PM Modi will continue to lead, asserts Amit Shah on Kejriwal's "75 years age rule in BJP" remarks
Hyderabad, May 11: Top BJP leader Amit Shah on Saturday asserted Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue to lead the country post 2024 Lok Sabha polls and hit out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for claiming the PM was seeking votes for making Shah his successor, citing the 75 years age 'rule'.
There was nothing written in the BJP's constitution on any such age ceiling, Shah told reporters here. There was no confusion in the BJP over the matter.
Shah was responding to Kejriwal's claim that Modi was asking for votes for the Union Home Minister to make him PM as the prime minister would turn 75 next year.
"I would like to tell Arvind Kejriwal and company and the whole Indi alliance, Modi becomes 75, there is no need for you to feel happy. It is not written anywhere in BJP's constitution. Modi will complete the term and will continue to lead the country. There is no confusion in BJP on this," Shah told reporters here.
Kejriwal had charged that Modi is asking for votes for Shah.
"These people ask INDIA bloc about their (PM) face. I ask BJP who will be their PM? Modi ji is turning 75 on September 17 next year. He had made the rule that people aged 75 will be retired. They retired LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan," Kejriwal said.
"He (Modi) will retire next year. He is seeking votes for making Amit Shah the prime minister. Will Shah fulfill Modiji's guarantee?" the CM, out on bail in the Delhi Excise Policy scam, asked.
Further, Shah launched a scathing attack on Congress and its leaders, alleging that due to the fear of Pakistan having a nuclear bomb, the grand old party wants to give up India's rights over Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK).
On Saturday, Shah addressed election rallies at Vikarabad and Nagarkurnool in Telangana and later a press conference here on the last day of campaigning for the May 13 Lok Sabha polls in the state.
He also said if Kejriwal thinks that Supreme Court's interim bail is a clean chit, then his understanding with regard to law is poor.
The home minister also expressed confidence that the BJP would emerge as the largest party in South India in terms of Lok Sabha seats.
The BJP is confident of winning more than 10 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, he said.
In his address at a rally at Vikarabad, Shah recalled that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had conducted nuclear tests at Pokhran on this day in 1998 and made the country a nuclear power.
The Congress does not have the courage to conduct surgical strike and airstrikes, he alleged.
He said PM Modi did surgical strikes and air strikes within 10 days after Pakistan terrorists attacked the country and "finished them".
Referring to the reported comments of Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar and that of National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah on Pakistan having an atom bomb, the home minister said he would like to ask Rahul Gandhi if PoK would be given to the neighbouring country because of it possessing a nuclear bomb.
"As long as BJP is there, it cannot happen" and PoK belongs to India and we will take it, he said.
"They don't feel shame. Due to fear of an atom bomb, they want to give up our rights over PoK. But you don't worry, Modi ji is going to be Prime Minister again and Pakistan's bullets will be replied to with cannon," Shah said.
On AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge's alleged comments as to what Telangana people have to do with Kashmir, Shah said the state's youth can give their life for Kashmir.
PM Modi has ended terror and naxalism in the country, he said.
Referring to Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's comments on surgical strikes, he asked, "Revanth Reddy, where did you keep your mind? You kept it in Italy?".
Reddy on Friday claimed an intelligence failure in preventing the Pulwama incident of 2019 when a terror strike on Indian troops left about 40 CRPF personnel dead.
"Modi ji tried to take political benefit from the surgical strike after Pulwama incident. My question to Modi ji is, what are you doing? Why did the Pulwama incident happen? Why did you let it happen? What are you doing about internal security?
"Why did you not use agencies like IB, RAW? It is your failure. Nobody knows if a surgical strike actually took place or not," Reddy had said.
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Iran offers to reopen Strait of Hormuz if US lifts its blockade and the war ends: officials
Cairo (AP): Iran has offered to end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the US lifting its blockade on the country and an end to the war, while proposing that discussions on the larger question of its nuclear programme would come in a later phase, two regional officials said Monday.
US President Donald Trump seems unlikely to accept the offer, which was passed to the Americans by Pakistan and would leave unresolved the disagreements that led the US and Israel to go to war on February 28.
With a fragile ceasefire in place, the US and Iran are locked in a standoff over the strait, through which a fifth of the world's traded oil and gas passes in peacetime. The US blockade is designed to prevent Iran from selling its oil, depriving it of crucial revenue while also potentially creating a situation where Tehran has to shut off production because it has nowhere to store the oil.
The strait's closure, meanwhile, has put pressure on Trump, as oil and gasoline prices have skyrocketed ahead of crucial midterm elections, and it has pressured his Gulf allies, which use the waterway to export their oil and gas.
The closure has also had far-reaching effects throughout the world economy, raising the price of fertilizer, food and other basic goods.
The proposal would push off negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme to a later date. Trump said one of the major reasons he went to war was to deny Iran the ability to develop nuclear weapons.
The two officials, who had knowledge of the proposal, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations between Iranian and Pakistani officials this weekend. The Axios news outlet first reported Iran's proposal.
It came as Iran's foreign minister visited Russia, which has long been a key backer of Tehran. It's unclear what, if any, assistance Moscow might offer now.
Strait of Hormuz remains blocked
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Iran's ability to choke off traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, has proved one of its biggest strategic advantages in a war that has often boiled down to which side can take more pain.
Oil prices have risen steadily since the war began and tankers full of crude became stranded in the Persian Gulf, unable to safely transit through the strait and reach global distribution points.
On Monday, the spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, was trading at around $108 per barrel, nearly 50 per cent higher than when the war began.
Iranian foreign minister holds talks as negotiations with US stall
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Trump last week indefinitely extended the ceasefire the US and Iran agreed to on April 7 that has largely halted fighting. But a permanent settlement remains elusive in the war that has killed thousands of people.
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi landed in St. Petersburg on Monday morning ahead of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“It is a good opportunity for us to consult with our Russian friends about the developments that have occurred in relation to the war during this period and what is happening now,” Araghchi said in a video interview posted by IRNA.
It comes as Pakistan has been seeking to revive stalled talks between Iran and the US, and negotiations had been expected in Islamabad over the weekend. Instead, Trump called off a trip by his envoys and suggested the talks could take place by phone instead.
Over the weekend, Araghchi made two stops in Pakistan and a visit to Oman, which shares the strait with Iran. He also spoke by phone with counterparts in Qatar and Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
Iran wants to persuade Oman to support a mechanism to collect tolls from vessels passing through the strait, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss the matter.
Oman's response wasn't immediately clear.
The official, who is involved in mediation efforts, also said Iran insisted on ending the US blockade before new talks and that Pakistan-led mediators are trying to bridge significant gaps between the countries.
Trump says Iran has offered a much better proposal
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Trump told journalists Saturday that after he called off a trip by his envoys to Pakistan, Iran sent a “much better” proposal.
He did not elaborate but stressed that one of his conditions is that Iran “will not have a nuclear weapon”.
Iran insists its programme is peaceful, but the US wants to remove Tehran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could be used to build a bomb, should Tehran choose to pursue one.
Since the war began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and at least 2,509 people in Lebanon, where fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group resumed two days after the Iran war started. Another 23 people have been killed in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, 13 US service members in the region and six UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have been killed.
The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has been extended by three weeks. Hezbollah has not participated in the Washington-brokered diplomacy.
