Four-term senior Congress legislator Ahmed Patel was&nbsp;re-elected to the Rajya Sabha for the fifth time after a fight to&nbsp;the finish that included the&nbsp;Election Commission nullifying&nbsp;two votes of Congress MLAs who were captured on camera showing their vote to a BJP poll agent.

BJP&nbsp;candidates, party president Amit Shah and Union minister Smriti Irani won the other two seats.

Ahmed Patel wrote on Twitter that his victory was a defeat of the &quot;most blatant use of money power, muscle power and abuse of state machinery&quot;. He was referring to the resignation of six Congress MLAs ahead of the election following a rebellion by key leader&nbsp;Shankersinh Vaghela.

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This is not just my victory. It is a defeat of the most blatant use of money power,muscle power and abuse of state machinery
&mdash; Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) <a href="https://twitter.com/ahmedpatel/status/895017577797238784">August 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
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I want to thank each &amp; every MLA who voted for me despite unprecedented intimidation &amp; pressure from BJP.They voted for an inclusive India
&mdash; Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) <a href="https://twitter.com/ahmedpatel/status/895018486556000256">August 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Counting&nbsp;was delayed by hours after the Congress complained to the poll body demanding&nbsp;the two MLAs&#39; disqualification. The&nbsp;BJP leaders followed suit, countering the Congress claim. Counting, which resumed at midnight, was again stalled&nbsp;after the BJP raised its own objections.

Legislators to Parliament&#39;s Upper House are elected by&nbsp;preferential voting which involves ranking candidates in order of preference.

In the 182-member Assembly, 176 MLAs were eligible to vote after the resignation of six Congress MLAs.The Election Commission order reduced the strength to 174.

Each of the four candidates contesting the elections in Gujarat had&nbsp;to win 44&nbsp;first preference votes after the nullification of two votes by the Election Commission.

The Congress, which has&nbsp;51 MLAs, now needed&nbsp;the support of 44 legislators for Ahmed Patel to win as against 45 earlier. Atleast six legislators of the party - Vaghela loyalists - voted for the BJP, reports said.

Ahmed Patel was counting on the support of 43 of its own&nbsp;lawmakers and one each of the Janata Dal&nbsp;(United)&nbsp;and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The Congress says he received 44 votes.

Congress lawmaker Karamsinh Makwana reportedly did not show his ballot paper to the polling agent, fuelling speculation that he cross-voted.

The Congress had complained to the poll body that the two MLAs,&nbsp;Bhola Bhai Gohil and&nbsp;Raghav Bhai Patel, showed their votes to an agent of the BJP.The Election Commission, which had examined the video of the voting, said the elector was supposed to show his ballot paper only to the authorised representative of his party no one else.

The BJP has 122 seats including that of dissident Nalin Kotadiya.The chances for Ahmed Patel earlier seemed uncertain&nbsp;as it emerged that the lawmakers that the party was banking upon, had voted for the BJP.

Congress Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Arjun Modhwadia said earlier that 43 of the 44 legislators of his party had voted for Ahmed Patel, who is pitted against the BJP&#39;s Balwantsinh Rajput.

NCP legislator goes against party advice, votes for BJP

One of two MLAs of the NCP, who had been told by his party to vote for Mr Patel, said he would vote for the BJP candidate.

Voted for Ahmed Patel, says JD(U)&#39;s lone MLA

Chotubhai Vasava, the lone Janata Dal (United) legislator in the Gujarat assembly said earlier he voted for good friend Ahmed Patel.

A senior leader of the JD(U), KC Tyagi, claimed that Vasava had voted for the BJP on the directive of Bihar Chief minister and party chief Nitish Kumar.

Ambalal Jadhav, General Secretary, JD(U) in Gujarat, however, reaffirmed Vasava had voted for Ahmed Patel.

&quot;Who is KC Tyagi to say anything? Chotubhai has voted, he will tell. Our support is with Ahmed Patel,&quot; the JD(U) leader said earlier.

Former Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela did not vote for Mr Patel. He said there was no point voting for the Congress since their chances of winning were bleak.&nbsp;

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The Congress says 44 legislators voted for Ahmed Patel

Four-term senior Congress legislator Ahmed Patel was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha for the fifth time after a fight to the finish that included the Election Commission nullifying two votes of Congress MLAs who were captured on camera showing their vote to a BJP poll agent. BJP candidates, party president Amit Shah and Union minister Smriti Irani won the other two seats. Ahmed Patel wrote on Twitter that his victory was a defeat of the "most blatant use of money power, muscle power and abuse of state machinery". He was referring to the resignation of six Congress MLAs ahead of the election following a rebellion by key leader Shankersinh Vaghela. This is not just my victory. It is a defeat of the most blatant use of money power,muscle power and abuse of state machinery — Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) August 8, 2017 × I want to thank each & every MLA who voted for me despite unprecedented intimidation & pressure from BJP.They voted for an inclusive India — Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) August 8, 2017 × Counting was delayed by hours after the Congress complained to the poll body demanding the two MLAs' disqualification. The BJP leaders followed suit, countering the Congress claim. Counting, which resumed at midnight, was again stalled after the BJP raised its own objections. Legislators to Parliament's Upper House are elected by preferential voting which involves ranking candidates in order of preference. In the 182-member Assembly, 176 MLAs were eligible to vote after the resignation of six Congress MLAs.The Election Commission order reduced the strength to 174. Each of the four candidates contesting the elections in Gujarat had to win 44 first preference votes after the nullification of two votes by the Election Commission. The Congress, which has 51 MLAs, now needed the support of 44 legislators for Ahmed Patel to win as against 45 earlier. Atleast six legislators of the party - Vaghela loyalists - voted for the BJP, reports said. Ahmed Patel was counting on the support of 43 of its own lawmakers and one each of the Janata Dal (United) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The Congress says he received 44 votes. Congress lawmaker Karamsinh Makwana reportedly did not show his ballot paper to the polling agent, fuelling speculation that he cross-voted. The Congress had complained to the poll body that the two MLAs, Bhola Bhai Gohil and Raghav Bhai Patel, showed their votes to an agent of the BJP.The Election Commission, which had examined the video of the voting, said the elector was supposed to show his ballot paper only to the authorised representative of his party no one else. The BJP has 122 seats including that of dissident Nalin Kotadiya.The chances for Ahmed Patel earlier seemed uncertain as it emerged that the lawmakers that the party was banking upon, had voted for the BJP. Congress Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Arjun Modhwadia said earlier that 43 of the 44 legislators of his party had voted for Ahmed Patel, who is pitted against the BJP's Balwantsinh Rajput. NCP legislator goes against party advice, votes for BJP One of two MLAs of the NCP, who had been told by his party to vote for Mr Patel, said he would vote for the BJP candidate. Voted for Ahmed Patel, says JD(U)'s lone MLA Chotubhai Vasava, the lone Janata Dal (United) legislator in the Gujarat assembly said earlier he voted for good friend Ahmed Patel. A senior leader of the JD(U), KC Tyagi, claimed that Vasava had voted for the BJP on the directive of Bihar Chief minister and party chief Nitish Kumar. Ambalal Jadhav, General Secretary, JD(U) in Gujarat, however, reaffirmed Vasava had voted for Ahmed Patel. "Who is KC Tyagi to say anything? Chotubhai has voted, he will tell. Our support is with Ahmed Patel," the JD(U) leader said earlier. Former Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela did not vote for Mr Patel. He said there was no point voting for the Congress since their chances of winning were bleak.

Rajya Sabha elections: Ahmed Patel re-elected after close fight

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Monday announced it will support the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajya Sabha Polls in Gujarat.

This has come as a major blow to Congress, which had announced having support of the NCP.

NCP leader Kandhal Jadeja told ANI that his party has decided to support the saffron outfit.

&quot;Our party has asked us to support BJP in tomorrow`s RS elections,&quot; Jadeja said.&nbsp;

However Congress` candidate Ahmed Patel earlier in the day said that the NCP is extending its support to him.

&quot;The NCP has said that it will support Congress in the Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat,&quot; Patel told ANI.

The Gujarat Rajya Sabha election is slated to be held tomorrow for three seats.

The BJP has fielded party president Amit Shah, Union Minister Smriti Irani and Balwantsinh Rajput.

The state has been witnessing political upheaval in the recent past.

The political temperature in state had risen when six Congress MLAs joined BJP.

The Congress accused BJP of horse-trading and sent its 44 MLAs from Gujarat to Bengaluru since on July 29 to prevent their possible poaching by the ruling BJP ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections.

The Income Tax department raided Bengaluru`s Eagleton Resort, which belonged to Karnataka`s Energy Minister DK Shivakumar. The Congress alleged resort was raided because its 44 MLAs were staying there.All the Gujarat Congress MLAs returned back to the state earlier in the day. &nbsp;

That will further dent the Congress's Ahmed Patel's chances

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Monday announced it will support the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajya Sabha Polls in Gujarat. This has come as a major blow to Congress, which had announced having support of the NCP. NCP leader Kandhal Jadeja told ANI that his party has decided to support the saffron outfit. "Our party has asked us to support BJP in tomorrow`s RS elections," Jadeja said. However Congress` candidate Ahmed Patel earlier in the day said that the NCP is extending its support to him. "The NCP has said that it will support Congress in the Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat," Patel told ANI. The Gujarat Rajya Sabha election is slated to be held tomorrow for three seats. The BJP has fielded party president Amit Shah, Union Minister Smriti Irani and Balwantsinh Rajput. The state has been witnessing political upheaval in the recent past. The political temperature in state had risen when six Congress MLAs joined BJP. The Congress accused BJP of horse-trading and sent its 44 MLAs from Gujarat to Bengaluru since on July 29 to prevent their possible poaching by the ruling BJP ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections. The Income Tax department raided Bengaluru`s Eagleton Resort, which belonged to Karnataka`s Energy Minister DK Shivakumar. The Congress alleged resort was raided because its 44 MLAs were staying there.All the Gujarat Congress MLAs returned back to the state earlier in the day.

Gujarat Rajya Sabha polls: In blow to Congress, NCP to back BJP

Congress President Sonia Gandhi&rsquo;s political secretary Ahmed Patel, in an exclusive conversation with WION, said that BJP is using money power and central investigative agencies to win one Rajya Sabha election.

&ldquo;It is arrogance of power. BJP cannot digest power and for this reason, it is using everything under the sun to defeat me,&rdquo; he said.

He also said that his election should not be linked to Sonia Gandhi as he is not contesting the elections as Sonia Gandhi&rsquo;s secretary but as a Congress candidate.

Ahmed Patel told WION that his election has been made a matter of prestige but will only end up boosting the morale of the Congress.

&ldquo;BJP thinks that by creating pressure like this they will win Gujarat. Instead of demoralizing us, it has united the leaders in the state,&rdquo; said Ahmed Patel.

When WION asked that the current political instability could have been avoided by ensuring that Shanker Sinh Vaghela didn&rsquo;t leave the Party, he said, &rdquo;We offered him everything except PCC seat. In fact, a day before filing the nomination, I offered him my seat. He even declined that.&rdquo;

When WION asked why has your election become a matter of honour for the BJP top brass, he said that this can only be answered by BJP president Amit Shah but said that he will not allow BJP to demoralize Congress before the assembly elections.&nbsp;

Both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are slated for polls in December of 2017. Congress is in power in Himachal Pradesh but Gujarat which once looked ripe for taking by the Congress has completely been overturned by the aggression BJP has shown during Rajya Sabha polls.&nbsp;

From past 2 years, Hardik Patel has emerged as a new actor in the state because of Patidar agitation and mishandling of it led to removal of then chief minister Anandiben Patel.

Congress has cried foul after Income Tax department conducted raids on the premises of the Congress Karnataka minister Shivkumar on whose property Gujarat MLAs have been staying after they were rushed out of the home state fearing they might get poached.&nbsp;

Ahmed Patel is a four&nbsp;time Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat and he was nominated record 5th time to contest the elections by Congress which generally doesn&rsquo;t give more than 4 terms of Rajya Sabha to any member. 
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He also said that his election should not be linked to Sonia Gandhi as he is not contesting the elections as Sonia Gandhi?s secretary but as a Congress candidate

Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel, in an exclusive conversation with WION, said that BJP is using money power and central investigative agencies to win one Rajya Sabha election. “It is arrogance of power. BJP cannot digest power and for this reason, it is using everything under the sun to defeat me,” he said. He also said that his election should not be linked to Sonia Gandhi as he is not contesting the elections as Sonia Gandhi’s secretary but as a Congress candidate. Ahmed Patel told WION that his election has been made a matter of prestige but will only end up boosting the morale of the Congress. “BJP thinks that by creating pressure like this they will win Gujarat. Instead of demoralizing us, it has united the leaders in the state,” said Ahmed Patel. When WION asked that the current political instability could have been avoided by ensuring that Shanker Sinh Vaghela didn’t leave the Party, he said, ”We offered him everything except PCC seat. In fact, a day before filing the nomination, I offered him my seat. He even declined that.” When WION asked why has your election become a matter of honour for the BJP top brass, he said that this can only be answered by BJP president Amit Shah but said that he will not allow BJP to demoralize Congress before the assembly elections. Both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are slated for polls in December of 2017. Congress is in power in Himachal Pradesh but Gujarat which once looked ripe for taking by the Congress has completely been overturned by the aggression BJP has shown during Rajya Sabha polls. From past 2 years, Hardik Patel has emerged as a new actor in the state because of Patidar agitation and mishandling of it led to removal of then chief minister Anandiben Patel. Congress has cried foul after Income Tax department conducted raids on the premises of the Congress Karnataka minister Shivkumar on whose property Gujarat MLAs have been staying after they were rushed out of the home state fearing they might get poached. Ahmed Patel is a four time Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat and he was nominated record 5th time to contest the elections by Congress which generally doesn’t give more than 4 terms of Rajya Sabha to any member.

BJP using central agencies to win one Rajya Sabha seat: Ahmed Patel to WION

Taking a jibe at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah on Tuesday stated that the former is responsible for beginning the process of dissolving the Congress Party and dynasty politics.

Addressing a gathering in Rohtak, Shah said, &quot;Gandhi ji ne kaha tha azadi ke turant baad Congress ko bikhar jana dena chahiye... khair wo Gandhi ne nhi kiya ab koi Gandhi kar rha hai&quot;. (Mahatma Gandhi had said that Congress should be disbanded after Independence. While that Gandhi couldn&#39;t do it, some other Gandhi is doing it now.)

Hailing the saffron party and their development all over the country, Amit Shah stated that after BJP coming to power the country has moved towards development.

&quot;Wherever the BJP Government has come to power, there has been development in that area. When the Congress Government once ruled, the country&#39;s growth rate drastically fell, only after BJP coming to power the growth rate has gone up. The Bharatiya Janata Party has done the task of liberating the country from the politics of dynasty and appeasement. Also a political party which is based on principles can develop the country,&quot; Amit Shah added.

On July 30, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had said that Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi was sinking the party because of the affection she has towards her son, Rahul Gandhi.

