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Karnataka: CM Kumaraswamy bats for dynasty politics, says India developed only because of it

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Karnataka: CM Kumaraswamy bats for dynasty politics, says India developed only because of it

After whining about PM Modi’s complexion and skin tone recently and openly weeping in public yesterday, Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy has hailed dynasty and regional politics after casting his vote.

Speaking to the media after casting his vote in Karnataka’s Ramnagara, the son of JDS patriarch HD Devegowda and present Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy stated that dynasty politics is not an important issue right now and there are other issues to be discussed. He added that India has developed only because of dynasty politics and regional politics.


Kumaraswamy added that he is not bothered about the BJP’s criticism.

It is interesting to note that after weeks of tussles over Lok Sabha seat sharing with Congress, JDS had agreed on 8 seats. Out of the 8 seats, the party is fielding dynasts from 3. While party patriarch HD Devegowda is contesting from Tumkur,    his elder son Revanna’s son Prajwal Revanna is contesting from Hassan and Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil is contesting from Mandya Lok Sabha seat.

West Bengal: BJP worker murdered, body found hanging from a tree in Bengal’s Purulia

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal: BJP worker murdered, body found hanging from a tree in Bengal’s Purulia

In a shocking incident, a BJP worker was killed and his body was found hanging on a tree in West Bengal’s Purulia.


The 22-year-old, Sishu Pal Shahish was the son of a BJP member of the local gram panchayat and was associated with BJP Youth Wing. This is the third such incident in West Bengal’s Purulia district. Prior to this, two BJP workers, Trilochan Mahto and Dulal Kumar had also gone missing from the same Balrampur area last year and were found murdered later. While Mahato’s body was hanging from a tree, that of Kumar was hanging from a high tension electric pole.

Meanwhile, reports have emerged that a reporter and photographer of a vernacular channel have also been beaten up at Goalpokhar in Raiganj PC. They were left bleeding till colleagues rescued them and took them to hospital. They went to a booth following allegations of voter intimidation.

Acts of savageness due to extreme animosity have become common in West Bengal under the TMC supremacy. BJP workers have in the past few months, succumbed to a string of brutal political murders and political rapes. Several incidents of violence were also reported in West Bengal during the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections which concluded on April 11.

Violence had been reported in the two constituencies, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar, that had gone to polls in the first phase of the elections.

Allegations had been flying and TMC and BJP had both accused each other of attacking workers of the opposite faction and preventing voters from registering their votes.

In certain booths, only TMC agents were present in clear violation of rules and regulations. The BJP had alleged that their agents were threatened the previous night and their homes were attacked. A BJP camp office had also been attacked.

West Bengal has a history of political violence prior to every such election. The Panchayat elections which concluded last year was also marred by widespread reports of violence, murder and even capturing of ballot boxes. Twenty people were injured in a low-intensity blast at a polling station in Cooch Behar district and several incidents of pre-poll violence were also reported. The run-up to the Panchayat polls had been a bloody one as well.

The General elections in West Bengal will be held in all the seven phases starting April 11, 2019. Results will be declared on May 23.

As Rahul Gandhi attacks Modi for ‘working for industrialists’, Congress candidate uses endorsement by Ambani and others to seek votes

OpIndia Staff
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As Rahul Gandhi attacks Modi for ‘working for industrialists’, Congress candidate uses endorsement by Ambani and others to seek votes

Senior Congress leader Milind Deora and the Congress candidate from South Mumbai constituency has released an ad campaign appealing for votes. In the video, one can see several industrialists and small business owners endorse Deora’s candidature. Among the industrialists endorsing Deora, is Mukesh Ambani. Interestingly, Rahul Gandhi has been basing his entire campaign on attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “working for industrialists” like the Ambanis.


While Milind Deora, senior Congress leader is using the endorsement of industrialists to appeal for votes, Rahul Gandhi has been going hammer and tongs against the Prime Minister, asserting that PM Modi is not concerned about the poor, but only the industrialists.

Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly asserted that Prime Minister Modi has waived off loans of several industrialists but won’t do the same for farmers. He has constantly muddied the water by lying about the difference between ‘write off’ and ‘loan waiver’ in order to mislead people into believing that the Modi government has forgone all debts by industrialists.

In November 2018, Rahul Gandhi had said, “Modiji gave Rs 3.5 lakh crore to the 15 richest people of the country in the last 4-5 years. For running MGNREGA scheme in the country, an amount of Rs 35,000 crore is needed yearly but he waived loans worth 10 times that amount of 15 select industrialists”.

