Congress in ICU, says Modi
New Delhi, Sep 13 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hit out at opposition parties, saying the Congress, which has been trying to forge a "mahagathbandhan" for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and those part of the grand alliance form its "support system".
Modi's attack came during a video interaction with booth level workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Jaipur (Rural), Nawada, Ghaziabad, Hazaribagh and Arunachal West parliamentary constituencies.
Responding to a query of a BJP worker from Arunachal Pradesh about the opposition's efforts to forge a grand alliance, Modi said it was not a matter of opposition unity but an attempt was being made to do branding for some political parties in the name of "mahagathbandhan".
"This 'mahagathbandhan' is not a bond of knot but is an alliance of some opportunistic political parties to hide their weaknesses," he said.
"They are trying to stitch an alliance of parties while we are stitching people's hearts. This is their compulsion. Our work is to stitch relations which is our national duty," he said.
The Prime Minister said there was confusion in the "mahagathbandhan" over leadership and policy. Their intention was corrupt.
"Their only motto is 'Modi hatao', 'Modi hatao' and 'Modi hatao' (Remove Modi) while our determination is to accelerate the path of development."
Dubbing the idea of "mahagathbandhan" as an example of the BJP's rising power, he sought to know why the Congress, which had once passed a resolution against alliances, was now backtracking.
"Some years back, the Congress passed a resolution in Madhya Pradesh saying it will never go for any alliance. What is the reason today they are ready to have alliance with any political party? Today they are saying ...save me," he said.
"When a patient remains in the ICU, he is given a different kind of support system so that he can survive. The Congress is installing a support system of political parties to save itself. For the Congress, all those part of 'mahagathbandhan' are only a support system so that they rescue it from ICU."
The Prime Minister asserted that Congress efforts to form a grand coalition were not going to make any difference to the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
"If the BJP government had made some mistakes or its popularity graph had gone down or the Prime Minister had made some mistakes, would they have gone for an alliance?" Modi asked.
The opposition parties were so scared of the BJP that they felt they can never defeat it alone. "They can't stand before the BJP. This is the reason they are doing this to get together ('mel milap')," he said.
"They are 'naamdar' and we are 'kaamdar'. Their purpose is welfare of a family and ours is country's welfare. The country is going to judge them on these issues... Being a BJP worker it does not make any difference to us what our opponents are doing."
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Union minister Hardeep Puri's daughter moves Delhi HC over allegations of links with Epstein
New Delhi (PTI): Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri's daughter has moved the Delhi High Court for the removal of "false" and "defamatory" social media content linking her to convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The lawsuit by Himayani Puri is likely to be heard in the high court this week.
In her lawsuit seeking Rs 10 crore as damages and an order to restrain several entities from disseminating defamatory content, Himayani Puri said there was a "coordinated and malicious online campaign" to link her to Epstein and his crimes.
She also sought an unconditional apology and retraction from the defendant entities.
"Commencing on or around 22.02.2026, a series of false, misleading and defamatory posts, articles, videos and digital material were published, disseminated and amplified across social media and intermediary platforms including inter alia X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, digital news portals and other web-based publications," the plea said.
Himayani Puri asserted that she is an accomplished finance and investment professional, who is being targeted solely because she is Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Puri's daughter.
According to her lawsuit, the defendants disseminated "baseless imputations" that Himayani Puri maintained direct or indirect business, financial or personal network links with Epstein.
The allegations are entirely false, malicious and devoid of factual foundation, the plea said.
