Tag: Indian Politics

AHMEDABAD (TIP): BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has found supporters away from India, as a group of US-based non-resident Indians (NRIs), who had raised funds for Barack Obama during the 2012 US presidential elections, have come to India to root for him. A team of 650 NRI volunteers led by Bharat Barai under his ‘Global Indians for Bharat Vikas’ association, is currently in Gujarat to boost the ‘Modi for PM’ campaign.

“Yes, I had raised funds for Barack Obama during the presidential elections and now I have come here to support Narendra Modi,” Barai, a doctor from Chicago, said. Showing his email conversations with the US president and first lady Michelle Obama, he said, “Many NRIs in America want Modi to hold India’s top post. Hence, we pledged to undertake this campaign.”

KANPUR (TIP): Prime ministerial candidate of BJP Narendra Modi touched the feet of senior party leader and candidate from Kanpur Lok Sabha seat MM Joshi on the dais to douse any doubt of chasm between the two leaders. Modi also offered the tallest chair on the stage, earmarked for him, to the veteran leader.

He then overrode latter’s reservations and ensured that Joshi occupied it. Modi’s attempt to indicate Joshi’s high stature in the party despite his being the prime ministerial candidate surprised many party leaders. A leader of party’s Kanpur unit said, “Many of us are surprised with Modi touching Joshi’s feet. We never expected this. It was a rare scene. But this proves that there is no leader like Modi in party who is taking along everybody along.”Modi’s action came in wake of the ongoing controversy over Modi-Joshi differences.

Joshi had stoked the controversy on Sunday by denying any Modi wave in the country. He had also said that the Gujarat model of development cannot be implemented across all states. Affronted by his comments, party workers had been continuously raising pro-Modi slogans during Joshi’s campaign in city. In a bid to control the damage arising out of Modi-Joshi chasm, the party had put up a hoarding in the city showing Joshi and Modi hugging each other.

In reply, Joshi supporters had put up billboards with slogans like ‘Ab Ki Bar BJP Sarkar’ instead of ‘Ab Ki Bar Modi Sarkar’. While Joshi campaigned in the city on Wednesday and Thursday, Modi supporters chanted ‘Har Har Modi’ slogans and ensured that the entire campaign is Modi chant. Under such circumstances, Modi touching feet of Joshi and paying him respect on the rally dias before the huge crowd is an attempt from the side of the former to reduce the split.

LUCKNOW (TIP): Azam Khan, a senior minister in Uttar Pradesh, on April 19 said he will not apologise for an alleged hate speech that led to him being banned from campaigning by the Election Commission. “I have not committed a crime,” Khan told reporters today.

The 55-year-old is a prominent Muslim face of the state’s ruling Samajwadi Party, headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav, to whom Khan sent a letter today, alleging that the Election Commission is being used by the union government to “muzzle” him. “Can a man who compares one-fifth of the people of this country to puppies, can he be allowed to become the prime minister of this country?” Khan has written, referring to the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, who provoked criticism for describing a puppy being run over while commenting on the pain he felt over the Hindu-Muslim riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002.

Modi has said repeatedly since that his remark was misinterpreted. Earlier this month, the Election Commission made rallies and public meetings off-limits for Khan and Amit Shah, a top aide Modi assigned to run the BJP campaign in Uttar Pradesh. Both were accused of making speeches designed to incite tension between Hindus and Muslims in Uttar Pradesh, which elects 80 parliamentarians.

The ban on Shah was lifted last evening after the Election Commission said the BJP leader had conceded his fault and in writing vowed not to use “abusive or derogatory language.” Muslims account for nearly 20 percent of the population of UP. In September last year, Hindu- Muslim riots, allegedly fuelled by inflammatory speeches by leaders from a cross-section of parties, left nearly 60 people dead in Muzaffarnagar in the western part of the state. Nearly 60,000 people were displaced.

ETAWAH (TIP): Narendra Modi has attacked Mulayam Singh Yadav on his home turf in Uttar Pradesh, calling him soft on rapists, but tough on Muzaffarnagar riot victims. “Our Netaji (Mulayam) has a problem, where he should be mulayam (soft), he is harsh and where he should be tough, he is soft.

