CM Siddaramaih rubbishes exit polls, says Cong will win 15-20 seats in State
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaih on Monday concurred with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's statement terming exit polls as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's media poll, as he asserted that the party will win 15-20 Lok Sabha seats out of 28 in the state.
Rahul Gandhi on Sunday dubbed the exit polls as "Modi media poll".
Exit polls on Saturday predicted that Modi will retain power for a third straight term, with the BJP-led NDA expected to win a big majority in the Lok Sabha polls.
They have also predicted the BJP-JD(S) alliance's sweep in Karnataka, and none of them gave the ruling Congress a double-digit figure.
"Already Rahul Gandhi has reacted to exit polls, he has called it a Narendra Modi's media survey. In Karnataka we will win more seats, we will win 15-20 seats," Siddaramaiah told reporters here.
"(M) Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress President) has said that across the country INDIA bloc will win 295 seats. I support it," he added.
The then ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance had come a cropper, winning just one seat each in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. The BJP had swept the polls, winning 25 seats, and had ensured the victory of a party supported independent candidate in Mandya.
The JD(S) this time is in alliance with BJP, and has contested in three seats -- Hassan, Mandya and Kolar.
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19-yr-old woman found hanging from tree in UP village; juvenile held
Lucknow/Pratapgarh (UP) (PTI): Police have apprehended a 16-year-old boy for his alleged involvement in the rape and murder of a 19-year-old woman whose body was found hanging from a tree in a village here, officials said on Monday.
Additional Superintendent of Police (West), Brijnandan Rai, said that the body of a 19-year-old woman was found hanging from a tree in an orchard in the Manikpur police station area on Sunday morning. A post-mortem examination subsequently confirmed that she had been raped.
Police registered a case against unidentified persons under sections 103(1) (punishment for murder) and 70(1) (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and initiated an investigation.
During the course of the investigation, the police found that the deceased was in contact with a juvenile who was also her relative.
Acting on this information, during a joint checking operation, sub-inspector Amit Kumar Singh of Manikpur police station and SOG In-charge Amit Kumar Chaurasia, along with their team, apprehended the 16-year-old near the Lehdari Ganga River bridge.
The search for other accused persons is ongoing, police said.
According to the police, the woman had gone to sleep after dinner on Saturday night but was found hanging in an orchard nearly 400 metres away from her home the following morning.
Additional Superintendent of Police (West), Brijnandan Rai, had earlier said that the circumstances suggest foul play.
"The victim's slippers and undergarments were recovered 50 metres away from the spot where the body was found. There are visible injury marks on her body," Rai said.
While locals have alleged that the woman was murdered after being raped, the ASP said that it is "prima facie a case of murder."
"Based on the complaint filed by the victim's brother, a case of murder has been registered against unidentified persons," the officer added.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, in a post on X in Hindi on Monday, said, "The news of the heinous murder of a Dalit daughter in Pratapgarh is deeply tragic and condemnable."
"The question remains: why does the spate of murders of 'PDA daughters' continue unabated in Uttar Pradesh? Are the BJP government's claims regarding women's safety merely hollow rhetoric, or is there, in fact, discrimination even in the provision of security for women?" he said.
"Whenever the 'wandering Honourable (ghumantu maananiye)' finds a moment of respite from election campaigning, he should cast a glance at the plight of the daughters of his own Uttar Pradesh. In any case, apart from injustice and oppression, no sister, daughter, or mother of this state holds any hope from you," Yadav added.
