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Tag: BJP

  • There was ‘bahubali’ in every district under SP, but it is ‘Bajrangbali’ now: Shah

    By PTI

    ALIGARH/BUDAUN: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday targeted Samajwadi Party, saying if Akhilesh Yadav becomes the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, his government will show “red light” to development and green light to “mafia and musclemen”.

    “There was ‘Bahubali’ (musclemen) in every district under the previous regime, but in the present Yogi Adityanath’s regime, there is no such mafia. There is only ‘Bajrangbali’ now,” the BJP leader said addressing election rallies.

    Referring to the BJP’s poll symbol he said, “Goddess Lakshmi entered every household with the lotus and referred to welfare measures taken by the government, especially during the Covid pandemic.”

    Shah warned the voters that if the “mafia rule” returns in Uttar Pradesh, “industries will go”. 

    “If you search for the mafia, you can see it at three places in UP – they are visible in jail, second outside UP and third you will see in the list of candidates of Samajwadi Party,” he said.

    The BJP leader also accused the SP, BSP and the Congress of opposing the abrogation of Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, for their “vote bank” politics.

    “Had SP, BSP, Congress been in power, would they have withdrawn Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir? When Modi ji became PM for the second time, he withdrew it (Article 30) on August 5, 2019. Akhilesh Yadav was against it. Why do you do such vote bank politics?” he said.

    “He (Akhilesh) stood in front of me and said due to the decision (revoking Article 370) ‘khoon ki nadiya bahengi’ (rivers of blood will flow) but Akhilesh Babu leave that river of blood, no one had the courage to throw even a ‘kankad’ (stone),” Shah said, asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has secured the nation.

    He was addressing rallies in Atrauli, Aligarh, where Sandeep Singh, former UP CM Kalyan Singh’s grandson, is the party candidate and in Badaun. 

    “Akhilesh government will show red light to development and green light to the mafia and ‘bahubali’ (musclemen)”, Shah said, asking the people whether they wanted “red-light, green-light” government.

    ALSO READ: Goons, mafia of UP have fled, are in jail or appear in Samajwadi Party’s list of candidates: Amit Shah

    The SP flag has red and green colours. “For the 15 crore people of UP, this is not only the lotus flower but also mother Lakshmi, Ma Annpurna, which came to their houses. Modi fed their children for two years,” he said.

    He said that if “mafia rule” again comes into the state, people will hesitate to invest in the defence corridor in Aligarh, announced by Prime Minister Modi in 2018. Shah asserted that the general elections in 2014 and 2019 and the assembly polls in 2017 were for “changing the fortune (kismat) of Uttar Pradesh”.

    He said the SP and the BSP “gripped with casteist thinking” could never do any good for the state.

    “During SP and BSP rule, goondas (criminals) used to harass people and police used to run away from them, but under (CM) Yogi Adityanath regime, criminals and mafias are migrating out of the state,” he said.

    Shah alleged that the SP, the BSP, and the Congress cannot rule in a “transparent and corruption-free” manner “Only the BJP and lotus symbol could give corruption-free government under the leadership of Modi,” he said Polling will be held in Atrauli on February 10 in the first phase. BJP stalwart Kalyan Singh had represented this seat many times.

    On his relations with Kalyan Singh, Shah said, “In 2013, when I was sent as the in-charge of UP, I had visited Lucknow and Varanasi. I sought time from ‘Babuji’ (Kalyan Singh), he invited me for food at home and like a father held my finger and taught me about Uttar Pradesh politics. Kalyan Singh was the person who first talked about giving the backward society its due right,” he said.

    The Union home minister said for ‘Ramjanmbhoomi’, Kalyan Singh had resigned as the chief minister and “our PM (Modi) has laid the foundation of Ram temple”.

    Shah urged the people to once again vote the Yogi Adityanath government to power and also ensure the victory of Sandeep Singh. 

    ALSO READ: UP polls: Voting for SP-RLD alliance will lead to ‘reign of terror’, cautions Amit Shah

    Alleging that Akhilesh Yadav misled the people on the Covid vaccine, Shah said, “He used to say it’s BJP’s vaccine, I will not take it.vHe misled the people of UP and the country.vHe, however, out of fear took the vaccine himself. Had you all not taken the vaccine, would you be able to save yourself in the third wave? Narendra Modi secured 130 core people by getting them vaccinated,” he said.

    Shah also hit out at Congress, saying when there was “Sonia-Manmohan” government at the Centre, anyone used to enter India from Pakistan and cut off the heads of soldiers and the prime minister at that time would not react. “‘Mauni baba’ (Manmohan Singh) used to remain silent.

