Two persons met me before 2024 Maharashtra assembly polls, guaranteed 160-seat win: Sharad Pawar
Nagpur, Aug 9 (PTI): NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday claimed that two individuals had met him in New Delhi before the 2024 Maharashtra assembly polls and "guaranteed" the Opposition's victory in 160 of 288 constituencies.
Addressing the media in Nagpur, Pawar said he introduced the duo to the leader of the opposition, Rahul Gandhi.
The disclosure by Pawar comes amid a huge row over Gandhi's "vote theft" charge against the BJP and the Election Commission.
"Two persons met me in New Delhi before the 2024 assembly polls in Maharashtra. They offered to help the Opposition (Maha Vikas Aghadi) win 160 of the 288 seats with a guarantee," the former Union minister claimed.
"I introduced them to Rahul Gandhi. He ignored what was told to him. He was also of the view that we (Opposition) shouldn't get involved in such things and go to the people directly," he added.
Pawar claimed that since he didn't assign any importance to claims made by the two individuals, he didn't possess their names and contact details.
The BJP won 132 seats in the assembly elections with allies Shiv Sena and NCP adding 57 and 41 constituencies, respectively, to the saffron tally.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi, which bagged 30 of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra months before the assembly elections were held, had attributed its rout to discrepancies in EVMs and fudging of data.
Gandhi on Thursday made explosive claims of a "huge criminal fraud" in polls through collusion between the BJP and the Election Commission, citing an analysis in a constituency in Karnataka, and saying it was "a crime against the Constitution".
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Women BJP MLAs protest against opposition in UP assembly premises
Lucknow (PTI): Women BJP MLAs held a protest in the Vidhan Bhawan complex before the one-day special session of Uttar Pradesh assembly, slamming the opposition for defeating the passage of a bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Law, in the Lok Sabha.
This followed another demonstration by Samajwadi Party MLAs, who alleged that the BJP was misleading public in the name of women's reservation.
The women BJP legislators assembled in front of Chaudhary Charan Singh's statue in the assembly premises, holding banners inscribed with the slogan "Insult to Matrushakti (women's power), India will not tolerate it". The protesting members entered the main hall of Vidhan Bhawan carrying the banners.
Participating in the protest, the state Minister for Women Welfare and Child Development, Baby Rani Maurya, told reporters that all opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, had opposed the women's reservation, a stance for which they would have to pay a heavy political price.
"On this issue, all of us women stand united. We will ensure that we secure our reservation," she said.
BJP MLA Ketki Singh remarked that their protest represents the collective outrage of millions of women across the state.
Singh asserted that the opposition has betrayed women by creating hurdles in the path of women's reservation. The current demonstration is merely the beginning, and very soon, women from every street, intersection and household will join the protest movement, she said.
Minister Vijaylakshmi Gautam said, "We strongly condemn the despicable act committed by the Samajwadi Party and the Congress in an attempt to hold back 'half the population' (women). Their action was directed against the very bill that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had introduced to empower and strengthen Nari Shakti (women's power), and which he strived to pass expeditiously."
Uttar Pradesh assembly is holding a one-day special session on Thursday. During the session, the government is set to move a censure motion against the opposition parties over their failure to pass the Constitution Amendment Bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Act, in the Lok Sabha.