While the amounts and the number of industrialists mentioned by Rahul Gandhi keeps changing with every speech, he has maintained his erroneous attack against the Prime Minister. His attempt has been, perhaps, to try and create an image of himself that sits well with the poor population of India while chiding and deriding industrialists constantly.

While on the one hand, Rahul Gandhi has mounted an overall attack against industrialists, he has also gone after the Anil Ambani personally several times in connection with the Rafale case. The Rafale deal has been given a clean chit by the Supreme Court, and yet, Rahul Gandhi has insinuated wrong-doing on the part of the Prime Minister and insinuated repeatedly that Anil Ambani benefitted wrongly in the Rafale deal.

It is thus intriguing that while Congress president Rahul Gandhi has derided industrialists and the symbiotic relationship that any government would aim to share with the business class, Milind Deora, a senior Congress leader and a close aide of Rahul Gandhi has turned to these very industrialists for an endorsement and used their word to appeal for votes.

The hypocrisy displayed by the Congress party doesn’t end with Milind Deora’s vote appeal. Rahul Gandhi’s industrialist jibe has often boomeranged against him. In 2010 when the Congress government was in power, Mukesh Ambani had reportedly said that “Congress to ab apni dukaan hai”. BJP had used this to attack Congress and Rahul Gandhi and also revealed that it was in the Congress tenure, that several industrialists got loans ‘waived’ and exorbitant loans were also granted.

Congress’ hypocrisy is furthered by the fact that while Rahul Gandhi attacks industrialists on the whole and Anil Ambani in particularly, in the Reliance Telecom – Erriccson case, it was senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal who was representing Ambani. In fact, Rahul Gandhi had used the very case where Ambani was represented by Kapil Sibal to further lies about the Modi government and the Armed Forces.

Milind Deora’s vote appeal that uses industrialists’ endorsement is just another feather in the hypocritical Congress cap with the pack led by none other than Congress President Rahul Gandhi himself.

Even if our potatoes get dumped or we die of hunger, we will vote for Modi ji: Potato farmers in Hathras

OpIndia Staff
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Even if our potatoes get dumped or we die of hunger, we will vote for Modi ji: Potato farmers in Hathras

Potato farmers of Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh appear to have made up their minds about voting for Prime Minister Modi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. This what a BBC reporter found out while talking to farmers in Hathras.

The BBC reporter asked the potato farmers in the district which goes to poll on April 18 as to what did they think about who would win. To this, the farmers replied in unison that they would vote for Modi. “We have no complaints about Modiji,” they said in one voice. Rejecting the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in the State, the farmers termed all the three parties in the gathbandhan as thieves. ‘Sab log chor chor mausere bhai hai rahe hain (they are all thieves)”, replied one of them.

However people appeared disappointed with the local BJP MLAs or the MPs. “Lekin ye jo sir machinery hai na Modiji ki, jo Saansad hain Vidhayak hain, vo dekh bhi nhi rahe hain ki yahan kya ho rha h, aate bhi nahi yahan kabhi (The local MLAs and the MPs do not even come to see what is happening here)”, came a voice.

Despite their dissatisfaction with the local BJP leaders, the farmers hinged their hopes on PM Modi. “Chahe hamare aloo fik jaye, chahe hum bhukhe marein par vote Modi ji ko hi denge (Even if our potatoes get dumped or we die of hunger but we will vote for Modi ji)”, asserted a farmer. “Hume Modi hi Pradhan Mantri chahiye(We want only Modi as our Prime Minister)” said Puran Singh, a potato farmer.

Criticising the Congress Party the farmers said that the Congress did nothing for 50 years and that five years are not enough to change the country.

Political violence continues in Odisha: Mutilated body of BJP worker found on the eve of phase-2 polls

OpIndia Staff
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Political violence continues in Odisha: Mutilated body of BJP worker found on the eve of phase-2 polls

On the eve of the second phase of Lok Sabha and assembly polls, the mutilated body of a BJP worker was found in the Agajhola village in Bhanjanagar, Ganjam. The BJP worker, a 26-year-old man named Santosh Pati was allegedly found dead in a pool of blood, according to local reports.

As per reports, locals in the village discovered Santosh’s body and alerted the police. The police have since then sent the body for post-mortem at the Bhanjanagar hospital.