He is soft on the issue of rape, but when children were dying in relief camps, he was tough,” Modi said, addressing a rally in Etawah, home to Mulayam Singh’s native village Saifai. Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party has been battling allegations of mismanagement after the riots in Muzaffarnagar in September, in which nearly 60 were killed and thousands driven out of their villages to relief camps.

The death of children in these camps highlighted their poor condition and the lack of facilities. Mulayam Singh controversially said that those living in relief camps were political stooges, not riot victims. Recently, the Samajwadi Party chief courted more controversy when he said “boys will be boys, they make mistakes,” while questioning the death sentence to three men convicted of gang-raping two women in Mumbai last year. Modi said, “If you want a better life then change the government in Delhi now and then in Lucknow.” The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate has chosen Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh as one of the two constituencies from where he is running for Parliament.

UNJHA (TIP): Away from the world’s gaze, she was leading a quiet life as a retired schoolteacher. But when the spotlight turned to her, Jashodaben Modi, officially accepted by chief minister Narendra Modi, was nowhere to be seen. As the media rushed to track her down, after Modi’s nomination form for the Lok Sabha from Vadodara revealed her name late on April 9 night, Jashodaben did a vanishing act.

Perhaps anticipating the media glare, she was whisked away to an undisclosed location by family members — some said she had left on a ‘char dham’ pilgrimage with a congregation of 40 women. The 62-year-old wife of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate had confessed to her colleagues upon her retirement some years back that though she did not expect anything from her husband, she at least wanted him to acknowledge her once as his wife.

In fact, close relatives said she had given up eating rice for some months now as a penance to see Modi as PM. “Her prayers have been answered as Narendrabhai has publicly accepted her as his wife.We are very happy.We all pray for him to become PM,” said Kamlesh Modi, Jashoda’s elder brother who runs a grocery shop in Unjha. Kamlesh said that Jashoda never considered re-marrying after Modi left her 45 years back to become an RSS pracharak.

She gave up wearing footwear for four months seeking PM candidature for her husband and now is on a once-aday diet to see her wish fulfilled. Jashoda divides her time staying with brothers Kamlesh in Unjha and Ashok in Brahmanwada, her ancestral village 32km from Modi’s hometown Vadnagar where Jashoda and Modi were married in 1968 as teenagers. Brahmanwada — which lies to the north of Ahmedabad and isn’t far from Unjha — was throbbing with curiosity and pride on Thursday. Her brother Ashok said when the couple first met after marriage, Modi spoke to her about his plans to serve the country and suggested that she pursue her studies and become a teacher.

She did precisely that and never complained to anyone about her husband. Having retired, Jashoda became quite spiritual — she gets up at 4am and prays till 11am. “The village knew her as Narendra Modi’s wife but Jashoda never talked about it. She is a simple, nice and deeply religious person,” said Pravin Vyas, an ex-colleague. In the Modi family too, Jashoda is held in high regard as she accepted her life without any fuss. “Jashoda would read and watch every bit of news about Narenbhai. Despite being abandoned, Jashoda never spoke ill of him. That is a true Indian woman for you,” said Vasanti, the chief minister’s sister.

UDAIPUR/JHUNJHUNU (TIP): Accusing the BJP of copying his party’s poll manifesto, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on April 10 said its only focus seemed to be on making Narendra Modi the prime minister. “It took us six months to prepare a manifesto. We visited people across the country and spoke with them to know what they want.

On the basis of their demands and concerns, we prepared a manifesto, but all BJP did was to copy our manifesto,” he said, addressing a rally in Rajasthan’s Udaipur, over 400 km from Jaipur. The BJP replaced the hand symbol of the Congress with that of a lotus, its own symbol, on the manifesto, he quipped. “They then claimed that they have released their manifesto.

