Rahul will become PM after next Lok Sabha polls: RJD's Tejashwi at Bihar rally
Patna (PTI): RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday exhorted the people of Bihar to make Congress leader Rahul Gandhi the prime minister after the next Lok Sabha polls.
Addressing a rally on the third day of Congress' 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' in Nawada, he also called upon the youth to “root out the NDA” from the state in the assembly elections due later in the year.
Yadav was accompanied by Gandhi and other INDIA bloc leaders as part of the fortnight-long yatra, which began on Sunday.
The RJD leader described Gandhi as the one “who has given sleepless nights to Prime Minister Narendra Modi” for undertaking the state-wide yatra.
“In the upcoming assembly polls, we shall root out the NDA, which has been running a government comparable to a rickety old car (‘khatara’) for the last 20 years. And, in the next Lok Sabha polls, we shall make Rahul Gandhi the prime minister,” said Yadav, evoking cheers from the crowd.
Donning a baseball cap and a T-shirt, Yadav also had a ‘gamcha’ wrapped around his neck, in an apparent bid to stress that he wished to embody a mix of tradition with modernity.
“We have a vision for a new Bihar,” asserted the former deputy chief minister, who spoke into a hand-held mic, from atop an open vehicle that carried him, Gandhi, CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Vikassheel Insan Party president Mukesh Sahni and state Congress chief Rajesh Kumar.
Taking potshots at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the Leader of the Opposition in the assembly, said, “The CM is not in his senses. He is not able to run Bihar. His government has become a copycat. I had promised free power, domicile policy, hike in social security pensions and setting up of a Youth Commission.
“The state government presented these as newly devised schemes. It has remained oblivious to the state’s crying need for better education, health, employment, irrigation facilities and accountability.”
Training his guns at the BJP, Yadav said “they have colluded with the Election Commission to deprive the people of Bihar of their right to vote”.
Many people who are alive, who had voted in the last Lok Sabha polls, have been declared as dead and their names are being deleted from the electoral rolls, he claimed.
Yadav reiterated that the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar was an exercise to “snatch” people's right to vote.
“The SIR is dacoity of votes and we will not allow that to happen. It's a conspiracy of the ruling dispensation to disenfranchise voters in Bihar,” he alleged.
“The BJP and the EC think they can take the people of Bihar for a ride. But, they need to know that in Bihar, we mix lime with khaini (raw tobacco) and swallow it without a fuss. We are Biharis. And as the saying goes, a Bihari can take on anybody,” the 35-year-old RJD leader said.
The yatra, which will also pass through Nalanda, Sheikhpura, Lakhisarai, Munger, Bhagalpur, Katihar, Purnea, Araria, Supaul, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Sitamarhi, East Champaran, West Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan, Chhapra and Ara, is scheduled to conclude with a rally in Patna on September 1.
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Putin meets Iran's FM Araghchi, says Russia ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia
Moscow (PTI): Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday met Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the Iranian people for fighting bravely and heroically for their sovereignty and said Moscow is ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia as soon as possible.
Araghchi, who held talks with Omani and Pakistani leadership before arriving in Russia, met Putin in St. Petersburg and thanked him for supporting Iran, state-owned TASS news agency reported.
"Russia is ready to do everything in its power to ensure that peace in the Middle East is achieved as soon as possible," Putin said during his meeting with Araghchi, which was also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Revealing that he received a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week, Putin asked Araghchi to convey his "gratitude for this message and best wishes for his health and well-being."
He praised the Iranian people for fighting "bravely and heroically" for their sovereignty, Iran's state-run PRESS TV reported.
"We really hope that, based on the courage and desire for independence, the Iranian people, under the guidance of the new leader, will weather this difficult period of trials and peace will come,” Putin said.
He also stressed that Russia “intends to maintain” its strategic relations with Iran.
Araghchi said that the world witnessed Iran’s strength in countering the US during the recent war, and that the Islamic Republic is a "stable and powerful establishment."
"With their courage, the Iranian people succeeded in resisting the US aggression and will be able to endure it,” he said.
He said that it became clear that Iran has “great friends and allies” like Russia, and conveyed “warmest greetings” from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian to the Russian leader.
Araghchi said relations between Moscow and Tehran represent a “strategic partnership at the highest level” and will continue to develop "regardless of circumstances."
"We are grateful to you for the solid and strong positions in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.
Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the talks between President Putin and the Iranian Foreign Minister were "useful and constructive."
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said that Russia is "ready to provide any good offices, any mediation services that are acceptable to the parties."
"We will be ready to do everything so that ultimately peace ensues, guaranteed peace, and that there is no return to hostilities," Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS.
He was asked how Moscow can assist in future negotiations on the Iranian settlement.
Araghchi arrived in Russia after his whirlwind trip to Islamabad, which, according to him, was “very productive” and involved “good consultations" with Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, amid uncertainty over the second round of peace talks to resolve the war in West Asia.
"We held good consultations with our friends in Pakistan. The trip was successful. We assessed the outcome of our recent (meetings) and discussed in what direction and under what conditions talks can move on,” Araghchi said in a video posted on his Telegram channel upon his arrival in St Petersburg.
Referring to the second round of talks between the US and Iran to resolve the conflict in West Asia, Araghchi said: "Developments have taken place in the negotiations."
"Despite some progress in earlier rounds, the talks failed to reach their objectives due to the Americans' approach, the excessive demands they made, and the wrong approaches they adopted. Therefore, it was necessary to consult with our friends in Pakistan to review the latest situation,” Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
He said that the trip to Pakistan was a good opportunity to review developments related to the US-Israeli war against Iran, expressing confidence that “these consultations and coordination between the two countries will be highly significant.”
Araghchi arrived at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport early Monday, where he was welcomed by Russian officials and Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, the report said.
The first round of peace talks between Iran and the US, held on April 11 and 12, failed to bring the desired result for the parties to the conflict.
The Iranian minister arrived in Islamabad for the second time on Sunday after a short visit to Oman, where he held talks with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said on security in the Strait of Hormuz and diplomatic efforts to end the Iran-US conflict.
After Araghchi left Pakistan for Oman on Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would no longer be going to Islamabad for talks with Iran, contending that Washington held all the cards on the matter.
Trump on Sunday reiterated that the US and Iranian officials can talk by phone for a peace solution to the conflict.
On Tuesday, Trump extended the two-week ceasefire with Iran indefinitely to give Tehran more time to prepare a unified proposal to end the war, just hours before the truce was set to expire.
The war began when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top commanders. The retaliation by the Islamic Republic extended the war to the entire Gulf region.
