Before filing the nomination papers from Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a mega roadshow on April 25.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will file his nomination papers for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi on April 26.

Before filing the nomination papers from Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a mega roadshow on April 25. Top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to attend the roadshow in Varanasi.

On the next day (April 26), the Prime Minister will file nomination papers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had adopted the Varanasi constituency as his own with Ganga ka beta’ vow in 2014 after trouncing his opponents, including Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

This year, Lok Sabha elections in Varanasi will be held on May 19.

Narendra Modi had also won from Vadodara in 2014. This year, however, there was speculation that the prime minister may opt for another temple town of Puri, but top party sources dismissed rumours.

Agencies

Amethi, Apr 10 : After filing his nomination papers from Wayanad in Kerala on April 4, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday filed his nomination papers from Amethi, in the presence of his family members.

Rahul Gandhi, along with his family members — Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, her husband Robert Vadra and their children Raihan and Miraya — joined a 40-minute long road show atop a bus, before reaching the Amethi Collectorate in Gauriganj to file the nomination papers.

Notably, Mr Gandhi filed his nominations on the opening day of the nomination process and this was the fourth time he would be contesting from Amethi.

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who did not join the road show due to health reasons, came early to the Collectorate to be along with her son in the nomination process.

In the nomination process, Mr Gandhi was accompanied by Sonia Gandhi, Ms Vadra, her husband Robert Vadra and a lawyer to file their papers before the district returning officer Ram Manohar Mishra.

Congress president, for the first time is contesting from two seats Amethi and Wayanad in Kerala.

After filing his nominations, Rahul Gandhi rushed to Fursatganj airport to board a special aircraft for campaigning in Bihar and West Bengal while rest of the family members returned back to a guest house in Rae Bareli.

On Thursday, the entire family will again join Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli during filing of her nomination papers.

In Amethi, Rahul is pitted against his arch rival and union textile minister Smriti Irani, whom he had defeated in 2014 elections by a margin of over one lakh votes.

However in Rae Bareli, BJP has fielded an old Congressman and MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh against Sonia Gandhi making the contest interesting.

In 2014 polls, Ms Gandhi had defeated BJP candidate Ajay Agarwal by over four lakh votes.

The polling in both Amethi and Rae Bareli seats would be held in the fifth phase on May 6. The nominations in this phase commences from Wednesday.

The UPA president would be filing her nominations for the fifth time from Rae Bareli seat. She had been winning from the seat since 2004 after being migrated from Amethi, which was left to her son Rahul.

A Nehru-Gandhi family borough, Rae Bareli has been represented by Sonia’s mother-in-law Indira Gandhi represented this seat in the fourth and fifth Lok Sabha.

Similarly Amethi too is the Nehru-Gandhi family constituency, and Rahul Gandhi has been representing the constituency since 2004. Rahul’s father Rajiv Gandhi was elected from the seat for a decade from 1981 to 1991. Sonia Gandhi too was elected from Amethi in 1999.

Kapil Sibal appearing for Lalu Prasad cited judgement of the Supreme Court where the court had in similar case granted bail to a petitioner.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Wednesday dismissed the bail plea of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav in multi-crore fodder scam cases.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Rajan Gogoi said it is not inclined to enlarge Yadav on bail in the cases.

The bench rejected Yadav’s arguments that he has been in jail for 24 months, saying in comparison to the 14-year sentence awarded to him 24 months was nothing.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav, said there were no recoveries and no demand and the only major offence under which he was convicted was conspiracy.

The bench said merits of the case will be decided by the high court.

“At present, we are only hearing the bail appeal,” it said.

The CBI had yesterday vehemently opposed in the apex court the bail plea of Yadav, saying the ailing leader suddenly claimed to be “fully fit” to undertake political activities in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Yadav, who has been in hospital instead of jail for last over eight months, had sought bail on medical grounds and for leading his party simultaneously, the CBI had said while arguing that granting of bail to him would set “very wrong precedent” in cases involving “serious corruption in high offices”.