BJP leader Baijayant Panda has tweeted to request the ECI to take cognisance of the situation in Odisha and arrange for extra forces.


Tension prevailed in the locality and police forces have been reportedly deployed to handle any untoward situation as many areas of the state go to polls today.

The deceased person, Santhosh Kumar Pati reportedly hailed from the Lathipada panchayat. A scuffle had broken out among workers of two parties last night over tearing posters of their respective parties. News reports state that Pati was allegedly attacked with iron rods and left to die.

Prabhat Kumar Sahu, IIC of Saroda police station has stated that investigations are underway and police teams have been deployed to ensure smooth polling process in the area.

Incidents of political violence have been reported in Odisha in the past week. Earlier this week, a BJP Mandal president in Khurda town was shot dead by unknown assailants near the party office while the MLA candidate had a narrow escape.

It is notable here that a week ago, the nephew of the BJP MLA candidate in the same Bhanjanagar area was attacked by violent miscreants and had sustained critical injuries. Ajit Pradhan, the nephew of BJP MLA candidate Pradyumna Nayak was violently attacked after a public meeting of union minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Nayak had alleged that a local sarpanch named Tutu Pradhan had orchestrated the attack.

Two Punjabi men, who were arrested in 2015 on charges of murder, executed by beheading in Saudi Arabia

OpIndia Staff
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Two Punjabi men, who were arrested in 2015 on charges of murder, executed by beheading in Saudi Arabia

Two men belonging to Punjab have been executed by beheading in Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of External Affairs confirmed on Wednesday.

According to reports, two men, identified as Satwinder Kumar of Hoshiarpur and Harjeet Singh of Ludhiana, were executed in connection with a murder case. The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia, however, was not informed before Satwinder Kumar of Hoshiarpur and Harjeet Singh of Ludhiana were executed on February 28, said MEA.

As per officials Satwinder and Harjeet were arrested on December 9, 2015, on charges of allegedly murdering Arif Imamuddin, another Indian national.

Expressing shock over the deaths of two men, Punjab Chief Minister has condemned the execution, called it as “totally barbaric and inhuman” and he said that he would seek a detailed report from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

Reportedly, Amarinder Singh also said that he would seek information from the MEA regarding the charges and whether the due legal representation was provided to the two men.

He further expressed shock and grief over the “vicious act” and said it was atrocious that such incidents continued to happen in civilised nations even today. Captain Amarinder Singh has also criticised the MEA for failing to prevent, and then not disclosing the execution of the two men till it was forced to do so by a petition filed by Satwinder’s wife in Hoshiarpur district.

“If the executions were undertaken without prior information even to the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia, with the victims not provided legal counsel, it amounted to a grave violation of human rights,” the chief minister said in a statement here Wednesday.

The Punjab Chief Minister called upon the United Nations and other global human rights organisations to take serious cognizance of the incident and pressure Saudi Arabia “to end its ancient and blatantly illegal practices which were against all norms of humanity”.

As per the Saudi system, the families of the two deceased will only get death certificates and not the mortal remains, the MEA informed Satwinder’s wife Seema Rani. However, the chief minister said he would seek Swaraj’s intervention to take up the matter with the Saudi authorities at the highest level.

Captain Singh asked the Prime Minister to intervene himself to ensure the return of their mortal remains. The central government should also take steps to ensure that such incidents are not repeated and no Indian is denied justice or his/her legitimate right in any manner in the future, the chief minister said.

Reportedly, the family of Satwinder had received a call from Saudi Arabia on March 2 informing them about the execution. As there was no official confirmation, Satwinder’s wife Rani approached the MEA. However, she did not receive any confirmation regarding the incident, hence she filed a petition in Punjab and Haryana High Court, which issued a notice to the Centre on April 8 asking it to confirm if Satwinder had been executed in Saudi Arabia.

Following the High Court direction, the External affairs ministry confirmed the execution of Satwinder Singh and Harjit Singh. The MEA said that the Indian embassy on March 3 requested the Saudi authorities for providing information about the mortal remains of the two.

Voting concluded in second phase of elections, parts of West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir witness violence on polling day

OpIndia Staff
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Voting concluded in second phase of elections, parts of West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir witness violence on polling day

Voting for the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections has concluded with people of 95 out of 543 seats will cast their votes to choose their representative in the parliament. Amidst the incidents of violence reported from West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir, 11 states and 1 union territory voted today.