&quot;Sonia Gandhi is immersed in the affection towards her son, which has drowned the Congress party in the entire country,&quot; Vijay Rupani told ANI.

&nbsp;&quot;Today the condition of their party is getting worse as&nbsp;no one wants to accept their rule.&quot;

The Gujarat chief minister also accused the Congress of being insensitive and irresponsible by sending 40 MLAs to stay in a five-star hotel in Bengaluru at a time when Gujarat is facing floods.

Last week, the Congress accused the BJP of horse-trading in Gujarat and using &quot;money, muscle and state power&quot; to engineer defections, after six of its legislators resigned from the party to join the BJP.

The party on July 28 flew 44 of its MLAs to Bengaluru to stop more of them from switching over to the BJP.

The three Congress MLAs, Tejashreeben Patel, Balwantsinh Rajput and Prahlad Patel had resigned and joined the BJP.

Following this, three more MLAs, Thasra MLA Ramsinh Parmar, Balasinor MLA Mansinh Chauhan and Vansda MLA Chhana Chaudhary resigned on July 29.

(ANI)

The BJP president also said that development was taking place only in the areas where the BJP was in power

Taking a jibe at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah on Tuesday stated that the former is responsible for beginning the process of dissolving the Congress Party and dynasty politics. Addressing a gathering in Rohtak, Shah said, "Gandhi ji ne kaha tha azadi ke turant baad Congress ko bikhar jana dena chahiye... khair wo Gandhi ne nhi kiya ab koi Gandhi kar rha hai". (Mahatma Gandhi had said that Congress should be disbanded after Independence. While that Gandhi couldn't do it, some other Gandhi is doing it now.) Hailing the saffron party and their development all over the country, Amit Shah stated that after BJP coming to power the country has moved towards development. "Wherever the BJP Government has come to power, there has been development in that area. When the Congress Government once ruled, the country's growth rate drastically fell, only after BJP coming to power the growth rate has gone up. The Bharatiya Janata Party has done the task of liberating the country from the politics of dynasty and appeasement. Also a political party which is based on principles can develop the country," Amit Shah added. On July 30, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had said that Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi was sinking the party because of the affection she has towards her son, Rahul Gandhi. "Sonia Gandhi is immersed in the affection towards her son, which has drowned the Congress party in the entire country," Vijay Rupani told ANI. "Today the condition of their party is getting worse as no one wants to accept their rule." The Gujarat chief minister also accused the Congress of being insensitive and irresponsible by sending 40 MLAs to stay in a five-star hotel in Bengaluru at a time when Gujarat is facing floods. Last week, the Congress accused the BJP of horse-trading in Gujarat and using "money, muscle and state power" to engineer defections, after six of its legislators resigned from the party to join the BJP. The party on July 28 flew 44 of its MLAs to Bengaluru to stop more of them from switching over to the BJP. The three Congress MLAs, Tejashreeben Patel, Balwantsinh Rajput and Prahlad Patel had resigned and joined the BJP. Following this, three more MLAs, Thasra MLA Ramsinh Parmar, Balasinor MLA Mansinh Chauhan and Vansda MLA Chhana Chaudhary resigned on July 29. (ANI)

Amit Shah claims Rahul Gandhi 'dissolving' Congress

The BJP parliamentary board today decided to allow BJP president Amit Shah and textiles &amp; information and broadcasting(I&amp;B) minister Smriti Irani to contest the Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat.

Amit Shah, former MLA from Gujarat led Prime Minister Modi&#39;s 2014 election campaign and was the mastermind behind BJP&#39;s sweep in the state elections recently in Uttar Pradesh. He was also the chief strategist of the party during the &nbsp;Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu &amp; Kashmir, Jharkhand and Assam assembly elections last year which was won by the BJP.

BJP minister Smriti Irani has been a long time fire fighter for the party. <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/smriti-irani-back-with-a-bang-and-a-tweet-18179">Irani a key member </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/smriti-irani-back-with-a-bang-and-a-tweet-18179">in</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/smriti-irani-back-with-a-bang-and-a-tweet-18179"> PM Modi&#39;s cabinet </a>shot to fame after the BJP pitched her against Rahul Gandhi&nbsp;in Amethi during the 2014 general elections which she lost narrowly.

Smriti Irani&#39;s&nbsp;firebrand politics&nbsp;did not go unnoticed as Modi appointed her as the HRD minister in 2014 but moved her to textile ministry later after she got embroiled in controversies in her ministry. She was given additional charge of <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/smriti-irani-takes-additional-charge-of-ib-ministry-after-venkaiah-naidus-resignation-18035">information and broadcasting ministry after&nbsp;Venkaiah Naidu</a> quit the ministry to fight the vice-presidential elections due in August.

The BJP parliamentary board has decided to allow BJP president Amit Shah and Textiles & I&B minister Smriti Irani to contest the Rajya Sabha polls

The BJP parliamentary board today decided to allow BJP president Amit Shah and textiles & information and broadcasting(I&B) minister Smriti Irani to contest the Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat. Amit Shah, former MLA from Gujarat led Prime Minister Modi's 2014 election campaign and was the mastermind behind BJP's sweep in the state elections recently in Uttar Pradesh. He was also the chief strategist of the party during the Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand and Assam assembly elections last year which was won by the BJP. BJP minister Smriti Irani has been a long time fire fighter for the party. Irani a key member in PM Modi's cabinet shot to fame after the BJP pitched her against Rahul Gandhi in Amethi during the 2014 general elections which she lost narrowly. Smriti Irani's firebrand politics did not go unnoticed as Modi appointed her as the HRD minister in 2014 but moved her to textile ministry later after she got embroiled in controversies in her ministry. She was given additional charge of information and broadcasting ministry after Venkaiah Naidu quit the ministry to fight the vice-presidential elections due in August.

Smriti Irani, Amit Shah to contest Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat

Ahmedabad has been declared by UNESCO as a world heritage city.

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Just inscribed as <a href="https://twitter.com/UNESCO">@UNESCO</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WorldHeritage?src=hash">#WorldHeritage</a> Site: Historic City of Ahmadabad <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/India?src=hash">#India</a> <a href="https://t.co/ztbb8RIMiZ">https://t.co/ztbb8RIMiZ</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/41whc?src=hash">#41whc</a> <a href="https://t.co/iRIMoQfAtK">pic.twitter.com/iRIMoQfAtK</a>
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It will be India&#39;s first world heritage city. Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and BJP President Amit Shah hailed the move.

&quot;Thrilled to learn that Ahmedabad has been recognised as UNESCO World heritage city, first of its kind in India,&quot; Rupani tweeted.

Ahmedabad was in race along with Delhi and Mumbai.&nbsp;

The city had featured in UNESCO&#39;s tentative list of world heritage cities on March 31, 2011.

Ahmedabad is India's first city to feature in the list of world heritage cities

Ahmedabad has been declared by UNESCO as a world heritage city. Just inscribed as @UNESCO #WorldHeritage Site: Historic City of Ahmadabad #India https://t.co/ztbb8RIMiZ #41whc pic.twitter.com/iRIMoQfAtK — UNESCO (@UNESCO) July 8, 2017 × It will be India's first world heritage city. Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and BJP President Amit Shah hailed the move. "Thrilled to learn that Ahmedabad has been recognised as UNESCO World heritage city, first of its kind in India," Rupani tweeted. Ahmedabad was in race along with Delhi and Mumbai. The city had featured in UNESCO's tentative list of world heritage cities on March 31, 2011.

Ahmedabad declared world heritage city by UNESCO

Ram Nath Kovind has filed his nomination papers for the Presidential polls.&nbsp;

He did so in the presence of Prime Minister Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, and a phalanx of other leaders.&nbsp;

&quot;I am thankful to all those who have supported me, will try to maintain the dignity of the post,&quot; Kovind said after filing his nomination papers.

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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WATCH?src=hash">#WATCH</a>:Visuals of NDA&#39;s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, PM Modi,Venkaiah Naidu,LK Advani,Amit Shah,Murli Manohar Joshi at Parliament <a href="https://t.co/W7gMuNnTq3">pic.twitter.com/W7gMuNnTq3</a>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI_news) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI_news/status/878144034304163840">June 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PresidentialPoll?src=hash">#PresidentialPoll</a> polls: NDA&#39;s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind files his nomination papers in presence of PM Modi <a href="https://t.co/GdVigAEHdk">pic.twitter.com/GdVigAEHdk</a>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI_news) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI_news/status/878143128099725312">June 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Media reports said the prime minister was first proposer on Mr Kovind&#39;s nomination and union&nbsp;home minister Rajnath Singh second. &nbsp;

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has broken ranks with the Opposition, pledging support to Mr Kovind.&nbsp;

The picking of Mr Kovind as NDA candidate had stunned the Opposition, with a number of them saying it would be difficult to oppose a Dali. &nbsp;

The Congress and Opposition have picked former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, who is also a Dalit, to contest against Mr Kovind.&nbsp;

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I am happy that I was unanimously selected as Opposition&#39;s Presidential nominee by 17 political parties: Meira Kumar <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PresidentialPolls?src=hash">#PresidentialPolls</a> <a href="https://t.co/euOjuXENuG">pic.twitter.com/euOjuXENuG</a>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI_news) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI_news/status/878147414787358720">June 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
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This then becomes a Dalit vs Dalit battle.&nbsp;

But the National Democratic Alliance now has over 60 per cent of the vote and Mr Kovind is expected to sail through.&nbsp;

Ms Kumar is expected to file her nomination papers in a few days.&nbsp;

Reports said the prime minister was first proposer on Mr Kovind's nomination and home minister Rajnath Singh second

Ram Nath Kovind has filed his nomination papers for the Presidential polls. He did so in the presence of Prime Minister Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, and a phalanx of other leaders. "I am thankful to all those who have supported me, will try to maintain the dignity of the post," Kovind said after filing his nomination papers. #WATCH:Visuals of NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, PM Modi,Venkaiah Naidu,LK Advani,Amit Shah,Murli Manohar Joshi at Parliament pic.twitter.com/W7gMuNnTq3 — ANI (@ANI_news) June 23, 2017 × #PresidentialPoll polls: NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind files his nomination papers in presence of PM Modi pic.twitter.com/GdVigAEHdk — ANI (@ANI_news) June 23, 2017 × Media reports said the prime minister was first proposer on Mr Kovind's nomination and union home minister Rajnath Singh second. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has broken ranks with the Opposition, pledging support to Mr Kovind. The picking of Mr Kovind as NDA candidate had stunned the Opposition, with a number of them saying it would be difficult to oppose a Dali. The Congress and Opposition have picked former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, who is also a Dalit, to contest against Mr Kovind. I am happy that I was unanimously selected as Opposition's Presidential nominee by 17 political parties: Meira Kumar #PresidentialPolls pic.twitter.com/euOjuXENuG — ANI (@ANI_news) June 23, 2017 × This then becomes a Dalit vs Dalit battle. But the National Democratic Alliance now has over 60 per cent of the vote and Mr Kovind is expected to sail through. Ms Kumar is expected to file her nomination papers in a few days.

Presidential polls: Ram Nath Kovind files nomination papers, in presence of PM

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday backed party president Amit Shah&#39;s statement opposing India&#39;s participation in any bilateral cricket series with Pakistan, while saying the decision came in view of the active support by Islamabad in terror activity.

&quot;This has been the consistent policy after the Pathankot attack on army base. This has been reiterated by Amit Shah. Unless peace is restored and Pakistan stop middling in the internal affairs of India and playing with the internal security by instigating the terrorist and allowing cross border terrorism India should refrain from playing with Pakistan any game,&quot; BJP leader S. Prakash told ANI.

Echoing similar views, BJP leader Rahul Sinha said no matches should be played between India and Pakistan unless Pakistan stops encouraging the terrorists.

&quot;Unless the situation becomes normal and Pakistan stops encouraging the terrorists, no matches should be played between both the countries. I support Amit Shah&#39;s statement,&quot; Sinha told ANI.

Ahead of the much-anticipated face-off between India and Pakistan in the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, the BJP chief categorically stated that India and Pakistan will not feature in any bilateral cricket series but would continue to participate in international tournaments.

&quot;India, Pakistan will continue to play at international tournaments but neither India will play in Pakistan nor Pakistan will play in India,&quot; said Shah.

The comment from the BJP president came days after Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel had said cricket series between the two countries was not feasible until cross-border terrorism stops.

&quot;BCCI should come out with a proposal on Pakistan only after consultations with the government. I have already made it clear that any bilateral series with Pakistan is almost impossible because there cannot be sports relations between the two countries until there is terrorism from the Pakistani side,&quot; Goel has said last month in the national capital.

&quot;Sports and terrorism cannot go hand in hand,&quot; he added.

Goel, however, added that there was no control of the government on multilateral games.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had earlier last month sent a legal notice to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for failing to honour the MoU signed between the two cricket boards in 2014.

The PCB had also demanded compensation close to USD 60 million from the BCCI for not honouring the MoU signed when N. Srinivasan was at the helm of affairs in the Indian board.

According to the 2014 agreement, India were scheduled to play six series against Pakistan, four of them were going to be Pakistan&#39;s home series, subject to clearance from the Government of India.

The two Asian neighbours have not played a full bilateral series after the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008.

(ANI)

BJP leader Rahul Sinha said no matches should be played between the two nations unless Pakistan stops encouraging the terrorists

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday backed party president Amit Shah's statement opposing India's participation in any bilateral cricket series with Pakistan, while saying the decision came in view of the active support by Islamabad in terror activity. "This has been the consistent policy after the Pathankot attack on army base. This has been reiterated by Amit Shah. Unless peace is restored and Pakistan stop middling in the internal affairs of India and playing with the internal security by instigating the terrorist and allowing cross border terrorism India should refrain from playing with Pakistan any game," BJP leader S. Prakash told ANI. Echoing similar views, BJP leader Rahul Sinha said no matches should be played between India and Pakistan unless Pakistan stops encouraging the terrorists. "Unless the situation becomes normal and Pakistan stops encouraging the terrorists, no matches should be played between both the countries. I support Amit Shah's statement," Sinha told ANI. Ahead of the much-anticipated face-off between India and Pakistan in the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, the BJP chief categorically stated that India and Pakistan will not feature in any bilateral cricket series but would continue to participate in international tournaments. "India, Pakistan will continue to play at international tournaments but neither India will play in Pakistan nor Pakistan will play in India," said Shah. The comment from the BJP president came days after Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel had said cricket series between the two countries was not feasible until cross-border terrorism stops. "BCCI should come out with a proposal on Pakistan only after consultations with the government. I have already made it clear that any bilateral series with Pakistan is almost impossible because there cannot be sports relations between the two countries until there is terrorism from the Pakistani side," Goel has said last month in the national capital. "Sports and terrorism cannot go hand in hand," he added. Goel, however, added that there was no control of the government on multilateral games. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had earlier last month sent a legal notice to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for failing to honour the MoU signed between the two cricket boards in 2014. The PCB had also demanded compensation close to USD 60 million from the BCCI for not honouring the MoU signed when N. Srinivasan was at the helm of affairs in the Indian board. According to the 2014 agreement, India were scheduled to play six series against Pakistan, four of them were going to be Pakistan's home series, subject to clearance from the Government of India. The two Asian neighbours have not played a full bilateral series after the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008. (ANI)

BJP backs Amit Shah's statement ruling out Indo-Pak 'bilateral' cricket

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Monday formed a three-member committee for consultations with the opposition over candidates for next month&#39;s presidential elections.

