Rahul will become PM after next Lok Sabha polls: RJD's Tejashwi at Bihar rally
Patna (PTI): RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday exhorted the people of Bihar to make Congress leader Rahul Gandhi the prime minister after the next Lok Sabha polls.
Addressing a rally on the third day of Congress' 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' in Nawada, he also called upon the youth to “root out the NDA” from the state in the assembly elections due later in the year.
Yadav was accompanied by Gandhi and other INDIA bloc leaders as part of the fortnight-long yatra, which began on Sunday.
The RJD leader described Gandhi as the one “who has given sleepless nights to Prime Minister Narendra Modi” for undertaking the state-wide yatra.
“In the upcoming assembly polls, we shall root out the NDA, which has been running a government comparable to a rickety old car (‘khatara’) for the last 20 years. And, in the next Lok Sabha polls, we shall make Rahul Gandhi the prime minister,” said Yadav, evoking cheers from the crowd.
Donning a baseball cap and a T-shirt, Yadav also had a ‘gamcha’ wrapped around his neck, in an apparent bid to stress that he wished to embody a mix of tradition with modernity.
“We have a vision for a new Bihar,” asserted the former deputy chief minister, who spoke into a hand-held mic, from atop an open vehicle that carried him, Gandhi, CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Vikassheel Insan Party president Mukesh Sahni and state Congress chief Rajesh Kumar.
Taking potshots at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the Leader of the Opposition in the assembly, said, “The CM is not in his senses. He is not able to run Bihar. His government has become a copycat. I had promised free power, domicile policy, hike in social security pensions and setting up of a Youth Commission.
“The state government presented these as newly devised schemes. It has remained oblivious to the state’s crying need for better education, health, employment, irrigation facilities and accountability.”
Training his guns at the BJP, Yadav said “they have colluded with the Election Commission to deprive the people of Bihar of their right to vote”.
Many people who are alive, who had voted in the last Lok Sabha polls, have been declared as dead and their names are being deleted from the electoral rolls, he claimed.
Yadav reiterated that the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar was an exercise to “snatch” people's right to vote.
“The SIR is dacoity of votes and we will not allow that to happen. It's a conspiracy of the ruling dispensation to disenfranchise voters in Bihar,” he alleged.
“The BJP and the EC think they can take the people of Bihar for a ride. But, they need to know that in Bihar, we mix lime with khaini (raw tobacco) and swallow it without a fuss. We are Biharis. And as the saying goes, a Bihari can take on anybody,” the 35-year-old RJD leader said.
The yatra, which will also pass through Nalanda, Sheikhpura, Lakhisarai, Munger, Bhagalpur, Katihar, Purnea, Araria, Supaul, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Sitamarhi, East Champaran, West Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan, Chhapra and Ara, is scheduled to conclude with a rally in Patna on September 1.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
