This election is about deciding Gujarat's fate for next 25 yrs: PM Modi
Palanpur (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the upcoming Assembly election in Gujarat is all about deciding the state's destiny for the next 25 years.
Addressing a poll rally in Palanpur town of Banaskantha district in support of the Bharatiya Janata Party candidates, Modi said though many developmental works have been carried out so far by the ruling BJP in Gujarat and the Centre, time has come to take a "giant leap".
Elections for the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5 and the counting of votes will be taken up on December 8.
Voting in Banaskantha district will be held in the second phase on December 5.
"This election is not about who will become an MLA or whose government will come. This election is all about deciding Gujarat's destiny for the next 25 years," Modi said.
The PM said he was making efforts to put Gujarat in the league of developed nations.
"Time has come to take a giant leap now. And, I need your support to form a strong government in Gujarat. You don't have to tell me your issues because I grew up here and I very well understand those issues. I appeal to you to make the BJP victorious in all the seats of Banaskantha," said Modi, the BJP's star campaigner for the Gujarat polls.
He said the BJP government in Gujarat has focussed on tourism, environment, water, cattle-rearing and nutrition aspects for the overall development of Banaskantha and the surrounding region.
"In a very short span, we were able to solve the issues of water scarcity and electricity. Youngsters aged 20 to 25 years may not even know today how bad the situation was a few decades back," Modi said.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
