Union Home Minister Amit Shah releases BJP's manifesto for the Bengal polls, in Kolkata on Sunday. (Express photo by Partha Paul)Assembly Election 2021 Live: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday released BJP’s manifesto for the Assembly polls in West Bengal. The manifesto, called ‘Sankalp Patra’, promised to implement CAA and stated that refugees, who have been staying in Bengal for 70 years, will be given citizenship.
Earlier, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi said in Assam that PM Narendra Modi is sad about Disha Ravi’s tweet but not about flood and CAA. “Has the PM ever visited a tea garden, met women workers there? Doesn’t the PM feel their pain as his promise of giving Rs 350 per day as a daily wage to tea garden workers has not been fulfilled yet?”
Speaking at an election rally in West Bengal’s Bankura district, PM Narendra Modi said on Sunday, “Didi will go on May 2. Won’t let her kick out development in Bengal. ‘Asol paribartan’ will come to ensure that the benefits of central schemes reach the poor. We will also ensure that extortion, syndicate raj and corruption come to an end.”
Slamming the opposition during a BJP rally in Assam’s Bokakhat, Prime Minister Modi said that negligence and corruption were “double” when the Congress was in power both in the Centre and in the state of Assam. Now that the BJP is in power, growth has “doubled” in the state, the Prime Minister added. “The Congress has a habit of lying to the poor to come to power,” PM Modi alleged. “You have to remember that Congress means instability, corruption. They have no vision or intention to do any good.”
Doubling down on its “outsider” jibe at the BJP, the Trinamool Congress on Sunday said the saffron party’s manifesto for the Assembly polls was “jumla-laden” (rhetoric) and “full of lies”.
“Absurd how the Tourist Gang released their jumla-laden manifesto for Bengal polls in the hands of a Gujarati! A party that cannot find sufficient candidates for all 294 seats in Bengal is now faltering to find local leadership for such key events!#BengalRejectsGujaratiManifesto,” tweeted TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee. Read more
The BJP has made it one of its main weapons against the Mamata Banerjee government, saying that, if it comes to power, it will build a “Sonar Bangla”, ending “Syndicate Raj” and “Cut Money” culture. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to junior BJP leaders, all have raised the issue. Read more
“Give me a comb,” Lathika Subhash tells her nephew, following him into a room. Soon, she returns with a grin, “I did it again! I forgot I don’t have any hair.”
Until March 14, 56-year-old Lathika, who headed the Mahila Congress in Kerala, had short salt-and-pepper hair, quite like the late Indira Gandhi. That day, as it became evident that the Congress was not going to give her the ticket for her home constituency of Ettumanoor, Lathika resigned from party posts and proceeded to tonsure her head in front of the Congress office in Thiruvanantha- puram, while raising slogans in favour of Rahul and Sonia Gandhi. Her protest was against the state leadership, she said, and the poor representation of women — 10 out of 92 — in the Congress list. Read more
It is the first sunny day in a week, but it does little to lift Pardeep Daimari’s mood. As a cavalcade of state government cars passes by his grocery shop in Kachari Pathar village in Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh district, Daimari shrugs dispassionately: “It’s all the same.” Read More
SHE EMERGES from atop her campaign vehicle, her hands folded — the imagery not lost on a Tamil Nadu electorate with strong memories of J Jayalalithaa still. She works the crowd with her oratory, and she is clear about the future of the DMDK, a party led by her ailing husband Vijayakanth, that she is now shouldering: the baton, she says, has been picked up by son Vijay Prabhakar, 29. Read more
Doubling down on its “outsider” jibe at the BJP, the Trinamool Congress on Sunday said the saffron party's manifesto for the Assembly polls was “jumla-laden" (rhetoric) and “full of lies”.
“Absurd how the Tourist Gang released their jumla-laden manifesto for Bengal polls in the hands of a Gujarati! A party that cannot find sufficient candidates for all 294 seats in Bengal is now faltering to find local leadership for such key events!#
Minutes after the manifesto release, TMC leaders and supporters started tweeting against the BJP with #
TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar predicted that the people of Bengal would snub the manifesto. "You know how @BJP4Bengal plans to make a ‘Sonar Bangla’? By Renaming Kisan credit card to Rupay card (with no real credit inside)? Bengal cannot and will not accept this sham!," said Dastidar. ENS
Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan held a roadshow at Kannappan Nagar in Coimbatore earlier today. (ANI)
Both (AIADMK and DMK) are not worthy of support, says Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan. He adds, “They (people) should make a decisive move towards politics, which means not leaving a Hung Assembly. Everyone should come out and vote.” (ANI)
CPI(M) MP P R Natrajan on Sunday took a dig at Makkal Neethi Maiam (MNM) chief and film actor Kamal Hassan, saying by not criticising the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and the BJP during his election campaign he was functioning like a 'B' team of the latter.
Taking on Hassan, who had criticised DMK MLA N Karthik and himself for not doing anything for Coimbatore, the MP said instead of criticising the AIADMK and BJP, which heads the NDA government at the Centre, for lack of infrastructure, the actor was targeting the CPI(M) and DMK, which proved that he was the 'B' team of the BJP.
There was no increase in the prices of petroleum products in the last 20 days, considering the elections in four states and the union territory of Puducherry, he said, adding this clearly showed that Centre wanted to gain votes from the general public, by not hiking the rates. (PTI)
Trinamool Congress MP Dev on Sunday claimed that the work done by the Mamata Banerjeegovernment in West Bengal is unparallel, asserting that she would score 10 goals in the upcoming elections even with a broken leg.
Addressing an election rally at Silda in the Jhargram district, the Tollywood superstar hit out at the BJP over the rise in fuel prices.