Accusing Yadav of undertaking political activities from a hospital in Ranchi, the probe agency had said: “Simultaneous raising of pleas for bail on medical grounds and bail to guide the party and to carry out all essential responsibilities as a party president in ensuing Lok Sabha election are mutually contradictory and manifests that in the garb of bail on medical ground the petitioner, in essence, wants to pursue his political activities which is impermissible in law.”

The agency, in its response filed to Yadav’s bail plea, had referred to the high-profile political leaders who have visited him in hospital in last few months including Ahmed Patel, D Raja, Derek O’ Brien, Sharad Yadav and Hemant Soren.

The convicted person occupied the constitutional office of the Chief Minister of one of the largest states in the country and has been held guilty of “misappropriation of Rs 75.48 crores in four fodder scam cases” and is still undergoing trial in two cases for misappropriation of Rs 139.45 crore, it had said, adding Yadav may influence the trial in the two pending cases.

The RJD chief, lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, had challenged the January 10 verdict of the Jharkhand High Court dismissing his bail plea.

The three cases in which Prasad has been convicted are related to the over-Rs 900-crore fodder scam, which pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of money from the treasuries in the Animal Husbandry department in the early 1990s, when Jharkhand was part of Bihar.

The RJD was in power in Bihar with Prasad as the chief minister when the scam had allegedly taken place.

In the high court, the RJD supremo cited old age and poor health for grant of bail.

Yadav (71) said he was suffering from diabetes, blood pressure and other ailments and that he had already obtained bail in one of the fodder scam cases.

He has been convicted for fraudulent withdrawal of money from the Deoghar, Dumka and two Chaibasa treasuries situated in Jharkhand.

He is currently facing trial in another fodder scam case pertaining to the Doranda treasury and has been undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) at Ranchi for the last few months.

Agencies

Chikkaballapura, Karnataka, Apr 10 : Senior Congress leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister M Veerappa Moily, who is aiming to score a hatrick of wins from Chikkaballapura Lok Sabha seat is facing an uphill task against the BJP candidate and former Minister B N Bachegowda.
The Polling in this segment is scheduled on April 18 in the first phase election in the state, while the second and final phase is scheduled for April 23.
Besides being a former Union Minister, Moily, has contributed to the field of Kannada Literature and has penned several books. He is representing this seat since 2009.
Originally, Moily hails from Coastal Karnataka but successfully shifted this to water starved district in 2009. Despite the Modi wave, he retained the seat in 2014 with a slim margin of about 9500 votes.
A Vokkaliga dominated constituency, Chikkaballapura, has significant population of Dalits, Muslims and other Backward Class voters and he is banking on their support in his attempt to register win for the third successive term in the Parliament.
However Bachegowda, being a local man, trying to capture Moily’s citedel this time and the battle is getting tough by the day even as the first phase of Karnataka to be held on April 18.
?While the caste combination as well as the pre-poll alliance with the JD(S) should work out in favour of Moily, the internal squabble within the Congress party leaders is a major headache for Moily,? a Congress worker Muniswamy told UNI.
A Sonia Gandhi loyalist, Moily was one of the most influencial Minister in UPA Government headed by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh he was instrumental in getting the clearence for controversial Yettinahole Lift Drinking water project to solve the acute drinking water problem faced in the District.
However, Krishnamurthy, a BJP sympathiser, disputed that inordinate delay in the implementation of the Yettinahole project, is also posing problem for Moily, as he had vowed to bring the water within five years of his election in 2009.
The Yettinahole project, originally estimated at Rs 3500 crore, now the cost has escalated to Rs 19,000 crore, still there is no hope that it will be completed in the near future, he said.
The Constituency, once an agriculture dominated region, is being converted into a commercial hug due to its close proximity to tech hub of Bengaluru. Ever since greenfield Kempegowda International Airport was opened in 2008, it had opened up huge opportunities for people of this district.
But also concerns in the minds of the people of the district as they saiy with the state government is rolling out red carpet to overseas investors, there is a fear of losing large area of agriculture land for Industries. However, the value of land in the district has grown four-fold ever since the airport was opened.
Bachegowda, a local man hailing from Hoskote, exude confidence to make a maiden entry to the Lok Sabha. Charging that the people of the Chikkaballapura, who had elected Moily twice, though he is an outsider, have now realised that the Congress candidate had failed to address the problems of the new district carved out of Kolar.
?In the last ten years, the district is facing one of the worst agrarian crisis, as the state government has not done anything to reverse the situation in the semi-urban constituency?, he said.
The BJP candidate, going with the tag of ‘local candidate’and a old timer in the BJP and became a minister under B S Yeddyurappa, is backed by a strong battery of Sangh Pariwar network, working tirelessly to encash the ‘Strong Modi Wave’ blowing across the state.
If one turns the pages of the history, the Chikkaballapura Constituency is a Congress bastion, and had sent as many as 10 times the Congress candidates to the Parliament, with an exception of 1996 general elections, in which the Janata Dal candidate, R L Jalappa got elected, and also become the Union minister in the H D Deve Gowda-led United Front government at the Center.
Among the 8 assembly segments, in the constituency, the Congress had bagged 5 Assembly seats, followed by Janata dal (S) two, and the BJP one.
Along with Moily and Bachche Gowda, who are involved in a direct fight. there are as 15 candidates in the fray, including that of the BSP and the CPI(M). The main battle is between BJP and Congress.

