Gadkari claims Congress workers in Nagpur support him
Nagpur: Union minister and BJP candidate from the Nagpur Lok Sabha seat Nitin Gadkari Wednesday claimed that he is getting phone calls from Congress workers pledging support to him.
The BJP stalwart kick-started his campaigning and said he will seek votes on the basis of development work done by him in the constituency, which will vote on April 11.
Gadkari said he is getting best wishes from non-BJP parties, including the opposition Congress.
"I have worked for all irrespective of their caste, religion, language and party affiliation. A huge number of Congress workers and office-bearers phone me and tell me not to worry," claimed Gadkari.
"They say though we are physically there (in the Congress), our hearts are with you (Gadkari) and hence I have support from all," he added.
He asked the BJP workers to reach out to the people with confidence and advised them to be humble in their conduct.
He also told them to understand the difference between confidence and arrogance.
"One should have confidence but not arrogance. Hence, reach out to the public with humility and tell them about the work done by the party," he said.
Seeking re-election from Nagpur, Gadkari said he will win the upcoming poll with a bigger margin than in 2014 and announced that he had initiated developmental projects worth Rs 70,000 crore in the constituency.
"I have decided not to take the name of opposition candidates and not criticise any party. I will tell the people about the work that I have done and will seek the votes on the basis of work done by me," said Gadkari.
"We have completed the works promised in the last manifesto. We should not give false assurance to public. We will do what we have assured. We will say what we have done," said the Union minister.
The Union minister inaugurated the Central Election Campaigning Office of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies in Nagpur and asked the workers not to comment on anyone's statements.
"The public is intelligent and knows everything. We have done our work and won the trust of people. People love us irrespective of caste, religion, community and party and this love for us will ensure our victory," said Gadkari
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
