State Other Financial News

Congress on Monday announced four more Lok Sabha candidates from Punjab, fielding PCC chief Amarinder Singh Brar (Raja Warring) from Ludhiana and party general secretary Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa from Gurdaspur. The party has fielded former MP Vijay Inder Singla from Anandpur Sahib and Kulbir Singh Zira from Khadoor Sahib, replacing sitting MP Jasbir Singh Gill. Congress MP from Anandpur Sahib Manish Tewari has been shifted to Chandigarh Lok Sabha constituency while Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu has joined the BJP. With Monday's list, the party has announced candidates for 12 of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab.

Prajwal Revanna, who is the grandson of JD(S) supremo and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda erupted in Karnataka. The scandal involves explicit videos, allegedly shot by the MP himself shows faces of his victims that started circulating widely in Hassan, days ahead of the polling date in his constituency. The 33-year-old Prajwal was contesting from the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, which went to polls on April 26. Even as loads of pen drives containing the explicit clips were being widely distributed in Hassan LS constituency days before the polling, the police had not acted for want of a complaint from victims.

Prajwal Revanna leaving the country, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Monday claimed that it is Bharatiya Janata Party that has helped Hassan MP escape authorities in the alleged obscene video case. Prajwal Revanna was booked in a sexual harassment case on Sunday following complaints by his former house help. Speaking to ANI, Priyank Kharge said, «They (BJP) ensured that he fled the country. Today, if he's left the country as the rumours are being floated, then how did he leave the country? Who facilitated it? I'm directly blaming the BJP on this front.»

Arvind Kejriwal's reign as the Delhi Chief Minister as nation's top officials including Delhi High Court and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have criticised him running his office from Tihar jail. PM Modi in an interview to TOI said that he felt «other politicians won't be so lacking in morals.» «I think it is the media's responsibility to show the people the full perspective on this (Kejriwal) issue, how people of Delhi are suffering, and what the courts have said about the case,» Modi said when asked about a sitting Chief Minister being in jail.

Congress released a list of two candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections from Odisha and eight candidates for elections to the legislative assembly of the state. The party has fielded Nagendra Pradhan and Suresh Mohapatra to contest from Sambalpur and Cuttack LS seats respectively. According to the candidate list released by AICC's Central Election Committee, former MLA Debi Prasad Chand will contest from Jaleswar assembly segment, while Monalisa Lenka will fight from the Balasore assembly seat.

Bengaluru: BJP MP from Karnataka's Chamarajanagar and former Union minister V Sreenivasa Prasad, who was undergoing treatment at a private hospital here, died on Monday, family sources said. He was 76. Prasad is survived by his wife and three daughters. The six-time MP from Chamarajanagar and two-time MLA from Nanjangud in Mysuru district was ailing for some time. On March 18 this year, Prasad announced his retirement from electoral politics, marking an end to his almost 50 years in public life.

Rajnath Singh talks about the security situation, political issues dominating the current elections and the BJP government's performance in a freewheeling discussion at the ET Political Roundtable. Excerpts: On the assessment of elections in the first two phases. As per the assessment, it appears that we will achieve the target of 400 seats. Looking at the atmosphere across the country and the response of the masses and the survey agencies which are working for us, we are confident that we will achieve our target.

security situation in Jammu and Kashmir is «comfortable to hold elections,» defence minister Rajnath Singh told ET, adding that the final decision rests with the Election Commission (EC). EC has decided to hold only Lok Sabha elections — being held across the country in phases until June 1 — in the current poll cycle in the Union Territory. The Supreme Court earlier said Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections should be held by September. These were last held in 2014. «The final decision will be with EC, but we do want polls to take place,» said Singh. «The security situation is comfortable to hold elections. In terms of (security) data, I would say we are 95% there.»

Odisha is being run by 'PANN' (Pandian, Amit Shah, PM Narendra Modi and Naveen Patnaik)," said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday, claiming that Bharatiya Janata Party and Biju Janata Dal have «married» each other in the state. Last October, former IAS officer and Odisha CM Patnaik's close aide V K Pandian was appointed Chairman 5T (Transformational Initiatives) with the rank of cabinet minister. Wayanad MP said, «You (people) have eaten enough PANN, now it is the time for the Congress government in Odisha.»

Modi on Sunday claimed that the INDIA bloc has come up with a "formula" whereby the parties in the opposition alliance will get the PM's post for one year each if they come to power.«With such a system, the good of the country cannot be expected,» he said at an election rally here, as he urged the people not to waste their vote. «I have heard that the INDI Alliance has invented a new formula...if the country has to be given into someone's hands, will we think before giving it or not? Will you give it to anyone? We will think whether the person is able to handle the country or not, will the track record be analysed or not?» Modi asked the people. Questioning the INDIA bloc on which person or leader among them could the people hand over the country's responsibilities to, he asked, «Is there any name? Will you accept without any name, keeping you in the darkness? Will the country accept it?»

Sajjad Lone, who heads a faction of People's Conference, has accused last governor of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir Satya Pal Malik of being the first person to start public slandering of Kashmiris and helping in removal of Article 370 in August 2019. Lone, who was a part of separatist conglomerate Hurriyat Conference till assassination of his father in early 2000, also said that his attempt to stake claim to form a government in 2018 after the BJP withdrew support to PDP led by Mehbooba Mufti was «not serious». In an interview with the PTI, Lone acknowledged that he did not have numbers but had reached out to Malik asking him for some time for government formation. Malik, while terming Lone as a «blue-eyed boy» of the Centre, had claimed that the Peoples Conference leader wanted to be chief minister just before the dissolution of the Assembly in 2018 with only six MLAs.