Voting took place in some parts of Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Puducherry, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

While the first phase saw the voter turnout of 69.43 per cent, the total voter turnout for the second phase was 61.12% till 5 pm.

Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, BJP MP Hema Malini, Senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily, Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar and National Conference President Farooq Abdullah were among the prominent candidates for Phase 2 Lok Sabha election 2019.

6:00 pm:

Times Now has reported that Hindu voters were reportedly blocked from voting at a polling booth in Raiganj constituency in West Bengal. As per Times Now, Hindu voters at a village in the constituency have alleged that while some were stopped from proceeding towards the polling booth, others claimed that bogus votes in their names had already been cast when they reached the polling station in the morning.

Surendra Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer, Odisha has recommended re-polling in booth 213 in Sundergarh, booth 129 in Bonai, and booths 210 & 222 in Daspalla assembly constituency due to technical problems in EVM machines and VVPATs. He said that the technical snag happened due to lapses on the part of polling officers.

Total estimated voters’ tunout has been recorded at 61.12% till 5 pm.

2:30 pm:

Shoe hurled at BJP Rajya Sabha MP GVLN Rao while he as addressing media.


Election Commission Flying Squad searched Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy’s chopper.

Voter turnout till 1 pm:

Assam: 46.42%
Karnataka: 36.31%
Manipur: 49.07%
Jammu and Kashmir: 29.6%

1:30 pm:

TMC workers clash with BJP workers inside a polling booth in Chopra, Darjeeling, break an EVM machine.

12:45 pm:

Stone-pelting incidents reported at polling station in Budgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Yesterday, two Army personnel, one CRPF jawan and one personal security officers were injured in pre-poll violence.

One ITBP jawan is injured in an IED blast in Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon.

11:30 am:

Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy bats for dynasty, says it is because of dynasty that India has developed.


His son Nikhil Kumaraswamy and father former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda are both fighting the elections. Nikhil is contesting from Mandya while HD Deve Gowda is contesting from Tumakuru in Karnataka. Kumaraswamy’s brother and JDS leader HD Revanna’s son, Prajwal Revanna is also contesting from Hassan.

In West Bengal, security personnel had to resort to lathi charge after people blocked NH-34 to protest after they were prevented from voting in West Bengal’s Chopra.


Meanwhile, voters in Garhi herbal village of Sadabad, Uttar Pradesh boycott election due to lack of development in Hathras. Election Commission flying squad has seized Rs 11.85 Lakh cash in Sion area of Mumbai City district. Polling has temporarily halted at booth number 217 in Solapur’s Shastri Nagar due to a fault in EVM.

10:30 am:

BJP worker’s body found hanging from a tree in West Bengal’s Purulia. In February this year, a VHP leader who had gone to attend Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adiyanath’s rally had gone ‘missing’ under mysterious circumstances. Two BJP workers Trilochan Mahto and Dulal Kumar had also gone missing from the same Balrampur area last year and were found murdered later. While Mahato’s body was hanging from a tree, that of Kumar was hanging from a high tension electric pole.

Acts of savageness due to extreme animosity have become common in West Bengal under the TMC supremacy. BJP workers have in the past few months, succumbed to a string of brutal political murders and political rapes.

9:45 am:

Goons stop people from voting in North Dinajpur, women voters attacked in North Dinajpur’s Chopra. Locals who protested the violence said that the police were mute spectators and remained inactive. North Dinajpur is the place where Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed was invited by TMC for campaigning for their candidate. Following a notice issued by the MHA, Ahmed was sent back, his visa was cancelled and he has been blacklisted.

Mutilated body of a person believed to be BJP worker recovered from Agajhola village in Bhanjanagar. This is reportedly third such murder of a person related to the BJP in a week in Odisha.

9:00 am: 

Reports of incidents of violence are coming in from West Bengal. As reported by ABP Ananda, some people were not being allowed to vote. When ABP Ananda journalists went to see, they were beaten up by TMC goons. A reporter and cameraperson were reportedly thrashed.


Reports of intimidating and threatening of voters in Darjeeling also pouring in.

8:15 am:

Polling is yet to begin at booth number 29/134 at Islampur Hindi FP School of Uttar Dinajpur, in Raiganj Parliamentary constituency, West Bengal as the EVM at the booth is not functioning.

Manipur Governor, Dr Najma Heptullah has cast her vote in an all women polling station.


