Vajpayee visited Udupi six times
Udupi, August 16: Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who died after prolonged illness at AIIMS at New Delhi on Thursday, had visited Udupi, the temple town, six times in his lifetime.
When Vajpayee was the national president of Bharatiya Jan Sangh (earlier name of BJP) in 1968, the Jan Sangh had come to power at New Delhi and Udupi city municipal councils with clear majority for the first time. When Udupi city municipal council came into existence, the Jan Sangh had come to power and when Dr VS Acharya was elected as the president, Vajpayee had called him over phone and congratulated him, M Somashekar Bhat who was elected as then Udupi city municipal council member, recalled.
When the Udupi city municipal council had banned carrying excreta on head for the first time in the country, Vajpayee had congratulated Dr Acharya in 1968. In the same year, Vajpayee had participated in a special programme of the city municipal council held in front of the Pejawar Mutt on Ratha Beedi, recalled another senior leader Gujjadi Prabhakar Nayak who became the city municipal council president later.
Somashekar Bhat recalled his stay with Vajpayee, LK Advani and other leaders in Bengaluru jail when Indira Gandhi jailed the opposition leaders during Emergency in 1975.
In the Lok Sabha elections held after withdrawing the Emergency in 1977, Vajpayee had visited Udupi to campaign in favour of former Supreme Court Judge Justice KS Hegde and he had also participated in that meeting, recollected Gujjadi.
Somashekar Bhat recalled that Vajpayee had visited Udupi in 1984 to campaign in favour of himself who contested for Assembly from BJP and Karamballi Sanjeeva Shetty who contested for Lok Sabha elections and addressed the people in front of Victoria Jubilee Hall before the city municipal council. Though both of them were defeated in that election, they were able to retain the deposits and it was because of the speech and visit of Vajpayee, Bhat said.
In 1993, Vajpayee again visited Udupi. While returning from Shivamogga, he had visited Udupi and he was welcomed in front of the city municipal council and felicitated him. In 1998, Vajpayee visited Udupi for the fifth time. He had come to the city to campaign in favour of IM Jayaram Shetty who had contested for Lok Sabha election. Thousands of people thronged the Bhujanga Park where the rally was held to listen to his speech. In the same year, he had also visited Mangaluru to campaign in favour of Dhananjay Kumar.
As the last time, Vajpayee had come to Udupi in 2001 to inaugurate the newly constructed Rajangana by Pejawar seer during the fourth Paryaya of Pejawar seer at Krishna Mutt. On January 18, 2001, Vajpayee, along with Vishvesha Tirtha Swamiji, had darshan of Lord Sri Krishna and inaugurated the Rajangana in the evening. He was felicitated by the Pejawar Mutt then.
Vajpayee had many friends for in Udupi including Dr VS Acharya, Somashekar Bhat, Karamballi Sanjeeva Shetty and others. Dr VS Acharya was recalling his friendship with Vajpayee and LK Advani.
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.
Sanjay Raut demands re-election, alleges irregularities in EVMs during Maharashtra polls
Mumbai, Nov 25: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday demanded a re-election in Maharashtra using ballot papers, claiming there were irregularities with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Talking to reporters, Raut alleged several complaints about EVMs malfunctioning and questioned the integrity of the recently held elections.
The BJP-led Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the assembly elections, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi managed 46 seats, with Shiv Sena (UBT) winning just 20 out of 95 seats it contested.
"We have received nearly 450 complaints regarding EVMs. Despite raising objections repeatedly, no action has been taken on these issues. How can we say these elections were conducted fairly? Hence, I demand that the results be set aside and elections be held again using ballot papers," Raut said.
Citing some instances, he said a candidate in Nashik reportedly received only four votes despite having 65 votes from his family, while in Dombivli, discrepancies were found in EVM tallies, and election officials refused to acknowledge the objections.
The Sena (UBT) leader also questioned the credibility of the landslide victories of some candidates, saying, "What revolutionary work have they done to receive more than 1.5 lakh votes? Even leaders who recently switched parties have become MLAs. This raises suspicions. For the first time, a senior leader like Sharad Pawar has expressed doubts about EVMs, which cannot be ignored."
Asked about the MVA's poor performance in the elections, Raut rejected the idea of blaming a single individual.
"We fought as a united MVA. Even a leader like Sharad Pawar, who commands immense respect in Maharashtra, faced defeat. This shows that we need to analyse the reasons behind the failure. One of the reasons is EVM irregularities and the misuse of the system, unconstitutional practices, and even judicial decisions left unresolved by Justice Chandrachud," he said.
Raut stressed that though internal differences might have existed within the MVA, the failure was collective.
He also accused the Mahayuti of conducting the elections in an unfair manner.
"I cannot call the elections fair given the numerous reports of discrepancies in EVMs, mismatched numbers, and vote irregularities across the state," Raut said.