    “When the Modi government came, Pakistan-sponsored terrorists did not know that the government changed. When they attacked in Uri and Pulwama, within 10 days there was a surgical strike and terrorists were eliminated inside Pakistan,” he said.

    Taking a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Shah said he did not know about Kharif and Rabi crops and ”if someone would tell him to talk about potato growers in Aligarh he would say he will open a potato factory here.” 

    “Can a person who does not know that a potato is grown in a field and not a factory resolve problems of farmers,” he said.

    Refuting Akhilesh Ýadav’s claim of bad law and order in the state, Shah said as compared to the previous regime, dacoity cases have been reduced by 70 percent, loot by 69 percent, murder by 29 percent, kidnapping by 35 percent, and rape by 30 percent.

    He said people like Azam Khan, Atiq Ahmad, and Mukhtar Ansari, who are seen with Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav, are in jail.

  • Uttarakhand polls: Congress manifesto full of false promises, says BJP

    By PTI

    DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand BJP on Wednesday said the Congress manifesto released by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra here for the assembly polls in the state is full of false promises.

    Describing the manifesto as a “pack of lies”, Uttarakhand BJP president Madan Kaushik said the Congress has done exactly the opposite of what it has promised in the document while distributing tickets in the state for the elections.

    Despite promising to give 40 per cent of tickets to women, the party cancelled the candidatures of some women it had fielded, including Dalit candidate Barkha Rani and Sandhya Dalakoti from Lalkuan, Kaushik alleged.

    “Priyanka Gandhi should first explain this anomaly,” he added.

    Kaushik said Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was here recently to announce that LPG prices will not be allowed to cross Rs 500 if the Congress was elected to power.

    “He should first explain why LPG cylinders are selling for Rs 1,000 in his state,” the BJP leader said.

    Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot comes here and talks about unemployment, but the unemployment rate in his state is higher than Uttarakhand, Kaushik added.

    In Rajasthan, the rate of unemployment is 20.3 per cent, while it is 5.6 per cent in Uttarakhand, the BJP leader said.

  • BJP MLA from Bara seat quits party

    By PTI

    PRAYAGRAJ: The BJP MLA from reserved Bara assembly constituency in Prayagraj district quit the party on Wednesday in protest against allegedly being kept in dark about the party’s intention to leave the seat for a coalition partner candidate.

    BJP MLA Ajay Kumar told reporters that he has resigned from the primary membership of the party.

    Explaining his reason for taking the drastic step, Dr Kumar said he had been hearing of the BJP leadership’s intention to leave the Bara seat for a candidate of alliance partner Apna Dal (S), “I have no remorse against it but I have been hurt by the fact that none of the top leaders of the party deemed it necessary to take me into confidence and inform me about it,” he said.

    “I have been deeply hurt by it and I am leaving the BJP with a heavy heart. I performed honestly and sincerely all the duties and responsibilities assigned to me as a BJP worker and MLA. The party was never hurt or harmed by any of my actions,” he said.

    Dr Kumar had won from Bara in both the 2012 and the 2017 assembly elections — first as a Samajwadi Party candidate and then as a BJP member.

  • Criminals will face ‘bulldozer’ after UP polls results: Yogi

    By PTI

    MATHURA: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath here on Wednesday warned criminals that they would face the “bulldozer” once the elections results are out.

    Adityanath was addressing a public rally in Tarauli village of Chhatta assembly constituency. “Bulldozer will move against unsocial elements and mafia after March 10,” Adityanath said, apparently referring to the raising of illegally-constructed buildings by criminals.

    He said they will be sent “notices” for their involvement in criminal activities. He also assured that the killers of Ramveer – a village Pradhan who was shot dead last week – will not be spared.

    The CM referred to riots in Kosi Kalan in Mathura and Muzaffarnagar that broke out under the Samajwadi Party government. He alleged Hindus were killed in those riots and property of traders was devastated incited by activists of Samajwadi Party.

    Adityanath said during the SP regime people were implicated in false cases and massive firing was done on “Ram Bhakts”.

    He said the colour of the cap of SP has been stained with their blood. “How astonishing is it that in spite of such acts, they are shamelessly asking people to support them,” he said in his campaign speech in support of UP minister Laxmi Narain Chaudhary.

    ALSO READ: Fielding Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur will also help party maintain hold on other seats in region, BJP hopes

    The CM also addressed public meetings in Goverdhan, campaigning for BJP candidate Megh Shyam, and in Mathura where he campaigned for cabinet minister Srikant Sharma. Adityanath also claimed that the third wave of Covid will be over within a week.

