"Bure Din Jaane Wale Hain, Rahul Gandhi Aane Wale Hain...": Navjot Sidhu
NEW DELHI, Dec 11: As the Congress is inching towards victory in three big states that went to polls over the last few weeks, Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said "bure din jane wale hain", taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his promise "ache din aane wale hain(good days are ahead)". The slogan, designed ahead of national elections in 2014, was the hightlight of the BJP's campaign.
Votes are being counted in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. The Congress has lost Mizoram to its regional rival Mizo Nation Front (MNF).
In his poetic style, the cricketer-turned-politician said, "Bure din jaane wale hain aur Rahul Gandhi aane wale hain... kuch hi samay baad Lal Qile pe jhanda fehrane wale hain (Bad days will go away and Rahul Gandhi will unfurl the national flag at Red Fort)."
Does he mean that the Congress chief is going to become the prime minister in next year's Lok Sabha elections?
"Why not? Rahul Gandhi is going up while Narendra Modi is going down. Public sab janti hai (people can see through). The results have given us hope. Voters have laid the foundation... all roads lead to Red Fort now," he told NDTV.
The Congress leader, who was earlier part of the BJP, has been relentless in his attack on PM Modi and his party over a host of issues, including the controversial Rafale fighter jet deal and farmer suicides.
"The wave in favour of Narendra Modi in 2014 that had helped the BJP come to power with a comfortable majority has turned out to be 'poisonous' for the common man," Mr Sidhu said.
The Punjab minister has also accused the prime minister of acting like a puppet in the hands of moneybags. "The prime minister is a 'katputli (puppet)' of capitalists. If a farmer fails to repay a loan of Rs. 1 lakh, the government beats drums. But when (industrialists) Adani and Ambani do not repay Rs. 1.5 lakh crore, you do 'pappi-jhappi' with them (hug them)," he said.
He also took on PM Modi over unemployment and the centre's 'Make in India' initiative.
"When Rafale jets will come from France and bullet train from Japan, what will people do here? They will fry pakodas (fritters)," Mr Sidhu said referring to the NDA government's decision to buy 36 ready-to-fly fighter jets from France and India's agreement with Japan for the bullet trains.
Courtesy: www.ndtv.com
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Voting underway in 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka
Bengaluru (PTI): Voting was underway on Friday in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls in 14 constituencies in Karnataka.
Polling began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm.
A total of 247 candidates -- 226 men and 21 women -- are in the fray for the first phase covering most of the southern and coastal districts, where more than 2.88 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in 30,602 polling stations.
The Congress and BJP are locking horns on the electoral battleground again in less than a year.
This election is witnessing a straight fight between the ruling Congress and the BJP-JD(S) combine unlike the Assembly elections in May last year which witnessed a triangular contest among the three parties.
The state has a total of 28 Lok Sabha constituencies. The second phase of polling in the remaining 14 seats is on May seven.
In the first phase, while the Congress is contesting in all 14 seats, BJP has fielded nominees in 11 and its alliance partner JD(S), which joined the National Democratic Alliance in (NDA) in September last year, in three -- Hassan, Mandya and Kolar.
Besides the three, the segments where elections are being held on Friday are: Udupi-Chikmagalur, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South and Chikkballapur.
According to Election Commission, 1.4 lakh polling officials are on duty for the first phase.
Besides them, 5,000 micro-observers, 50,000 civil police personnel, and 65 companies of Central Paramilitary Force and State Armed Police force of other States have been deployed for security.
All the 2,829 polling stations of Bangalore Rural parliamentary constituency are being webcast.
"This is as per the request of our returning officers and observers; so we have given more than double the Central paramilitary force for Bangalore Rural constituency. Seven companies of Central paramilitary forces have been inducted at the constituency since April 22," Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Meena has said.
In fact, out of the total 30,602 polling stations in the first phase, 19,701 are webcast, and 1,370 covered via CCTVs, he had added.
Chikkaballapur has a maximum number of 29 candidates, followed by 24 in Bangalore Central, and Dakshina Kannada has the least number at nine.
JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy from Mandya, his brother-in-law and noted cardiologist C N Manjunath from Bangalore Rural on a BJP ticket against Deputy CM D K Shivakumar's brother and MP D K Suresh of Congress, and erstwhile Mysuru royal family scion Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar from Mysore, from the BJP, are among the prominent candidates in the fray in the first phase.
Also in the contest are BJP MP Tejasvi Surya from Bangalore South pitted against Minister Ramalinga Reddy's daughter Sowmya Reddy of Congress, and Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje on BJP ticket from Bangalore North against former Indian Institute of Management Bangalore professor M V Rajeev Gowda of Congress.
