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Former LG of Delhi seriously ill due to what he did to AAP : ‘Sunita Kejriwal’ on Twitter

Nirwa Mehta
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Former LG of Delhi seriously ill due to what he did to AAP : ‘Sunita Kejriwal’ on Twitter

Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal’s nephew Vinay Bansal’s arrest in connection with the PWD scam seems to have hit the Kejriwal family quite hard. Sunita Kejriwal, the wife of Arvind Kejriwal and aunt of Vinay Bansal, took to Twitter to hit out on Delhi LG Anil Baijal in what appeared like a veiled threat to stop ‘harassing’ her widow sister ‘besides the constant harassment of AAP government’.


Vinay Bansal is the son of Surendra Kumar Bansal, husband of Sunita’s sister, who was also investigated by Delhi Police for corruption, however, Surendra Bansal died in May last year reportedly of brain stroke.

While Sunita Kejriwal’s account is not verified by Twitter, it is followed by various journalists and Aam Aadmi Party leaders, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal which suggests that this might be a genuine account. 

The language used by Sunita Kejriwal is even more crass than her husband, who leaves no stone unturned when it comes to lowering bars of decency, from dishing out defamatory statements to allegedly assaulting his chief secretary.

OpIndia reached out to former LG of Delhi, Najeeb Jung, who rubbished the news and said he is healthy and feeling well. ‘Sunita may be referring to the fact that I am unwell since some time, but I am outside India and recovering well,’ said Jung on a telephonic conversation with OpIndia. However, he declined to comment on Sunita Kejriwal’s tweet.

Five of the nine candidates who filed nominations via WhatsApp win in Bengal Panchayat polls

OpIndia Staff
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Five of the nine candidates who filed nominations via WhatsApp win in Bengal Panchayat polls

Five of the nine candidates who had filed nominations via WhatsApp have won in the West Bengal Panchayat elections. According to reports they belonged to the Polerait II gram panchayat in the outskirts of Kolkata.

The candidates were backed by the Jami Jibika Bastu o Pribesh Rakkha Committee. The area has an ongoing controversy over a major power grid substation being built there and the win of the independent candidates is expected to change the political narrative in the area. Rest of the seats have been mostly won by TMC candidates. The names of the five candidates who have won are as follows, Azizul Mollah, Ishraful Mollah, Chhaleara Bibi, Fariduddin Mollah and Jahanara Bibi.

The nine candidates had moved to the Kolkata High Court last month alleging that they were being attacked and threatened by TMC goons to stop them from filing nomination papers and the HC had allowed them to file nominations via WhatsApp.

The Bhangar area has been constantly in news for all the bad reasons during the Panchayat polls. TMC leader Arabul Islam was arrested over death of a person supporting one of the independent candidates and a day later crude bombs were found in his house. Arabul, his son and daughter-in-law have all won seats in the elections. According to a report in Times of India, CM Mamata Banerjee has stated that the fact that Arabul and his family members have won show that they have the people’s support. She has also reportedly criticised the independent candidates saying that they are backed by Maoists and they are trying to prevent a central project from being implemented.

The Bhangar area has reportedly seen several violent clashes in the last one and half years over the power grid project.

Widespread clashes, booth capturing, violence has been reported during the Panchayat elections in Bengal. There were also several incidences of journalists being attacked and media vehicles torched. The state Election commission has been criticised for the use of ballot papers instead of EVMs as in many instances, ballot boxes being looted by gunmen was reported. Even Mamata’s own cabinet minister Rabindra Nath Ghosh was caught slapping a political rival on camera. TMC leader Derek O’Brien was widely criticised for trying to downplay the poll violence and calling it ‘normal’.

Due to threats of violence, about 18,000 seats were won uncontested in the Panchayat polls by TMC candidates. As the results are being announced, TMC has reportedly won all 20 Zilla Parishads, about 29,585 seats in Gram Panchayats and 3315 seats in the Panchayat Samiti. The BJP is has been the second largest party but remains far behind with just 5636 seats so far.