In reality, they just copied that of Congress,” said Gandhi, adding most of the promises made in BJP’s manifesto have already been fulfilled by Congress. “They are saying that they would provide one rank one pension, however, we have already implemented this scheme….they are saying that they would build a manufacturing corridor, we have already started working on this industrial corridor,” he said.

Taking a dig at Modi, Gandhi said that Bharatiya Janata Party’s only focus is on making a man the country’s prime minister. “They are not concerned if the country remains poor and people die of hunger. They are only concerned with grabbing the power for one man,” he said. He added that Congress wants to give power to common men rather than a handful of industrialists. “Indira ji (Indira Gandhi) had 20 point program…they have only one point program, that is to make one man the country’s prime minister.” Gandhi also attacked the alleged link of the Adani group with Modi.

“BJP has sidelined Advani, but has welcomed Adani,” Gandhi said. Earlier addressing a rally in Jhunjhunu, he took a dig at Modi’s comment that he didn’t want to become prime minister, but only a “chowkidar” (watchman). Without naming anyone, he said: “BJP talks about chowkidar of the tijori (safe). But I have heard that chowkidars also steal.

We (the Congress) want to empower all Indians.” As he spoke, partymen shouted slogans in his support. “We launched free medicines scheme in the state when we had our government here. Are you getting free medicines now under BJP government….no…the BJP only runs government for big industrialists and not for poor or downtrodden,” he added.

RANCHI (TIP): India has been ruled by a “black magician” for the past 10 years, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi said April 10. Quoting Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who said the Bharatiya Janata Party has brought in a magician who claims to change everything overnight, Modi said: “The central government has been run by a black magician for the last 10 years.”

“Employment opportunities vanished, farmers’ plight increased and armymen beheaded,” he said at a rally in the steel city of Jamshedpur Thursday. “Remove the black magician for the sake of the country and to change the fate of the country. People have made up their minds and it is difficult for the Congress to save itself,” Modi said, without naming anyone. The Gujarat chief minister also tried to woo the voters by speaking about his humble beginnings.

“I was born in a poor family and I understand the plight of the poor. Those born with a golden spoon in their mouth cannot understand the plight of the poor,” he said. He appealed to people to fulfil Mahatma Gandhi’s wish to dismantle the Congress party after India got freedom.

“Gandhiji knew that the Congress leaders would be unable to rule the country and this was the reason why he wanted to wind up the Congress. Time has come to fulfil Gandhiji’s dream,” he said. Modi blamed the union government for the misery of the steel city. “If the centre followed the right policy, then Jamshedpur’s automobile industry could have become the focus of the international market.”

NEW DELHI (TIP): The Congress on April 3 accused Narendra Modi of communalizing the elections by raking up the issue of meat exports and said Gujarat was among the leading exporters of processed meat. “My question to Modi is that even in Gujarat, there has been substantial increase in the export of meat. There are also abattoirs there,” commerce minister and Congress spokesman Anand Sharma said.

The party slammed BJP for alleging that Sonia Gandhi’s meeting with Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid was an attempt to communalize elections, saying meetings with religious leaders were not tantamount to invoking religion in politics. Taking potshots at his immaculate dressing and his sartorial choices, Sharma said Modi knew neither history nor geography and all he knew was to change clothes six times a day.

Arguing that Congress had done nothing unusual like “pink revolution”, Sharma alleged that Modi was raising the issue in constituencies with sizeable population of Yadavs, who rear cattle, in order to create a schism between communities. “There is no subsidy given by the government of India for meat export. This is a total lie. Only bovine (buffalo) meat is exported. Cow slaughter is banned in the country,” Sharma said.

“Modi has said it earlier also and being commerce minister in-charge of the issue, I have written to the Gujarat chief minister and dismissed his charges. He goes silent when the answer is given,” he added. The sharp attack came after Modi, at a rally in Uttar Pradesh, accused Congress of encouraging “pink revolution” to ruin the country.

He alleged the Congress-led government was giving subsidies to slaughter houses. Amid reports that the Election Commission would take cognizance if it received a complaint against Sonia’s meeting with the Shahi Imam, Sharma said, “The leaders of Congress as well as from other parties are free to meet Shankaracharya, saints, imams and dharma gurus. It does not mean doing communal politics. Hindu religion is not something given to RSS on contract.”