The committee comprises of federal ministers Rajnath Singh, M Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley.

President Pranab Mukherjee&#39;s term comes to an end on July 24. The presidential elections will be held on July 17.

On Sunday, the party postponed its national executive meet which was to take place on July 15-16 at Visakhapatnam in view of the elections.&nbsp;

The last date of nomination is June 28 while the counting of votes will take place on July 20, the election commission said.

The President is elected through an Electoral College which is formed by legislators from the Parliament and state assemblies.&nbsp;

Currently, there are 13 vacancies in the Electoral College.&nbsp;

Twenty one AAP MLAs are also eligible to vote.&nbsp;

(WION) 
&nbsp;

The committee comprises of federal ministers Rajnath Singh, M Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Monday formed a three-member committee for consultations with the opposition over candidates for next month's presidential elections. The committee comprises of federal ministers Rajnath Singh, M Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley. President Pranab Mukherjee's term comes to an end on July 24. The presidential elections will be held on July 17. On Sunday, the party postponed its national executive meet which was to take place on July 15-16 at Visakhapatnam in view of the elections. The last date of nomination is June 28 while the counting of votes will take place on July 20, the election commission said. The President is elected through an Electoral College which is formed by legislators from the Parliament and state assemblies. Currently, there are 13 vacancies in the Electoral College. Twenty one AAP MLAs are also eligible to vote. (WION)

Presidential elections: Amit Shah forms committee for talks with Opposition

Condemning Amit Shah for dubbing Mahatma Gandhi a &#39;chatur baniya&#39;, the Maharashtra unit Congress president Ashok Chavan today equated the BJP chief to the Pakistani leaders who used to criticise the Father of Nation.

Demanding an unconditional apology from Shah, Chavan said he has insulted all freedom fighters who have sacrificed themselves for the cause of the country.

Addressing a gathering in Raipur yesterday, Shah said Gandhi was a &quot;chatur baniya&quot;, a reference to his mercantile caste, who had rightly advised dissolution of the Congress after Independence. He had also termed the Congress a sort of &quot;special purpose vehicle&quot; to secure freedom and as the party lacking any ideology or principles.

&quot;Amit Shah has spoken the language of Pakistani leaders who used to constantly criticise Mahatma Gandhi. By using such language for the Mahatma, he has insulted all freedom fighters who have given their lives for the cause of freedom,&quot; Chavan told reporters here.

Seeking an unconditional apology, the Congress leader said Shah has insulted entire country by his remarks.

&quot;Pakistani leaders used to criticise Mahatma Gandhi the way Shah has done. Today, the BJP is speaking Pakistan&#39;s language. By speaking about the caste of Mahatma, the BJP has laid bare its true face of caste politics,&quot; he said.

Accusing the BJP of spreading hatred among people, the former chief minister said the BJP has failed to understand the idea of vibrant India.&nbsp;

Mamata slams Shah

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee also condemned Shah for making the disparaging remark, saying:&nbsp;&quot;He should withdraw his comment and apologise for it. It is a deliberate act. It is unfortunate, uncalled for and unethical,&quot; she told reporters here.

&quot;Gandhiji is the father of the nation and he is an icon of the world. No one should think that he can say anything only because he is in power,&quot; she said.

Mahatma&#39;s grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi said he would&nbsp;have chuckled at the &quot;chatur baniya&quot; description also, but for its &quot;utter tastelessness&quot; and the hidden mischief in it.

Historian Ramachandra Guha said the remark made by Amit Shah was &quot;crude&quot; and &quot;unworthy&quot; of the president of BJP, the country&#39;s ruling party. 
 
When contacted, Guha, the author of &#39;India After Gandhi&#39;, strongly reacted to the comment made by Shah at an event in Raipur yesterday.

&quot;The comment was crude and ill-informed, unworthy of the president of India&#39;s ruling party,&quot; Guha said.

(PTI)

Congress leader Ashok Chavan said Shah's comment reminded him of Pakistani leaders who used to criticise the Father of Nation

Condemning Amit Shah for dubbing Mahatma Gandhi a 'chatur baniya', the Maharashtra unit Congress president Ashok Chavan today equated the BJP chief to the Pakistani leaders who used to criticise the Father of Nation. Demanding an unconditional apology from Shah, Chavan said he has insulted all freedom fighters who have sacrificed themselves for the cause of the country. Addressing a gathering in Raipur yesterday, Shah said Gandhi was a "chatur baniya", a reference to his mercantile caste, who had rightly advised dissolution of the Congress after Independence. He had also termed the Congress a sort of "special purpose vehicle" to secure freedom and as the party lacking any ideology or principles. "Amit Shah has spoken the language of Pakistani leaders who used to constantly criticise Mahatma Gandhi. By using such language for the Mahatma, he has insulted all freedom fighters who have given their lives for the cause of freedom," Chavan told reporters here. Seeking an unconditional apology, the Congress leader said Shah has insulted entire country by his remarks. "Pakistani leaders used to criticise Mahatma Gandhi the way Shah has done. Today, the BJP is speaking Pakistan's language. By speaking about the caste of Mahatma, the BJP has laid bare its true face of caste politics," he said. Accusing the BJP of spreading hatred among people, the former chief minister said the BJP has failed to understand the idea of vibrant India. Mamata slams Shah West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee also condemned Shah for making the disparaging remark, saying: "He should withdraw his comment and apologise for it. It is a deliberate act. It is unfortunate, uncalled for and unethical," she told reporters here. "Gandhiji is the father of the nation and he is an icon of the world. No one should think that he can say anything only because he is in power," she said. Mahatma's grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi said he would have chuckled at the "chatur baniya" description also, but for its "utter tastelessness" and the hidden mischief in it. Historian Ramachandra Guha said the remark made by Amit Shah was "crude" and "unworthy" of the president of BJP, the country's ruling party. When contacted, Guha, the author of 'India After Gandhi', strongly reacted to the comment made by Shah at an event in Raipur yesterday. "The comment was crude and ill-informed, unworthy of the president of India's ruling party," Guha said. (PTI)

Uproar after BJP chief Amit Shah calls Mahatma Gandhi 'chatur baniya'

First, consider the numbers. Between 2003 and 2009, the high growth years of the economy, when GDP grew by 8 per cent per year on average, the number of good jobs, that is, jobs in the formal sector of the economy, grew at not even one-tenth that number. Look at it another way. Every year millions of new aspirants enter the job market to compete for a few hundred thousand new jobs.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Now let us descend to the ground. We witness enormous agitations for reservations in government jobs rising from traditionally dominant castes, such as Jats, Patels, and Marathas. Even the lowest paid government jobs regularly attract such large numbers of extremely over-qualified applicants that violence ensues in the wake of examinations. Around two weeks ago, in West Bengal, 2.5 million young men and women appeared for an exam for 6000 Group-D positions in the state government. Graduates and post-graduates had applied for these positions which require an elementary school certificate and pay Rs. 16,200 per month.&nbsp;

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<h5>What is the economy for, anyway? It is always a good question to ask whenever we risk getting lost in GDP numbers, policy reforms, and stock market movements</h5>
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<div class="share-blockquote"><a class="twitter popup" href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=What is the economy for, anyway? It is always a good question to ask whenever we risk getting lost in GDP numbers, policy reforms, and stock market movements" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a></div>
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&nbsp;

One increasingly popular term captures all this: &ldquo;jobless growth.&rdquo; While this phenomenon has been known at least since the mid-1990s, and is observed across the world, it is becoming a hot political issue. And not a day too soon.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

What is the economy for, anyway? It is always a good question to ask whenever we risk getting lost in GDP numbers, policy reforms, and stock market movements. These are all means to an end, viz. enabling all of us to enjoy fulfilling, creative, happy lives. In a market economy, adequate regular money income is a precondition for such a life. Yet our economy continues to deny this precondition to the vast majority of its workers. So, while GDP grows at some of the fastest rates seen across the world, the number of people who are able to enjoy a good life increase at a much much slower rate. And even this increase is very uneven across regions, occupations, castes, genders, and religions with some, like displaced farmers and artisans seeing declines in their living standards.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Riding a wave of resentment against the previous regime, the Prime Minister himself made jobs a central issue during his campaign. But three years later, not much has changed and the BJP government is being seen as a failure on the job creation front. After several weeks of bad press on this issue, a few days ago, BJP President Amit Shah issued a statement that it was not possible to provide formal sector jobs to everyone in a country of 125&nbsp; crore people. This is a telling as well as an astonishing statement. Telling because it admits to a truth that few would admit to. That under the present set of policies (whether BJP or UPA) universal employment is impossible. Astonishing because for decades the transition to a completely formal economy has been the very definition of development. That we, and many other countries, have failed at acheiving this is surely an indictment of our policies. But are we then giving up on development? Or are we redefining it? And if so how? There is no answer.

&nbsp;

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<h5>Regular salaried workers account for only 20 per cent of all workers in India</h5>
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&nbsp;

The intense hunger for even the lowest paid government jobs comes as no surprise once we take a look at the Ministry of Labour numbers on earnings in the Indian labour market. According to the most recent Employment-Unemployment Survey of the Labour Bureau (2014-2015), regular salaried workers account for only 20 per cent of all workers in India. Earnings from either self-employment or casual wage work (both of which together account for the remaining 80 per cent of the workforce) fall far short of a secure, decent, livelihood.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Nationally, 67 per cent of households reports monthly earnings of Rs. 10,000 or less. 98 per cent are under Rs. 50,000 per month. Earning over Rs 1 lakh per month puts a household in the top 0.2 per cent of income earners in the country.&nbsp; More than half of the regular wage/salaried workers i.e. 57 per cent have monthly average earnings of up to Rs 10,000, well under the government minimum salary under the 7th pay commission. 59 per cent of the casual workers has monthly earnings of up to Rs 5000.

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<h5>Successive governments at the Centre and in the states have embraced liberalisation and privatisation policies that have failed to generate jobs</h5>
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<div class="share-blockquote"><a class="twitter popup" href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Successive governments at the Centre and in the states have embraced liberalisation and privatisation policies that have failed to generate jobs" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a></div>
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&nbsp;

Of course, the current government in Delhi must take its share of the blame for the jobs crisis. But there is plenty of blame to go around. Successive governments at the Centre and in the states have embraced liberalisation and privatisation policies that have failed to generate jobs.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

But the problem goes beyond India too. In the 1950s-80s, in Japan, Korea and the other &ldquo;East Asian Miracle countries&rdquo;, rapid GDP growth generated a vast number of jobs. This shifted a predominantly agricultural workforce to manufacturing and services. Not only that, jobs were created in the formal sector.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

In contrast, in India and China, particularly since the 1990s, despite high levels of growth, formal employment generation has been slow. This is a general phenomenon across Asia. Manufacturing, in particular, is a big concern. In the 2005-2011 period, according to National Sample Survey data, manufacturing employment in India increased by 6 million while that in construction increased by 25 million. Construction accounted for half of all new non-agricultural jobs added in this period. The &ldquo;Make in India&rdquo; campaign aims to generate 100 million jobs by 2022 in the manufacturing sector. While the goal is laudable, given trends reported above, this seems unlikely to materialise. And Amit Shah&rsquo;s statement, referred to earlier, seems to indicate that backpedaling on this issue has started already.

&nbsp;

While GDP grows at some of the fastest rates seen across the world, the number of people who are able to enjoy a good life increase at a much much slower rate.

First, consider the numbers. Between 2003 and 2009, the high growth years of the economy, when GDP grew by 8 per cent per year on average, the number of good jobs, that is, jobs in the formal sector of the economy, grew at not even one-tenth that number. Look at it another way. Every year millions of new aspirants enter the job market to compete for a few hundred thousand new jobs. Now let us descend to the ground. We witness enormous agitations for reservations in government jobs rising from traditionally dominant castes, such as Jats, Patels, and Marathas. Even the lowest paid government jobs regularly attract such large numbers of extremely over-qualified applicants that violence ensues in the wake of examinations. Around two weeks ago, in West Bengal, 2.5 million young men and women appeared for an exam for 6000 Group-D positions in the state government. Graduates and post-graduates had applied for these positions which require an elementary school certificate and pay Rs. 16,200 per month. What is the economy for, anyway? It is always a good question to ask whenever we risk getting lost in GDP numbers, policy reforms, and stock market movements × One increasingly popular term captures all this: “jobless growth.” While this phenomenon has been known at least since the mid-1990s, and is observed across the world, it is becoming a hot political issue. And not a day too soon. What is the economy for, anyway? It is always a good question to ask whenever we risk getting lost in GDP numbers, policy reforms, and stock market movements. These are all means to an end, viz. enabling all of us to enjoy fulfilling, creative, happy lives. In a market economy, adequate regular money income is a precondition for such a life. Yet our economy continues to deny this precondition to the vast majority of its workers. So, while GDP grows at some of the fastest rates seen across the world, the number of people who are able to enjoy a good life increase at a much much slower rate. And even this increase is very uneven across regions, occupations, castes, genders, and religions with some, like displaced farmers and artisans seeing declines in their living standards. Riding a wave of resentment against the previous regime, the Prime Minister himself made jobs a central issue during his campaign. But three years later, not much has changed and the BJP government is being seen as a failure on the job creation front. After several weeks of bad press on this issue, a few days ago, BJP President Amit Shah issued a statement that it was not possible to provide formal sector jobs to everyone in a country of 125 crore people. This is a telling as well as an astonishing statement. Telling because it admits to a truth that few would admit to. That under the present set of policies (whether BJP or UPA) universal employment is impossible. Astonishing because for decades the transition to a completely formal economy has been the very definition of development. That we, and many other countries, have failed at acheiving this is surely an indictment of our policies. But are we then giving up on development? Or are we redefining it? And if so how? There is no answer. Regular salaried workers account for only 20 per cent of all workers in India × The intense hunger for even the lowest paid government jobs comes as no surprise once we take a look at the Ministry of Labour numbers on earnings in the Indian labour market. According to the most recent Employment-Unemployment Survey of the Labour Bureau (2014-2015), regular salaried workers account for only 20 per cent of all workers in India. Earnings from either self-employment or casual wage work (both of which together account for the remaining 80 per cent of the workforce) fall far short of a secure, decent, livelihood. Nationally, 67 per cent of households reports monthly earnings of Rs. 10,000 or less. 98 per cent are under Rs. 50,000 per month. Earning over Rs 1 lakh per month puts a household in the top 0.2 per cent of income earners in the country. More than half of the regular wage/salaried workers i.e. 57 per cent have monthly average earnings of up to Rs 10,000, well under the government minimum salary under the 7th pay commission. 59 per cent of the casual workers has monthly earnings of up to Rs 5000. Successive governments at the Centre and in the states have embraced liberalisation and privatisation policies that have failed to generate jobs × Of course, the current government in Delhi must take its share of the blame for the jobs crisis. But there is plenty of blame to go around. Successive governments at the Centre and in the states have embraced liberalisation and privatisation policies that have failed to generate jobs. But the problem goes beyond India too. In the 1950s-80s, in Japan, Korea and the other “East Asian Miracle countries”, rapid GDP growth generated a vast number of jobs. This shifted a predominantly agricultural workforce to manufacturing and services. Not only that, jobs were created in the formal sector. In contrast, in India and China, particularly since the 1990s, despite high levels of growth, formal employment generation has been slow. This is a general phenomenon across Asia. Manufacturing, in particular, is a big concern. In the 2005-2011 period, according to National Sample Survey data, manufacturing employment in India increased by 6 million while that in construction increased by 25 million. Construction accounted for half of all new non-agricultural jobs added in this period. The “Make in India” campaign aims to generate 100 million jobs by 2022 in the manufacturing sector. While the goal is laudable, given trends reported above, this seems unlikely to materialise. And Amit Shah’s statement, referred to earlier, seems to indicate that backpedaling on this issue has started already.

