BJP won't get majority in 2019, would lose 100 seats in 3 states: Tejashwi
New Delhi, Sep 15 : RJD leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday said that the BJP would not get a majority to return to power in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as it would lose around 100 out of the 134 parliamentary seats in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.
"Today the BJP has over 115 seats in Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. But in 2019 the BJP would lose around 100 seats in these states due to the kind of alliances that are coming up," he said at the India Today "Mind Rocks Youth Summit 2018".
"There is no doubt in that the BJP won't get majority and they are going to lose," the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader said.
He said that in Uttar Pradesh due to the alliance between the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party, the Chief Minister (Yogi Adityanath) lost his seat of Gorakhpur in the by-polls early this year.
"The kind of situation that is there in Bihar and the kind of alliance that is coming up in Jharkhand, the BJP would face losses in these states," he said.
There are 80 Lok Sabha seats from UP, 40 from Bihar and 14 from Jharkhand. The BJP had won 73 seats from UP in the 2014 general elections along with its alliance partner Apna Dal.
When asked if in such a case there would be three Prime Ministerial candidates from the opposition, Yadav questioned, "Did any of the leaders in the opposition claim to be the Prime Ministerial candidate?"
He then said whichever party would be the single largest party would obviously stake claim to the Prime Ministerial post and the other parties would support it.
The former Deputy Chief Minister also called Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as "cheat" minister.
"In 2019 Nitish Kumar won't win anything. Today also he is a Chief Minister through the back door as he broke the grand alliance that was forged in the state ahead of the 2015 assembly polls. And look today who is in power in Bihar, it is BJP," he said.
Nitish Kumar had broken the Janata Dal-United party's alliance with the RJD and the Congress in the state in July last year and went back to its old ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state.
Highlighting the deteriorating law and order condition in the state, the RJD leader said, "Look at the condition of law and order in Bihar. When minors were raped, the Chief Minister remained quiet because his party leaders were involved in that. And then I have to come to Jantar Mantar to protest against the rapes. And till today nothing happened in the case. Even the CBI and the ED, who are after us did nothing in the case," he claimed.
He was referring to the rape of minor girls in a government shelter home in Muzaffarpur in Bihar.
Referring to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) action against his family members, Yadav said, "They claim when I was a teenager and not even having a moustache, I was doing a conspiracy in the Railway Ministry. How is it possible? I was in school and I was playing cricket.
"What is this? Where is the country going?" he questioned.
"My entire family is being investigated. But why action only against only one family? To pressure us they are doing their best," he alleged.
"But no investigation against Jay Shah, why because he is the son of BJP chief Amit Shah," he added.
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In phone call, PM Modi, US President Trump resolve to promote global peace, security
New Delhi, Jan 27 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump on Monday vowed to work towards a "trusted" partnership between India and US and advance global peace and security in their first phone conversation since the American leader's inauguration last week.
Modi and Trump exchanged views on global issues, including the situation in West Asia and Ukraine, and deliberated on measures to boost bilateral cooperation in areas such as technology, trade, investment, energy and defence, an Indian readout said.
The two leaders agreed to meet soon, it said.
"Delighted to speak with my dear friend President @realDonaldTrump @POTUS.
Congratulated him on his historic second term," Modi said on 'X'.
"We are committed to a mutually beneficial and trusted partnership. We will work together for the welfare of our people and towards global peace, prosperity, and security," he said.
In a statement, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said the two leaders "reaffirmed" their commitment for a "mutually beneficial and trusted partnership".
"They discussed various facets of the wide-ranging bilateral Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership and measures to advance it, including in the areas of technology, trade, investment, energy and defence," it said.
"The two leaders exchanged views on global issues, including the situation in West Asia and Ukraine, and reiterated their commitment to work together for promoting global peace, prosperity and security," the PMO said.
"The leaders agreed to remain in touch and meet soon at an early mutually convenient date," it added.
It is not immediately known whether the issues of immigration and tariff figured in the talks.
Like in many countries, there have been some concerns in India as well over the Trump administration's approach on immigration and tariff.
President Trump has already talked about slapping "100 per cent tariffs" on the BRICS grouping, a bloc that includes India too.
It is learnt that the phone call was initiated from the Indian side.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said last week that India is looking for "bolder, bigger and a more ambitious" relationship with the US and indicated its readiness to work with the Trump administration to address issues like illegal immigration and trade.
The phone conversation between Modi and Trump came six days after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held separate meetings with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz in Washington.
Jaishankar also attended the Quad foreign ministers' meeting in the American capital. The meeting was the Trump administration's first foreign policy engagement.
At a media briefing in Washington on January 22, Jaishankar said his meetings signalled that the Trump administration "prioritising" the bilateral relationship with India.
The external affairs minister also said that there was agreement between the two sides about the need to be bolder, bigger, and more ambitious about the bilateral relationship.
Asked about the Trump administration's policy on tariff and immigration, Jaiswal said on Friday that India is looking at addressing issues in a constructive manner.
"Our approach has always been to address issues in a constructive manner which is in keeping with the interests of both countries," he had said at his weekly media briefing last week.
"We remain in close communication with the US administration and would like to continue to work towards strengthening our economic partnership further," he said.
India is also keen to continue cooperation under the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) that was launched during the tenure of the Biden administration.
