Join us if you are being insulted, we will ensure your victory: Uddhav Thackeray tells Nitin Gadkari
Yavatmal, Mar 12: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday once again asked Union minister Nitin Gadkari to leave the BJP if he was being "insulted", saying that the opposition in Maharashtra would ensure his victory in the Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking at a rally at Pusad in eastern Maharashtra's Yavatmal district, Thackeray said people like (former Congress leader) Kripashankar Singh, whom the BJP once targeted (over alleged corruption), figured in the saffron party's first list of candidates along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but Gadkari's name was missing.
"I had told Gadkari this two days ago, and I am repeating it again. If you are being insulted, leave the BJP and join the Maha Vikas Aghadi (alliance of Sena(UBT), NCP (SP) and Congress). We will ensure your victory. We will make you a minister when our government comes to power, and it will be a post with powers," he said.
Last week, responding to Thackeray's offer to Gadkari to contest as a candidate of the opposition, Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had mocked the Sena (UBT) chief, saying it was like a man in the street offering someone to make US president.
Gadkari was a prominent leader of the BJP, but the first list did not have names from Maharashtra as seat-sharing discussions between the BJP and its allies were not complete, Fadnavis had said.
Thackeray, meanwhile, termed the notification of the rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act as an "election jumla (slogan)."
Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis and others coming to India (from neighbouring countries) are welcome but the timing of the notification was suspect as elections would be soon announced, Thackeray said.
It had been more than four years since the abrogation of Article 370, but no elections have taken place in Jammu and Kashmir and Kashmiri Pandits have not yet returned to their homes in Kashmir, he said.
The BJP should first bring Kashmiri pandits back to Kashmir and then implement the CAA, Thackeray said.
In the coming elections, there is the BJP which is creating enmity between religions and wants to change the Constitution, and on the other hand there is the INDIA bloc which is an alliance of patriots, he said, adding, "This election will be between `desh-bhakt' (those who love their country) and `dvesh bhakt' (those who preach hatred)."
Prime minister Modi had not yet found time to visit the restive Manipur, he said.
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MP cruise boat tragedy: Search ops expanded to trace four missing passengers
Jabalpur (PTI): Army divers and disaster response teams on Saturday expanded their search at Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh to locate a man and three children still missing after the cruise boat tragedy that claimed nine lives two days ago, officials said.
With 28 of the 41 identified passengers onboard the ill-fated cruise boat rescued safely, police are preparing to register an FIR in connection with the accident that occurred at the reservoir in Jabalpur district on Thursday evening, they said.
The search radius has been expanded to 5 km in the backwaters of the Bargi Dam, located downstream of the Narmada River, area sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI.
Nine people drowned in the incident, while 28 were rescued, and efforts are ongoing to trace the missing persons, he said.
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According to the police, more than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, began the search operation at 5 am on Saturday to trace Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, his son Tamil (5), Vijay Soni (6) and Mayuram (5).
Mishra said that an inquest case has been registered and the post-mortem of nine deceased persons has been completed.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will soon register an FIR," he said.
Investigators have said that CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the ill-fated boat, and the names of 41 persons, who boarded the vessel, have been ascertained so far.
Collector Raghvendra Singh confirmed that a search is underway for four missing persons.
The rescue operation, being carried out by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and local divers, was briefly affected around 9 am due to strong winds.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members after survivors alleged negligence and safety lapses, including failure to provide life jackets.
The government also banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, sank during a sudden storm around 6 pm on Thursday, and the wreckage was retrieved from the dam water on Friday, after the rescuers confirmed that there were no more bodies inside.
Eyewitnesses have said that strong winds made the water choppy, prompting passengers to raise an alarm and ask the crew to steer the vessel towards the riverbank.
A survivor alleged negligence by the crew and described a last-minute scramble for life jackets.