Jobless growth plagues India

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah was accorded a grand welcome in Jammu and Kashmir today, where he landed on a two-day visit as part of his national &#39;Vistaar Yatra&#39;.

The streets were thronged with BJP supporters and party flags were waved as Shah&#39;s convoy passed through the streets after he landed at the airport today.

Shah is on a 95-day all-India tour from today during which he will strategise on ways to win the 2019 Lok Sabha election, with focus on clinching 120 seats where the party had lost in 2014.

Shah will spend one to three days in each states. The tour will focus on taking stock of the party&#39;s organisational strength and further expansion of electoral appeal across the country.

Shah is particularly focusing on states like West Bengal, Odisha, Telangana and Kerala.

The BJP had managed to win just 4 Lok Sabha seats out of the 102 in these states in the 2014 election.

The BJP chief&#39;s voyage will end by 25th September, the 101th birth anniversary of Jana Sangh ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay.

Apart from his 95-day tour, Shah has also chosen five states where he will spend three days each. His recent visit to West Bengal was part of the programme.

Besides West Bengal, he will visit Odisha, Telangana, Lakshadweep and the poll-bound Gujarat.

Shah has also hinted at a reshuffle in the organisation as several office-bearers are now serving as ministers in the Uttar Pradesh government.

(ANI)

The streets were thronged with BJP supporters and party flags were waved as Shah's convoy passed through the streets

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah was accorded a grand welcome in Jammu and Kashmir today, where he landed on a two-day visit as part of his national 'Vistaar Yatra'. The streets were thronged with BJP supporters and party flags were waved as Shah's convoy passed through the streets after he landed at the airport today. Shah is on a 95-day all-India tour from today during which he will strategise on ways to win the 2019 Lok Sabha election, with focus on clinching 120 seats where the party had lost in 2014. Shah will spend one to three days in each states. The tour will focus on taking stock of the party's organisational strength and further expansion of electoral appeal across the country. Shah is particularly focusing on states like West Bengal, Odisha, Telangana and Kerala. The BJP had managed to win just 4 Lok Sabha seats out of the 102 in these states in the 2014 election. The BJP chief's voyage will end by 25th September, the 101th birth anniversary of Jana Sangh ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay. Apart from his 95-day tour, Shah has also chosen five states where he will spend three days each. His recent visit to West Bengal was part of the programme. Besides West Bengal, he will visit Odisha, Telangana, Lakshadweep and the poll-bound Gujarat. Shah has also hinted at a reshuffle in the organisation as several office-bearers are now serving as ministers in the Uttar Pradesh government. (ANI)

BJP chief Amit Shah reaches Jammu as part of  'Vistaar Yatra'

BJP president Amit Shah Saturday&nbsp;cautioned party leaders against complacency, saying it is yet to reach the peak as he rolled out plans for its expansion in states where it has been traditionally weak.

In his inaugural address at the BJP&#39;s two-day national executive here, he also asserted that the party&#39;s &quot;golden era&quot; would arrive when it rules across the country, from panchayats to Parliament. 
 
Top party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were in attendance as he asked the organisation to resolve for victory in the next round of assembly elections due in Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka, noting that a similar resolve was made last year during the national executive meeting in Allahabad for five state elections, including in Uttar Pradesh.

Laying down his ambitious growth plan for the party in south and eastern India, the BJP president rejected the contention that the saffron surge had reached its peak with its domination of central and western India and maiden wins in states like Assam and Manipur.

13 chief ministers of the party, the most BJP has ever had, were also in the audience.

Amit Shah said he will spend 95 days touring the country to meet party leaders and workers and asked senior leaders and union ministers to give 15 days to strengthen the organisation while speaking about its growth prospects in states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Odisha.

&quot;The BJP is yet to reach its peak. Its golden era will arrive when it rules from panchayat to assemblies across the country and Parliament,&quot; he said.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad briefed reporters on his speech in a closed-door meeting of the party leaders.

He, however, steered clear of recent controversial issues like killing of a man in BJP-ruled Rajasthan by cow vigilantes and deepening impasse in Kashmir, where his party is in power in partnership with PDP.

Ravi Shankar Prasad suggested that a reference to Kashmir may be made during the national executive.

The party&#39;s gold era, he said, will coincide with India&#39;s golden era and it will emerge as a great nation in the world.

The BJP&#39;s massive wins in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have changed the experts&#39; definition of big victories, usually 
associated with two-thirds majority, as it won more than 75 per cent of seats as people have embraced &quot;our politics of 
performance&quot; and rejected opposition parties&#39; politics of brazen appeasement, rank family promotion and casteism, Amit Shah said.

The BJP has also disproved the claims that it can defeat the Congress but not strong regional parties by routing the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party in UT, he said.

Amit Shah said when the BJP won 71 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP in 2014, it was said that it was a &quot;sudden&quot; development but by sweeping the state in the assembly polls the party has proved that people have embraced it &quot;decisively and whole- heartedly&quot;.

Its win in the state polls was due to the Modi government&#39;s pro-poor and welfare policies, Shah said, reaffirming that the prime minister was the most popular leader since Independence.

Hitting out at the Left government in Kerala over the killing of the BJP and RSS workers allegedly by communist cadres, he said his party will continue to oppose it peacefully and ensure that the &quot;lotus blooms&quot;&nbsp;there as well as Tripura, another Left-ruled state. 
 
The BJP national president said he would spend three days in Kerala as part of the organisational expansion drive. The Modi government, he said, has done more work in three years than other governments had done in two-three terms as he hailed its policies.&nbsp; 
 
(PTI) 
&nbsp;

Top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 13 chief ministers of the party, were also in attendance

BJP president Amit Shah Saturday cautioned party leaders against complacency, saying it is yet to reach the peak as he rolled out plans for its expansion in states where it has been traditionally weak. In his inaugural address at the BJP's two-day national executive here, he also asserted that the party's "golden era" would arrive when it rules across the country, from panchayats to Parliament. Top party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were in attendance as he asked the organisation to resolve for victory in the next round of assembly elections due in Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka, noting that a similar resolve was made last year during the national executive meeting in Allahabad for five state elections, including in Uttar Pradesh. Laying down his ambitious growth plan for the party in south and eastern India, the BJP president rejected the contention that the saffron surge had reached its peak with its domination of central and western India and maiden wins in states like Assam and Manipur. 13 chief ministers of the party, the most BJP has ever had, were also in the audience. Amit Shah said he will spend 95 days touring the country to meet party leaders and workers and asked senior leaders and union ministers to give 15 days to strengthen the organisation while speaking about its growth prospects in states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Odisha. "The BJP is yet to reach its peak. Its golden era will arrive when it rules from panchayat to assemblies across the country and Parliament," he said. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad briefed reporters on his speech in a closed-door meeting of the party leaders. He, however, steered clear of recent controversial issues like killing of a man in BJP-ruled Rajasthan by cow vigilantes and deepening impasse in Kashmir, where his party is in power in partnership with PDP. Ravi Shankar Prasad suggested that a reference to Kashmir may be made during the national executive. The party's gold era, he said, will coincide with India's golden era and it will emerge as a great nation in the world. The BJP's massive wins in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have changed the experts' definition of big victories, usually associated with two-thirds majority, as it won more than 75 per cent of seats as people have embraced "our politics of performance" and rejected opposition parties' politics of brazen appeasement, rank family promotion and casteism, Amit Shah said. The BJP has also disproved the claims that it can defeat the Congress but not strong regional parties by routing the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party in UT, he said. Amit Shah said when the BJP won 71 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP in 2014, it was said that it was a "sudden" development but by sweeping the state in the assembly polls the party has proved that people have embraced it "decisively and whole- heartedly". Its win in the state polls was due to the Modi government's pro-poor and welfare policies, Shah said, reaffirming that the prime minister was the most popular leader since Independence. Hitting out at the Left government in Kerala over the killing of the BJP and RSS workers allegedly by communist cadres, he said his party will continue to oppose it peacefully and ensure that the "lotus blooms" there as well as Tripura, another Left-ruled state. The BJP national president said he would spend three days in Kerala as part of the organisational expansion drive. The Modi government, he said, has done more work in three years than other governments had done in two-three terms as he hailed its policies. (PTI)

BJP will rule from panchayats to Parliament: Party president Amit Shah outlines election roadmap at Odisha meet

Opposition parties blaming electronic voting machines (EVMs)&nbsp;for their poll loss underlines their desperation and lack of issues against the BJP, its national president Amit Shah said Saturday,&nbsp;noting that EVMs were never questioned when they won.

Questioning the integrity of electronic voting machines (EVMs) amounted to openly disrespecting the Election Commission, he said in his inaugural address at the two-day national executive meet of the BJP here.

&quot;Opposition parties are in desperation following our win. They have no issue against us. They are not admitting their defeat and instead blaming EVMs,&quot; he said.

Shah wondered if the UPA had not won in 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha polls when EVMs were used or if the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP had swept the Delhi assembly polls in 2015 due to use of ballot papers.

The BJP chief also referred to the Congress&#39;s victory in the Punjab assembly polls to make his point.

Briefing reporters on Shah&#39;s speech, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Election Commission has already come out with an open hacking challenge and let people know if Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal, who has alleged EVM tempering, was a &quot;hacking expert&quot;.

He said all elections since 1998 were held with the use of EVMs.

Asked about a book written by BJP spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao who had questioned the reliability of EVMs, Prasad said his book is not the official view of his party and it was written long back when the UPA was in power.

Asked about BSP chief Mayawati&#39;s assertion that she would join hands with other parties to take on the BJP, Prasad said the country&#39;s politics has changed and even if all parties came together they would not be able to defeat the saffron party.

&quot;If you analyse the UP election, the BJP would have even if other parties were together,&quot; Prasad said.

Shah in his address also referred to the Shunglu Committee report, which has indicted the Kejriwal government on alleged corruption charges, and said there cannot be a bigger example of lack of probity.

He exhorted party leaders to work to realise the Modi government&#39;s dream of a &#39;New India&#39;.

The central government has also given Padma awards for the first time to many little-known people doing good work in different field and made selection process transparent, he said, while also lauding it for the passage of the GST bills.

The chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur Yogi Adityanath, Trivendra Singh Rawat and Biren Singh, respectively attended their first national executive since assuming their new roles.

They were congratulated by party leaders and workers for their new assignment, especially, Adityanatha, the fiery Hindutva mascot, for taking charge of the politically crucial and country&#39;s most populous state. 
 
(PTI) 
&nbsp;

Questioning the integrity of EVMs amounted to openly disrespecting the Election Commission, Amit Shah said at the national executive meet

Opposition parties blaming electronic voting machines (EVMs) for their poll loss underlines their desperation and lack of issues against the BJP, its national president Amit Shah said Saturday, noting that EVMs were never questioned when they won. Questioning the integrity of electronic voting machines (EVMs) amounted to openly disrespecting the Election Commission, he said in his inaugural address at the two-day national executive meet of the BJP here. "Opposition parties are in desperation following our win. They have no issue against us. They are not admitting their defeat and instead blaming EVMs," he said. Shah wondered if the UPA had not won in 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha polls when EVMs were used or if the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP had swept the Delhi assembly polls in 2015 due to use of ballot papers. The BJP chief also referred to the Congress's victory in the Punjab assembly polls to make his point. Briefing reporters on Shah's speech, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Election Commission has already come out with an open hacking challenge and let people know if Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal, who has alleged EVM tempering, was a "hacking expert". He said all elections since 1998 were held with the use of EVMs. Asked about a book written by BJP spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao who had questioned the reliability of EVMs, Prasad said his book is not the official view of his party and it was written long back when the UPA was in power. Asked about BSP chief Mayawati's assertion that she would join hands with other parties to take on the BJP, Prasad said the country's politics has changed and even if all parties came together they would not be able to defeat the saffron party. "If you analyse the UP election, the BJP would have even if other parties were together," Prasad said. Shah in his address also referred to the Shunglu Committee report, which has indicted the Kejriwal government on alleged corruption charges, and said there cannot be a bigger example of lack of probity. He exhorted party leaders to work to realise the Modi government's dream of a 'New India'. The central government has also given Padma awards for the first time to many little-known people doing good work in different field and made selection process transparent, he said, while also lauding it for the passage of the GST bills. The chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur Yogi Adityanath, Trivendra Singh Rawat and Biren Singh, respectively attended their first national executive since assuming their new roles. They were congratulated by party leaders and workers for their new assignment, especially, Adityanatha, the fiery Hindutva mascot, for taking charge of the politically crucial and country's most populous state. (PTI)

Parties blaming EVMs for poll loss shows their desperation, says BJP president Amit Shah

Eyeing a hat-trick in Delhi civic polls, BJP chief Amit Shah Saturday launched a blistering attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleging that corruption has flourished under the Kejriwal government and people must teach it a lesson.

Addressing BJP workers ahead of the MCD elections, Amit Shah referred to party&#39;s victories in the recent assembly polls and said a win in the civic elections will help catapult the party to power in the national capital.

He was addressing a convention of booth in-charges at the Indian capital&#39;s Ramlila Ground where around 60,000 workers had gathered.

Pointing to an India map near the dais, Shah said while the country is being painted in &quot;saffron&quot;, Delhi continues to remain a &quot;white spot&quot; and asked the party workers to ensure BJP&#39;s victory in the civic polls.

&quot;After 2014, BJP has won nearly everywhere, except Delhi and Bihar. Today BJP workers will go back with a resolve to plug the gaps so that the BJP&#39;s victory flag is unfurled in the national capital,&quot; he said.