Muslim reservation in Karnataka has reignited a heated debate, drawing attention from various quarters, including political functionaries and the National Commission for Backward Classes. The controversy revolves around the allocation of quotas for Muslims within the broader framework of OBC reservation in the state, with remarks by PM Narendra Modi adding fuel to the discussions. Modi Accuses Congress of Reservation Manipulation During a recent rally in Rajasthan’s Tonk-Sawai Madhopur Lok Sabha constituency, PM Modi accused the Congress of attempting to diminish quotas for SCs, STs, and OBCs. He criticized Congress for advocating reservation for Muslims, which he deemed contrary to the spirit of the Constitution.

Congress' Delhi unit chief Arvinder Singh Lovely in protest against the alliance with AAP brought the party's factional feud into the open, with a section of leaders on Sunday demanding the removal of AICC in-charge Deepak Babaria. While the Aam Aadmi Party termed it as an internal matter of the Congress, the BJP said Lovely has listened to the voice of his conscience as no patriot can stand with those who talk about dividing the country and claimed there would be further repercussions for the Congress. In his resignation letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Lovely said the Delhi Congress unit was against the alliance with AAP and that all unanimous decisions taken by the senior Delhi unit leaders have been «unilaterally vetoed» by Babaria. Some party workers gathered outside Lovely's residence and raised slogans against AICC's Delhi in-charge Babaria who, meanwhile, stressed that all DPCC leaders were taken into confidence on the alliance issue and Lovely should have aired his views before the party panels.

Amit Shah said that BJP has already scored a century, while the Congress and Samajwadi Party haven't even opened their accounts yet. Further attacking the Samajwadi Party, accusing it of 'family-based politics, Shah asked why SP couldn't find any other 'Yadav' candidate outside their family. Addressing a public meeting in Uttar Pradesh's Mainpuri on Sunday, Amit Shah said, «So far, voting for two phases has taken place, do you want to know the result? Modi ji has run past ahead with a century and the two prince (Rahul and Akhilesh) haven't even opened their accounts yet. Keep this writing on wall, BJP is winning 80 out of 80 seats in UP.»

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday appealed to people to put aside other issues and vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he kept everyone alive by making vaccines available during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fadnavis sought votes over vaccines during his addresses at Madha and Barshi towns in Solapur district. The senior BJP leader held his first rally at Barshi, part of the Osmanabad parliamentary constituency, where Archana Patil of the NCP is contesting against incumbent MP Omraje Nimbalkar of the Shiv Sena (UBT). Madha falls under the Madha Lok Sabha constituency, where the BJP has renominated its sitting MP Ranjitsinh Nimbalkar against Dhairyasheel Mohite Patil of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday claimed the BJP will not win any seat in the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls and that the ruling party misunderstood the «direction of the wind» when it made its slogan of «400 paar». Addressing a rally in Sambhal, Yadav also said the Samajwadi Party had an advantage in the third phase, saying that elections on May 7 will be held between Sambhal and «his home» in Etawah and Mainpuri. «BJP people did not know the direction of the wind, so they kept saying '400 paar' (winning over 400 seats) and when they realised the public sentiment after the two phases of the election, BJP forgot its slogan,» the former UP chief minister said. «The wind that came from the west (western UP) in the first phase will change the BJP government. The similar trend was seen in the second phase also. People are not accepting the BJP,» the SP chief said.

Arvinder Singh Lovely on Sunday said he has only resigned as chief of the Congress' Delhi unit and is not joining any other political party. His clarification came after Congress ex-MLA Asif Mohammad Khan claimed that the BJP would field Lovely from the East Delhi constituency, replacing Harsh Malhotra. «I have only resigned as Delhi Congress chief and I am not joining any political party,» he said at a press conference at his residence. Lovely said his resignation reflected the pain of Congress workers saddened by the fact that the «ideals they had been fighting for during the last seven to eight years» were being compromised.

election duty can sometimes mean forfeiting one’s own right to vote. This is what some officials, who helped others vote in Bengaluru on Friday, have learnt the hard way. “All of us on the poll duty were supposed to get the ballot papers at our mustering centre on Thursday (April 25), but only some got and they cast their votes. We were told our slips would come later and we kept waiting. They never came,” said a woman officer who worked as presiding officer at a polling station in Immadihalli in Mahadevapura assembly constituency. She was agitated as well as disappointed that polling officials sometimes don’t get the same treatment they are expected to discharge towards voters. One of them said they never get to experience the EVM, but to be denied even paper ballots was not acceptable.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said that 'mafias' in the state, who were once protected are now looking to surrender and are pleading for their life under the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. CM Yogi while addressing a public rally in Bareilly, said «This is the govt of BJP, the 'mafia' that used to roam around under the protection of the then govt, today, that mafia is looking to surrender and says 'jaan baksh do ek baar bas'. Ye mafia aparaadhiyon ko thela lagaane ke lie majaboor kar do (These mafias and criminals must be forced for carting as they should be taught hard work),». CM Yogi accused the Samajwadi Party of sympathising with the mafias and criminals.

NRIs) held a car rally from Ahmedabad to Surat in support of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Notably, all 26 parliamentary constituencies in Gujarat will go to polls on May 7. Organized by the Foreign Affairs Department of the BJP, the rally served as a vibrant demonstration of overseas support for PM Modi's leadership.

Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal challenging his arrest in a money laundering case stemming from the alleged excise policy scam. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta is likely to hear the matter. Kejriwal had earlier told the apex court that his «illegal arrest» in the case constitutes an unprecedented assault on the tenets of democracy based on «free and fair elections» and «federalism». In a rejoinder to the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) reply affidavit filed on his petition challenging his arrest in the case, Kejriwal said the mode, manner and timing of his arrest just before the Lok Sabha elections when the Model Code of Conduct had come into play, speaks volumes about the «arbitrariness» of the agency.