Mangaluru: Former Union Minister and Bollywood superstar Shatrugan Sinha on Sunday visited Mangaluru’s Mudipu and addressed a public rally while campaigning for Dakshina Kannada Congress candidate for LS Election Mithun Rai.

Sinha made scattering attacks on BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi questioning their governance and silence over key issues of the nation. The former BJP MP was also in the awe of Congress President Rahul Gandhi and termed him as the ‘face of today and future of the country’.

Speaking about the reason behind his decision to leave BJP where he had been in the mix of the things for several years Sinha said “I left BJP because I have always believed in secularism. I have given so many years of my life to BJP, but since this government was formed the party has turned into ‘one man show and two men army’ it has become dictator’s party. People like LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Arun Shourie, Yashwant Sinha and Kirti Azad who took the party to new heights are nowhere to be seen now in the party”

“Demonetisation was wrongly implemented, lakhs of people suffered for one bad decision. And then they introduce complicated GST before the nation could recover from demonetization. That was the double blow to the whole of nation. And that’s when I confronted them in the interest of the people of the country. I told them ‘Khamosh, ye tumne galat kiya hai’ (Whatever you have done is wrong).

“They also started threatening me to dispel me from the party as I have always been taking stands against what was wrong irrespective of who was doing it. For me party is more important than any individual and my country is more important than any party. So when I started taking stands against the wrong they were doing, it didn’t go down too well with them. That’s when I decided to bid goodbye to the party”.

Speaking of Congress Sinha added that there was no other party with more contributions to the country than Congress including its role in the freedom movement of the country and that is the reason he joined the grand old party.

Taking a dig at Modi wave and BJP’s 2014 election victory he said “What happened with these people is as they say ‘Power corrupts you and absolute power corrupts you absolutely’ so when they got into power, I don’t want to speak on how they got it. It might be with the help of EVM or something else. So when they came into power they decided to become dictators”.

Sinha also credited Congress’ election wins in MP, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh to the leadership skills of Rahul Gandhi.

“Within a year of taking charge as the president of INC Rahul Gandhi has displayed his leadership skills and shown to the opposition what he is capable of. He is the face of today and future of this country” he added.

Attacking Modi over Rafale deal, Sinha questioned his silence and reminded him that he was accountable to the people of this country and every single question by them has to be answered.

“I don’t say you are accused or involve in this scam or whether this is a scam or not. But there are questions and you need to answer them. Unless you answer them people will keep saying what Rahul Gandhi and others are saying that ‘Chowkidar chor hai’”.

Speaking of Mithun Rai, Sinha said his victory was the need of the hour for the development of Dakshina Kannada and the Country at large.

“It is important that Mithun Rai wins from here. This is young India and the youth can bring in a change. Under the young leadership of Rahul Gandhi, these leaders will be groomed and will take India to unprecedented heights. I am confident the youth of Dakshina Kannada will make the right decision and elect Mithun Rai” he concluded.

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Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.

Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.

Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.

An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.

The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.

A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.

Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."

"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.

"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.

A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.