Targeting the Delhi government, Shah accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of getting into fights with the Centre for political reasons.

&quot;The AAP has indulged in corruption like no other party has in such a short time. His (Kejriwal) principal secretary was arrested by CBI. There was graft in procuring onions, in appointments in DCW, in procuring water tankers, street lights.

&quot;A minister is involved in hawala. There was a&nbsp;scam in the waqf board. And most importantly, AAP used the Delhi exchequer&#39;s money in Gujarat, Kolkata and other states for putting out advertisements,&quot; the BJP president said.

The BJP President contrasted his party&#39;s &quot;clean record&quot; in governance with the AAP&#39;s &quot;tainted&quot; tenure, saying many of its legislators and ministers were arrested over charges of corruption and &quot;rape&quot;.

He also dared Kejriwal to take action against the legislators and ministers facing various allegations and order a judicial probe into the charges.

&quot;This is not just an MCD election, but it is an opportunity to uproot the AAP government in the next polls,&quot; Amit Shah said&nbsp;and appealed to party activists to work hard for the elections as it was Delhi where the then Jana Sangh, BJP&#39;s predecessor, came to power first.

Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu, Nirmala Sitharaman, Jitendra Singh, Harsh Vardhan and Vijay Goel &nbsp;&nbsp;were present at the event. As was Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari

Shah also invoked the anti-terror surgical strikes&nbsp;undertaken last year, saying the armed forces &quot;barged&quot; into Pakistan to avenge the killing of soldiers in Uri last year. 
 
Amit Shah hailed the contribution of booth-level workers in the BJP&#39;s spate of electoral success across the country.

The BJP has dubbed the group of five booth in-charges as &quot;Panch Parmeshwar&quot;&nbsp;(five judges) saying these &quot;workers will work like &quot;panchs&quot; (judges) towards getting administrative justice for people&quot;. 
 
Shah said AAP had promised improved law and order in the city but &quot;Kejriwal would do a big favour by reining in his MLAs&quot;. 
 
&quot;I would urge him to keep his MLAs in control. That will be a big favour for the people of Delhi. Criminal allegations have cropped up against 13 MLAs of the 
party that spoke of bringing change in politics,&quot; he said. 
 
He advised Kejriwal &quot;not to worry&quot; about the BJP&#39;s poll promises in Uttar Pradesh and instead focus on bringing in the reforms in the areas of education 
and health. 
 
&quot;We will fulfil all our promises in Uttar Pradesh. You don&#39;t have to worry. Kejriwal makes a slew of promises ahead of polls but after the elections he is 
found in Punjab, Goa, Gujarat. 
 
&quot;If you (Kejriwal) have the slightest shame left then he should remember that he is answerable to the people of Delhi on these tainted MLAs. He should do so before canvassing for votes ahead for the municipal polls,&quot; Shah said. 
 
(PTI)

BJP chief Amit Shah Saturday launched a blistering attack on the Aam Aadmi Party ahead of next month's elections

Eyeing a hat-trick in Delhi civic polls, BJP chief Amit Shah Saturday launched a blistering attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleging that corruption has flourished under the Kejriwal government and people must teach it a lesson. Addressing BJP workers ahead of the MCD elections, Amit Shah referred to party's victories in the recent assembly polls and said a win in the civic elections will help catapult the party to power in the national capital. He was addressing a convention of booth in-charges at the Indian capital's Ramlila Ground where around 60,000 workers had gathered. Pointing to an India map near the dais, Shah said while the country is being painted in "saffron", Delhi continues to remain a "white spot" and asked the party workers to ensure BJP's victory in the civic polls. "After 2014, BJP has won nearly everywhere, except Delhi and Bihar. Today BJP workers will go back with a resolve to plug the gaps so that the BJP's victory flag is unfurled in the national capital," he said. Targeting the Delhi government, Shah accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of getting into fights with the Centre for political reasons. "The AAP has indulged in corruption like no other party has in such a short time. His (Kejriwal) principal secretary was arrested by CBI. There was graft in procuring onions, in appointments in DCW, in procuring water tankers, street lights. "A minister is involved in hawala. There was a scam in the waqf board. And most importantly, AAP used the Delhi exchequer's money in Gujarat, Kolkata and other states for putting out advertisements," the BJP president said. The BJP President contrasted his party's "clean record" in governance with the AAP's "tainted" tenure, saying many of its legislators and ministers were arrested over charges of corruption and "rape". He also dared Kejriwal to take action against the legislators and ministers facing various allegations and order a judicial probe into the charges. "This is not just an MCD election, but it is an opportunity to uproot the AAP government in the next polls," Amit Shah said and appealed to party activists to work hard for the elections as it was Delhi where the then Jana Sangh, BJP's predecessor, came to power first. Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu, Nirmala Sitharaman, Jitendra Singh, Harsh Vardhan and Vijay Goel were present at the event. As was Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari Shah also invoked the anti-terror surgical strikes undertaken last year, saying the armed forces "barged" into Pakistan to avenge the killing of soldiers in Uri last year. Amit Shah hailed the contribution of booth-level workers in the BJP's spate of electoral success across the country. The BJP has dubbed the group of five booth in-charges as "Panch Parmeshwar" (five judges) saying these "workers will work like "panchs" (judges) towards getting administrative justice for people". Shah said AAP had promised improved law and order in the city but "Kejriwal would do a big favour by reining in his MLAs". "I would urge him to keep his MLAs in control. That will be a big favour for the people of Delhi. Criminal allegations have cropped up against 13 MLAs of the party that spoke of bringing change in politics," he said. He advised Kejriwal "not to worry" about the BJP's poll promises in Uttar Pradesh and instead focus on bringing in the reforms in the areas of education and health. "We will fulfil all our promises in Uttar Pradesh. You don't have to worry. Kejriwal makes a slew of promises ahead of polls but after the elections he is found in Punjab, Goa, Gujarat. "If you (Kejriwal) have the slightest shame left then he should remember that he is answerable to the people of Delhi on these tainted MLAs. He should do so before canvassing for votes ahead for the municipal polls," Shah said. (PTI)

Uttar Pradesh done, BJP shifts focus to Delhi civic polls

Yogi Adityanath, a firebrand lawmaker from Gorakhpur,&nbsp;took&nbsp;today oath as the 32nd chief minister of India&#39;s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh&nbsp;in the state capital Lucknow.

In his first interaction with media persons after taking over, Adityanath said his government will follow the &#39;sabka saath sabka vikas&#39; (With all, development for all) agenda in serving the people.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister said his government would work for all sections of the society without any discrimination.

&quot;Our Government will work for the welfare of the people. We will work for all the sections of the society without any discrimination. Special efforts will be made for the welfare of the poor, Dalits and backward classes,&quot; Yogi Adityanath said in his address to the media.

He also said the government would work towards bettering the law and order situation and tackle the unemployment problem.

&quot;The people have borne a heavy loss due to the deteriorated situation of law and order and corruption. Our Government will work for the welfare of the people,&quot; he said.&nbsp;&quot;We will surely work to improve job crisis&quot;. 
 
He said that in the last 15 years, Uttar Pradesh had been left behind in all respects, and vowed to take the state on the&nbsp;path of growth and development.

Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Dinesh Sharma said that all the promises including waiving off farmers&rsquo; loan would be fulfilled. &quot;Don&rsquo;t worry. All the promises which were made during elections rally will be fulfilled,&quot; he said when asked whether farmers&rsquo; loans would be waived off.

Adityanath, deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, and a 43-member Cabinet were sworn-in by Governor Ram Naik&nbsp;at the&nbsp;Kanshiram Smriti Upvan. 
 
The Muslim face of the Cabinet, former cricketer Mohsin Raza, was sworn in as the Minister of State.

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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FLASH?src=hash">#FLASH</a>: Yogi Adityanath takes oath as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister <a href="https://t.co/IA6U6kYUPX">pic.twitter.com/IA6U6kYUPX</a>
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Yogi Adityanath becomes Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, leaders congratulate him at the ceremony. <a href="https://t.co/BgLvQJs4Nd">pic.twitter.com/BgLvQJs4Nd</a>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI_news) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI_news/status/843384792645353472">March 19, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Keshav Prasad Maurya takes oath as Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. <a href="https://t.co/buO161ZPCg">pic.twitter.com/buO161ZPCg</a>
&mdash; ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANINewsUP/status/843384794096447488">March 19, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Lucknow: Dinesh Sharma takes oath as Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh <a href="https://t.co/10H64qmGfL">pic.twitter.com/10H64qmGfL</a>
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Yogi Adityanath was chosen as the next chief minister of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday ending days of speculation.

The swearing-in ceremony was attended by the top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah, Union ministers Rajnath Singh,&nbsp;Nitin Gadkari,&nbsp;Uma Bharti, and senior party leader LK Advani.

Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav was also invited for the ceremony and could be seen interacting with PM Modi. 
&nbsp;

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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WATCH?src=hash">#WATCH</a> PM Narendra Modi and Mulayam Singh Yadav interact post swearing-in ceremony of Yogi Adityanath as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister <a href="https://t.co/8NfGbtzfRO">pic.twitter.com/8NfGbtzfRO</a>
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Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu were also present on the occasion.

The party&#39;s state president Keshav Prasad Maurya and Lucknow mayor Dinesh Sharma were chosen as the deputy chief ministers.

The decision was made after a high-power meeting at Lok Bhawan in Lucknow. The meeting was attended by Union minister Venkaiah Naidu and BJP vice-president Om Mathur.&nbsp;

Adityanath is known to be&nbsp;a Hindu hardliner, with his incendiary comments often creating controversies.

The five-time MP has compared Pakistan to Satan and Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan to Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

In 2002, he formed a right-wing outfit named Hindu Yuva Vahini. The group has been known for enforcing cow protection and love jihad (inter-religious marriages) campaigns.

Born on June 5, 1972, Adityanath was the youngest member of the 12th Lok Sabha at 26.&nbsp; 
 
The 44-year-old has also been accused of converting Christians to Hinduism in 2005.

Most recently, he lauded US President Trump&#39;s travel ban that aimed to halt immigrants from a handful of Muslim-majority countries from entering America, saying India needed similar action to check terrorism.

Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya was instrumental in the BJP securing over 300 seats in these elections as he helped the saffron party get the non-Yadav OBC votes. And like Modi, he worked at several tea stalls when he was a young boy.

Maurya&#39;s colleague Dinesh Sharma, the national vice-president of the BJP, is believed to be close to Modi. Sharma, also the mayor of Lucknow, played a key role in boosting the party&#39;s membership from 10 million to 110 million before this year&#39;s elections.

Adityanath&#39;s appointment removed the shroud of uncertainty about the identity of the state&#39;s next chief minister.

Besides Adityanath, Union minister Manoj Sinha, BJP leader Shrikant Sharma and Maurya were in the reckoning to be the head of India&#39;s northern state.

Till a few hours ago, it was Manoj Sinha who was believed to be in the inside lane of the chief ministerial race. But minutes before the Lok Bhawan meeting at 4 pm yesterday (March 18), there were strong indications that Adityanath had stolen a march over Sinha.

&quot;This is a watershed moment in the history of BJP,&quot; Venkaiah Naidu, Federal Information &amp; Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu told reporters after BJP officials met in Uttar Pradesh&#39;s capital Lucknow on Saturday.

&quot;The mandate is for development, good governance and against caste politics.&quot;

The BJP swept to power in UP, winning&nbsp;312 seats in a 403-member house, while its allies Apna Dal (Soneylal) and Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party got nine and four seats respectively.&nbsp;

(WION with inputs from agencies)

&nbsp;

The chief minister said his government would work for all sections of the society and would tackle the law and order problem in the state

Yogi Adityanath, a firebrand lawmaker from Gorakhpur, took today oath as the 32nd chief minister of India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh in the state capital Lucknow. In his first interaction with media persons after taking over, Adityanath said his government will follow the 'sabka saath sabka vikas' (With all, development for all) agenda in serving the people. The Uttar Pradesh chief minister said his government would work for all sections of the society without any discrimination. "Our Government will work for the welfare of the people. We will work for all the sections of the society without any discrimination. Special efforts will be made for the welfare of the poor, Dalits and backward classes," Yogi Adityanath said in his address to the media. He also said the government would work towards bettering the law and order situation and tackle the unemployment problem. "The people have borne a heavy loss due to the deteriorated situation of law and order and corruption. Our Government will work for the welfare of the people," he said. "We will surely work to improve job crisis". He said that in the last 15 years, Uttar Pradesh had been left behind in all respects, and vowed to take the state on the path of growth and development. Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Dinesh Sharma said that all the promises including waiving off farmers’ loan would be fulfilled. "Don’t worry. All the promises which were made during elections rally will be fulfilled," he said when asked whether farmers’ loans would be waived off. Adityanath, deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, and a 43-member Cabinet were sworn-in by Governor Ram Naik at the Kanshiram Smriti Upvan. The Muslim face of the Cabinet, former cricketer Mohsin Raza, was sworn in as the Minister of State. #FLASH: Yogi Adityanath takes oath as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister pic.twitter.com/IA6U6kYUPX — ANI (@ANI_news) March 19, 2017 × Yogi Adityanath becomes Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, leaders congratulate him at the ceremony. pic.twitter.com/BgLvQJs4Nd — ANI (@ANI_news) March 19, 2017 × Keshav Prasad Maurya takes oath as Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. pic.twitter.com/buO161ZPCg — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 19, 2017 × Lucknow: Dinesh Sharma takes oath as Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh pic.twitter.com/10H64qmGfL — ANI (@ANI_news) March 19, 2017 × Yogi Adityanath was chosen as the next chief minister of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday ending days of speculation. The swearing-in ceremony was attended by the top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah, Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Uma Bharti, and senior party leader LK Advani. Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav was also invited for the ceremony and could be seen interacting with PM Modi. #WATCH PM Narendra Modi and Mulayam Singh Yadav interact post swearing-in ceremony of Yogi Adityanath as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister pic.twitter.com/8NfGbtzfRO — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 19, 2017 × Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu were also present on the occasion. The party's state president Keshav Prasad Maurya and Lucknow mayor Dinesh Sharma were chosen as the deputy chief ministers. The decision was made after a high-power meeting at Lok Bhawan in Lucknow. The meeting was attended by Union minister Venkaiah Naidu and BJP vice-president Om Mathur. Adityanath is known to be a Hindu hardliner, with his incendiary comments often creating controversies. The five-time MP has compared Pakistan to Satan and Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan to Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. In 2002, he formed a right-wing outfit named Hindu Yuva Vahini. The group has been known for enforcing cow protection and love jihad (inter-religious marriages) campaigns. Born on June 5, 1972, Adityanath was the youngest member of the 12th Lok Sabha at 26. The 44-year-old has also been accused of converting Christians to Hinduism in 2005. Most recently, he lauded US President Trump's travel ban that aimed to halt immigrants from a handful of Muslim-majority countries from entering America, saying India needed similar action to check terrorism. Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya was instrumental in the BJP securing over 300 seats in these elections as he helped the saffron party get the non-Yadav OBC votes. And like Modi, he worked at several tea stalls when he was a young boy. Maurya's colleague Dinesh Sharma, the national vice-president of the BJP, is believed to be close to Modi. Sharma, also the mayor of Lucknow, played a key role in boosting the party's membership from 10 million to 110 million before this year's elections. Adityanath's appointment removed the shroud of uncertainty about the identity of the state's next chief minister. Besides Adityanath, Union minister Manoj Sinha, BJP leader Shrikant Sharma and Maurya were in the reckoning to be the head of India's northern state. Till a few hours ago, it was Manoj Sinha who was believed to be in the inside lane of the chief ministerial race. But minutes before the Lok Bhawan meeting at 4 pm yesterday (March 18), there were strong indications that Adityanath had stolen a march over Sinha. "This is a watershed moment in the history of BJP," Venkaiah Naidu, Federal Information & Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu told reporters after BJP officials met in Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow on Saturday. "The mandate is for development, good governance and against caste politics." The BJP swept to power in UP, winning 312 seats in a 403-member house, while its allies Apna Dal (Soneylal) and Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party got nine and four seats respectively. (WION with inputs from agencies)

Yogi Adityanath sworn in as Uttar Pradesh chief minister, promises inclusive development

The Bharatiya Janata Party is set to hold a legislature meet today to elect the new chief minister of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

All MLAs will meet at 5 pm in the state&rsquo;s capital Lucknow to decide the pick, news agency ANI reported.&nbsp;

Union minister Venkaiah Naidu and BJP general secretary Bhupendra Yadav will attend the meeting as the party&#39;s central observers, ANI reported.

