PM Modi greets people on Republic Day
New Delhi, Jan 26 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the people on the country's 70th Republic Day on Saturday.
"Happy Republic Day to all fellow Indians," he tweeted. Several leaders took to social media to extend their greetings on the occasion.
"As we celebrate #RepublicDay2019, let us renew our vow to our country: let us strive to live up to the ideals of justice, liberty and equality as enshrined in the constitution. Let us move towards a stronger, better India. Let us, with fierce pride, say in one voice: JAI HIND!" Union Minister Rajya Vardhan Singh Rathore tweeted.
Union Minister Arun Jaitley, who is recuperating after a surgery in a hospital in the US, tweeted, "#RepublicDay2019 greetings to everyone. Happy 70th #RepublicDay2019".
Railways Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted, "70 & Growing Strong: As India celebrates its 70th #RepublicDay, let us cherish the memory of the day when we became an Independent Republic, and look ahead with aspiration & zeal towards building a New India."
Union Ministers Maneka Gandhi, Smriti Irani, Prakash Javadekar and J P Nadda and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also took to Twitter to extend their greetings.
The Republic Day parade will begin with the laying of a wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate by the Prime Minister. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will be the chief guest at the event.
The parade will start from Vijay Chowk and pass through Rajpath, Tilak Marg, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Netaji Subhash Marg and proceed for the Red Fort. Twenty-two tableaux of states and central government departments will be showcased during the 90-minute parade.
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
