Congress sees politics in national emblem: Karnataka CM Bommai
Mangaluru(PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said the Centre has already issued clarifications on the controversy over national emblem installed atop the new Parliament building.
Answering queries from reporters at Manipal in Udupi on the allegation that the emblem does not resemble the statue in Sarnath, he said it depends on the eyes of the beholder.
He said the emblem designed is similar to that at Sarnath and the face of the lion is also the same.
The Opposition's charge of fierceness in the new emblem is reflection of their way of thinking, he said.
Its fierceness shows our way of thinking. The angle from which the Congress looks at it is different as they are trying to see politics in it."
A fresh row erupted on Tuesday over the national emblem atop the new Parliament building, with the opposition accusing the central government of giving a ferocious look to the sculpture and insulting the symbol, while the BJP dismissed it as yet another conspiracy to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He further said the country has an active prime minister. Our lion is fierce. Congress believes in the sleeping lion and it reflects their culture, Bommai added.
Modi had on Monday unveiled the cast of the national emblem on top of the new Parliament building in the presence of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
