Will Modi hang himself in Vijay Chowk if Cong wins 40 seats in Lok Sabha: Mallikarjun Kharge
Bengaluru, May 12: Stoking a controversy, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge Sunday asked whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi would hang himself at Vijay Chowk in Delhi if his prediction of the opposition party getting less than 40 seats in Lok Sabha polls is proven wrong.
Addressing a rally in support of Subash Rathod, the Congress candidate for the Chincholi Assembly bypoll in Karnataka, Kharge said, "It is you the people sitting here who are going to write the future and fate of this country, it is in your hands to write the fate of Subash and ours, not it their (BJP/Modi) hands."
"Wherever (Modi) goes, (he) says Congress will not get 40 seats (in Lok Sabha polls). Does any of you agree with this? If we get 40 seats, will Modi hang himself at Vijay Chowk in Delhi?" the senior Congress leader said.
The Congress had won 44 seats in the 2014 parliamentary election.
Senior BJP leader and MP Shobha Karandlaje has demanded Kharge's apology, saying that she never expected such low remarks from a senior leader like him.
"Blatant lies, fake allegations, derogatory remarks have become common with hollow Congress, nothing progressive! He should apologise!" Karandlaje tweeted.
Stating that Modi was not even born when India got freedom, Kharge told the rally, "He keeps speaking against Congress and claims the party did not do anything."
He said Modi claims himself to be from backward community, but he is helping only the super rich.
Chincholi, along with Kundgol Assembly constituency, is going to bypoll on May 19.
The by-poll to Chincholi has been necessitated by the resignation of sitting member Umesh Jadhav, who quit Congress and joined the BJP to contest the recent Lok Sabha polls from Gulbarga, while the Kundgol seat fell vacant following the death of Minister C S Shivalli.
The main contest in this bypoll will be between the nominees of the Congress, which held the seats, and the BJP.
The Congress candidates are Subash Rathod in Chincholi and Kusumawati, Shivalli's wife, in Kundgol.
BJP has fielded S I Chikkanagowdar and Avinash Jadhav from Kundgol and Chincholi Assembly seats respectively.
Seventeen candidates are in the fray from Chincholi and eight from Kundgol.
The results will be declared on May 23, along with that of Lok Sabha poll.
The outcome of the bypolls, along with that of the elections to 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka, held in two phases on April 18 and 23, is crucial for the ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance, facing a fresh bout of dissidence.
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.
Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
