BSP pitches for ‘dabang’ Mayawati, says Rahul can’t be PM as his mother is a foreigner
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Monday projected its president Mayawati as the prime ministerial candidate for next year’s general election, and said that Congress president Rahul Gandhi could not aspire to the post due to “his mother’s foreign origin”.
Addressing the first workers’ conference to discuss the party’s strategy for the Lok Sabha election, BSP national co-ordinators Vir Singh and Jai Prakash Singh said it was “high time that Mayawati became the prime minister of the country”, and that she was the only one who could take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“After playing a pivotal role in making HD Kumaraswamy the chief minister of Karnataka, Mayawati has emerged as a powerful politician. She is the only ‘dabang’ (fearless) leader who can stop the winning chariot of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah in the electoral battle,” Jai Prakash Singh said.
“She is not only a towering Dalit leader but also has the support of all the communities. Time has come when she should be made the PM after the 2019 Lok Sabha election,” he added.
On Gandhi, who is widely believed to be the Congress’s PM face, Singh added: “Rahul looks more like his mother than his father. And his mother is a foreigner, thus he can never be PM”.
Congress representatives refused to react to the comment.
Singh said the BSP chief had more credentials than Congress president Rahul Gandhi to become prime minister. “Mayawati is a grass roots leader who has served as Uttar Pradesh chief minister four times,” he said.
“During the oath-taking ceremony of HD Kumaraswamy, the leaders of opposition parties rallied behind Mayawati on the dais. This clearly indicates that she is playing a pivotal role in anti-Modi alliance,” said BSP state unit president RS Kushwaha.
Reacting to the BSP leaders’ comments, BJP Rajya Sabha member and head of party’s media department, Anil Baluni said: “Anyone can dream of becoming PM even if they do not have a single seat in Lok Sabha. A leader with 44 seats like Rahul Gandhi is dreaming of becoming the PM and a leader like Mayawati with no seat is also dreaming of becoming the PM.”
courtesy : hindustantimes.com
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Mumbai Metro lines 9 and 2B open for commuters
Mumbai (PTI): Commercial operations on the first phases of Mumbai Metro corridors 9 and 2B began on Wednesday morning, a day after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the mass-transit routes, officials said.
While the Metro 9 marks the first direct connectivity between a suburb in Mumbai and a part of Thane city in the metropolitan region, the Line 2B will provide the first metro connectivity on the Harbour Line in Mumbai.
The 5.6-km elevated Phase 1 stretch of Metro Line 9 comprises four stations -- Dahisar East, Pandurangwadi, Miragaon and Kashigaon. The 5.53-km Phase 1 of Metro Line 2B has five stations, including Deshbhakt N G Acharya Udyan (Diamond Garden), Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Chowk, Deonar, Mankhurd and Maharashtra Nagar–Mandale.
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According to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Line 9 is expected to cut travel time between Mira-Bhayandar in Thane district and Mumbai to around 30 minutes from the current one to two hours. Built at Rs 6,607 crore, it will eventually provide seamless connectivity to south Mumbai through interlinking with other lines.
With the addition of the two new lines, Mumbai’s operational Metro network has expanded to six corridors, including Line 1 (Ghatkopar-Andheri-Versova), Line 2A (Andheri West-Dahisar East), Line 7 (Dahisar East-Andheri East) and the underground Line 3 (Colaba-Bandra Kurla Complex-SEEPZ).
As per MMRDA, the revised timetable for Line 2A and Line 7 came into effect on Wednesday, aimed at improving frequency, predictability and overall commuter experience.
It said that with the inauguration of Line 9, Metro Line 2A will now operate as a standalone corridor between Andheri West and Dahisar East, with services from 5.50 am till around 11 pm and a peak frequency of about six minutes.
The integrated Line 7-9 corridor (Gundavali to Kashigaon), spanning 19.79 km, will operate from 5.50 am to 11 pm, with a peak frequency of under six minutes and 276 services on weekdays.
Metro Line 2B (Phase 1) services commenced at 6 am and will run till around 10.30 pm at intervals of approximately nine-and-a-half minutes, operating 209 services daily, according to officials.
MMRDA said the integration of Line 7 with Line 9 enables direct connectivity from Andheri East to Mira-Bhayandar, while Lines 2A and 7 will function as separate corridors.
A seamless interchange facility at Dahisar station will allow passengers to switch between Lines 2A and 7 without exiting the “paid” (ticketed) area.