    He complimented Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his handling of the pandemic and held responsible massive vaccination for the stemming of the third wave. He said during the peak of Covid he and his fellow party members worked to help people, while “none of the leaders or activists of SP, BSP, or Congress came out of the four walls of their house.”

    He said the UP government is distributing tablets and smartphones among youths to pave the way for their proper online study.

    Adityanath announced that the Chhatta Sugar mill has been green-lighted and funds to that end have also been released. Besides the sugar mill, the farmers of the area will now also be benefited from the purchase of one lakh metric ton potato by PepsiCo, the Chief Minister said.

    He said factories during the SP regime were not established in the area owing to poor law and order as even people were unsafe then.

  • UP polls: Mayawati kicks off BSP campaign from Agra, says BJP, SP and Cong ‘anti-Dalit’

    By PTI

    AGRA: BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday hit out at BJP, SP and Congress for not doing enough for Dalits and asserted that her party has a track record of working for all sections of society as she launched her party’s campaign for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

    Terming the rival parties “anti-Dalit”, she said though they make various promises in their manifestos ahead of polls, they forget about them after coming to power.

    Mayawati, who has been conspicuous by her absence from the high-octane campaigning in the state, also said she has been living in Lucknow for a year and working to rebuild the BSP.

    She said some “casteist media groups” are trying to demoralise BSP supporters by saying that their party leaders are missing on the ground.

    The BSP is contesting all 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh. The party has declared names of candidates for the majority of the seats. Targeting the ruling BJP, Mayawati said the party is pursuing the “narrow-minded agendas” of the RSS.

    “Their (BJP) policies are focused on promoting casteist, capitalist, and narrow-minded agendas of the RSS. This has resulted in an environment of religious tension and hate in the state,” she said.

    “People from Dalit and backward communities have not benefitted from the BJP government’s policies, including reservation in government jobs, because it has involved the private sector in most of its projects,” she added.

    “The upper caste also feels neglected under the BJP. The government’s policies have led to price rise and an increased number of people living in poverty. “It appears that the fuel prices will be increased once the elections are over. Youngsters from the state are forced to migrate due to the lack of employment opportunities,” Mayawati said.

    ALSO READ: UP elections: Mayawati launches attack on SP, Congress and BJP in first poll rally in Agra

    The BSP chief claimed the migrants who returned to the state during Covid pandemic were forced to go back due to the lack of employment opportunities in the state. She said the common people in Uttar Pradesh have only suffered under the rule of BJP, Congress, and Samajwadi Party.

    “The BSP, which has worked for the upliftment of people from all sections of society, is the only alternative for good governance,” she added. Mayawati also accused the SP of adopting a “step-motherly” approach towards Dalits and most backward sections of society.

    “After coming to power (in 2012), the SP changed names of districts we had christened after Dalit icons,” she said. “When a bill on reservation in promotion for Dalit officers was brought in Parliament, the SP tore it and did not allow it to get approved,” she claimed.

    The BSP chief said criminals and the mafia flourished under the SP government. The Muzaffarnagar riots also took place during the SP’s tenure.

    Mayawati attacked the Congress over its “hostile” attitude towards Dalits, alleging that its government had denied the Bharat Ratna to B R Ambedkar, who is considered the architect of the Indian Constitution, and to Dalit icon Kanshi Ram.

    ALSO READ: BJP, Samajwadi Party giving casteist colour to Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls: BSP chief Mayawati

    “They (Congress) also did not implement the Mandal Commission report on reservation in government jobs. After a prolonged struggle, the BSP got it implemented when the V P Singh government was in power,” she said.

    Mayawati also targeted the media for building the narrative that BSP leaders were absent on the ground.

     “Some casteist media groups have tried to demoralise our supporters by saying that BSP leaders are missing and not moving anywhere.  I have been living in Lucknow for the last year and have worked to build the party again in Uttar Pradesh. I want to tell the media that I have been busy with election work all this time and the BSP will return with a majority in Uttar Pradesh,” she said.

    Rival parties had on several occasions ruled the BSP “out of the race”. However, Mayawati hit back at them saying they would be proved wrong as had happened in 2007.

    The BSP came to power with a majority in Uttar Pradesh in 2007, proving pre-poll predictions wrong. Mayawati became the chief minister for the fourth time that year.

  • BJP announced list of 17 candidates, no mention of Hriday Narain Dikshit, Swati Singh

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The BJP on Tuesday announced a list of 17 candidates for the Uttar Pradesh polls and did not include Assembly Speaker Hriday Narain Dikshit and minister Swati Singh in it while Brijesh Pathak’s seat was changed.