Ground report : The Quint’s lies about the Yamuna floodplain don’t hold up

Editorial Desk
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Ground report : The Quint’s lies about the Yamuna floodplain don’t hold up

Online portal ‘The Quint’ has now come up with another video where they have tried to create a false narrative against Sr Sri Ravi Shankar and his organisation The Art of Living. The Quint video titled, “Happy Birthday Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, just don’t party like you did on Jamuna bank” has claimed that due to the World Culture Festival organised by AOL in 2016, the Jamuna floodplain has allegedly become too toxic to farm.

Our volunteers travelled to the area and spoke to the farmers regarding the issue. We also spoke to the same farmers that ‘The Quint’ spoke to, and the tale that emerged was extremely different. It seems that ‘The Quint’ has resorted to blatant lies and showing doctored and edited statements of the farmers. In some cases, they even misled farmers into believing that it was because of Sri Sri that they were not being allowed to farm when the truth is extremely different.

Following is the video where we spoke to the farmers of the area. We also detail how ‘The Quint’ misled the farmers and edited some comments to suit their agenda:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNsWLfhG8nM]

Lie No 1:

In a well-edited video, ‘The Quint’ showed the testimonials from the farmers who claim in the video that they are unable to grow crops on the floodplain

The Truth:

According to a 2015 order of the National Green Tribunal, farming on the floodplain is banned because the soil is too toxic to grow anything that is safe to eat. ‘The Quint’ has slyly made the video look like it was the event that damaged the floodplain and hence there cannot be any farming. The truth, however, is that the Delhi Development Authority has been enforcing the NGT’s order in the area and hence not allowing the local farmers to farm.

As seen in the video, a farmer named Parvati has explicitly stated that the DDA never lets them stay there and the officials come to tell them to leave their huts and vacate the place. She also added that there is nothing wrong with the soil and the farmers can grow crops if they are allowed to.

Another farmer named Kallu says the same thing. He states that the DDA people do not allow the farmers to farm in the land. A farmer named Bahadur also added that the farming has been stopped by DDA people and some of the farmers have been growing crops there despite the DDA order. The farmers denied that there is anything wrong with the soil and many have been growing vegetables like squash, ridged gourd, bitter gourd and sugar apple. The farmers added that if given proper fertilizer and water, the soil yields an excellent crop.

They even praised the event organised by AOL and stated that the farming went back to normal after the event, there was no damage to the soil. Farmer Nirbhaya added that the land that is being shown as barren has been barren even before the AOL event because that belongs to the DDA and they do not allow farming there.

Lie No 2:

The Quint video showed a woman named Haravati claiming that she is a farmer and she has not been able to grow anything on the land.

The Truth:

As detailed in the video, Haravati is not a farmer. She is a hired labourer who is employed by a farmer named Ram Singh Saini who has been farming uninterrupted on his land with the help of a court order.

‘The Quint’, shockingly, has allegedly led some of the innocent farmers to believe that Sri Sri has bought the land and he had stopped farming by force. Haravati revealed that she was told that the land has been sold to Sri Sri. She was surprised to find out that it was not the case.

Lie No 3:

A farmer named Sukhbir was shown in the video agreeing with ‘The Quint’s’ allegations.

The Truth:

Mr Sukhbir stated on camera that the water of Jamuna has been contaminated for decades now and aquatic life can hardly survive, but he added that farmers have always farmed on the floodplain area. He even stated that he explained to reporters from ‘The Quint’ that farming does not harm the river water but in their video that portion has been edited and they distorted his comment as per their convenience. Sukhbir even denied that there is no such wetland and the entire area between DND and ITO was being farmed.

As evident from our video report, when asked whether the area where the festival was held used to be a wetland before, Sukhbir denied it. He added that he had also stated to reporters from ‘The Quint’ that as a farmer, he has no complaints with Sri Sri. Sukhbir asserted that ‘The Quint’ deleted the portion where he said these things.

Sukhbir was quite dismayed at the way The Quint video has been doctored and he added that The Quint people have only played the parts which were suitable to their narrative and have left out crucial information in their video. He added further that media outlets like ‘The Quint’ should not misquote and use innocent farmers for their propaganda.

