BJP-led NDA to secure more than 350 seats in 2024 LS polls: Pradhan
Bhubaneswar (PTI): Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday said the BJP-led NDA will secure more than 350 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and return to power at the Centre under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Pradhan also asserted that the BJP would form the government in Odisha next year but he refused to divulge who would be the party’s face here.
“The NDA will complete its 25th anniversary in 2024 and it will secure more than 350 seats in the Lok Sabha polls,” Pradhan said at an interactive session of the Odisha Literary Festival.
Asked about the Odisha Assembly elections due next year, he said the "BJP will form the government" in the state.
He said the saffron party had won elections in states like Maharashtra, Haryana and other places without making any announcement on the party's chief ministerial candidate before the polls.
“Here (Odisha) also, we will win polls in the same manner,” Pradhan said, adding that he would not divulge more on the BJP’s strategies on the public platform.
Replying to another question, Pradhan, the Union education minister, said there is nothing wrong in inviting foreign universities to India.
"Our 10 lakh students go abroad to study," he said, adding that there should not be any hesitation in inviting foreign universities to India.
“The UGC will soon bring the foreign university regulation policy. It is in the process. We have no complexities in bringing foreign universities. We want to bring the best of world universities to India on our terms and conditions," he said.
Pradhan said Indian institutes also go abroad to set up their campus.
For instance, he said, IIT Chennai has opened its branch in Tanzania in Africa and IIT, Delhi is going to Abu Dhabi in UAE.
“We should not deprive Indian students of global technological knowledge. There should be no discrimination when it comes to acquiring knowledge,” Pradhan added
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.
Bridge portion collapses on Jammu outskirts; 3-4 labourers feared trapped, 1 rescued
Jammu (PTI): A portion of a small bridge collapsed in the Bantalab area on the outskirts of Jammu city on Friday, trapping at least three to four labourers under the debris, while one injured worker was rescued, official sources said.
Authorities have closed the road link following the collapse of the portion of the bridge.
The incident occurred when labourers were carrying out repair work on a retaining wall near the bridge that was damaged in last year's flash floods, the sources said.
According to the sources, a section of the bridge suddenly gave way, burying workers engaged at the site under the rubble.
Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams launched rescue operations to extricate those buried under the debris. They pulled out one injured labourer and shifted him to a hospital, the sources said.
Family members of the labourers present at the site said around six workers engaged at the site at the time of the incident came under the debris when the structure collapsed. The family members said while two of the labourers managed to escape, four got trapped.
The sources said those trapped included the husband of a woman labourer, a mason, an unmarried labourer and a relative of the contractor.
There was no official confirmation on the exact number of persons trapped under the debris till the filing of this report.
The rescue operations are ongoing.