The VVPAT which was not working properly in polling station no 200 in Silchar, Assam earlier today is working fine now.

In Bihar, voter turnout in 5 constituencies is 5.73% till 8 am.

8:00 am: 

Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi Palaniswami has cast his vote. Congress candidate BN Chandrappa sought his blessings from a cow before casting his vote in Tamil Nadu.

7:45 am:

Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has just cast her vote in Bengaluru South constituency.

Son of former Union Minister P. Chidambaram and Congress leader Karti Chidambaram has cast his vote in Sivaganga.


Income Tax Commissioner S. K. Srivastava had written to the Election Commission against Karti and his father P. Chidambaram for allegedly using black money to bribe voters. Labelling the DEO and RO as partisan and compromised, Srivastava has said that the officer has ignored that Karti Chidambaram has concealed that fact he is out on bail in many cases including cases relating to undeclared properties and assets. The I-T officer wrote that P Chidambaram has compromised the electoral process completely.

7:30 am:

Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shinde has cast his vote in Solapur, Actor Rajinikanth has voted in Stella Maris College, Chennai Central and Congress leader P. Chidambaram has cast his vote in Sivaganga.

Odisha state assembly elections also being held simultaneously. 35 out of 244 seats in Odisha Assembly will be in the fray today.

BJP writes to EC against Mamata Banerjee’s alleged biopic ‘Bhaghini’ set to hit theatres smack in the middle of elections

OpIndia Staff
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BJP writes to EC against Mamata Banerjee’s alleged biopic ‘Bhaghini’ set to hit theatres smack in the middle of elections

After the controversy over the release of PM Modi’s biopic, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday wrote to the Election Commission against the release of a movie which is purportedly based on Mamata Banerjee’s life.

In its letter of complaint, the Vice President of BJPs West Bengal unit, Joy Prakash Majumdar, said that the EC must review the biopic before its release as was done in the case of a biopic based on the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

SS of the letter written by Vice President of BJPs West Bengal unit to EC

The Bengali movie, named Baghini, is scheduled to release on May 3 in the middle of election season. While the director and producer of the film maintain that the film is only inspired by the life and struggles of Mamata, the timing of the film’s release is being questioned by many political rivals of TMC.

The Election Commission had stalled the release of Vivek Oberoi’s Modi biopic, claiming it could endanger the ‘level playing field’ and thereby threaten the “conduct of free and fair elections”. The BJP has now urged that the film ‘Baghini’ ought to be reviewed by the EC on the lines of what was done regarding PM Modi’s biopic.

Vivek Oberoi’s biopic on Prime Minister Modi was originally slated to release on April 11 which was also the date for voting in the first phase of Lok Sabha election 2019.

The release was eventually stalled after the matter reached Supreme Court and the apex court directed the EC to watch the film and submit a report in a sealed cover by the end of this week.

The BJP has also moved the Supreme Court on Wednesday against the scheduled release of Mamata Banerjee’s biopic, which the producers say has been “inspired” by the life and struggles of the West Bengal Chief Minister. The party has called it ‘Mamata’s hypocrisy’ since she had opposed PM Narendra Modi biopic.

Moreover, a delegation of CPI(M) leaders, led by party general secretary Sitram Yechuery, met Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Monday urging it to ban the trailer of the film ‘Baghini’. The Left party said that the movie could have an impact on free and fair elections. A CPI(M) leader said, “We are hopeful that after taking action against the Modi biopic, the EC will also take note of this film. It is pure propaganda.”

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has taken several steps in the recent past that have raised doubts about whether the decision is being influenced. The decisions are, more often than not, viewed as anti-Modi.

EC officials in Maharashtra had recently issued an order directing producers of television serials ‘Bhabhiji Ghar Par Hai’ and ‘Tujhse Hai Raabta’, aired on &TV and Zee TV channels, to remove content that deemed to benefit the “prospects of a political party” by praising government schemes like Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Swacch Bharat Abhiyan and Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana. Before this decision by the EC, Congress had objected to these serials.

A citizen had printed “No gifts, please vote for PM Modi” on his wedding card and had got a notice from the Election Commission too raising concerns about the Election Commission encroaching on citizen’s fundamental rights. The Election Commission had also served a show cause notice to ABVP students for a book launch that was organised in JNU claiming poll code violation. The ABVP had planned to launch #ModiAgain by author Aabhas Maldahiyar and Saffron Swords by Manoshi Sinha Rawal on 15th April. The event has now been cancelled.