New Delhi, Apr 10 : Welcoming the Supreme Court ruling that dismissed the Centre’s objection to consider the Defence documents, which were published in the media, as evidence in the controversial Rafale fighter jet deal, Congress on Wednesday slammed Narendra Modi government, saying ?the skeletons in Rafale Scam are tumbling out one by one?.

In a series of tweets, AICC communication in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said that Mr Modi cannot hide behind the ‘official secrets act’.

Modiji, you can run and lie as much as you want, But sooner or later the truth comes out. The skeletons in Rafale Scam are tumbling out one by one. And now there is ‘no official secrets act’ to hide behind?, he tweeted.

In another tweet, Mr Surjewala said that the Supreme Court has upheld a time honoured legal principle.

A rattled Modiji had threatened to invoke Official Secrets Act against independent Journalists for exposing his corruption on Rafale? he tweeted and added, ?don’t worry Modiji, an investigation is going to take place now, whether you like it or not?.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed Centre’s objection, citing Official Secret Act, to consider the review petition on the basis of published documents in media.

In a unanimous verdict, the apex court led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said, We deem it proper to dismiss the preliminary objections to hold and affirm that the review petitions will be adjudicated on their merits on the basis of the relevance of the three documents whose admissibility was questioned by the government?.

Agencies

Panaji, Apr 10 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address an election rally at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium at Taleigo, near the city, today.
According to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sources, the meeting would be attended by at least 25,000 people.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, his cabinet colleagues, party MLAs and office bearers would attend the meeting.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant visited the venue on Tuesday and inquired about the preparations for the meeting.
Lok Sabha elections in Goa are scheduled to be held on April 23, 2019. Three assembly constituencies in the state will also go for polls on the same day. Meanwhile, by-elections to Panaji assembly constituency are also to be held on May 19, 2019.

Ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, PM Narendra Modi received support from none other than Imran Khan, the PM of Pakistan. Khan had said that both the countries will have a better chance of settling the Kashmir dispute if Modi-led BJP government comes to power.

The cricketer-turned-politician further said that if the Congress comes to power at the Centre then it might not start a dialogue with Pakistan on Kashmir as it will be scared of the opposition.  

“Perhaps if the BJP – a right-wing party – wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached,” Khan was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Khan further said that he seeks a meaningful dialogue on Kashmir issue with the BJP if it comes to power despite the fact that Muslims were facing continuous attack under Modi rule.

Muslim-ness is under attack, said Khan and added that he had never expected to witness something like this. Citing his Indian Muslim friends he said they were happy about their situation in India but they are now worried due to the rise of extreme Hindu Nationalism.

Drawing a parallel between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Modi he said that their campaign and rallies were based on “fear and nationalist feeling”.

Speaking on the BJP manifesto which talked about removing Article 370 and 35A from Jammu and Kashmir Khan called it a major concern but said that it might be a poll stunt.

After the interview was out, former J&K CM Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti took a jibe at the Modi government. 

On terrorism, the Pakistani PM said that his country is fully committed to dismantling all terror networks and militias in the country with the full support of the military establishment and added that this will also apply to groups involved in Kashmir.

