Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Monday alleged the influence of foreign powers in the Congress manifesto and accused the grand old party of receiving support from Pakistan. He said the BJP never believes in politics in times of disaster and emergencies, but the Congress has stooped so low that it is doing politics in such matters as well.

Anurag Thakur was speaking to the media during an event in Himachal Pradesh’s Una district on Monday. He also applauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for its proactive role during disastrous floods and rains in Himachal Pradesh. The Union Minister said that the Modi government has distributed crores of rupees in Himachal Pradesh during the disaster.

Thakur took a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said that the Wayanad MP forgot to follow his own slogan of daro mat. He said that Gandhi is running from one seat to another while fearing defeat in the ongoing Loksabha elections. Thakur further added that Rahul Gandhi first ran from Amethi to Wayanad and now he is contesting from Rae Bareli and the Congress will be wiped out from Rae Bareli as well.

Anurag Thakur targeted the Congress and said the grand old party is living in fool’s paradise of winning the elections on false promises. The Union Minister claimed that the Congress’s dreams will be shattered on June 4 after the election result announcement.

Anurag Thakur is contesting Lok Sabha elections 2024 from Hamirpur seat. He said he was confident that BJP will win the election this time as well. He claimed of having support of the people of the constituency. He also said that his victory margin this time would be more than the previous margin of about 4 lakh votes. Thakur who is a 4 time MP also expressed optimism that the BJP-led NDA will win more than 400 seats in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi announced today that the party would raise quota benefits for members of Dalit, backward, and tribal communities and lift the 50% restriction on caste-based quotas imposed by the Supreme Court.

Speaking at a election campaign in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, Gandhi said, the Constitution is being defended in this election. “BJP and RSS wish to bring this to a close and alter it. And this is being saved by the Congress and the INDIA bloc. You have rights on jal (water), jangal (forest), and zameen (land) under this Constitution. With a copy of the Constitution in his hand, he declared, “Narendra Modi wants to get rid of them and have total power.

He claimed that if the BJP won, its leaders would change the Constitution. They used the slogan 400 seats for this reason. However, they won’t be getting 150 seats; forget about 400, he added. They promise to eliminate reservations. He would like to inform that going forward, they will surpass the 50% reservation cap. Congress will reserve as much space as is necessary for the underprivileged, the backward, Dalits, and Adivasis, he said.

Gandhi’s comments come with a heated campaign for the Lok Sabha elections and contentious discussions about reservations between the NDA and the INDIA alliance.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP has claimed that the Congress intends to modify the backward class reservation in order to benefit Muslims. The claims have been refuted by the Congress. At a rally in Gujarat, Banaskantha, the PM said, he challenges the shehzada of the Congress as well as his party and its supporters to announce they will never misuse reservation in the name of religion, nor will they play with the Constitution or grant reservation in the name of religion.

Gandhi claimed during the Ratlam rally that stories about crimes against Adivasis are not covered by the media. The media does not report on the rape of your children or the seizure of your land. These media companies do not employ Adivasis, he said.

Meanwhile, Ratlam will vote in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 13. Former MP and former Union Minister Kantilal Bhuria has been named by the Congress for Ratlam seat. The BJP’s choice from the seat they won in the 2019 election is Anita Nagar Singh Chauhan.

Jammu and Kashmir National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah responded to Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s remark, PoK will be merged with India, and said on Sunday that Pakistan is not wearing bangles and also has atom bombs that will fall on the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He said if the defence minister is saying it, then India should go ahead.

The National conference leader added nobody is stopping the defence minister from doing so. But he warned that the Indian government must remember that Pakistan is also not wearing bangles.  He added that the neighbouring country has atom bombs, and unfortunately, that atom bomb will fall on the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that seeing the development taking place in India, the people of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) will themselves demand to be reunited with India.  The Defence Minister had said that people should not worry. Pakistan Occupied Kashmir was, is and will remain a part of India.

Rajnath Singh was addressing a rally at West Bengal’s Darjeeling, where the BJP had nominated sitting MP Raju Bista. He said India’s power is increasing and India’s prestige is increasing around the world, and India’s growing economy is fast progressing. He added that India’s brothers and sisters in PoK will themselves demand to come with India.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday said that POK is a part of India and added that there is a resolution of the Indian Parliament which states that PoK is part of the country. He further added that people were made to forget about Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, but it is now back in the consciousness of the people of India.

Jaishankar further asked how did other people get control of POK? He said one should remember that when one has someone who is not a responsible custodian of a house, someone steals from outside.