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Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu arrives in Lucknow; will hold meeting with BJP MLAs later today. <a href="https://t.co/RaBtqqnB8R">pic.twitter.com/RaBtqqnB8R</a>
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The swearing-in ceremony of the new CM is scheduled to be held at the Kanshiram memorial ground tomorrow, ANI reported.

Prime Minister Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah will also attend the swearing-in.

The BJP won a whopping 324 seats out of 403 in the&nbsp;Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

According to a report in DNA, a majority of party leaders and 312 MLAs say that the selection has already been made by Modi and Shah, with the consent of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and the MLAs feel that they will only have to stamp their approval on that name.

A senior state BJP leader told DNA that the name of the leader has already been finalised.

Most of the party leaders are betting on minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha, DNA reported.

&quot;He is, no doubt, an able administrator with a clean image and proven track record. The only thing going against him is that he is not a member of either House in the state and the PM may not like to lose a precious Lok Sabha member when there are a few other leaders who can be the chief minister,&quot; a party leader told DNA.&nbsp;

Some legislators are also speculating the name of Suresh Kumar Khanna, the eight-time MLA from Shahjahanpur district.

&quot;He may emerge as a dark horse. He is a senior party legislator with a vast experience in assembly affairs,&quot; an MLA from Bareilly told DNA.

Other names doing the rounds are those of Dr Dinesh Sharma, party national vice-president and Lucknow Mayor, and Satish Mahana, a senior legislator from Kanpur, DNA reported.&nbsp;

The names of party state president Keshav Prasad Maurya and union home minister Rajnath Singh did not figure much after Shah almost ruled out their names.

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Mahant Yogi Adityanath, firebrand MP from Gorakhpur, &nbsp;is on top of the list of influential leaders eyeing the post, DNA reported.

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(WION with inputs from ANI and DNA) 
&nbsp;

Most of the party leaders are betting on minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha

The Bharatiya Janata Party is set to hold a legislature meet today to elect the new chief minister of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. All MLAs will meet at 5 pm in the state’s capital Lucknow to decide the pick, news agency ANI reported. Union minister Venkaiah Naidu and BJP general secretary Bhupendra Yadav will attend the meeting as the party's central observers, ANI reported. Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu arrives in Lucknow; will hold meeting with BJP MLAs later today. pic.twitter.com/RaBtqqnB8R — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 18, 2017 × The swearing-in ceremony of the new CM is scheduled to be held at the Kanshiram memorial ground tomorrow, ANI reported. Prime Minister Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah will also attend the swearing-in. The BJP won a whopping 324 seats out of 403 in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. According to a report in DNA, a majority of party leaders and 312 MLAs say that the selection has already been made by Modi and Shah, with the consent of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and the MLAs feel that they will only have to stamp their approval on that name. A senior state BJP leader told DNA that the name of the leader has already been finalised. Most of the party leaders are betting on minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha, DNA reported. "He is, no doubt, an able administrator with a clean image and proven track record. The only thing going against him is that he is not a member of either House in the state and the PM may not like to lose a precious Lok Sabha member when there are a few other leaders who can be the chief minister," a party leader told DNA. Some legislators are also speculating the name of Suresh Kumar Khanna, the eight-time MLA from Shahjahanpur district. "He may emerge as a dark horse. He is a senior party legislator with a vast experience in assembly affairs," an MLA from Bareilly told DNA. Other names doing the rounds are those of Dr Dinesh Sharma, party national vice-president and Lucknow Mayor, and Satish Mahana, a senior legislator from Kanpur, DNA reported. The names of party state president Keshav Prasad Maurya and union home minister Rajnath Singh did not figure much after Shah almost ruled out their names. Lucknow: UP BJP Chief Keshav Prasa Maurya's supporters stage demonstration demanding that Maurya be made the CM of UP pic.twitter.com/qwAR0WsJTl — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 18, 2017 × Mahant Yogi Adityanath, firebrand MP from Gorakhpur, is on top of the list of influential leaders eyeing the post, DNA reported. Lucknow: Yogi Adityanath's supporters demonstrate demanding that Adityanath be made Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh pic.twitter.com/kDmVWpGfiT — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 18, 2017 × (WION with inputs from ANI and DNA)

India: BJP MLAs to meet in Lucknow today to elect Uttar Pradesh chief minister

Even as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah credited his old colleague and now India&#39;s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, for the clear sweep of votes in Uttar Pradesh, many other factors, including his own work in the state from as early as 2009-10 played a crucial role.

Brand Modi was definitely at work in 2017 as it was in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, but the process of converting it into votes was painstaking and tedious.&nbsp;What worked was the BJP&#39;s focus on farmers, the poor and disadvantaged voters, not ever considered its core vote, which is identified as upper caste, upper class, traders. The BJP realised early its appeal among Brahmins, Rajputs and other land-owning communities will not garner enough votes to record a landslide victory.

&quot;The first election promise by the PM to the voters of UP was that he would waive all farming and agriculture loans. Ours is a farm-centric state. That immediately had a positive impact,&quot; said Virendra Singh &#39;Mast&#39;, BJP&#39;s Kisan Morcha (farmers&#39; cell) chief who is also from a farmer family. &nbsp;&nbsp;

&#39;Mast&#39; was put in charge of dousing the sentiments of farmers riled by demonetisation right before the sowing season. He details how the BJP cadre got to work after the 2014 win to put its organisation in place in the districts. &nbsp;

&quot;After the demonetisation, we held sabhas in every district in which 500-600 farmers would gather and share their views on the government&#39;s step. People were inconvenienced, but they also realised that this was a pro-poor move and for the betterment of the country. Farmers anyway don&rsquo;t have a culture of over-spending, so they were not really affected,&quot; he pointed.

Some argue that the loan waivers were offered to soothe frayed tempers over lost crops.&nbsp;

The party&#39;s strategists, however, say that this was part of a larger plan of acquiring and retaining new vote banks and not just a move to dilute the negative impact of demonetisation. They insist that demonetisation worked favourably for them as it showed PM Modi as a man who was prepared to go against the party&#39;s core voters, the trader class, who were the worst hit by demonetisation.&nbsp;

The solution was a slew of pro-poor moves &ndash; most popular among which was the Ujjwala scheme. &nbsp;The BJP ensured 40 lakh gas cylinders were distributed in UP alone.

&quot;If you count five members in a family, that is straight away 2 crore votes in BJP&#39;s kitty. These are people who never voted for BJP. Modi has changed the party&#39;s caste arithmetic. There&#39;s a shift in our core voters. People who never voted for us are voting for the BJP. It&#39;s like Indira Gandhi&#39;s (former prime minister) appeal among the poor and underprivileged,&quot; said a BJP strategist.&nbsp;

His point is borne out by &#39;Mast&#39; who is also BJP&#39;s Bhadohi MP: &quot;We distributed 96,000 cooking gas cylinders among women in my parliamentary constituency alone under Ujjwala. It really helped our image among women voters.&quot; He credits the BJP&#39;s soaring fortunes to the PM&#39;s appeal among voters, but baulks at the term &#39;Modi magic&#39;.&nbsp;

&quot;What magic? The term magic means something happened suddenly in a moment. A lot of work has gone into this and the voters are convinced that Modi means business when it comes to delivering on promises,&quot; he told WION.&nbsp;

Party strategists have called this verdict three days ago and said they either expected to sweep the polls with far higher number of seats than the predicted 190-210, or a crushing defeat with less than 130 seats.&nbsp;

&quot;We needed to galvanise voters from other sections who don&rsquo;t normally vote for us. The non-Yadav OBC (other backward classes) vote and non-Jatav vote needed to come to us in order to record a convincing majority. It was important to retain the 4-8 % new vote banks ,&quot; said a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary. &nbsp;

It was important to get the caste arithmetic right and ensure a consolidation of votes. &quot;The consolidation of votes was across caste lines, among OBCs and Dalit, in BJP&#39;s favour and not along Hindus and Muslims as portrayed by the media. BSP chief Mayawati&#39;s Dalit supporters are silent voters. This time they have just quietly voted for the BJP,&quot; he said.&nbsp;

However, PM Modi&#39;s shamshaan and kabristan (cremation ground and graveyard) rhetoric definitely touched a nerve with the predominantly Hindu voters, mainly of whom felt the SP government was busy appeasing the Muslims, leading to a consolidation of the majority vote.&nbsp;

&quot;Contrary to the popular theory in the media that the Jats in western UP did not vote for us in the first and second phase, large sections in the community have cast their votes in our favour. In Baghpat assembly seat where 50 per cent of the voters are Jats, the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal&#39;s candidate is trailing behind our BJP man by 50,000 votes. This would not happen without Jat votes,&quot; the RSS source said &nbsp;&nbsp;

The infighting within the Samajwadi Party family and its consequent tie-up with Congress also worked for the BJP as voters saw the latter as a more viable option that will get things done on the ground. State government in friction with the Modi government have not been able to get much done where Centre&#39;s support is required. &nbsp;

(WION)&nbsp;

BJP realised early its appeal with upper caste won't get enough votes, OBC-Dalits were key to victory in Uttar Pradesh

Even as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah credited his old colleague and now India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, for the clear sweep of votes in Uttar Pradesh, many other factors, including his own work in the state from as early as 2009-10 played a crucial role. Brand Modi was definitely at work in 2017 as it was in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, but the process of converting it into votes was painstaking and tedious. What worked was the BJP's focus on farmers, the poor and disadvantaged voters, not ever considered its core vote, which is identified as upper caste, upper class, traders. The BJP realised early its appeal among Brahmins, Rajputs and other land-owning communities will not garner enough votes to record a landslide victory. "The first election promise by the PM to the voters of UP was that he would waive all farming and agriculture loans. Ours is a farm-centric state. That immediately had a positive impact," said Virendra Singh 'Mast', BJP's Kisan Morcha (farmers' cell) chief who is also from a farmer family. 'Mast' was put in charge of dousing the sentiments of farmers riled by demonetisation right before the sowing season. He details how the BJP cadre got to work after the 2014 win to put its organisation in place in the districts. "After the demonetisation, we held sabhas in every district in which 500-600 farmers would gather and share their views on the government's step. People were inconvenienced, but they also realised that this was a pro-poor move and for the betterment of the country. Farmers anyway don’t have a culture of over-spending, so they were not really affected," he pointed. Some argue that the loan waivers were offered to soothe frayed tempers over lost crops. The party's strategists, however, say that this was part of a larger plan of acquiring and retaining new vote banks and not just a move to dilute the negative impact of demonetisation. They insist that demonetisation worked favourably for them as it showed PM Modi as a man who was prepared to go against the party's core voters, the trader class, who were the worst hit by demonetisation. The solution was a slew of pro-poor moves – most popular among which was the Ujjwala scheme. The BJP ensured 40 lakh gas cylinders were distributed in UP alone. "If you count five members in a family, that is straight away 2 crore votes in BJP's kitty. These are people who never voted for BJP. Modi has changed the party's caste arithmetic. There's a shift in our core voters. People who never voted for us are voting for the BJP. It's like Indira Gandhi's (former prime minister) appeal among the poor and underprivileged," said a BJP strategist. His point is borne out by 'Mast' who is also BJP's Bhadohi MP: "We distributed 96,000 cooking gas cylinders among women in my parliamentary constituency alone under Ujjwala. It really helped our image among women voters." He credits the BJP's soaring fortunes to the PM's appeal among voters, but baulks at the term 'Modi magic'. "What magic? The term magic means something happened suddenly in a moment. A lot of work has gone into this and the voters are convinced that Modi means business when it comes to delivering on promises," he told WION. Party strategists have called this verdict three days ago and said they either expected to sweep the polls with far higher number of seats than the predicted 190-210, or a crushing defeat with less than 130 seats. "We needed to galvanise voters from other sections who don’t normally vote for us. The non-Yadav OBC (other backward classes) vote and non-Jatav vote needed to come to us in order to record a convincing majority. It was important to retain the 4-8 % new vote banks ," said a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary. It was important to get the caste arithmetic right and ensure a consolidation of votes. "The consolidation of votes was across caste lines, among OBCs and Dalit, in BJP's favour and not along Hindus and Muslims as portrayed by the media. BSP chief Mayawati's Dalit supporters are silent voters. This time they have just quietly voted for the BJP," he said. However, PM Modi's shamshaan and kabristan (cremation ground and graveyard) rhetoric definitely touched a nerve with the predominantly Hindu voters, mainly of whom felt the SP government was busy appeasing the Muslims, leading to a consolidation of the majority vote. "Contrary to the popular theory in the media that the Jats in western UP did not vote for us in the first and second phase, large sections in the community have cast their votes in our favour. In Baghpat assembly seat where 50 per cent of the voters are Jats, the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal's candidate is trailing behind our BJP man by 50,000 votes. This would not happen without Jat votes," the RSS source said The infighting within the Samajwadi Party family and its consequent tie-up with Congress also worked for the BJP as voters saw the latter as a more viable option that will get things done on the ground. State government in friction with the Modi government have not been able to get much done where Centre's support is required. (WION)

PM Modi, Amit Shah's UP game plan: Focus on farmers, poor and women

In an interview to PTI, BJP president Amit Shah said that there was &quot;no question&quot; of any post-poll alliance with the BSP or any party. He also said the BJP had deliberately not declared its chief ministerial candidate for Uttar Pradesh&nbsp;as it is a part of its poll strategy.

