BJP won't get majority in 2019, would lose 100 seats in 3 states: Tejashwi
New Delhi, Sep 15 : RJD leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday said that the BJP would not get a majority to return to power in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as it would lose around 100 out of the 134 parliamentary seats in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.
"Today the BJP has over 115 seats in Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. But in 2019 the BJP would lose around 100 seats in these states due to the kind of alliances that are coming up," he said at the India Today "Mind Rocks Youth Summit 2018".
"There is no doubt in that the BJP won't get majority and they are going to lose," the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader said.
He said that in Uttar Pradesh due to the alliance between the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party, the Chief Minister (Yogi Adityanath) lost his seat of Gorakhpur in the by-polls early this year.
"The kind of situation that is there in Bihar and the kind of alliance that is coming up in Jharkhand, the BJP would face losses in these states," he said.
There are 80 Lok Sabha seats from UP, 40 from Bihar and 14 from Jharkhand. The BJP had won 73 seats from UP in the 2014 general elections along with its alliance partner Apna Dal.
When asked if in such a case there would be three Prime Ministerial candidates from the opposition, Yadav questioned, "Did any of the leaders in the opposition claim to be the Prime Ministerial candidate?"
He then said whichever party would be the single largest party would obviously stake claim to the Prime Ministerial post and the other parties would support it.
The former Deputy Chief Minister also called Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as "cheat" minister.
"In 2019 Nitish Kumar won't win anything. Today also he is a Chief Minister through the back door as he broke the grand alliance that was forged in the state ahead of the 2015 assembly polls. And look today who is in power in Bihar, it is BJP," he said.
Nitish Kumar had broken the Janata Dal-United party's alliance with the RJD and the Congress in the state in July last year and went back to its old ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state.
Highlighting the deteriorating law and order condition in the state, the RJD leader said, "Look at the condition of law and order in Bihar. When minors were raped, the Chief Minister remained quiet because his party leaders were involved in that. And then I have to come to Jantar Mantar to protest against the rapes. And till today nothing happened in the case. Even the CBI and the ED, who are after us did nothing in the case," he claimed.
He was referring to the rape of minor girls in a government shelter home in Muzaffarpur in Bihar.
Referring to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) action against his family members, Yadav said, "They claim when I was a teenager and not even having a moustache, I was doing a conspiracy in the Railway Ministry. How is it possible? I was in school and I was playing cricket.
"What is this? Where is the country going?" he questioned.
"My entire family is being investigated. But why action only against only one family? To pressure us they are doing their best," he alleged.
"But no investigation against Jay Shah, why because he is the son of BJP chief Amit Shah," he added.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