GAYA (TIP): A few hours prior to the arrival of BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the Maoist rebels struck terror in the Dumaria- Imamganj area of the district in the wee hours of March 27 by blowing two mobile phone towers belonging to two different private operators. While one mobile phone tower was blown in the Dumaria block headquarters, the other mobile phone tower was blown up in Manjhaulia village of the neighbouring Kothi police station area.

If that was not enough, the Maoists left behind live bombs at the destruction site and hand-written notes exhorting people to boycott the elections as the entire election process, according to the Maoists was a sham and status quoits. Panic prevailed in the area as the Maoist rebels abandoned a heavy can bomb measuring several kilograms on the road near the business area in the Dumaria block headquarters, forcing area residents remain indoors and not venture out. According to the CRPF DIG Chiranjeev Kumar, bomb disposals squads of the central force have been dispatched to defuse the can bomb and explosives left behind by the saboteurs near the destroyed mobile phone towers.

AMRAVATI (TIP): BSP chief Mayawati on March 27 took on BJP prime ministerial hopeful Narendra Modi, warning voters he would plunge the country into communal and caste strife. “As chief minister of Gujarat in 2002, he could not control riots in his state that saw Muslims being killed in large numbers,” she said.

“If he becomes prime minister, there will be communal riots all over the country.” Addressing a huge public rally in this main city of western Vidarbha, she appealed to voters not to get fooled by the lofty promises and falsehoods contained in the manifestos of national parties. Referring to Modi, she said his promises of development should not be trusted. “The NDA is now saying it’ll transform the country with Modi’s development ideas,” the four-time UP chief minister said.

“I want to ask what did the NDA do when it was in power at the Centre for six years.” The attendance at the public meeting was easily double of what was seen at Modi’s rally in Wardha on March 20. Mayawati launched the election campaign of all 10 of her party candidates contesting from Vidarbha. For the Amravati Lok Sabha seat, which is reserved for scheduled castes, her party candidate Gunwant Deopare will face a stiff challenge from Shiv Sena MP Anandrao Adsul and NCP’s Navneet Kaur Rana.

NEW DELHI (TIP): The Congress on March 27 lodged a protest with the Election Commission against the use of “Har Har Modi” slogan in Varanasi, from where the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is contesting the Lok Sabha poll.

The party sought the de-recognition of BJP as well as action against Modi for allegedly violating the model code of conduct by drafting a slogan along “religious” lines. Incidentally, the Congress has moved EC notwithstanding BJP’s clarification on Sunday that “Har Har Modi” chant was not its official slogan. Modi himself tweeted that “some enthusiastic supporters have been using the slogan ‘Har Har Modi’…I respect their enthusiasm, but request them not to use this slogan in the future”.

Modi’s tweet followed shortly after Shankaracharya of Dwarka Peeth, Swaroopanand Saraswati, objected to the chant, saying that it amounted to “worship of an individual”. In its complaint submitted to the EC, the Congress claimed that the ‘Har Har Modi. Ghar Ghar Modi’ slogan continued to be used by BJP workers in Varanasi. The Congress alleged that the chant was part of BJP’s strategy to “present” Modi as Lord Mahadev (Shiva), to exploit religious sentiments of people for electoral gains. Sub para 3 of Para 1 of the model code of conduct restrains parties and candidates from making appeals to caste or communal feelings for securing votes.

The Congress also objected to the use of Lord Shiva’s image as a backdrop of the stage from where Modi recently addressed a public rally in Varanasi. “Lord Shiva or Mahadev and the ancient Kashi Vishwanath temple at Varanasi have religious sanctity throughout the world. Hindus and all devotees of Lord Mahadev chant ‘Har Har Mahadev, Ghar Ghar Mahadev’ with deep sense of devotion to seek blessings of the Lord.