This is not the first time that ‘The Quint’ has peddled blatant lies and dangerous propaganda. In 2017, a Quint journalist was booked for abetting the suicide of Lance Naik Roy Matthew. In fact, their pussyfooting on Hafeez Saeed is not surprising, considering they had published an entire piece about Osama Bin Laden being a father and a husband. The Quint had also come up with a story that basically declared Kulbhushan Jadhav an ‘Indian spy’ thereby endangering his life and national security. We had rebutted that story threadbare and post massive backlash, The Quint had taken the story down and decided to “recheck its story“, but not before Pakistanis and its official agencies had started quoting The Quint article on Jadhav in an attempt to undermine India’s position.

Civil Aviation Minister calls out media’s bluff of DGCA not giving permission for chartered flight

OpIndia Staff
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Civil Aviation Minister calls out media’s bluff of DGCA not giving permission for chartered flight

Even as the battleground Karnataka heats up, the rumour mills are working overtime, especially in media circles to fan conspiracy theories. Even as people tried to fathom what is happening in the political circus of Karnataka, there was news that Karnataka MLAs were being shifted from Karnataka to some other state to stop them from defecting to the BJP. An India Today journalist reported last night that the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) did not give permission for a chartered flight which was to be used by Karnataka MLA elects to be shifted elsewhere.


This news spread like wildfire, with many media persons referring to the same as the death of democracy and how BJP has put all agencies to ‘good use’.


Journalists associated with The Hindu, without checking facts, referred to the said DGCA move as ‘goondaism’.


However, when someone pointed out that the news of permission being denied could be fake, Puja Mehra, a journalist with The Hindu shifts goalpost and says how this is not the ‘only news item about his goondaism.


Pro AAP journalist, who seems to have given up on Kejriwal and gone back to Congress camp, too chimed in with the unverified news.


NDTV ‘sources’ were also working overtime last night.


To which another pro-AAP journalist Ashutosh and Associate Editor (Politics) with Catch News, Aditya Menon, who was caught stoking tensions in Kashmir by using fake images, invoked Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya.


It seemed like the entire army was out in full force to make sure the fake news reaches far and wide before clarifications fall through.

Thankfully, Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation clarified that the DGCA denying the permission to the chartered flight to fly is fake news.


To that, The Hindu journalist Vijaita Singh said how the claims are asserted by JD(S) and hence it would be better if Sinha puts out facts instead of just claiming that it is fake news.


To that, Sinha clarified, that domestic chartered flight require no DGCA approval.


He added that the ministry will give a detailed report today.

Meanwhile, Congress MLAs, who may soon swear in to serve the public, were seen escaping and changing buses on Hyderabad highway, where they are expected to stay.

Patiala House Court issues summon to abusive journalist from ‘The Wire’ in criminal defamation case

Sanghamitra
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Patiala House Court issues summon to abusive journalist from ‘The Wire’ in criminal defamation case

Delhi’s Patiala House court today has issued summon to abusive journalist Swati Chaturvedi for making derogatory comments against BJP spokesperson Tajinder Bagga. Bagga’s lawyer Alakh Alok Srivatsav today informed that the court summons issued are pertaining to offences punishable under sections 499, 500 and 501 of the Indian Penal Code.


Tajinder Bagga had filed the criminal defamation case against Chaturvedi after she posted an offensive tweet against him in March 2017. The Patiala House Court had recorded Bagga’s statement on the matter and had set a later date for further hearing.


The court summon states that at this stage the complainant (Bagga) has presented sufficient evidence for the court to form an opinion that by words intended to be read and published, the accused (Chaturvedi) has made imputations upon the character of the complainant intending to harm having reasons to believe that such imputations will harm the reputation of the complainant who is a public figure himself.

It is notable here that Chaturvedi is not new to abusing on Twitter. She is also known for filing fake stories and carried out targetted harassment. Chaturvedi is associated with the leftist propaganda website ‘The Wire’.

