Amit Shah woos glamour, business for 'Sampark for Samarthan'
Mumbai, June 6: Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Wednesday wooed Bollywood glamour and India Inc., as part of the party's new initiative "Sampark for Samarthan" in the run-up to the ensuing 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Soon after his arrival here, he called on former Bollywood actresss Madhuri Dixit-Nene and her doctor-husband Sriram Nene and later the former Tata Group Chairman and philanthropist Ratan Tata.
Shah was accompanied by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and State BJP President Raosaheb Patil-Danve in his visits.
However, a scheduled meeting with Lata Mangeshkar was cancelled at the last minutes since she was indisposed.
"I was to meet Amit Shah ji but since I am down because of food poisoning I spoke to him over phone and told him that next time when he comes to Mumbai, I would meet him," tweeted Lata Didi, as she is popularly known.
Shah apprised the celebrities of the work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team in the last four years, the NDA government's achievements and their vision for India.
"As always, it was inspiring to meet Shri Ratan Tata ji with Mananiya AmitShah ji as a part of BJP4India aSampark For Samarthan' Abhiyan! We also presented him a book on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on auspicious Shivrajyabhishek din ! RNTata2000 SamparkForSamarthan," Fadnavis later tweeted.
In another tweet, he noted: "Met Smt MadhuriDixit Nene, Dr. Nene and family with Mananiya AmitShah ji as a part of aSampark For Samarthan', an initiative to meet dignitaries to share the historic decisions and achievements of Hon PM @narendramodi ji's GovernmentAin 4 yearsA! SamparkForSamarthan".
Later this evening, Shah is likely to call on sulking ally Shiv Sena's President Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence in Bandra.
As part of the "Sampark for Samarthan", Shah has so far met former Indian Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag (retd), scholar and former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash Kashyap and former Team Indian skipper and legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev, retired Chief Justice of India R.C. Lahoti, and yoga guru Baba Ramdev.
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.
Ex-PM Devegowda warns opposition of electoral losses if they continue to allege 'vote chori'
New Delhi (PTI): Former Prime Minister H D Devegowda on Monday said the Opposition parties would "suffer" if they continue to raise allegations of "vote chori" and create suspicion in the minds of voters by blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
Participating in a discussion on election reforms in the Rajya Sabha, he criticised the Opposition for making a mockery about the Prime Minister "in the streets and on the public platform".
"This (India) is a very big country. A large country. Congress may be in three states. Remember my friends please, by using the words 'vote chori' you are going to suffer in the coming days. You are not going to win the battle," Devegowda said, referring to the Opposition members.
He asked what the Opposition is going to earn by "blaming Narendra Modi's leadership and creating a suspicion in the mind of the voters" through the claims of "vote chori".
"What has happened to their minds? Let them rectify," Devegowda said.
ALSO READ: Search operation ends in Anjaw truck accident, 20 bodies recovered
The former prime minister said that during his over seven decades of public life, he has never raised such issues of vote theft despite facing defeat in elections.
He also cited a letter written by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru regarding inclusion of "18,000 votes" (voters) in Kerala.
"Why I am telling this (because) during the Nehru period also, there were certain lapses in the electoral system," said Devegowda, who was the prime minister between June 1, 1996 and April 21, 1997.
He said that the Congress party faced defeat in the recent Bihar elections despite raising the issues of mistakes in the electoral rolls.
"What happened after that even after so much review (of voters list). Think (for) yourself! You got six MLAs," the senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader said.
Devegowda questioned the Opposition as to why they want to make allegations against the prime minister on the issue of the voters list?
"Election Commission is there. Supreme Court is there. The Election Commission has given direction to all the state units to rectify all these things," he said.
Devegowda said people of the country have full confidence in Narendra Modi's government and it will come back to power after the next Lok Sabha elections as well.
K R Suresh Reddy, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party's Rajya Sabha member from Telangana, said that electoral reforms are the backbone for a healthy democracy.
He said a large and diverse nation like Indi needs clean electoral rolls.
Asserting that strict re-verification should not become a mechanism for exclusion, Reddy said no eligible voter should lose their right to vote simply because accessing paperwork is difficult.
He said while the concern definitely is on the voters' exclusion, "we should also be equally concerned about the percentage of voting."
"What is happening in voting today? Once the election ends, the drama begins. The biggest challenge that the Indian democracy has been facing in spite of two major Constitutional amendments has been the anti-defection. Anti-defection is the name of the game today, especially in smaller states, especially where the legislatures are small in number," Reddy said.
The senior BRS leader suggested creation of a parliamentary committee "which would constantly look into the defection" and "ways and means to cutting that".
AIADMK's M Thambidurai raised the issues related to election campaigning.
ALSO READ: National Herald case: Shivakumar to seek time next week to appear before Delhi police
"Election campaigns are one of the important election processes. In that, political parties must be given the proper chance to campaign," he said and cited problems faced by his party in Tamil Nadu in this regard.
Thambidurai said political parties were facing hardships in Tamil Nadu to conduct public meetings and to express their views to the public.
YSRCP's Yerram Venkata Subba Reddy stressed on bringing electoral reforms at both the state and national levels.
He also suggested replacing Electronic Voting Machines with paper ballots in all future elections.
"EVM may be efficient but can't be trusted. Paper ballot may not be efficient but can be trusted. You need trust in democracy," Reddy added.