The same Election Commission had served a show cause notice to officials for banning the release of a book on the Rafale Deal for violation of the MCC. However, the ban was subsequently revoked and the book was released.

Keeping all this in view, a group of 81 former civil servants that compromise of defence personnel, judges, academicians and professionals, led by former Delhi Police Commissioner R S Gupta have written to the President of India, Ramnath Kovind expressing concern on how EC is being forced by anti-Modi lobby to conform to a ‘particular line of behaviour’.

BJP claims that Lalu was willing to pull the plug on grand alliance in exchange for relief from CBI, Arun Jaitley refused flat out

OpIndia Staff
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BJP claims that Lalu was willing to pull the plug on grand alliance in exchange for relief from CBI, Arun Jaitley refused flat out

In a stunning revelation, the BJP had alleged that RJD supremo chief who is currently serving a jail sentence for his conviction in multiple fodder scam cases was making overtures to the Finance minister Arun Jaitley for getting relief from CBI in his fodder scam cases.

The BJP had claimed that Lalu Prasad Yadav had met Arun Jaitley and offered to pull down the grand-alliance government in Bihar in lieu of getting the CBI to go soft on him against his fodder scam cases.

In a press conference, the BJP leader Sushil Modi alleged that Lalu Prasad Yadav had approached Union Minister Arun Jaitley “three to four times” through his representative former Union Minister Prem Chand Gupta. However, Arun Jaitley passed up his requests following which Lalu Prasad Yadav himself met Jaitley, claims Sushil Modi. Revealing further details, Modi said that Yadav approached Jaitley after the setback he received from the Jharkhand High Court which refused to conduct separate trials for all the six fodder scam cases against the RJD supremo.

“Jaitley tersely told him that the CBI is an independent agency and government has no business to interfere in its functioning. Lalu Prasad Yadav has always castigated the BJP-RSS but never hang backs from seeking our help whenever it is to his advantage,” the BJP leader said.

Recently, a dejected Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was denied bail by the court had penned down a letter expressing his anguish for not being amongst the people during the elections. Lalu had then accused the BJP government of falsely implicating him in the fodder cases and urged people to save democracy and constitution in the upcoming elections.

Complaint filed against Mayawati’s statement in SC where she said if UP govt can make statue of Lord Ram, why can’t her statue be made

OpIndia Staff
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Complaint filed against Mayawati’s statement in SC where she said if UP govt can make statue of Lord Ram, why can’t her statue be made

A complaint has been filed in Delhi’s Tis Hazari Court by All India Raiger Mahasabha against BSP supremo, Mayawati, for allegedly hurting religious sentiments by saying “if ruling Uttar Pradesh government can make a tall idol of Lord Rama with government funds, then why can’t she make her own idol”.


BSP supremo Mayawati on April 2 defended her life-size statues in Uttar Pradesh which were built from crores of rupees in public money when she was UP Chief Minister. Justifying the need, Mayawati told the Supreme Court that her statues represent the “will of the people”.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, in an affidavit filed in the apex court, said the memorials and statues of herself and other leaders are “intended to promote values and ideals of various sants, gurus, social reformers and leaders among the public and not intended to promote the symbol of BSP or to glorify” her.

Mayawati, defending the use of public money for the construction of her statues audaciously compared it to the construction of the UP government’ proposed Lord Ram’s statue, asking the court as to why no objections were raised when state government proposed a 221-meter tall statue of Lord Rama in Ayodhya.

Mayawati filed an affidavit in the top court after her statues invited a plea. Advocate Ravi Kant alleged Mayawati spent public money on these structures.

In the plea filed in 2009, Kant claimed the former Chief Minister of UP spent money on acts of “self-aggrandizement”. He asked for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe and also a directive to remove the statues.

Notably, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had on February 8 hinted Mayawati might have to cough money from her own funds, which she spent on erecting statues of herself and the party symbol, the elephant, in public places, and return it to the public exchequer.

Defending the budget of the statues, Mayawati said funds for the construction of the memorial and installation of statues were sanctioned through budgetary allocations after approval of the budget by the state legislature.

Mayawati also sought the dismissal of a plea, which alleged that public funds were misused in the construction of memorials and statues, saying it is a politically motivated and gross abuse of process of a court of law. “Issue of the utilization of funds for a particular purpose is more a debatable question for political and moral purposes rather than a legal issue,” the affidavit read.

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