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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said his party too has made mistakes and will have to change its politics in future. The remark came at an event in Lucknow where he accused Narendra Modi of being a monarch and not a prime minister, calling him a front for «two-three financiers.» Answering a question from a member of the audience at the event on the Constitution, the former Congress president said he was «100 per cent» prepared to take on Narendra Modi in a debate, but he knew that the prime minister will not agree. «The Congress party will also have to change its politics in the coming times. This will have to be done. I also want to say that the Congress party has also made mistakes and I am saying this while being from the Congress party,» he said in his speech.

Narendra Modi said that he is seeking legal advice on how to return the money to the people that has been «looted in corruption», adding that already Rs 17,000 crore has been returned to victims of corruption. In an exclusive interview with the Republic, the Prime Minister informed that another Rs 1.25 lakh crore of seized money can be returned to the victims. «In Kerala, there is a big cooperative bank scam. These are controlled by communists. The money belonged to the middle class and the poor. I attached the property of the politicians involved in this. I am taking legal advice on this but in many cases, we get the trail of who paid whom. We have already given Rs 17,000 crore of looted money to the victims of corruption,» the Prime Minister said.

Naveen Patnaik does not become the chief minister of Odisha for the sixth time in a row after the assembly elections. Pandian, a close aide of Patnaik, challenged union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan to announce that the BJP leader would also take political 'sanyas' if the saffron party failed to come to power in the state. Pradhan is the face of the BJP in Odisha. «You (BJP) say that there is BJP wave and wave for a change in Odisha, but I strongly say that if the chief minister (Patnaik) does not become the CM again, I will take sanyas from politics,» Pandian said while addressing a rally at Brajrajnagar in Jharsuguda district.

Opposition leaders on Friday welcomed the interim bail given to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Supreme Court, saying the «fight to save democracy» will now be with more intensity. Congress leader Pawan Khera hoped former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren also gets due justice. «We welcome the intervention by the Supreme Court in granting bail to Arvind Kejriwal...We also hope that the prime minister gets enough time after June 4, when he becomes the former prime minister of India, to introspect sitting in Sabarmati Ashram the kind of politics he has indulged in,» he said. West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee also welcomed the Supreme Court order, saying «I am very happy to see that Shri Arvind Kejriwal has got interim bail. It will be very helpful in the context of the current elections.»

Congress on Friday submitted a memorandum addressed to Haryana Governor demanding that the «minority» BJP government in Haryana be dismissed. Senior Congress leader B B Batra, chief whip CLP, accompanied by Deputy CLP leader Aftab Ahmed, submitted a memorandum addressed to Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya on the political situation in the state. Earlier this week, three Independents had withdrawn their support to the Nayab Singh Saini government in Haryana. The Congress said that the ruling BJP was reduced to a minority in the assembly.

Amit Shah on Friday accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of maintaining silence on the issue of Sandeshkhali, where complaints of sexual abuse have emerged against TMC leaders, and said the BJP «will not spare single culprit and will hang them upside down». While addressing an election rally at Majdia in Ranaghat Lok Sabha seat in Nadia district, Shah alleged that Banerjee was «misleading» people on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) and slammed the TMC dispensation over alleged corruption cases in the state. On the incidents in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district, where allegations of sexual abuse against TMC leaders have been made, Shah said it is a matter of shame that «Mamata Banerjee, despite being a woman chief minister, tried to protect the culprits».

religious minorities: A cross-country analysis' presents a "scary" picture and that society and governments must take it seriously. Stating that he has not received the report, he said he has only read about it in the media. «A report has come regarding demographic change. Society and government should take it seriously. This is the only expectation because it has figured prominently in all the media, be it newspapers or news channels,» Joshi told reporters here. «This report is scary. Governments must take this report seriously and think about alterative measures,» Joshi said.

