India News
Prashant Kishor vows to quit Twitter, if BJP crosses double digits in West Bengal polls
With the BJP’s high-voltage political campaign for West Bengal underway, poll strategist Prashant Kishore on Monday predicted the party’s defeat in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls and vowed to quit Twitter if his predictions fail.
With the BJP’s high-voltage political campaign for West Bengal underway, poll strategist Prashant Kishore on Monday predicted the party’s defeat in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls and vowed to quit Twitter if his predictions fail. He said the BJP will struggle to cross double digits in the state polls. Double digits can mean anything from 10 to 99, so there were some people who were happy, some saw the trick forecast.
Kishor’s predictions came two days after Home Minister Amit Shah’s claim to set a target of 200 of the 294 seats for the party’s West Bengal wing ahead of polls in 2021. Shah had said that with the blessings of Birsa Munda, BJP will come to power with at least 200 seats. “Those who want to laugh at my prediction, let them laugh if the party works according to the plan, BJP will win more than 200 seats in the state,” he reiterated.
Kishor’s tweet comes after several leaders, including Trinamool Congress heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari joined BJP during Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit on Saturday. Besides Adhikari, six MLAs of the Trinamool Congress, one each from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India and the Congress also joined the BJP. Two-time Trinamool MP from Bardhaman Purba Lok Sabha constituency Sunil Mondal also defected to the BJP.
Following Kishor’s announcement, BJP National General Secretary and West Bengal observer Kailash Vijayvargiya tweeted that after the BJP’s tsunami in Bengal, this country will have to lose an election strategist after forming the government. Earlier, BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy had also claimed Trinamool will not get even 100 seats of the 294 in the Assembly polls 2021.
Kishor, who heads the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), had led campaigns for several parties to victory in several states. His first major campaign was for then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in 2011. In 2014, he campaigned for the BJP that led to an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha elections. Later, he joined Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar and was appointed vice-president of the party. He was expelled from the JD(U) for “indiscipline” in January this year.
Also Read: Facebook blocks farmers protests page Kisan Ekta Morcha, restores it later
In the 2019 general elections, even though West Bengal was one of the few states where the BJP was not able to make deep inroads, it had won 18 of the 42 seats, emerging as a clear opposition to the Mamata Banerjee government.
2024 Lok Sabha Elections
Priyanka Gandhi accuses BJP of planning to change the Constitution, criticises PM Modi for inflation
Priyanka Gandhi was speaking at an election rally at Dharampur village of tribal dominated Valsad district held in support of Congress candidate for ST-reserved Valsad Lok Sabha seat, Anant Patel.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday said the BJP may be denying it now, but the party will change the Constitution if it returns to power. She targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over inflation and called him the mehengai man.
Gandhi said the BJP leaders and candidates are saying that they will change the Constitution. She said PM Modi is denying it and this is BJP’s tactic. Priyanka Gandhi was speaking at an election rally at Dharampur village of tribal dominated Valsad district, Gujarat held in support of Congress candidate for ST-reserved Valsad Lok Sabha seat, Anant Patel.
Gandhi said first the BJP will deny what they want to do. But after coming to power they will implement it. She further added the BJP wants to change the constitution to weaken the common people and deprive them of their rights given in the Constitution. She said the BJP leaders project the Prime Minister as powerful and say that chutki bajake ladai rukwa dete hai (he can stop the Russia- Ukraine war with the snap of his fingers). She asked why is Prime Minister unable to remove poverty just like that?
Priyanka Gandhi claimed the tribal population in Gujarat which is Modi’s home state and the whole country is suffering from issues like rising inflation, unemployment, low remumberation, loss of land, violence against women and other atrocities. She highlighted the Congress manifesto and said it addresses issues faced by the tribal population.
She assured the people that the Congress will bring schemes like MGNREGA for urban areas where families will get 100 days of guaranteed work. She said the Congress is committed to filing about 30 lakh vacancies in government jobs, providing subsidised diesel to fishermen and take the minimum wage to Rs 400. Gandhi said the Congress is going to work out sub plans for Scheduled Tribes and scheduled castes.