"The work done by Mamata Banerjee in the last 10 years is unparalleled. No other chief minister in any other state has done such great work ever. Because of the work done by her, 'Didi' can score 10 goals even with this broken leg," Dev said amid chants of 'Khela Hobe' (game will happen) from the crowd.
"It will be a game to take people on the path of development, and people will ensure to end the game of those who play politics of religion. The people of Bengal will win the game," he said at the rally, which saw a massive gathering to see the superstar amid sweltering heat. (PTI)
Nomination of key leaders for the April 6 Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, including that of Chief Minister K Palaniswami and DMK president M K Stalin have been accepted by election authorities.
Of the 7,255 total nominations received, 4,526 were accepted and 2,726 rejected, according to the updated data hosted on Sunday on the official website of the Chief Electoral Officer, Tamil Nadu, following scrutiny.
After filing of nominations opened on March 12, as many as 6,183 men, 1,069 women and three transpersons (total 7,255) submitted their papers till 3 pm on March 19, the last date to file nominations. (PTI)
BJP's firebrand leader Sobha Surendran has likened arch-rival and LDF candidate in the April 6 assembly polls — Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran to Hindu mythological character "Poothana" as she attacked him over the Sabarimala issue.
Sobha Surendran, during an election meeting at her Kazhakootam constituency on Saturday night attacked the minister saying he has come as "Poothana" to harm the Ayyappa devotees, who will transform into 'Krishnas' to annihilate him in the electoral arena.
According to the Hindu mythology, "Poothana", who assumed the disguise of a beautiful young woman, had tried to breastfeed Krishna with poison when she was killed by the infant god.
The minister's expression of regret on the Sabarimala issue was just a ploy during the polls, she said. (PTI)
Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Puducherry V Narayanasamy on Sunday said he was not contesting the April 6 Assembly elections as there was a need to coordinate poll-related works and programmes of the party in the Union Territory.
He told reporters at the PCC office here that the president of the Pradesh Congress Committee A V Subramanian was contesting the poll from Karaikal (north) and so he (Narayanasamy), along with the Congress Member of Parliament V Vaithilingam, had to coordinate election-related party activities.
"This is the reason for my not contesting the poll," he said. (PTI)
Cash, gold jewels and other items worth Rs 1.37 crore have been seized from 65 people over the last 20 days in different parts of Erode district, said its Collector-cum-Election Officer C Kathiravan on Sunday.
The seizure was made in view of the election code of conduct that came into effect from February 26.
The Election Commission had ordered that cash totalling above Rs 50,000 and other items without receipt or documents should be in possession of anyone as the valuables could be used to bribe voters. (PTI)
The BJP on Sunday released its manifesto for West Bengal promising to implement the CAA at the first Cabinet meeting if it came to power. It also promised to provide one job per family in the state, with “chakri” emerging as a major poll issue.
While the CAA was passed by the Modi government in December 2019, it is still to come into force as rules have not been notified. With poll-bound Assam opposed to the CAA even as large sections in West Bengal support it, the BJP has been walking a tightrope on the matter.
Unveiling a ‘Sonar Bangla Sankalpa Patra’, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the BJP will take strict measures against illegal infiltration, while ensuring Rs 10,000 per year for every refugee family for five years through direct benefit transfer, to ensure an “infiltration-free” and “appeasement-free” Bengal. (Read full report here)
Senior Congress leader Rajeev Shukla on Sunday said that the government to be formed by the party in Assam after the assembly election will be run by and for the people of the state and will not be remote-controlled from Delhi.
The BJP-led government in Assam has played with the emotions and fortunes of the tea garden workers for the last five years, he alleged while addressing a press conference in Guwahati.
"The Congress government is going to be run by the people of Assam, for the people of Assam and not on the instructions of people from Delhi," Shukla said.
Describing the BJP as the "Chunaavi Jumla Party" (electoral fake promise party), he alleged that reneging on promises has become a hallmark of the saffron party. (PTI)
A digital countdown clock has been installed at the entrance to the DMK party headquarters in Chennai in the run-up to the Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu. (ANI)
Karunanidhi himself didn’t believe Stalin, says Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi Palaniswami. “During his last two years when he was ill, he did not hand over the party to Stalin. He did not trust his son. In such a case, how will people believe him?” he adds. (ANI)
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Sunday charted out a bigger role for his son and BJP state vice-president B Y Vijayendra to make a dent into the Congress and JD(S) citadel in old Mysuru region.
Ruling out fielding Vijayendra from Basavakalyan where Assembly bypolls are due on April 17 along with Maski assembly segment and Belagavi Lok Sabha segment, Yediyurappa said his son would camp in Mysuru to strengthen the party base.
"There is no element of truth in fielding Vijayendra from Basavakalyan. Seniors have the expectations that he should go to Mysuru and reside there to cover four to five districts," Yediyurappa told reporters at Sindhanur Taluk in Raichur district.
The Chief Minister said Vijayendra would camp in Mysuru after the bypolls are over. (PTI)
The Congress, which faces an imminent defeat in the Assam polls, has become desperate and might resort to politics to divide the society in the state but the BJP will never allow this, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Sunday.
Referring to the grand alliance of opposition parties, including Congress, Left parties and AIUDF, formed for the three-phase state elections, he said the Congress' leadership has thoroughly exposed itself by turning away from its ideological position by seeking the “support offered by an overtly communal outfit headed by Badruddin Ajmal”.
“The BJP is a party with a consistent ideology of justice to all sections of society without appeasement. The Congress may have become desperate enough to resort to politics of dividing the society in Assam, but we shall never allow this to happen," Singh, the minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office, said. (PTI)