No human being can replace Lord Mahadev in the said chant,” said the memorandum signed by K C Mittal of the Congress’ legal cell. Citing media reports, it claimed that BJP had organised 400 mobile vans equipped with LCD TVs, carrying the Har Har Modi, Ghar Ghar Modi’ slogan. The Congress said the BJP had recently also come up with a new slogan ‘Dil mein Modi, ghar mein Modi, Kashi ke kan kan mein Modi (Modi in every heart, Modi in every home; Modi everywhere in Kashi).’ “The new slogan also aims at arousing religious sentiments and feelings of the people…’Kan kan mein Bhagwan (God is omnipresent)’ is a well known religious slogan…” the memorandum claimed.

NEW DELHI (TIP): Vowing to give Narendra Modi a tough fight in Varanasi, Congress on Tuesday said it will put up a formidable candidate against the BJP PM nominee and urged all like minded parties to support it in the “battle against communalism”.

“Do not be surprised if Varanasi witnesses a similar spectacle as Ghaziabad from where BJP chief Rajnath Singh ran away after Congress fielded Raj Babbar,” party spokesman Randeep Surjewala said. Expressing Congress’ resolve to give a good fight to Modi, Surjewala said that the party is putting up its candidate with the belief that he will be winning the contest against the BJP PM candidate.

Surjewala replied in the affirmative when asked whether the Congress will appeal to all like minded parties to support its candidate in Varanasi against Modi. He said that Congress candidate, whose announcement will be made “very soon”, needed to be supported by all like minded parties as it alone could carry forward the battle against communalism and divisive forces in a cohesive direction. He faced several questions on the possible candidate for the high-profile contest, but declined to hazard any guess.

He claimed that the fact that Modi has started searching for a second seat in Gujarat a day after his candidature was declared from Varanasi showed that he has become “jittery and has developed cold feet”. The remarks of Surjewala came two days after party General Secretary Madhusudan Mistry had declared that the Congress will give a “good fight” to Modi on Varanasi seat and did not rule out fielding an ‘outsider’.

“We will be giving a good fight but we are not decided whether the candidate against Modi will be a local or an outsider,” Mistry, a known detractor of the Gujarat Chief Minister, had said. Among the local candidates, the names of Rajesh Mishra and Ajay Rai are doing the rounds. A section in the Congress wants an influential leader pitched against Modi, while others want a celebrity to be fielded against him.

Surjewala said that senior party leader Anil Shastri’s suggestion needed be seen from a wider angle of fighting communal forces. Shastri in a tweet had said “If BSP & SP are serious on defeating Modi from Varanasi, they alongwith Congress should put up a joint candidate against him”. AP leader Arvind Kejriwal has also declared that he was ready to take on Modi in Varanasi but linked his final call to the people’s approval there.

NEW DELHI (TIP): Putting speculations to rest, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on March 15 announced its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi would contest the Varanasi seat in Uttar Pradesh after sitting parliamentarian Murli Manohar Joshi gave in to the pressure from top leadership.

The BJP’s poll committee finalised its fourth list of 98 candidates from 12 states, including UP, at a marathon meeting of top leaders in New Delhi. BJP national general secretary Ananth Kumar said at a press conference held late on Saturday night that the party would publish another list next week. The BJP decided to field senior leader and Rajya Sabha member Arun Jaitley from Amritsar.

Actor Kirron Kher will contest the Chandigarh seat against Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) Gul Panag and Congress’ Pawan Bansal. In Bihar, Shatrughan Sinha will contest the Patna Sahib seat. Alongside Modi, another top contender in UP, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats, is party president Rajnath Singh, who will contest from Lucknow. Joshi will fight from the Kanpur seat.

Modi’s decision to enter the fray from the holy city, as demanded by BJP strategists, underscored anxiety on the part of the party brass to maximise the saffron party’s tally from UP and Bihar — two key states accounting for 120 Lok Sabha seats that could help the BJP reach the magic figure of 272 in the House to form the next government. With Modi finally getting the green light to contest the Varanasi seat, all eyes are now on AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, who has launched a scathing attack on the Gujarat chief minister in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.