    The names announced on Tuesday included candidates for all the nine Assembly seats in Lucknow.

    Ashutosh Shukla has been fielded from Bhagwantnagar in Unnao district where Hriday Narain Dikshit is the outgoing MLA.

    Rajrejeshwar Singh, who has taken voluntary retirement after being deputed to the Enforcement Directorate from the Uttar Pradesh police, has been fielded from Sarojini Nagar, the seat of outgoing minister Swati Singh.

    Both Swati Singh and her husband Daya Shankar Singh had been vying for the Sarojini Nagar seat.

    Incumbent Lucknow (central) MLA and minister Brijesh Pathak has been fielded from Lucknow Cantonment, burying speculations of the new entrant in the BJP Aparna Yadav, the daughter-in-law of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, being fielded from there.

    Aparna Yadav had contested from the seat in the previous elections but had faced defeat. According to the BJP’s list, state minister Ashutosh Tandon will contest from his Lucknow east seat.

  • BJP is banking on Cong defections for forming next govt in Goa, Kejriwal claims

    By PTI

    PANAJI: The ruling BJP’s “strategy” after the Goa Assembly elections would be to woo Congress legislators and form government again, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed on Tuesday.

    The Aam Aadmi Party leader arrived in the coastal state for a four-day campaigning tour ahead of February 14 elections.

    Speaking to reporters at the airport, he said, “This Assembly election is crucial for Goa. Goans must decide what is best for them. One option is to support the AAP, which has promised a corruption-free government. Another option is to support the BJP directly or indirectly. In the last election, Goans were fed up with the BJP government and chose Congress. But Congress MLAs let them down,” he said.

    The situation was the same this time with talk of Congress defections in every part of the state, Kejriwal said. “The BJP has planned a new strategy. Once Congress candidates win their seats, they are going to join the BJP,” he claimed.

    ALSO READ: Atanasio Monserrate Babush: Social worker candidate in Goa owns fleet of cars

    The BJP knows that it cannot form a government without winning across the Salcette bastion of Congress, so it has put up seven candidates in the constituencies in the area on Congress ticket and is financing them, he alleged.

    In 2017, Congress had emerged as the single-largest party, but it could not form a government. Most of its legislators deserted the party over the next five years.

  • Union Budget: Mamata says zero for common man, Amit Mitra calls it a hoax, BJP hits back

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Terming the union budget presented in Parliament on Tuesday as a “Pegasus spin budget”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said it has got nothing for the common people who are being crushed by inflation and unemployment.

    Banerjee’s principal chief advisor Amit Mitra claimed there is no direction for financial growth in the union budget and it is “either a hoax or lack of goodwill”.

    The opposition BJP supported the Union budget as “pro-people” and asked the TMC government to come out with a white paper on the amount of investment that has materialised in the state in the last ten years.

    Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presenting the union budget in Parliament said the country’s economic growth is expected to be at 9.2 per cent in the current financial year on the back of a sharp rebound in the economy.

    Criticising the budget, Banerjee said the Centre was lost in “big words signifying nothing”. “BUDGET HAS ZERO FOR COMMON PEOPLE, WHO ARE GETTING CRUSHED BY UNEMPLOYMENT & INFLATION. GOVT IS LOST IN BIG WORDS SIGNIFYING NOTHING – A PEGASUS SPIN BUDGET (sic),” she tweeted.

    Mitra, who was addressing a virtual press conference, said India is the only country globally with stagflation and the union budget will hit rural employment further with the reduction in allocation for the job guarantee scheme.

    “There is no allocation for social security schemes. The biggest thing is that there is no solution for middle class employees in the budget. Around 1.20 crore middle class people lost their jobs in lockdown. What is allocated for them in the budget? What is allocated in the budget for the families of those who lost their lives due to COVID? There is nothing,” he said.

    Mitra, a former finance minister of the state, said there is no direction of financial growth in this union budget. “The income tax structure remains unchanged. There is nothing for the poor and middle class. The Centre’s budget is either a hoax or a lack of goodwill,” he said.

    Mitra said the amount allocated for 100 days work had been reduced from Rs 98,000 crore to Rs 73,000 crore in this year’s budget, which is a “terrible thing”.

    The budget does not address the problem of 30 million unemployed people or inflation of 14 per cent of wholesale prices or 6 per cent of the increase in consumer prices.

    “It does not stimulate demand by putting money in the hands of the common people – something that all other countries are doing,” he said.