Terming Kashmir a “political struggle” Khan said that this dispute cannot be resolved through military solutions.  He further accepted that Kashmiris are the ones who suffer the most if terrorists from Pakistan enter the Valley leading to crackdown by the Indian Army.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars over Kashmir after gaining independence from Britain in 1947 and bilateral ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours reached a boiling point in February this year after 40 CRPF jawans were killed in suicide bombing in Kashmir’s Pulwama.

While Islamabad denied its role in the ghastly February 14 attack, Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the same. The bombing led to IAF airstrikes in Pakistan’s Balakot and the Indian government claimed that over 300 terrorists died in the airstrikes.

Later, Pakistan carried out air strikes on Army HQ in J&K but no casualties were reported.

The airstrikes gave a big boost to PM Modi’s re-election bid.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi claimed that they had reliable intelligence indicating that India will launch another attack on Pakistan this month, a claim categorically rejected by the MEA.

India’s great game of democracy will start on April 11 and the polls will be held in phases with results on May 23.

Agencies

Bengaluru, Apr 9 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wakes up every morning applies make-up or wax on his face to get a shine and sits in front of cameras, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy tweeted today.
“But we take bath once in the morning and wash our face only next day” Kumaraswamy added.
“Our faces dose not look good on cameras, that is why even Media shows only Modi” Kumaraswamy said.

Vijayawada, Apr 9 : On the last day of election campaign for the general election on April 11, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party National President N Chandrababu Naidu came down heavily on Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and YSRCP President Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy by alleging that they were acting like pet dogs to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Addressing an election meeting in Gurazala town in Guntur district on Tuesday, Mr Naidu said that Mr Modi dictates Mr Rao and Mr Reddy and they follow his directions.

He said that Telangana Chief Minister announced that he would merge the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) into the Congress, if separate Telangana state was carved out.

However, after creating of Telangana state, Mr Rao did not merge his party into the Congress but abused UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, he flayed.

The Telangana government approached the Supreme Court on the construction of Polavaram irrigation project, he pointed out and asked voters to reject YSRCP which is being supported by Mr Chandrashekar Rao.

?Jagan Reddy is wooing voters to give one opportunity to rule the state. If he is given one opportunity, the construction of Polavaram will come to halt. The control over the Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam projects will land into the hands of Telangana state. Water will be provided to Rayalaseema region through PR Padu and Mucchumarri head regulators? he predicted.

The Chief Minister participated in a road show and addressed gathering in Sattenapalli on the last day.

Accusing the Prime Minister of ruining the National Institutions, he said that if 100 Modis came, they could not do any harm to him.

He said that retired IAS officers expressed anguish for diluting the Election Commission of India.

Deputy Commissioner of Kishtwar, Angrez Singh Rana, confirmed the incident and said that army has been called out to prevent violence.

The Personal Security Officer (PSO) took the bullets on himself and died on the spot.

Curfew was clamped in the Kishtwar town on Tuesday when terrorists attacked RSS leader Chandrakant Sharma and killed a policeman on his security duty. Another policeman was critically injured.

Sharma, who received bullet injuries, was being operated at the district hospital at Kishtwar.

Security forces have launched a search operation for those involved in the terror incident.

Deputy Commissioner of Kishtwar, Angrez Singh Rana, confirmed the incident and said that army has been called out to prevent violence.

This is the first election-related terror attack during the ongoing elections for the Lok Sabha in Jammu and Kashmir. Polling for the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency, of which Kishtwar is a segment, is scheduled to be held on 18 April during the second of the 5-phase election in J&K. Minister of state in the PMO, Dr Jitendera Singh, is seeking re-election as BJP candidate.

Reports said that armed terrorists attacked Sharma inside the hospital where he was working as a medical assistant. However, the Personal Security Officer (PSO) took the bullets on himself and died on the spot.

The incident has come a few months after two RSS and BJP leaders, Anil Parihar and Ajit Parihar (both brothers), were gunned down by terrorists in Kishtwar town.

These incidents indicate that terrorists were regrouping in the Kishtwar area that was in the pre-2004 era a hotbed of militancy.

Agencies