Paranoid Congress thinks BJP may get 1 ‘extra’ MLA by doing this

Anubhav
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Paranoid Congress thinks BJP may get 1 ‘extra’ MLA by doing this

Just when you think that the curtain has been closed in Karnataka election, a new drama is right around the corner. Yet another constitutional twist of plot seems to be unravelling in Karnataka. After hours of the swearing-in ceremony of BS Yeddyurappa, Congress-JD(S) has filed a petition to restrict the governor from nominating and appointing any member of the Anglo-Indian community as the MLA until the floor test is conducted.


The petitioners believe that BJP may try to add one MLA to their strength in the house which is set to go for a majority test in the coming days. Congress and JD(S) have submitted that by appointing one Anglo-Indian MLA, BJP may try to outnumber the opposition in the state assembly.

The petition points out at the probability of the Governor exercising his powers to nominate an Anglo-Indian MLA to the assembly under Article 333 of the Indian Constitution. The Article 333 of the Indian Constitution empowers the Governor of the State to nominate a member of the Anglo-Indian community to represent in the Legislative Assembly of the State if in his opinion the Anglo-Indian community is not adequately represented in the assembly or needs representation in the assembly.

The petition further states the unconstitutional nature of the Governor taking such step unilaterally or on the aid and advice of the Chief Minister. The Supreme Court’s preceding observations about such a move being unconstitutional has also been sighted in the petition.

Congress’ drama in Goa a year after elections, reflects their disregard for Court verdicts and the Constitution

Jhankar Mohta
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Congress’ drama in Goa a year after elections, reflects their disregard for Court verdicts and the Constitution

BJP’s BS Yeddyurappa took oath as Karnataka Chief Minister at 9 am today after his party was invited to form the government, and given 15 days to prove majority by the governor. The Congress, to ensure that does not happen, approached the Supreme Court late at night and asked for the swearing-in to be stopped. Three judges of the Supreme Court heard the petition in an unprecedented 2 am hearing, but refused to stay the oath-taking ceremony.

History seems to be repeating and the suspense over the government formation in Karnataka recalls the post-election situation in Goa in 2017. Governor Mridula Sinha that time had invited BJP leader Manohar Parrikar to form the government ordering a floor test to remove all possible ambiguities.

In the 2017 Goa Assembly elections, the BJP had won only 13 of the 40 seats. The Congress emerged as the single largest party with 17 seats. Goa Congress Legislature Party leader Chandrakant Kavlekar moved the Supreme Court on March 13, 2017, challenging the Governor’s decision to invite Parrikar to form the government.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, on behalf of the Congress, contended that since there was no pre-poll alliance, the Governor should have first asked the single largest party if it was in a position to form the government. The court, however, ruled that in such a situation, the Governor had discretionary powers and at the same time observed that “If the single largest party has the majority, then no such question has to arise. But when no political party is in majority, then it is the bounden duty of the Governor to see who can form the government. If nothing happens, then the Governor is duty-bound to call the leader of the single largest party but if someone goes to the Governor with a list of supporters, then it is a different issue altogether. Here, at no point in time, you (Congress) have demonstrated that they (BJP) don’t have the numbers but you do. Eventually, it is the question of healthy constitutional convention subject to the numbers,” it said.

Now, it seems Congress has turned the entire situation in an ego battle. After the Karnataka drama, they have claimed that after a year of government formation in Goa, they are going to march to the Governor’s house and demand that Congress be allowed to form the government (since they were the single largest party back then) and dismantle the current, full functional, stable government.


They don’t seem to realise that both times, whether in Goa or Karnataka, the fault lay with their fast asleep party president. In the Goa fiasco, neither party had a clear mandate and BJP was invited to form the government because they staked the claim and asserted that they had the numbers. The court asserted that at no point did Congress demonstrate that the BJP does not have the numbers to form the government. Rahul Gandhi was caught snoozing and despite being the single largest party didn’t stake claim to form the government.

In Karnataka, again since there was no clear mandate, and in the event of no pre-poll alliances, when both parties staked claim, the single largest party was invited to prove majority.

The verdict also made clear, that in such events, the Governor had discretionary powers to decide.

If the verdict delivered by the court when Congress had contested the Goa government is read, it is evident that both Goa and Karnataka decisions by the Governor are legitimate.