Asked if the BJP would be willing to ally with the BSP or any other party to form a government in the politically crucial state if it fell short of a majority, the BJP president explicitly stated, &quot;Kisi se bhi haath milane ka dur-dur tak koi swaal nahin uthatha (there is no question by far of joining hands with any party).&quot;

A few poll surveys and political experts have forecast a hung assembly in the state where elections are currently being held in seven-phases with the fourth phase set for tomorrow.&nbsp;

In the 2014 general elections, the BJP had won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha (Lower House) seats, beating the SP-Congress alliance and Mayawati&#39;s BSP quite easily.

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They will ask your religion &amp; caste first, if that doesn&#39;t seem favourable to them, they won&#39;t give you laptop: Amit Shah in Chauri Chaura <a href="https://t.co/zSOVBahTNV">pic.twitter.com/zSOVBahTNV</a>
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The BJP president hopes to ride the 2014 wave in Uttar Pradesh, not only this, he feels the BJP will win in Uttarakhand and Goa with &quot;full majority&quot;.

He said it was &quot;difficult to guess&quot; who would win in Punjab, noting that it was a &quot;triangular contest&quot; in the state involving the SAD-BJP, Congress and the AAP.

Akhilesh Yadav slams PM Modi over demonetisation.

Meanwhile, the BSP, SP and the Congress - key parties in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh polls criticised the Modi-led BJP over demonetisation and other issues in various election rallies in the state.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has written a letter to the prime minister questioning him over his 2014 poll promise to bring &quot;acche din&quot; (good days) back.

&nbsp;

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Due to some reasons, I couldn&#39;t be present between all of you this time. Representing you is a matter of pride for me,my family:Sonia Gandhi <a href="https://t.co/DzTqwvfuwG">pic.twitter.com/DzTqwvfuwG</a>
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&nbsp;

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Centre Govt is depriving you (ppl) of welfare programmes deliberately, &amp; I am pained to see this happening: Sonia Gandhi addresses in letter <a href="https://t.co/B3XIIQP3RB">pic.twitter.com/B3XIIQP3RB</a>
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At an election rally in Bahraich district, SP President Akhilesh Yadav said Modi had not released statistics showing that black money, corruption and terrorism had come to an end after demonetisation.

&quot;You had said demonetisation would being an end to black money, corruption and terrorism. Where are the statistics? (Notebandi se aapne jo kaha tha ki kaladhan, corruption aur aatankwad khatam ho jayega, aankadey kahan hai?,&quot; Akhilesh Yadav said.

On the SP&#39;s seat-sharing with the Congress, Akhilesh said, &quot;If friendship is done with a big heart, it stays but if you befriend a miser the bond is unlikely to last.&quot;

After the Congress-SP alliance, the confusion in the minds of the people, has come to an end now,&quot; Akhilesh Yadav said at a rally in Shravasti district.

&nbsp;

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Hum zimmedaari se PM ko kehte hain khao Ganga maiyya ki kasam ki hum Kashi mein 24ghante bijli de rahein hain ki nahi de rahe:Akhilesh Yadav <a href="https://t.co/1TM4d1o2Xv">pic.twitter.com/1TM4d1o2Xv</a>
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Reservations will be removed if BJP comes to power: Mayawati

On another front, BSP chief Mayawati said she had been informed by &quot;sources&quot; that the BJP would remove reservations if it came to power in Uttar Pradesh.

&quot;If BJP comes to power in the elections, all reservations will go away, have got information from sources,&quot; Mayawati said at a rally in Faizabad district.

&quot;You can only guess how many Rohit Vemula or Una cases will happen if BJP comes to power in the state,&quot; the BSP chief declared.

She was referring to Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, who spoke up for his community and committed suicide in Karnataka and to the thrashing of Dalits in Gujarat&#39;s Una after being wrongly accused of killing a cow.

&quot;Now the people will refer to the BJP as &#39;party of frauds&#39; instead of the &#39;party of people&#39; not only in Uttar Pradesh but the entire country,&quot; Mayawati said in Faizabad.

(WION with inputs from agencies)

&nbsp;

BJP president Amit Shah is confident of his party's win in UP, Uttarakhand and Goa but he is unclear about the outcome in Punjab

In an interview to PTI, BJP president Amit Shah said that there was "no question" of any post-poll alliance with the BSP or any party. He also said the BJP had deliberately not declared its chief ministerial candidate for Uttar Pradesh as it is a part of its poll strategy. Asked if the BJP would be willing to ally with the BSP or any other party to form a government in the politically crucial state if it fell short of a majority, the BJP president explicitly stated, "Kisi se bhi haath milane ka dur-dur tak koi swaal nahin uthatha (there is no question by far of joining hands with any party)." A few poll surveys and political experts have forecast a hung assembly in the state where elections are currently being held in seven-phases with the fourth phase set for tomorrow. In the 2014 general elections, the BJP had won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha (Lower House) seats, beating the SP-Congress alliance and Mayawati's BSP quite easily. They will ask your religion & caste first, if that doesn't seem favourable to them, they won't give you laptop: Amit Shah in Chauri Chaura pic.twitter.com/zSOVBahTNV — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 22, 2017 × The BJP president hopes to ride the 2014 wave in Uttar Pradesh, not only this, he feels the BJP will win in Uttarakhand and Goa with "full majority". He said it was "difficult to guess" who would win in Punjab, noting that it was a "triangular contest" in the state involving the SAD-BJP, Congress and the AAP. Akhilesh Yadav slams PM Modi over demonetisation. Meanwhile, the BSP, SP and the Congress - key parties in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh polls criticised the Modi-led BJP over demonetisation and other issues in various election rallies in the state. Congress president Sonia Gandhi has written a letter to the prime minister questioning him over his 2014 poll promise to bring "acche din" (good days) back. Due to some reasons, I couldn't be present between all of you this time. Representing you is a matter of pride for me,my family:Sonia Gandhi pic.twitter.com/DzTqwvfuwG — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 22, 2017 × Centre Govt is depriving you (ppl) of welfare programmes deliberately, & I am pained to see this happening: Sonia Gandhi addresses in letter pic.twitter.com/B3XIIQP3RB — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 22, 2017 × At an election rally in Bahraich district, SP President Akhilesh Yadav said Modi had not released statistics showing that black money, corruption and terrorism had come to an end after demonetisation. "You had said demonetisation would being an end to black money, corruption and terrorism. Where are the statistics? (Notebandi se aapne jo kaha tha ki kaladhan, corruption aur aatankwad khatam ho jayega, aankadey kahan hai?," Akhilesh Yadav said. On the SP's seat-sharing with the Congress, Akhilesh said, "If friendship is done with a big heart, it stays but if you befriend a miser the bond is unlikely to last." After the Congress-SP alliance, the confusion in the minds of the people, has come to an end now," Akhilesh Yadav said at a rally in Shravasti district. Hum zimmedaari se PM ko kehte hain khao Ganga maiyya ki kasam ki hum Kashi mein 24ghante bijli de rahein hain ki nahi de rahe:Akhilesh Yadav pic.twitter.com/1TM4d1o2Xv — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 22, 2017 × Reservations will be removed if BJP comes to power: Mayawati On another front, BSP chief Mayawati said she had been informed by "sources" that the BJP would remove reservations if it came to power in Uttar Pradesh. "If BJP comes to power in the elections, all reservations will go away, have got information from sources," Mayawati said at a rally in Faizabad district. "You can only guess how many Rohit Vemula or Una cases will happen if BJP comes to power in the state," the BSP chief declared. She was referring to Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, who spoke up for his community and committed suicide in Karnataka and to the thrashing of Dalits in Gujarat's Una after being wrongly accused of killing a cow. "Now the people will refer to the BJP as 'party of frauds' instead of the 'party of people' not only in Uttar Pradesh but the entire country," Mayawati said in Faizabad. (WION with inputs from agencies)

No question of post-poll alliance with BSP or any party: BJP president Amit Shah

By Amit Shah &amp; Manan Kumar

Amidst the heady mix of galouti kebabs, biryani and politics, Awadh is savouring the attention of every political partiy in the battle for Uttar Pradesh.

It is in this region, most of which goes to the polls in the third phase of the UP election on Sunday, that the BJP is hoping to weaken the Samajwadi Party (SP), which had swept it in 2012, winning 55 of the 69 seats.

As polling neared, all four parties &mdash; SP, BJP, BSP and Congress &mdash; campaigned aggressively in the region, which falls in the central part of the state. &ldquo;All parties were reaching out combatively. They are giving either fuel for motorbikes or Rs 100, or both,&rdquo; said Vinay Yadav, a taxi driver who has been travelling in the region.

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The BJP, which is confident of having &ldquo;done well&rdquo; in the first two phases in the western parts of UP, is pinning its hopes on a ripple effect in the rest of the state. The other calculation of the party is that it has managed to woo the non-Yadav OBCs like the Kurmis, Kushwahas and Mauryas. The region has a high concentration of backward communities, apart from Brahmins and Rajputs, the upper-caste communities that have been the BJP&rsquo;s traditional supporters.

Admitting that Awadh had been a major challenge for the BJP because of the caste composition of the region, a party leader said the scenario had changed after the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 when the OBCs and even some Scheduled Castes voted for it. The BJP is counting on two factors &mdash; Prime Minister Narendra Modi&rsquo;s rallies and giving tickets to a large number of OBCs. Modi held two rallies in a day, in Barabanki and Hardoi, this week, besides in Kannauj, Dimple Yadav&rsquo;s Lok Sabha seat.

&ldquo;The situation has now changed. We have the support of the OBCs,&rdquo; said state BJP vice-president JPS Rathore.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav faces a bigger challenge in Awadh. He faces the task of retaining the SP&rsquo;s tally of 2012, when it had wiped out the BJP and BSP in the region under the leadership of his father Mulayam Singh Yadav. The SP, whose strongholds go to polls in this phase, had swept it in the last Assembly polls, despite a lower presence of its Yadav support base. BSP had won six seats and BJP five.

The Modi-versus-Akhilesh debate has dominated the election scenario in Awadh, which could turn out to be a make-or-break region for both parties. Modi, who is the BJP&rsquo;s strongest vote-puller in a battle without a chief ministerial face, underlined the fact that he was an MP from the state and described himself as UP&rsquo;s &lsquo;adopted son&rsquo;.

Meanwhile, BSP supremo Mayawati has promised a separate Bundelkhand to dent the SP&rsquo;s bastion. Part of the Bundelkhand region, a parched region that falls at the bottom of all social indicators, overlaps the Assembly constituencies that are going to polls in the third phase. Addressing rallies on Saturday near Unnao and Etawah, Mayawati also raised the pitch of the campaign by declaring that if her party came to power, it will finish the RSS in UP.

(This report first appeared in DNA)

The Awadh region, which goes to the polls today, was swept by the SP in 2012. This time around, the BJP believes things will be different

By Amit Shah & Manan Kumar Amidst the heady mix of galouti kebabs, biryani and politics, Awadh is savouring the attention of every political partiy in the battle for Uttar Pradesh. It is in this region, most of which goes to the polls in the third phase of the UP election on Sunday, that the BJP is hoping to weaken the Samajwadi Party (SP), which had swept it in 2012, winning 55 of the 69 seats. As polling neared, all four parties — SP, BJP, BSP and Congress — campaigned aggressively in the region, which falls in the central part of the state. “All parties were reaching out combatively. They are giving either fuel for motorbikes or Rs 100, or both,” said Vinay Yadav, a taxi driver who has been travelling in the region. The Modi-versus-Akhilesh debate has dominated the election scenario in Awadh, which could turn out to be a make-or-break region for both parties × The BJP, which is confident of having “done well” in the first two phases in the western parts of UP, is pinning its hopes on a ripple effect in the rest of the state. The other calculation of the party is that it has managed to woo the non-Yadav OBCs like the Kurmis, Kushwahas and Mauryas. The region has a high concentration of backward communities, apart from Brahmins and Rajputs, the upper-caste communities that have been the BJP’s traditional supporters. Admitting that Awadh had been a major challenge for the BJP because of the caste composition of the region, a party leader said the scenario had changed after the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 when the OBCs and even some Scheduled Castes voted for it. The BJP is counting on two factors — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rallies and giving tickets to a large number of OBCs. Modi held two rallies in a day, in Barabanki and Hardoi, this week, besides in Kannauj, Dimple Yadav’s Lok Sabha seat. “The situation has now changed. We have the support of the OBCs,” said state BJP vice-president JPS Rathore. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav faces a bigger challenge in Awadh. He faces the task of retaining the SP’s tally of 2012, when it had wiped out the BJP and BSP in the region under the leadership of his father Mulayam Singh Yadav. The SP, whose strongholds go to polls in this phase, had swept it in the last Assembly polls, despite a lower presence of its Yadav support base. BSP had won six seats and BJP five. The Modi-versus-Akhilesh debate has dominated the election scenario in Awadh, which could turn out to be a make-or-break region for both parties. Modi, who is the BJP’s strongest vote-puller in a battle without a chief ministerial face, underlined the fact that he was an MP from the state and described himself as UP’s ‘adopted son’. Meanwhile, BSP supremo Mayawati has promised a separate Bundelkhand to dent the SP’s bastion. Part of the Bundelkhand region, a parched region that falls at the bottom of all social indicators, overlaps the Assembly constituencies that are going to polls in the third phase. Addressing rallies on Saturday near Unnao and Etawah, Mayawati also raised the pitch of the campaign by declaring that if her party came to power, it will finish the RSS in UP. (This report first appeared in DNA)

UP elections, phase 3: BJP takes battle to Samajwadi Party stronghold

BJP president Amit Shah released the party&#39;s manifesto for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections promising to build the Ram temple at Ayodhya.

&quot;Efforts will be made to ensure that Ram temple is constructed under constitutional provisions,&quot; Amit Shah declared while releasing the BJP manifesto. This means BJP is back to propagating the hindutva agenda even as it tries to push the development card in the elections. The Ram temple is sure to be seized upon by the SP-Congress coalition and also the BSP, possibly at the cost of other major issues.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati (BSP) reacted sharply almost immediately at&nbsp;BJP&#39;s Ram temple promise, declaring&nbsp;&quot;the BJP is trying to mislead the people of Uttar Pradesh&quot;. Political parties across Uttar Pradesh will now try to checkmate the BJP on its Ram temple agenda at a crucial stage in the campaign, ahead of the first phase of voting on 11th February. &nbsp;

The BJP has named the manifesto as &nbsp;&#39;Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra&#39; (pledge for people&#39;s&nbsp;welfare) for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

&quot;BIMARU&#39; (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, UP) states have improved, but not Uttar Pradesh. Centre sanctioned Rs one lakh crore to Uttar Pradesh but no development has occurred, in fact,&nbsp;the law and order is at a new low,&quot; the BJP president added as he released the manifesto.

