Cong claims Khajuraho LS seats candidates being pressured to withdraw from poll race; BJP denies
Bhopal (PTI): Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Jitu Patwari on Sunday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was pressuring some of the candidates in the Khajuraho Lok Sabha seat to withdraw from the poll fray.
The BJP, however, termed the allegations as baseless and said such claims were a cover-up for the internal conspiracies of the opposition INDIA bloc.
The Congress has given the Khajuraho Lok Sabha seat to the Samajwadi Party (SP) as part of the seat-sharing agreement among the INDIA alliance constituents.
The nomination form of SP candidate Meera Yadav, however, was rejected by the Returning Officer on Friday as she had failed to sign at one place and also submitted an old voters’ list copy.
After the scrutiny, 14 candidates are in fray in this seat, including sitting MP and BJP state president VD Sharma.
Talking to reporters on Sunday, Patwari claimed the All India Forward Bloc candidate RB Prajapati, a former government officer, met him and said he is being pressured through different tactics to withdraw his nomination.
Prajapati has made a complaint in this regard to the Election Commission, Patwari said.
The Congress leader said the BJP is using tactics, which are generally heard of in panchayat elections, in the biggest election of the country.
"The district collector (returning officer) is acting like a BJP worker and invalidated the form of SP candidate and the issue will be fought legally...but the remaining candidates are being pressured. I got the information that some of them were abducted, some were forced to go underground, nobody can come to the public domain," Patwari claimed.
"Does the (state) BJP president want to contest the election in Bihari style, I beg your pardon, like filmi style that (the candidates) are abducted, being purchase with money, threatened, tormented through the administration, or anyhow getting forms of all candidates cancelled and get elected (unopposed)?" he said.
Patwari also asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted this type of a country.
The Congress leader demanded that the Election Commission of India provide security to the candidates.
Asked about the allegations, state BJP secretary Rajneesh Agrawal told PTI that the rejection of SP candidate's nomination from the Khajuraho seat has brought to fore the internal wranglings of the INDIA bloc.
"The internal strife and conspiracies of the Congress and the INDI bloc have come out in the open after rejection of the SP candidate's nomination. To cover it up, they are making baseless allegations," he said.
Agrawal said there is no basis for such allegations as the BJP is already contesting the election.
"The BJP was winning elections earlier and will win now also," he added.
Elections to the 29 Lok Sabha seats in MP will be held in four phases from April 19 to May 13.
Khajuraho and six other seats will be covered in the second phase of voting on April 26 and the last day of filing nominations for these constituencies was April 4.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
