New Delhi, May 22: As many as 16,850 villages of 484 districts across the country are getting benefits of seven flagship welfare schemes, including Ujjwala and Saubhagya, of the BJP-led NDA government, BJP President Amit Shah said here on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference on the achievements of Modi government in last four years, he also said the Narendra Modi-government is working to ensure that benefits of all the seven schemes reaches to all villages before it goes to election in 2019 to seek fresh mandate of the people.

"There is not even a single person who has not been getting the benefits of the seven schemes in these villages. With the efforts of Narendra Modi government, we have been successful in connecting all the houses of these villages with electricity. We have provided every hold with gas connection and benefits of social security schemes. They were all given LED lights and all the children below the age of two are vaccinated," Shah said.

Working on the same line, he said, the government is now aiming to extend the benefit of these seven schemes in new 45,000 villages in 115 districts soon.

"We will try to extend the benefit of these seven schemes to new 45,000 villages having the population of more than 1,000 by August 15. Our aim is to slowly extend these benefit to all the villages in the country.

"The benefit of these schemes were given to all the states in the country apart from Karnataka and West Bengal. They were not included due to elections," he said.

Shah said that the Bharatiya Janata Party between April 14 and May 5 has held the "Gram Swaraj Abhiyan" in over 16,500 villages across the country.

Launched on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti, the campaign ensured that the benefit of seven programmes - Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Saubhagya, Ujala scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Mission Indradhanush - reached these 16,850 villages.

During the campaign, a total of 3,68,978 programmes were launched in which over 1 crore people took part, he said while giving a powerpoint presentation over the achievements of the government.

Under the Saubhagya Yojana, more than five lakh households were electrified and under the Ujala scheme over 25 lakh LED bulbs were distributed, while through the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, bank accounts opened for over 20 lakh people, who were added to the national economy.

About 11 lakh families were given gas connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, he added.

He said that Modi will address a rally at Cuttack on the completion of his government's four years.

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Bengaluru: Channapatna JD(S) candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who lost the byelection to C.P. Yogeshwar of Congress, on Sunday consoled a fan who reportedly attempted to end his life and requested him not to repeat such acts.

Manjunath, fondly called Abhi, had even penned a letter before taking the dangerous step. Nikhil, who called on Manjunath at the latter’s home in Kudloor in Channapatna, expressed shock and sadness over the incident.
Nikhil Kumaraswamy reassured Manjunath, expressing his support during the difficult time. He told him that he was deeply troubled to learn of this incident and emphasised that he would stand by him. Nikhil also promised to offer assistance in any way he could, including helping him secure employment opportunities in the future, as reported by the Deccan Herald.

He also reminded Manjunath of the importance of his children’s well-being, urging him to focus on their future. “Please, look at the faces of your growing children. Even I have a three-year-old son. The children are young, let us take care of their future also. I will arrange some job opportunities for you. I might not be an MLA but this is a challenge. I will get you employed,” he said.

Nikhil told media persons that he is extremely hurt more by Manjunath’s attempt to die than by his loss in the election. “At 7:30 a.m., we got a message that in Valetoopu, Manjunath had consumed poison yesterday. In Channapatna, our workers and leaders have built this party with zeal. Let the admiration be there in your hearts but if it crosses the line, your families get hurt and we get very pained by it,” he was quoted as saying by the publication.

Speaking of his byelection loss, Nikhil reiterated that the JD(S) had got its traditional votes, but that the votes of a particular community went against the party.

“Deve Gowda gave reservation to a community. We tried our last attempt to take that community into confidence. But they conveyed to us that they do not require us. In future, we will take other communities into confidence,” he remarked in a veiled reference to Muslims.

Nikhil lost the election by a margin of 25,413 votes to Congress candidate C.P. Yogeshwar.

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