Pulwama attack 'conspiracy' to fetch votes: SP leader Ramgopal Yadav
Etawah, Mar 21: Senior Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav Thursday alleged that the Pulwama terror attack was a "conspiracy" to garner votes, drawing sharp reaction from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Yadav, a general secretary in the Samajwadi Party (SP), also said once there is a change at the Centre, investigations will be conducted into the incident and claimed that prominent people will come under the scanner of the probe.
Hitting out at the SP leader, Adityanath said this an example of "atrocious politics" and Yadav should apologise for his comment.
Forty Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district after a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into their bus, which was part of a convoy going to Srinagar from Jammu, on February 14.
"For the first time, it happened that there was no checking between Jammu and Srinagar. It was for the first time that the CRPF jawans were sent in simple buses. The point where the armoured vehicles were available, no one stopped there and they proceeded, and lives were lost," Ramgopal Yadav said.
"This was a conspiracy...But, when there will be a change of government, investigations will be done and prominent people will come under the scanner, who had pushed our youth to death to garner votes," he alleged.
The SP leader was speaking at a programme held here at Saifai -- the ancestral village of Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.
"A number of paramilitary jawans were unnecessarily killed to increase votes. I do not want to speak these things now.
"But, paramilitary personnel, including some officers, have complained to me that they had been demanding that they should be sent through air route, as when they go from Jammu, they take the air route, and when they enter the Valley, they go in armoured vehicles," Ramgopal Yadav said.
The chief minister said these kinds of statements damage the confidence of security personnel.
"The statement is the height of appeasement, and an example of atrocious politics. These type of deplorable statements is a part of the conspiracy to damage the confidence of the brave jawans of the country," Adityanath said.
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Cong performed better in Kerala, anti-incumbency trends influenced WB, TN: CM Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said the Congress had largely met or exceeded expectations in several States, even as results in some regions reflected shifting voter sentiments.
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he said the party accepted the mandate in Assam while performing better than anticipated in Kerala.
He also pointed to possible anti-incumbency trends influencing outcomes in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
“In Assam, we got the expected result, and we accept the people’s mandate. In Kerala, we have won more seats than expected. We anticipated around 76 to 80, but we have gone up to around 95,” Siddaramaiah said.
In West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, there may have been an anti-incumbency trend, and that could have influenced the results, he added.
Siddaramaiah also extended his congratulations to a new political entrant in Tamil Nadu, noting the emergence of a different electoral dynamic in the State.
“I congratulate the new entrant who has achieved success there,” he added.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said electoral outcomes in some States had diverged from the party’s internal assessments, reflecting evolving voter expectations.
“We expected a certain trend, but the results have been different. Political reading was wrong in some places,” he said.
“People were looking for change in some States, and that has been reflected in the results,” Shivakumar, who is also the Congress Karnataka unit president, said.
Referring to Kerala, he said the Congress-led alliance had benefited from public sentiment.
“There was already an expectation based on local body elections, and people had shown confidence in us. That has translated into a strong result,” the Deputy Chief Minister said.
On Tamil Nadu, he acknowledged that the scale of political shift had come as a surprise.
“We expected to secure around 30 to 40 per cent of the vote share, but such a major shift was not anticipated. It shows that voter expectations were different,” he said.
Shivakumar added that electoral outcomes underscored the need for better political assessment in future.
“We have to understand these changes carefully. Political reading cannot go wrong like this,” he said.