The document focuses on farmers&#39; welfare, Amit Shah said, adding agricultural loans will be waived once BJP comes to power. &quot;We will provide laptops to all students without any discrimination and provide free WI-Fi to all colleges and universities,&quot; he asserted. The BJP president also said special focus would be given to Bundelkhand for its all round development.

Special Task Force to be set up to put an end to illegal mining in the state, Shah stated.

The BJP in its manifesto has stated that there would no interviews for Class III and IV Uttar Pradesh government jobs to end corruption in recruitment and the party will form teams at district levels to check &quot;exodus&quot; of people due to communal tension.

The party has also promised to set up food processing parks and ensure uninterrupted power at cheaper rates for the poor.

BJP Uttar Pradesh election manifesto highlights:

* Rs 500 crore will be allocated for the Baba Ambedkar 
fund.

*All colleges and universities will have free Wi-Fi.

*Up to 6 lakh loan from permanent houses and toilets. BPL citizens to get 2 lakh life cover.

*24x7 electricity in all houses. PM has said before 2019, all villages will have electricity.

*Villages will be connected with mini-bus services. People will be able to use metro at any time with their families.

*There will be a Bundelkhand and Poorvanchal development board under the directed supervision of the chief minister&#39;s office.

*Redressal system in every district to sort our trader disputes.

*Rs 5,000 for every girl child born in poor families; no age bar for widow pensions which will be Rs 1000.

*The opinion of all women on triple talaq will be taken and placed in front of the Supreme Court. 
&nbsp;

(WION)

&nbsp;

BJP president Amit Shah said his party will form teams at the district level to check 'exodus' of people due to communal tension

BJP president Amit Shah released the party's manifesto for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections promising to build the Ram temple at Ayodhya. "Efforts will be made to ensure that Ram temple is constructed under constitutional provisions," Amit Shah declared while releasing the BJP manifesto. This means BJP is back to propagating the hindutva agenda even as it tries to push the development card in the elections. The Ram temple is sure to be seized upon by the SP-Congress coalition and also the BSP, possibly at the cost of other major issues. Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati (BSP) reacted sharply almost immediately at BJP's Ram temple promise, declaring "the BJP is trying to mislead the people of Uttar Pradesh". Political parties across Uttar Pradesh will now try to checkmate the BJP on its Ram temple agenda at a crucial stage in the campaign, ahead of the first phase of voting on 11th February. The BJP has named the manifesto as 'Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra' (pledge for people's welfare) for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. "BIMARU' (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, UP) states have improved, but not Uttar Pradesh. Centre sanctioned Rs one lakh crore to Uttar Pradesh but no development has occurred, in fact, the law and order is at a new low," the BJP president added as he released the manifesto. The document focuses on farmers' welfare, Amit Shah said, adding agricultural loans will be waived once BJP comes to power. "We will provide laptops to all students without any discrimination and provide free WI-Fi to all colleges and universities," he asserted. The BJP president also said special focus would be given to Bundelkhand for its all round development. Special Task Force to be set up to put an end to illegal mining in the state, Shah stated. The BJP in its manifesto has stated that there would no interviews for Class III and IV Uttar Pradesh government jobs to end corruption in recruitment and the party will form teams at district levels to check "exodus" of people due to communal tension. The party has also promised to set up food processing parks and ensure uninterrupted power at cheaper rates for the poor. BJP Uttar Pradesh election manifesto highlights: * Rs 500 crore will be allocated for the Baba Ambedkar fund. *All colleges and universities will have free Wi-Fi. *Up to 6 lakh loan from permanent houses and toilets. BPL citizens to get 2 lakh life cover. *24x7 electricity in all houses. PM has said before 2019, all villages will have electricity. *Villages will be connected with mini-bus services. People will be able to use metro at any time with their families. *There will be a Bundelkhand and Poorvanchal development board under the directed supervision of the chief minister's office. *Redressal system in every district to sort our trader disputes. *Rs 5,000 for every girl child born in poor families; no age bar for widow pensions which will be Rs 1000. *The opinion of all women on triple talaq will be taken and placed in front of the Supreme Court. (WION)

BJP releases Uttar Pradesh election manifesto, promises to build Ram temple at  Ayodhya

BJP today appointed Nityanand Rai and Manoj Tiwari, both first time Lok Sabha members with contrasting background, as chief of its Bihar and Delhi units respectively, a decision seen as part of its effort to reach out to constituencies outside the party&#39;s traditional base in the two places.

Rai (50), a three-time MLA before he was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014 from Ujiarpur in Bihar, has risen through the ranks, having been in ABVP, the students wing of RSS, and then the BJYM, BJP&#39;s youth wing, before being elected as an MLA for the first time in 2000.

Unlike Rai, Tiwari (43) is a rank outsider to the state put under his charge. He had joined the saffron party just before 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He had earlier contested from Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat on Samajwadi Party ticket in 2009 and lost.

The party top brass believes that Tiwari, a popular figure, especially among the numerically important constituency of migrants from Bihar and eastern UP, will infuse fresh energy and dynamism into the Delhi unit, which is at a low ebb having suffered successive defeats in the last two assembly polls.

A well-known Bhojpuri singer and actor, Tiwari had won from Delhi North-East constituency, which has a large migrant population.

His appointment underlines party&#39;s attempt to reach out to the ever-swelling number of the migrant electors, who mostly voted for AAP in the last assembly polls.

Rai is an organisation man, who enjoys the trust of BJP&#39;s state leadership.

Despite being a Yadav, a loyal support base of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, and thrice having got elected as MLA from Hajipur, which has significant presence of people from the community, Rai stuck with BJP.

In a state dominated by Mandal politics, his appointment highlights BJP&#39;s attempt to reach beyond its traditional support base of upper castes and some sections of OBCs.

Rai replaces Mangal Pandey, while Tiwari takes over from Satish Upadhyay, both Brahmins. Their tenures were long over and new appointments were awaited for the some time.&nbsp;

(PTI)

 
&nbsp;

Manoj Tiwari is a popular figure, especially among the numerically important constituency of migrants from Bihar and eastern UP

BJP today appointed Nityanand Rai and Manoj Tiwari, both first time Lok Sabha members with contrasting background, as chief of its Bihar and Delhi units respectively, a decision seen as part of its effort to reach out to constituencies outside the party's traditional base in the two places. Rai (50), a three-time MLA before he was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014 from Ujiarpur in Bihar, has risen through the ranks, having been in ABVP, the students wing of RSS, and then the BJYM, BJP's youth wing, before being elected as an MLA for the first time in 2000. Unlike Rai, Tiwari (43) is a rank outsider to the state put under his charge. He had joined the saffron party just before 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He had earlier contested from Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat on Samajwadi Party ticket in 2009 and lost. The party top brass believes that Tiwari, a popular figure, especially among the numerically important constituency of migrants from Bihar and eastern UP, will infuse fresh energy and dynamism into the Delhi unit, which is at a low ebb having suffered successive defeats in the last two assembly polls. A well-known Bhojpuri singer and actor, Tiwari had won from Delhi North-East constituency, which has a large migrant population. His appointment underlines party's attempt to reach out to the ever-swelling number of the migrant electors, who mostly voted for AAP in the last assembly polls. Rai is an organisation man, who enjoys the trust of BJP's state leadership. Despite being a Yadav, a loyal support base of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, and thrice having got elected as MLA from Hajipur, which has significant presence of people from the community, Rai stuck with BJP. In a state dominated by Mandal politics, his appointment highlights BJP's attempt to reach beyond its traditional support base of upper castes and some sections of OBCs. Rai replaces Mangal Pandey, while Tiwari takes over from Satish Upadhyay, both Brahmins. Their tenures were long over and new appointments were awaited for the some time. (PTI)

Actor-turned-politician Manoj Tiwari is the new chief of BJP's Delhi unit

India&#39;s ruling Bhartiya Janata Party&#39;s &nbsp;president Amit Shah on Friday launched a counter-attack on the opposition asking them to clarify whether they are &nbsp;for or against demonisation, saying that he questioned the political leaders&rsquo; commitment to do the same. He asked the opposition to clarify whether they were &quot;for or against black money and terror funded by fake notes&quot;. Shah specifically called out Delhi chief minister &nbsp;Arvind Kejriwal, saying, &ldquo;Arvind Kejriwal, make clear whether you support weeding out black money.&rdquo;

 
Attacking the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who called the demonetisation &ldquo;draconian&rdquo;, the BJP president said, &ldquo;I know Mamata Banerjee opposed the move, but politicians shouldn&rsquo;t join ranks of black marketeers, drug dealers who are upset.&rdquo;&nbsp;

 
However, contrary to this position, back in 2014, when &nbsp;the Congress led-United Progressive Alliance government had called in for demonetisation of currency notes issued before 2005, BJP had called it an&quot;anti-poor&quot; move which would badly affect the illiterate and poor living in remote areas of the country.

 
&quot;The latest gimmick of the finance ministry to demonetise the notes, printed before 2005, is an attempt to obfuscate the issue of black money stashed outside the country... This measure is strongly anti-poor. The &#39;aam aurats&#39; and the &#39;aadmis&#39; - those who are illiterate and have no access to banking facilities will be the ones to be hit by such diversionary measures,&quot;BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi had told the media in 2014.

 
65 per cent of people in India do not have bank accounts and are living in remote areas, they store their money in cash, she had said.

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&ldquo; They will fall victim to middlemen who will scare them that the notes are worthless and charge them hefty fees to convert them. They will also be ripped off by shopkeepers,&quot; the BJP leader had claimed.

Lekhi had went on to accuse the UPA government of not being in a position to measure the correct quantum of black money as those possessing it would convert them into new currency notes.

 
&nbsp;&quot;This policy of Mr P Chidambaram is only meant for the blue blood and not for the sweating, red-blooded, toiling millions. It is not going to affect those who have numbered accounts in Swiss accounts, but will hit those who do not have any bank account even in India.&quot;, she had said.&nbsp;

 
The step is not going to affect those who have their savings in US dollars and other foreign currencies, but those who have saved in rupees, Lekhi had said.

 
It is certain that in times to come, as the debate unfolds further, BJP will have a tough time in responding to those Indians who have been drastically hit by the move as alleged by the opposition parties.&nbsp;

 
(WION) 
&nbsp;

The party had opposed the very same move in January 2014 when a Congress-led government was in power

India's ruling Bhartiya Janata Party's president Amit Shah on Friday launched a counter-attack on the opposition asking them to clarify whether they are for or against demonisation, saying that he questioned the political leaders’ commitment to do the same. He asked the opposition to clarify whether they were "for or against black money and terror funded by fake notes". Shah specifically called out Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying, “Arvind Kejriwal, make clear whether you support weeding out black money.” Attacking the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who called the demonetisation “draconian”, the BJP president said, “I know Mamata Banerjee opposed the move, but politicians shouldn’t join ranks of black marketeers, drug dealers who are upset.” However, contrary to this position, back in 2014, when the Congress led-United Progressive Alliance government had called in for demonetisation of currency notes issued before 2005, BJP had called it an"anti-poor" move which would badly affect the illiterate and poor living in remote areas of the country. "The latest gimmick of the finance ministry to demonetise the notes, printed before 2005, is an attempt to obfuscate the issue of black money stashed outside the country... This measure is strongly anti-poor. The 'aam aurats' and the 'aadmis' - those who are illiterate and have no access to banking facilities will be the ones to be hit by such diversionary measures,"BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi had told the media in 2014. 65 per cent of people in India do not have bank accounts and are living in remote areas, they store their money in cash, she had said. “ They will fall victim to middlemen who will scare them that the notes are worthless and charge them hefty fees to convert them. They will also be ripped off by shopkeepers," the BJP leader had claimed. Lekhi had went on to accuse the UPA government of not being in a position to measure the correct quantum of black money as those possessing it would convert them into new currency notes. "This policy of Mr P Chidambaram is only meant for the blue blood and not for the sweating, red-blooded, toiling millions. It is not going to affect those who have numbered accounts in Swiss accounts, but will hit those who do not have any bank account even in India.", she had said. The step is not going to affect those who have their savings in US dollars and other foreign currencies, but those who have saved in rupees, Lekhi had said. It is certain that in times to come, as the debate unfolds further, BJP will have a tough time in responding to those Indians who have been drastically hit by the move as alleged by the opposition parties. (WION)

Demonetisation: BJP says good for economy now, but had opposed in 2014

Right to expression should not be used as an excuse to criticise the country, Amit Shah, the chief of India&#39;s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said at the India Ideas conclave in Goa today.&nbsp;

In an indirect swipe at the main opposition party, Congress, Shah said that &quot;criticising politicians, the Prime Minister and political parties is part of the democratic tradition, but should not be confused with national pride and honour of the country&quot;. &nbsp;

He said that being critical of the country in the name of freedom of expression is unacceptable. &quot;National pride is integral to the democratic process in India and it must be respected.&quot;

Discussing the nation&#39;s development and political dissent under the larger rubric of &#39;India at 70&#39;, Shah claimed that those who came to power after the birth of the nation &quot;took little pride in their heritage&quot; and the aim of equal engagement was soon replaced with the &quot;politics of appeasement&quot;.&nbsp;

Despite developing over the years, India has not been able to remove the shackles of dynastic politics, he said. &quot;Barring a couple of parties, inner-party democracy is absent from Indian politics and political families run them like personal empires.&quot;

Shah admitted that some good work was done in the past 70 years, but said it did not match up with the potential. &quot;Our leaders failed to resurrect the real identity of India.&quot;

He said that a focus on &quot;unity in diversity&quot; instead of &quot;national integration&quot; had a very different outcome than that planned.&nbsp;

Highlighting the work done by the Narendra Modi government, Shah said that the government&#39;s defence and foreign affairs policies have aligned for the first time and that had not been the case under the Congress-led government.

(WION)&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

Amit Shah's remarks come against the backdrop of criticism of the government by the Opposition

Right to expression should not be used as an excuse to criticise the country, Amit Shah, the chief of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said at the India Ideas conclave in Goa today. In an indirect swipe at the main opposition party, Congress, Shah said that "criticising politicians, the Prime Minister and political parties is part of the democratic tradition, but should not be confused with national pride and honour of the country". He said that being critical of the country in the name of freedom of expression is unacceptable. "National pride is integral to the democratic process in India and it must be respected." Discussing the nation's development and political dissent under the larger rubric of 'India at 70', Shah claimed that those who came to power after the birth of the nation "took little pride in their heritage" and the aim of equal engagement was soon replaced with the "politics of appeasement". Despite developing over the years, India has not been able to remove the shackles of dynastic politics, he said. "Barring a couple of parties, inner-party democracy is absent from Indian politics and political families run them like personal empires." Shah admitted that some good work was done in the past 70 years, but said it did not match up with the potential. "Our leaders failed to resurrect the real identity of India." He said that a focus on "unity in diversity" instead of "national integration" had a very different outcome than that planned. Highlighting the work done by the Narendra Modi government, Shah said that the government's defence and foreign affairs policies have aligned for the first time and that had not been the case under the Congress-led government. (WION)

Accept criticism against government, not country: India's ruling party chief

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