of Tharoor and KPCC chief K Sudhakaran in Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur, respectively.

The Lok Sabha elections will be held in Kerala on April 26 and the results will be declared on June 4.

Tejasvi Surya

Bengaluru : BJP youth wing chief and current MP Tejasvi Surya, who is seeking re-election from the prestigious Bangalore South Lok Sabha seat, is facing a spirited challenge from Sowmya Reddy of the Congress.

The 41-year-old Sowmya, daughter of Minister Ramalinga Reddy, is a former MLA from Jayanagar here and lost the Assembly elections last year by a mere 16 votes.

Spread across eight Assembly constituencies, Bengaluru South has been a BJP bastion since 1991. In the 2023 Assembly elections, the BJP won five and Congress three.

In fact, since 1977, Congress has won here only once when former Chief Minister late R Gundu Rao emerged victorious in the 1989 elections.

A constituency with a significant Brahmin population, it had been represented mostly by members of the community.

Hoping to turn the tide against the BJP, the ruling Congress in Karnataka has put all its might behind Sowmya with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar leaving no stone unturned to boost her electoral prospects.

The Congress is banking heavily on its five guarantees and Sowmya being the Transport Minister’s daughter highlights how the ‘Shakti’ guarantee has allowed women to travel in non-luxury government buses across the state free of cost.

“Do you travel in buses? Which places have you visited in the recent past? Do you pay or travel for free?” Sowmya asked women voters during a recent roadshow.

During canvassing, Sowmya also makes it a point to tell people about the four other guarantees ‘Gruha Lakshmi’, ‘Gruha Jyoti’, ‘Yuva Nidhi’ and ‘Anna Bhagya’. “Who brought ‘Achchhe Din’? Is it Congress or the BJP? Which ‘Achchhe Din’ you will vote for?”

Like many other BJP candidates, Surya underlines the strides made by the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the past ten years, during his meetings with voters.

“Ten years ago, when you look at the state of our economy, the white paper very clearly mentions in detail the state of the country’s economy. We were counted among the most fragile economies in the world. Today, we are one of the top five economies. This journey from fragile five to top five captures how our institutions were strengthened,” Surya said.

The 33-year-old Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha president had been conducting talks by right-wing intellectuals, especially those affiliated with RSS and ‘Sangh Parivar’ in his constituency.

Ghaziabad: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged the electoral bonds scheme was the biggest “extortion scheme” in the world and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the “champion of corruption”.

Addressing a joint press conference with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav here, Gandhi said there is a strong undercurrent in favour of the opposition INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha elections and the BJP will be limited to 150 seats.

Yadav said the winds of change will start blowing from Ghaziabad in western Uttar Pradesh to Ghazipur and the BJP will be given a grand farewell in the Lok Sabha elections.

“We have to ensure that not a single vote is divided in the Lok Sabha polls,” Yadav said.

Criticising the now-scrapped electoral bonds, Gandhi said the prime minister claims that the scheme was brought to bring transparency in poll funding but then why was it struck down by the Supreme Court.

“The electoral bonds scheme is the biggest extortion scheme in the world. India’s businessmen know it very well. No matter how much the prime minister clarifies, it will have no impact because the entire nation knows that the prime minister is the champion of corruption,” Gandhi said.

On Modi’s criticism of his remarks that the Congress will end poverty in no time, Gandhi said no one said that poverty will end in one go but we can make strong efforts for it.

To questions on contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi, the former Congress chief said he will abide by his party’s decision on this.

Such decisions are taken by the Central Election Committee of the party, he said.

The SP and the Congress are fighting the Lok Sabha polls in alliance in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress is fighting on 17 seats while the SP and some other allies are contesting the remaining 63 seats in the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha.

The seven-phase Lok Sabha polls will begin on April 19 and the counting of votes will be taken up on June 4.

Ghaziabad : Amid intense speculation over whether he would contest the Lok Sabha polls from Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said he would abide by his party’s decision on it.

Gandhi made the remarks at a joint press conference here with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.

Asked whether he would contest from Amethi besides Wayanad, Gandhi said, “On Amethi, the party will decide. Whatever order I get, I will abide by that.”

“In our party, these decisions are taken in the CEC (Central Election Committee) meeting,” he stressed.

Both Amethi and Wayanad will go to polls on April 26.

There is speculation that besides his declared seat of Wayanad in Kerala, Gandhi might also contest the Lok Sabha polls from Amethi, a seat he represented for three straight terms earlier, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Rae Bareli, a seat that was previously held by her mother, Sonia Gandhi.

Both seats are considered bastions of the Gandhi family and the local units of the Congress have demanded that the two scions of the family contest from there.

The Congress has forged an alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh and is contesting 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

The Lok Sabha polls are scheduled to be held in seven phases starting April 19. The counting of votes will be taken up on June 4.

New Delhi: The Election Commission has ordered social media platform X to take down select posts of YSR Congress, AAP, N Chandrababu Naidu and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary for violation of model code of conduct, the microblogging site said on Tuesday.

The orders were issued on April 2 and April 3 and a follow-up email was sent by the poll panel on April 10 in which it cited a violation of the “voluntary code of ethics” if ‘X’ fails to remove the four posts reported to it.

‘X’ said the Election Commission of India has issued takedown orders requiring the microblogging site to act on posts containing political speech shared from elected politicians, political parties and candidates for office.

The poll panel found that the objectionable posts were in violation of the model code of conduct that bars criticising political parties based on any aspects of the private life of leaders or workers of other parties that are not connected with public activities or based on unverified allegations or distorted facts.

“In compliance with the orders, we have withheld these posts for the remainder of the election period. However, we disagree with these actions and maintain that freedom of expression should extend to these posts and political speech in general,” the microblogging site said.

“We have notified the affected users and in the interest of transparency, we are publishing the takedown orders here. We call on the Election Commission to publish all of its takedown orders going forward,” it said.