The rookie party has hinted at a direct fight between Modi and Kejriwal in the 2014 polls. “We will have to review our decision that no MLA can contest Lok Sabha elections,” AAP spokesperson Nagendar Sharma said, confirming there was every possibility of Kejriwal taking on Modi. Meanwhile, celebrations started in Varanasi much before the Gujarat chief minister’s name was announced for the seat. Modi’s supporters burst firecrackers and danced to drumbeats in the holy city.

Modi’s nomination for the seat, however, was a tough challenge for the saffron party, which hopes to put up a spectacular show in UP under his leadership. Modi’s rallies in UP ahead of the polls were a huge success, giving the BJP a shot in the arm and making stronger the ‘Modi from Varanasi chorus’. Besides, exit polls have also predicted a huge gain for the BJP in UP, where Muslims make up 20% of the population and have 17% of the vote share. But media reports suggest that with Joshi initially putting his foot down after being asked to make way for Modi, the BJP’s unity in politically vibrant UP, which has the highest Lok Sabha seats in the country, has suffered a blow.

Besides, the BJP brass had to burn the midnight oil to pacify dissidents in UP including Kalraj Mishra, who wanted to contest from Kanpur. Mishra will now fight from the Deoria seat near Gorakhpur. Varun Gandhi will contest the Sultanpur seat, while his mother Maneka Gandhi will fight from Pilibhit. Agricultural scientist Sanjiv Baliyan was named from Muzaffarnagar. Riot accused Hakum Singh was fielded from Kairana. The party cleared Rajnath Singh’s name from Lucknow after acceding to his “request” to fight from a constituency once represented by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The BJP chief had sought to move from Ghaziabad, the seat he represented in the 15th Lok Sabha, in view of the challenge from the AAP. Jaitley, who has not fought a direct election so far, was the surprise of the pack and got the Amritsar ticket after former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu stepped aside. “Arun Jaitley is like my guru. I welcome him to Amritsar. I have taken a pledge that I will contest from Amritsar or nowhere. I will keep my promise. I haven’t asked for anything in return,” Sidhu said. The Akali Dal had reportedly expressed reservations on a ticket for Sidhu and suggested Jaitley’s name to avoid a rebellion.

Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh’s son Abhishek Singh got a ticket from Rajnandgaon. Former Madhya Pradesh CM Uma Bharti was fielded from Jhansi. Former Uttarakhand chief ministers Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (Haridwar), BC Khanduri (Pauri-Garhwal) and Bhagat Singh Koshiyari (Nainital) also got party tickets. Ex-Congress leader Rao Indrajeet Singh and former Bahujan Samaj Party general secretary SP Singh Baghel were fielded from Gurgaon and Firozabad within weeks of their entry in the BJP. Former Haryana BJP chief Krishnapal Gujjar and doctor-politician Mahesh Sharma are BJP candidates in Faridabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar, respectively.

VARANASI: POLLNOMICS
1.SITTING MP- MURLI MANOHAR JOSHI
2.2009: VICTORY MARGIN 17,211
3.DEFEATED – MUKHTAR ANSARI (BSP)
4.CASTE COMBINATION: PATEL, BHUMIHAR, BRAHMIN
5.MUSLIMS: ABOUT 18%
6.2004: CONGRESS BEAT BJP
7.1999: BJP BEAT CONGRESS

PATNA (TIP): Now the tele-image of BJP’s poster boy cum PM pick Narendra Modi (NaMo) would begin to stalk anytime soon all the 40 parliamentary seats in Bihar over the next 50 days, as 250 specially designed vehicles, called ‘NaMo raths’, each fitted with LED screen and GPS system, would move in the state, stopping at 1,000 select points every day, to show a documentary on his rise from “tea vendor to PM candidate.”

As many as 116 ‘NaMo raths’ were ready for flagging off from the Gait Public Library ground in Gardanibagh locality, but for the spanner thrown by the district administration on Friday. Their movement has been planned as per the six-phase poll schedule announced for the state. “Every vehicle would stop at four points a day. So, 250 raths would facilitate 50,000 meetings in the next 50 days.

