"Bure Din Jaane Wale Hain, Rahul Gandhi Aane Wale Hain...": Navjot Sidhu
NEW DELHI, Dec 11: As the Congress is inching towards victory in three big states that went to polls over the last few weeks, Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said "bure din jane wale hain", taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his promise "ache din aane wale hain(good days are ahead)". The slogan, designed ahead of national elections in 2014, was the hightlight of the BJP's campaign.
Votes are being counted in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. The Congress has lost Mizoram to its regional rival Mizo Nation Front (MNF).
In his poetic style, the cricketer-turned-politician said, "Bure din jaane wale hain aur Rahul Gandhi aane wale hain... kuch hi samay baad Lal Qile pe jhanda fehrane wale hain (Bad days will go away and Rahul Gandhi will unfurl the national flag at Red Fort)."
Does he mean that the Congress chief is going to become the prime minister in next year's Lok Sabha elections?
"Why not? Rahul Gandhi is going up while Narendra Modi is going down. Public sab janti hai (people can see through). The results have given us hope. Voters have laid the foundation... all roads lead to Red Fort now," he told NDTV.
The Congress leader, who was earlier part of the BJP, has been relentless in his attack on PM Modi and his party over a host of issues, including the controversial Rafale fighter jet deal and farmer suicides.
"The wave in favour of Narendra Modi in 2014 that had helped the BJP come to power with a comfortable majority has turned out to be 'poisonous' for the common man," Mr Sidhu said.
The Punjab minister has also accused the prime minister of acting like a puppet in the hands of moneybags. "The prime minister is a 'katputli (puppet)' of capitalists. If a farmer fails to repay a loan of Rs. 1 lakh, the government beats drums. But when (industrialists) Adani and Ambani do not repay Rs. 1.5 lakh crore, you do 'pappi-jhappi' with them (hug them)," he said.
He also took on PM Modi over unemployment and the centre's 'Make in India' initiative.
"When Rafale jets will come from France and bullet train from Japan, what will people do here? They will fry pakodas (fritters)," Mr Sidhu said referring to the NDA government's decision to buy 36 ready-to-fly fighter jets from France and India's agreement with Japan for the bullet trains.
Courtesy: www.ndtv.com
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Women ought to have been given more seats by Congress in Assembly polls: Satheesan
Kochi (PTI): Congress leader V D Satheesan on Saturday agreed that women ought to have been given more seats in the upcoming Assembly polls.
The Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Kerala Assembly said that the party wanted to give more seats to women in the Assembly polls.
"We wanted to give more seats. Even I am not satisfied with that issue. It (seats given) was not enough," he told reporters at Paravoor here.
His response comes a day after Congress national spokesperson Shama Mohamed expressed dissatisfaction over the low representation of women in the party's candidate list for the upcoming Assembly elections on April 9.
Regarding queries related to the UDF support for former CPI(M) leader G Sudhakaran, the opposition leader said that he has a lot of respect for the Marxist veteran who was a "fair minister" when he was in government.
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"He (Sudhakaran) does not lie. He was a fair minister. He distributed funds to all MLAs equally. I still respect him. He took a stand, and after that, we politically backed him," Satheesan said.
He also said that he was greatly indebted to former MLA and Congress Joseph Vazhakan, who had brought him back to the political mainstream.
"So, I am greatly indebted to him. He loved me like a brother. I am sad that even in my current position, I could not ensure a seat for him," he said.
Vazhakan had on Friday expressed his disappointment over being denied a seat at the last moment, as he had printed election posters and banners in preparation to contest in the polls.
He, however, had said that he would remain committed to the party despite the setback.
Vazhakan had said that his name had been under consideration for the Ettumannur constituency, but the Congress on Thursday decided to field DCC president Nattakom Suresh from the seat.
Satheesan, while speaking to reporters, also said that there was nothing wrong with posters being put up in the name of any Congress leader.
"We have no problems with that as the team Congress is united. The CM candidate has already been decided. It's CPI(M) narrative that there are problems in the Congress, there are no issues in the party," he said in response to reporters' queries about posters of K C Venugopal being put up in many places of the state.
