Rahul Gandhi's presser tutored: BJP
Bengaluru, May 10: "Tutored and failed" is how the BJP on Thursday described the press conference addressed here by Congress President Rahul Gandhi and accused him of not answering the issues concerning the state's people.
"A desperate last-minute press conference that gave us nothing new about how and what they (Congress) will do for the people of Karnataka. A failed press conference that did not give us any clue or any answer to the number of questions raised by the state's people on the Siddaramaiah government's utterly dismal performance," Union Minister Piyush Goyal told a press conference here.
"It almost looks like a tutored press conference because many media persons were not even allowed to ask questions. Whenever a question was put... an effort was made to paraphrase it. This was a press conference more focussed on China and Pakistan, without responding to the local issues about which the corrupt Siddaramaiah government has no answer to offer," the Minister added.
"The Congress, its President, and the failed and corrupt Siddaramaiah government has no answer other than deflecting questions," he added.
The Bharatiya Janata Party attack came soon after Rahul Gandhi addressed a press conference here on the last day of campaigning for the May 12 Assembly polls.
Rahul Gandhi claimed that the BJP had restricted itself to mounting "personal attacks" on him and his party's leaders during campaigning and lacked seriousness about what they wished to do for public welfare if they returned to power in the state.
Goyal accused the Congress chief of not giving specific responses to issues that affect the people of Karnataka.
"He did not speak about corruption of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's government and his Ministers. He was not able to tell who is responsible for the highest numbers of farmer suicides in Karnataka. When he is talking of 'inamdar', he did not respond to where the Hublot watch came from and why it was given to the Chief Minister," he said.
The Minister, a BJP leader, said that Rahul Gandhi also did not talk of the communal divide the Congress is trying to create by seeking votes in the name of religion.
The Minister said that the Congress leader's response to a query reminded him of his other "epic interactions" that ranged from connecting MRIs across the country to solve health sector problems and even his remarks that the Dalits "need the escape velocity of Jupiter" to achieve success.
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India harbouring big and bold dreams in space sector: Shubhanshu Shukla
Kolkata (PTI): Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to go to the International Space Station, on Wednesday said the country is harbouring “big and bold dreams”, foraying into human spaceflight after a hiatus of 41 years.
Shukla was the first Indian to visit the International Space Station as part of the Axiom-4 mission. He returned to India from the US on August 17, 2025, after the 18-day mission.
The space is a “great place to be”, marked by deep peace and an “amazing view” that becomes more captivating with time, he said, interacting with schoolchildren at an event organised by the Indian Centre for Space Physics here.
“The longer you stay, the more you enjoy it,” Shukla said, adding on a lighter note that he “actually kind of did not want to come back”.
Shukla said the hands-on experience in space was very different from what he had learnt during training.
He said the future of India’s space science was “very bright”, with the country harbouring “very big and bold dreams”.
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Shukla described his ISS flight, undertaken with support from the US, as a crucial “stepping stone” towards realising India’s ‘Vision Gaganyaan’.
“The experience gained is a national asset. It is already being used by internal committees and design teams to ensure ongoing missions are on the right track,” he said.
Shukla said the country’s space ambitions include the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme, the Bharatiya Station (India’s own space station), and eventually a human landing on the Moon.
While the Moon mission is targeted for 2040, he said these projects are already in the pipeline, and the field will evolve at a “very rapid pace” over the next 10-20 years.
He told the students that though these targets are challenging, they are “achievable by people like you”, urging them to take ownership of India’s aspirations.
The sector will generate “a lot of employment opportunities” as India expands its human spaceflight capabilities, he noted.
Echoing the iconic words of India’s first astronaut Rakesh Sharma, Shukla said that from orbit, “India is still the best in the world”.
Shukla also asserted that the achievement was not his alone, but that of the entire country.
“The youth of India are extremely talented. They must stay focused, remain curious and work hard. It is their responsibility to help build a developed India by 2047,” he said.
Highlighting a shift from Sharma’s era, Shukla said India is now developing a full-fledged astronaut ecosystem.
With Gaganyaan and future missions, children in India will be able to not only dream of becoming astronauts, but also achieving it within the country, he said.
“Space missions help a village kid believe he can go to space someday. When you send one person to space, you lift million hopes. That is why such programmes must continue... The sky is not the limit,” Shukla said.
“Scientists must prepare for systems that will last 20-30 years, while ensuring they can integrate technologies that will emerge a decade from now,” he said.
Shukla added that he looked forward to more space missions, and was keen to undertake a space walk, which will require him to "train for another two years".