    The BJP on the other hand accused Mitra and the TMC government of destroying the state’s economy. “The union budget is a pro-people budget. The TMC has opposed it for political reasons. But before opposing it, TMC should answer why Bengal has been pushed to a debt trap. It should come out with a white paper on the investment the state has received and those which has been implemented on the ground,” BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said.

    Criticising the union budget as “anti-people’, CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said it is a “Sale India budget conceptualised by a party which has no contribution in either the country’s independence or nation building.” 

  • J-K: NC youth activist among many prominent leaders join BJP

    By PTI

    JAMMU: A youth activist of the National Conference (NC) and leaders from other parties joined the BJP here on Tuesday, the party said.

    NC leader and social activist Shaida Maqsood, along with her supporters, joined the BJP and the party’s headquarters here.

    Similarly, other prominent leaders from Manjhakot, Rajouri, joined the saffron party.

    J-K BJP president Ravinder Raina, general secretary Vibodh Gupta and BJP headquarters in-charge Priya Sethi welcomed them into the party fold.

    Speaking on the occasion, Raina said people are joining the BJP due to its development-centric policies.

    Sethi said the BJP is the best platform to serve the nation and society.

  • Government accepts ED officer Rajeshwar Singh’s VRS; may contest UP polls on BJP ticket

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Enforcement Directorate officer Rajeshwar Singh has been granted voluntary retirement from service (VRS) by the Union government.

    He is expected to join the BJP and contest the upcoming Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

    Singh, who was serving as the joint director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Lucknow so far, tweeted to announce that he was ‘hanging up his boots’.

    “Today my request for voluntary retirement (VRS) from the service of Government of India has been approved. The caravan of 24 years of tireless and conscientious hard work, carried out in a relentless manner, has reached a point of transition today,” he stated in a letter attached with the Twitter post on Monday night.

    The officer began his civil service career with the Uttar Pradesh Police, where he served for about 10 years while the rest were in the ED, a federal probe agency that investigates money laundering and foreign exchange violation crimes.

    “As my professional journey of 24 years turns to a transition today, on this occasion, I express my deep seated gratitude to the Hon PM Shri @narendramodi ji, Hon HM Shri @AmitShah ji and FM Smt @nsitharaman ji, CM Shri @myogiadityanath ji, Shri S K Mishra, Director ED and Uttar Pradesh Police. I have learned a lot while working with these organizations for so many years.”

    “I join the PM’s mission to make India a Vishwa Guru, as a participant, to contribute with conviction and integrity in this process of nation-building,” he said.

    The officer had applied for VRS late last year.

    Sources said he may contest the Uttar Pradesh polls on a BJP ticket.

    A B.Tech and PhD in police, human rights and social justice, Singh joined the ED in 2007 on deputation.

    He was permanently absorbed into the ED cadre in 2014 and has headed some high-profile investigations into the 2G spectrum allocation case, the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the money laundering cases against former Union finance minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, the Aircel Maxis and VVIP choppers case.

    Assets worth about Rs 4,000 crore were attached in his probes.

    “I am deeply satisfied that despite various threats and pressure tactics from unscrupulously corrupt leaders, my courage to do my job without bowing down has been appreciated time and again by the Hon’ble Supreme Court,” he stated.

    The officer has had a share of controversies, including an instance in June 2018, when the Finance Ministry submitted a secret report to the Supreme Court, apparently carrying details of a phone call received by the officer from Dubai.

    The report is said to have been prepared by country’s external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing and handed over to the Department of Revenue in the Finance Ministry, under which the ED functions.

    The then ED director Karnal Singh had issued a press statement saying the overseas call received by Rajeshwar Singh pertained to an “ongoing investigation” and that he was a responsible officer with outstanding career records.

    The government had also launched an investigation against Rajeshwar Singh for his letter in which he had made a scathing attack on the then revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia questioning him if the latter had developed animosity against him by “siding with scamsters and their affiliates.”

    Rajeshwar Singh was subsequently issued a notice seeking an explanation for alleged “insubordination” in the context of this letter by the revenue department, to which he has replied with a “regret” and had explained his side of the story.

    That letter, sources had said, was sent through “official channels” to the agency’s chief Karnal Singh but it was never forwarded to Adhia.

    Accusations of certain other alleged irregularities made against Singh were probed by the ED, the CBI and the Central Vigilance Commission, and a report was sent to the court and the government stating that there was “no merit” in the allegations and hence the inquiry was closed.

    Singh, who carried out numerous encounters during his stint in the uniform, is married to IPS officer Laxmi Singh, who is currently serving as the Inspector General of Lucknow police range.