For Karnataka polls BJP to fly in its star campaigners, including Modi
Bengaluru, April 24: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will fly in some 40 "star campaigners" to poll-bound Karnataka including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a host of Union Ministers and senior leaders to campaign for the party's success in the ensuing May 12 assembly elections.
The visiting key campaigners were named in a letter written by the state unit BJP general secretary and party's Lok Sabha lawmaker from Karnataka Shobha Karandlaje to the state Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar.
Besides Modi and BJP national President Amit Shah, Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj (External Affairs), Smriti Irani (Information and Broadcasting), Nirmala Sitharaman (Defence), Ravi Shankar Prasad (Law and Justice), Piyush Goyal (Railways) and party's Lok Sabha MP and veteran actress Hema Malini will soon be in the southern state.
"The Prime Minister is expected to visit the state tentatively from May 1 and is expected to hold at least 10-12 rallies across the state before the election," BJP state spokesman S. Shantharam told IANS here.
Modi is expected to visit each of the state's four regions -- coastal, north, central and south -- besides Bengaluru and Mysuru, addressing two-to-three rallies a day till May 10.
The exact dates of the BJP leaders' visits to the state were yet to be finalised, the spokesperson added.
Some of the other campaigners include party's women's wing national in-charge D. Purandareswari, former Union Minister for External Affairs S.M. Krishna, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan among others.
The party's chief ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa, Union Ministers from the state Ananth Kumar (Chemicals and Fertilisers), Prakash Javadekar (Human Resource Development) and Anantkumar Hegde (Skill Development) will also be taking part in the campaigning activities.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, also one of the party's campaigners, on Monday visited the state's coastal districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath has visited the state at least four times so far, to address rallies in Hubballi, Bengaluru, Davanagere and Mangaluru.
On April 21, MP Chief Minister Chouhan visited the state's Chitradurga district, about 250km north from here, to campaign along with the BJP Lok Sabha lawmaker B. Sreeramulu, who is contesting the assembly elections from Molakamuru (reserved) seat in the district.
Polling will be held in a single phase on May 12 for 224 assembly seats, including 36 reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 15 for the Scheduled Tribes. Votes will be counted on May 15.
Tuesday is the last date for filing nominations. Scrutiny will be done on April 25 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 27.
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PM Modi speaks to Iranian president, discusses 'serious' situation in West Asia
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday night spoke to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian over the phone and discussed the "serious situation" in West Asia.
Modi expressed deep concern over the escalation of tensions in the region and the loss of civilian lives as well as damage to civilian infrastructure.
The prime minister told the Iranian President that the safety and security of Indian nationals, along with the need for unhindered transit of goods and energy, remain India's top priorities.
“Had a conversation with Iranian President, Dr Masoud Pezeshkian, to discuss the serious situation in the region. Expressed deep concern over the escalation of tensions and the loss of civilian lives as well as damage to civilian infrastructure,” Modi said in a post on X.
The prime minister also reiterated India's commitment to peace and stability and urged dialogue and diplomacy to end the crisis.
The prime minister had spoken to leaders of several West Asian countries in the last 10 days in the wake of the coordinated offensive launched against Iran by the United States and Israel, in which the Islamic country's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed last month.
In retaliation, Iran has fired drones and missiles at Israel and US military installations around the Gulf region, including the global business and aviation hubs of Dubai and Doha.
Modi earlier spoke to the leaders of Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Israel and Qatar, and expressed concern over the attacks on their countries, and condemned the violation of some nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
He also discussed the welfare and security of the Indian community residing in those countries.
Around 1 crore Indians live in the Gulf and West Asia. While about 10,000 Indian citizens live, study and work in Iran, more than 40,000 live in Israel.