What Congress is doing now, is trying to dismantle a functioning government in Goa simply to get power, even if the state is affected in the process.

In both cases, it was the Governor’s discretion, and in both cases, it was because Rahul was snoozing, that the decision was delivered as it was.

Even lawyer Mukul Rohatgi explained the difference between the Goa scenario and Karnataka.


The irony of the situation is Congress has been crying over the same subject since 1952. The Governer’s decision post-Karnataka election has been the same as it was way back in 1952 during the first general election in Madras. That time too the Governor had invited the leader of the single largest party and a person to most likely to command a stable majority to form the government.


The Congress is well aware from innumerable instances in the past that the governor has the right to exercise discretion and appoint a government that is likely to have numbers in a floor test.

As the news of Congress’ drama in Goa trickled in, it was also reported that RJD’s Tejaswi Yadav was trying to pull a similar stunt in Bihar. Social Media erupted with reactions. Some were amused, others, disgusted.


Congress was also reminded that if they were confident of their numbers, they should simply bring a ‘no-confidence motion’ instead of resorting to such theatrics.


It’s time the Congress stops this brouhaha over petty issues, shows faith in the Constitution and the Indian Judicial system and rather indulging in this blame game start working towards its future endeavours because owing to the flawed and untimely decisions taken by the Congress party president the future of the party looks seemingly bleak.

Modi government reportedly signs deal worth Rs 150 Billion to build stockpile for a 30 day war

Anubhav
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Modi government reportedly signs deal worth Rs 150 Billion to build stockpile for a 30 day war

Sun Tzu, the great Chinese general once stated, “The line between disorder and order lies in logistics”. His words were as significant for the medieval battles as it is for contemporary wars. A war is won by not a nation’s ability to send men to the frontlines but by its ability to provide those men with essentials such as ammunition, foods. Numbers won’t matter if the magazines are empty.

If reports are to be believed, India, it seems, is waking up to this revelation made by the Chinese general. After years of deliberations, it has finally gone ahead with a mega 150 Billion INR project to indigenously produce ammunition for critical weapons and tanks. No nation can rely on foreign imports in times of need even hours delay in procurement can have devastating consequences. India’s decision to indigenously produce ammunition will also address the issue of dwindling stockpile of the Indian army.

The thumb rule followed by the defence establishment throughout the world is to have enough stockpile of ammunition to last 2 weeks of continuous fighting but for India and its critical geographical location demands a deviation from such standardization. This closely guarded project also aims to create an inventory for all major weapons to enable the forces to fight a 30-day hot war, on the long run it aims to cut back on dependency on imports.

According to news agency PTI, official sources mentioned the involvement of 11 private firms in this ambitious project. The top brass of Army and the Defence Ministry will be monitoring the inclusion and role of these private firms in this project. According to PTI, a senior government official involved in the project said, “The overall cost of the project has been pegged at Rs 150 billion and we have set a specific target for the next 10 years in terms of the volume of ammunition to be produced.”

Initially, the production of ammunition for a range of weapons like a range of rockets, air defence systems, artillery guns, infantry combat vehicles, grenade launchers, and various other field weapons would be produced under ‘strict guidelines’.

Army Chief Bipin Rawat since taking charge has been pushing for a fast track procurement programme for the second largest standing army in the world. In July last year, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in a report tabled in Parliament, said a stock of only 61 types of ammunition out of 152 varieties was available and that too enough for sustaining a 10-day war.

The incumbent government with this decision has heeded to the calls made by the army, has already finalized one of the biggest procurement plans for infantry modernization in a deal worth of 400 Billion INR.  Last year the government had empowered the army to directly procure ammunition and spares for 10 types of weapon systems and equipment after an internal review found that the optimum level of ‘’war stores’’ are not being maintained.

Karnataka Congress MLA seen walking out of the resort where he was being ‘imprisoned’ by his party

OpIndia Staff
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Karnataka Congress MLA seen walking out of the resort where he was being ‘imprisoned’ by his party

Following the fractured Karnataka mandate, which rendered the BJP eight seats short of majority, a JD(S) + Congress combine emerged as surprise contenders, after the majority partner Congress promised the Chief Ministerial position to the JD(S), which has won a mere 38 seats.