Nitin Gadkari on Friday said the opposition parties were confusing people by claiming that the BJP will change the Constitution if it retains power, but it was in fact the Congress that had brought constitutional amendments 80 times during its rule. He also alleged that due to the wrong economic policies of the Congress, people of the country remained poor. The Minister of Road Transport and Highways was addressing an election rally at Majalgaon town in Maharashtra's Beed district to drum up support for Pankaja Munde, Bharatiya Janata Party's Beed Lok Sabha seat candidate. «Our opposition has failed to convince people. Therefore it is confusing them. They (opposition leaders) say we (BJP) will change the Constitution. But there is a Supreme Court judgment that says the Constitution cannot be changed and only amendments can be done. So far, the Congress has carried out amendments to the Constitution 80 times,» he said.

Congress national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday alleged the ruling BJP seeks votes in the name of God instead of talking about how it will control inflation or provide employment to people. Addressing a number of 'nukkad sabhas' in support of Congress candidate from Amethi Lok Sabha seat Kishori Lal Sharma, Priyanka Gandhi said while Prime Minister Narendra Modi claims on TV that his government did in 10 years the work that was not done in the last 70 years, the situation on the ground level is different. Sharma is pitted against sitting Amethi MP Smriti Irani. The BJP leader had wrested the seat, which was considered a Gandhi family stronghold, from Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Targeting Irani, Priyanka Gandhi said her sole intention was to defeat Rahul Gandhi.

Delhi poll body has various mechanisms in place to monitor paid news and social media, Chief Electoral Officer P Krishnamurthy said, even as he admitted that it is not plausible to keep a check on online platforms due to the large volumes of content. In an interview with PTI, Krishnamurthy also dismissed allegations about the poll panel being biased and asserted that it provides a "level playing field". Announcing the schedule of the general elections for the 18th Lok Sabha, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar noted the complexity of tackling misinformation in the digital age and said the Election Commission had put in place certain measures to nip misinformation in the bud. Kumar had also said the commission would launch a "Myth vs Reality" project to clear the air around fake news on social media.

Pakistan being discussed when elections are taking place in India and the unemployment rate here is at a 45-year high, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked on Friday as she hit back at the BJP on the row over Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks. She also asked the ruling party to fight the polls on real issues. In an exclusive interview with PTI, Priyanka Gandhi accused the BJP of raising the Hindu-Muslim rhetoric to win the elections and asserted that the people don't want the polls to be contested on the basis of religion and caste. «People are saying you've (the BJP) won two elections on religion and now move forward from that,» the Congress general secretary said.

NCP leader Praful Patel on Friday took oath as member of the Upper House of Parliament in presence of Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. Patel was declared elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha on February 21. His fresh term as Rajya Sabha member began in April this year. «An immense honor to take the oath as a Rajya Sabha MP today, in the esteemed presence of the honorable Vice President, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar Ji,» Patel said in a post on X. The NCP leader described the oath-taking ceremony as a «moment filled with solemnity and commitment to serve the nation.»

Congress on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should break his «silence» over the issue of conducting a socio-economic census and removing the 50 per cent cap on caste-based reservations. In a post on X, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said the prime minister should answer questions on caste census. «The prime minister made many claims about himself at Nandurbar today. Many questions arise out of that, but I just want to ask three questions — everyone knows the marginalised communities cannot get their rights without the real numbers being revealed.» «The first question is why the census was not done in 2021… Census is conducted after every 10 years. According to this, the census should have been conducted in 2021. Why did you delay the census for three years? Why did you stop Dalit and tribal communities from getting information about their population?» Ramesh asked

Celebrations erupted at AAP's office in Delhi after the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till June 1. Jubilant workers danced and raised slogans such as "Jail ke taale toot gaye, Kejriwal ji choot gaye". In a major relief, the Supreme Court on Friday granted Kejriwal interim bail to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections. A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta said Kejriwal, arrested in a money-laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam, will have to surrender and go back to jail on June 2.

BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said Modi and his cabinet colleague Amit Shah are «worried» after the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections and they started abusing the Congress party. Addressing a press conference here, Kharge said to the BJP leaders, instead of seeking votes on their «development,» they are abusing the Congress leaders and distorting their (Congress) leaders' speeches, which according to him, is not required. Stepping up the attack on the saffron party, he asked «What is PM Modi doing if Congress is getting tempo loads of money from „Adani and Ambani?“ »After three phases of polls, Modi and Shah Saab got worried. They stopped talking about their manifesto, but only are abusing Congress," Kharge said.