2024 Lok Sabha Elections
Smriti Irani takes a swipe at Rahul Gandhi for calling Amethi his home but contesting Lok Sabha elections from Wayanad
Smriti Irani criticised the Rahul Gandhi for changing his families and said they have seen people changing colours, but for the first time changing families is being witnessed.
Union Minister Smriti Irani took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi on Saturday during a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi. While addressing the public rally, Irani said Rahul Gandhi spoke about his relations in Amethi and then he went to Wayanad where he declared the Kerala seat as his home as he filed for his nomination for the Lok Sabha elections.
Smriti Irani, who will be contesting her Amethi seat yet again, criticised the Rahul Gandhi for changing his families and said they have seen people changing colours, but for the first time changing families is being witnessed. The Union minister urged the people of Amethi to cast their votes on May 20, the day when Amethi goes for elections. She talked about the benefits of voting for BJP and said, the poor will get free ration for five years, farmers will get Rs 6,000 every month, and will get Rs 5 lakh every year under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
Irani further added that Congress on the other hand has declared that it will calculate the wealth of the people if voted to power. She took a swipe over Congress candidates and said the grand old party is yet to announce its candidates for two key constituencies in Uttar Pradesh – Amethi and Raebareli, which have historically been the Congress’s stronghold. The BJP leader said that now that the polling in Wayanad has concluded, the Congress candidate will arrive in Amethi, but will first visit the Ram Temple.
She slammed Congress for rejecting the invitation to the Ram Temple Pran Pratishtha and said they rejected the invitation to the Ram temple Pran Pratishtha, now they will go to the Ram temple as they believe that this will get them votes in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections which means now they will go to the extent of betraying god as well.
2024 Lok Sabha Elections
Lok Sabha election 2024: Nearly 50% voter turnout recorded in second phase till 3 pm
The constituencies going to polls today include all 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala, 14 in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, and others spread across different states.
In the second phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024, over 50% of voters were registered in 13 states and the UTs till 3 p.m. 65% of voters participated in the first round of the Lok Sabha elections.
The 18th Lok Sabha elections are currently in their second phase, with voting for 88 seats taking place across 13 states and union territories. There are more than 1,200 people running for office, four of them are from outside Manipur.
Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, BJP members Tejasvi Surya, Hema Malini, and Arun Govil, Rahul Gandhi and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, DK Suresh, the brother of Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy are among the notable contenders for the second phase.
In 2019, the NDA had won 56 of the 89 seats and the UPA 24. Six of these seats have been redrawn as part of the delimitation exercise.
The first phase of the seven stages of the elections took place on Friday, including 102 seats spread across 21 states and Union territories. Voter turnout was about 65.5% in the first phase, according to the reports.
In biggest festival of democracy, people from all walks of sector took part in it. A video went viral where former India captain and current Indian team head coach Rahul Dravid and former India player and head coach Anil Kumble were seen standing in line to cast their vote.
Meanwhile, voting started at 7 a.m. and will end at 6 p.m. The Election Commission has extended voting hours for those who are in line by an hour. According to Election Commission figures, the first two hours saw a 9.3% voter turnout throughout the 88 constituencies. By 9 am, Kerala had recorded 8.52%, Karnataka 9.21%, and Madhya Pradesh 13.82%.
In this phase, there were about 15.88 crore eligible voters, comprising 5.929 third-gender electors, 8.08 crore males, and 7.8 crore women. 3.28 crore young voters, aged 20 to 29, are among them; 34.8 lakh of them are first-time voters.
-
Education3 hours ago
Physics Wallah founder gets invited as speaker to Harvard, Stanford Universities, post goes viral
-
2024 Lok Sabha Elections23 hours ago
Election Commission books BJP MP Tejasvi Surya for seeking votes in the name of religion
-
Cricket news6 hours ago
IPL 2024: Punjab Kings beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 8 wickets to chase down highest T20 total
-
2024 Lok Sabha Elections4 hours ago
Smriti Irani takes a swipe at Rahul Gandhi for calling Amethi his home but contesting Lok Sabha elections from Wayanad
-
2024 Lok Sabha Elections1 hour ago
Priyanka Gandhi accuses BJP of planning to change the Constitution, criticises PM Modi for inflation