Later owing to the fears of BJP poaching their MLAs, the Congress and JD(S) decided to round up their MLAs and send them to the Eagleton resort near Bangalore to keep them ‘safe’.

An early flaw was exposed in the painstaking plans of these parties after it was reported that Congress’ re-elected MLA from Maski – Pratapgouda Patil, managed to unshackle himself from his party’s grasp and escape to an undisclosed location in a private jet. It was believed that he never boarded the bus to the resort.

His fellow MLAs though weren’t as fortunate and they have been virtually imprisoned in the resort since yesterday night.

The Congress party might have received another blow in this regards, after local news channel News9 posted a video which shows a Congress MLA walking out of the Eagleton resort, where he was being supposedly imprisoned:


The said video shows the Congress MLA Rajashekhar Patil leaving in his car owing to certain “health reasons”. He though was stopped by the police, who subsequently allowed him free passage after speaking to Congress MP DK Suresh. The NEWS9 report also claimed that Patil is one of the MLAs the BJP is wooing.

Besides this, a Swarajya report with regards to the matter has made a sensational claim that apart from Patil, six other MLAs too have walked out of the resort, which might potentially signal death for the Congress + JD(S) alliance.

It though remains to be seen whether the escaping MLAs have some plans of their own, or whether their disappearance is directly connected to the BJP hunting for ways to get a majority.

Dr Swamy reveals how BJP could have won 8 seats in Karnataka where losing margin was less than NOTA

OpIndia Staff
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Dr Swamy reveals how BJP could have won 8 seats in Karnataka where losing margin was less than NOTA

While BJP may be correct in calling itself the victor of the Karnataka elections, due to the fact that it is the single largest party, it is also true that they fell just a bit short of the magic halfway mark. Due to this, we have been seeing all kinds of political gymnastics in the past few days.

The battle of the votes was quite close in the end, as it was seen that BJP lost a few seats by a very slender margin, which was sometimes less than the votes polled by NOTA. In Badami, Siddaramaiah won by only 1,696 votes while the NOTA count stood at 2,007 votes. Similarly, in Gadag, the Congress defeated BJP by 1,868 votes, and NOTA polled 2,007 votes. The story is similar in 3 other constituencies: Hirekerur, Kundagol and Maski. In each of these cases the margin was below 700 votes, BJP lost, and NOTA polled more than the margin.

On the one hand, while some might say BJP came so close to a simple majority only thanks to Modi’s push, some people are also of the view that internal sabotage, rebels, and poor ticket distribution are also major factors to blame for BJP falling just short of the magic halfway mark.

BJP MP Dr Subramanian Swamy though has a totally different theory. He took to Twitter to elaborate how BJP could have avoided the narrow losses it faced:


Dr Swamy claims that if he had been “allowed” to campaign in Karnataka, BJP could have won 8 seats which were lost by a margin lesser than the NOTA votes. These 8 seats added to the 104 seats currently plus some independents and others, could have seen BJP romp home.

Dr Swamy backed his claim by citing the now epic battle of Bollywood villain turned Congress campaigner Prakash Raj, with Dr Swamy himself, on Times Now TV channel. Dr Swamy had totally destroyed Raj on the debate. As videos of the show went viral, Raj eventually accepted defeat on Twitter.

While Dr Swamy felt his onscreen machismo could have translated into on the ground votes and possibly 8 seats, some users disagreed saying that while Dr Swamy may be a fantastic debater, it may not be a substitute for mass appeal, needed in elections:


However, it is more important to note the choice of words used by Dr Swamy. He claimed that he was not “allowed” to campaign in Karnataka. The question, therefore, is who did not allow him to campaign? Dr Swamy has a long-standing feud with former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. But Jaitley was nowhere in the picture for the Karnataka campaign. Was it Amit Shah then, who is seen as the national level architect of BJP’s campaign? Or was it local CM candidate B S Yeddyurappa? That may seem unlikely since just a couple of days back he had referred to Yeddyurappa as his “good friend”


Then is Dr Swamy directly training the gun at PM Modi?

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