Now, they would be released as and when the Patna district administration gives its clearance,” said state BJP chief Mangal Pandey on Friday. The raths would cover most of the towns, 8,463 panchayats and around 56,000 villages. They are expected to accentuate the curiosity of people about NaMo and BJP’ Mission 2014 pegged to replacing the UPA at the Centre. The 25-minute documentary on the profile of NaMo would be shown at every stop, followed by around 40-minute brief speeches by BJP leaders on the rath to turn it into a public meeting.

The movement of every rath would be tracked from the party’s state headquarters, while a party worker on it would feed the state HQ with details about every such meeting through his mobile phone. Mangal Pandey said, “If the administration tries to obstruct their (raths’) release by invoking laws and Acts, it will lead to serious problems. We don’t think that rules are being violated. It is the biggest mass contact programme that we have planned to unleash,” Pandey added.

Incidentally, on Friday morning, a contingent of police personnel and magisterial officials swooped on the Gait Public Library ground, alleging violation of the Motor Vehicle (MV) Act. Former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi said, the officials told party that the MV Act had been violated, because the bodies of vehicles had been changed without permission from the administration. “The charge made by them was infantile.

The change made in the bodies of the vehicles is temporary, but the explanations given had no effect,” Modi said. Leader of opposition in the state assembly Nand Kishore Yadav described the stance of the administration as “hitting BJP below the belt” on behalf of CM Nitish Kumar. Incidentally, on Saturday, coinciding with the celebration of International Women’s Year, NaMo’s address on women’s empowerment, delivered from Gujarat, would be relayed from the LED screens at 102 places in all the subdivisional towns in Bihar, as part of second instalment of his ‘chai pe charcha’ programme.

NEW DELHI: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Thursday indirectly rapped External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid for calling Narendra Modi ‘impotent’, saying he doesn’t appreciate the use of such language.

Khurshid at a rally on February 26, at his constituency Farukkabad, had said: “Our allegation is not that you (Modi) got people killed, but that you are napunsak (impotent) because you could not stop the killings.” The union minister said this in reference to Modi’s claims to be a strong man, although over a 1,000 people had been killed in the Gujarat riots under his watch in 2002.

Khurshid asked why a man who aspires to be the prime minister of the country could not do anything during the 2002 riots. “Some people came, attacked and went, and you couldn’t protect. Are you not a strong man?,” he asked. “We don’t accuse you of killing people… Hamara aarop hai ki tum ‘napunsak’ (impotent) ho. (Our accusation is that you are impotent).

You couldn’t stop the killers,” he said. Khurshid however refused to apologise saying: “I am not his (Modi) doctor, I didn’t physically examine him. I meant that he lacks strength to do what he could have done.” BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed Khurshid for his remarks saying: “It is utterly irresponsible, shameful and condemnable coming as it does from the foreign minister of India. If the Oxford educated Salman Khusrshid does not understand the distinction between incompetent and impotent then what should I say. Khurshid must apologise.”

NEW DELHI (TIP): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on February 27 stressed on the importance of using technology to boost commercial activities in the country, and to overcome the fear of global challenges.

“Traders should use technology to make it big. People even in rural areas are now looking forward for branded stuff. Use technology to cater to that. Small businessmen can do big business by setting up virtual units, and then, take a leap forward,” said Modi. “They can improve the delivery systems, and go for online marketing.

They can set up virtual malls. We don’t have to fear global challenges. We can, in fact, convert this into an opportunity and out-run our global rivals. More than our soldiers, it is our traders who are known for their risk-taking capacity,” he said, while addressing the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) national convention at the Siri Fort auditorium.

“Our children have spread information technology all across the globe. We have to accept science and technology to improve our businesses,” he added. He also said that traders should not be afraid to take up global challenges. “I trust the traders of the country and a true quality of a great trader is taking risks,” Modi said. “Also, we consider urbanization a problem, but we should not. It should be considered an opportunity to progress and develop,” he added.