MLAs on Friday withdrew their plea from the Supreme Court against the Himachal Pradesh Assembly speaker's decision to disqualify them from the House. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta was told by senior advocate Abhinav Mukherjee, appearing for the former MLAs, that they want to withdraw the petition. «We knew this was going to happen due to the elections,» the bench observed while allowing them to withdraw their plea. The six former MLAs are now contesting assembly bypolls, which were necessitated after their disqualification, as BJP candidates.

Election Commission of India on Friday criticised Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge for allegedly 'obstructing' the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The commission has termed Kharge's views as 'aggression on vitals of live election operations.' "Baseless allegations regarding release of voter turnout data in middle of ongoing polls are designed to create confusion, misdirection and impediments in the conduct of free and fair polls. Utterances can have negative impact on voters’ participation and demoralize the large election machinery across states," news agency ANI quoted EC as saying. “The pattern in series of past, present irresponsible statements from the Congress party is disconcerting,” the commission said.

NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar on Friday said the parliamentary democracy is under threat because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and he won't ally with those who do not believe in it. Pawar's statement has come after the prime minister advised the NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) to join hands with Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde after the Lok Sabha poll results instead of «dying by merging» with the Congress. Speaking to reporters here, Pawar said it is his clear opinion that parliamentary democracy is under threat because of PM Modi. «Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren were arrested and put behind bars. This (the arrests) would not have been possible without the role of the Central government and Central leadership. This shows how much faith they have in the democratic system,» the party chief said.

Kedarnath Dham, opened for devotees after a gap of six months, the first puja was performed in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who presided over the puja after the ceremonial opening of the doors of Shri Kedarnath Dham temple, welcomed all devotees and prayed for a safe and fulfilling journey for all embarking on the Char Dham pilgrimage. Speaking to on Friday, CM Dhami said, «The devotees and pilgrims from across the country and beyond wait for this pilgrimage every year. That pious day is upon us today as the portals of Kedarnath Dham have been thrown open. The devotees and pilgrims have arrived here in large numbers and all necessary arrangements have been made for them. I extend my greetings to all of them. Upon its ceremonial opening, the first puja at the Kedarnath Dham was officiated and performed in the name of PM Modi. The darshan (sighting of the deity) began following all the rituals. Since Narendra Modi became PM, work on the redevelopment of Baba Kedar temple has been happening in three phases. We are working to ensure that the project is completed at the earliest.»

Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's recent remarks regarding Pakistan have ignited a fresh political controversy, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing the Congress of having a soft stance towards India's neighbor. In an interview with 'Chill Pill,' Aiyar suggested that India should «respect» Pakistan due to its possession of nuclear weapons. He emphasized the importance of engaging in dialogue with the neighboring country. «They are also a sovereign country (Pakistan). They are a respected nation. You can talk tough with them (Pakistan). But start the dialogue. You are walking with a gun which yielded you nothing. Tensions are escalating. And if a mad person comes there, what will happen to the nation? They have an atom bomb. We also possess the atomic bomb. But if a mad person detonates our bomb at Lahore station, so within eight seconds, eight moments, its radioactivity will reach Amritsar,» Aiyar said in the video going viral on social media.

Bihar Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Less than a year ago, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar was seen as a formidable figure within the opposition, positioned as the strongest challenger to PM Narendra Modi. However, Kumar's current political landscape is marked by a flurry of strategic moves, as he works to reaffirm his loyalty to the saffron alliance, comprising the PM and the BJP. During a recent event alongside Modi in Aurangabad, Kumar aimed to dispel any doubts about his allegiance, stating, «While I may have momentarily strayed from the path, I want to assure you that I have returned to the NDA fold for good.» His remarks, met with subtle smirks from Modi and Bihar governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, highlight the intricate dynamics of political alliances in the state. As Bihar witnesses the fervour of election season, Kumar assumes a prominent role in numerous rallies, often sharing stages with BJP's key campaigners. However, amidst his speeches, Kumar's assurances of unwavering commitment to the NDA ring hollow to many. Aware of his history of political manoeuvring, the public responds with scepticism, mindful of past promises that were quickly forgotten.