BJP can never be 'Modi or Shah's party': Nitin Gadkari

Agencies
May 10, 2019

New Delhi, May 10: BJP can never be an "individual-centric" party as it is based on ideology, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said, denying allegations that Bharatiya Janata Party has become "Modi-centric".

He also disapproved apprehensions of a fractured mandate and claimed the party will get more seats than the last Lok Sabha polls.

"BJP neither became Atal or Advaniji's party in the past, nor it can ever be only Amit Shah or Narendra Modi's party," he said in an interview to news agency at his residence here.

Stressing "BJP is a party based on ideology," Gadkari said it is wrong to say that "BJP has become Modi-centric."

He, however, said the BJP and Prime Minister Modi are "complementary to each other."

When asked whether the BJP has become 'Modi is BJP and BJP is Modi' on the lines of 'Indira is India and India is Indira' slogan given by then Congress president D K Barooah during the emergency in 1976, Gadkari said, the party can never be "individual-centric".

"BJP as a party can never be individual-centric. It is an ideology-based party. There can be no 'family-rule' in the BJP. It is a wrong notion that the party has become Modi-centric. Party's parliamentary board takes all the decisions," he said.

He reasoned that the party and its leader are complementary to each other.

"Elections cannot be won if a party is strong but its leader is weak ... same can be said if a leader is strong and the party is weak ... But yes, a popular leader do come at the forefront naturally, " Gadkari stressed.

He rubbished the claims that BJP is fighting polls on nationalism instead of its work or achievement in the past five years and said people will vote the party back to power with full majority supporting its development agenda.

"Opposition has tried to bring in the poison of casteism and communalism in the polls to derail the BJP's development agenda, but I am sure people will be with us and we will form the government with full majority," he stressed.

He said for the BJP, nationalism is not an issue but "our soul".

"Nationalism is our soul. Good administration and development is our mission... Roti, kapda and makan (food, clothes and shelter) for the poor, exploited and backwards in the society is our ideal," Gadkari said.

He said in every election, discourse on the nation's security was there. "We haven't made this an issue".

Defending the Prime Minister for often mentioning about Pakistan and its army in his addresses, Gadkari said the media has raised some questions after Balakot strike which have to be answered.

"Recently, India has to give reply to Pakistan against its terror activities ... when these issues came ... It is natural that discussions on internal and external security issue will come into fore and hence we have not made nationalism an issue," the BJP leader said.

Days after the Pulwama attack in south Kashmir which claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel, India conducted air strikes on Jaish-e-Muhammed terror training camps in Balakot, Pakistan, in February.

He also denied that the Pulwama attack was the result of intelligence failure.

"No country sees the terror acts as a failure of intelligence ... it is a long battle. Such incidents have also happened in other countries, including the US, Germany and France. It is easy to call them intelligence failures ... intelligence is not divine set up but manual ... As far as discussions on it within the government are concerned they are secret," he reasoned.

On being asked that some pollsters are predicting a fractured mandate, the Union minister for Road Transport & Highways said the BJP will form the government after the polls.

"BJP will get more seats than the last polls and NDA constituents will also increase their seats, hence the party will form the government."

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News Network
February 12,2020

New Delhi, Feb 12: Unidentified people opened fire at the convoy of the newly elected Aam Aadmi Party legislator Naresh Yadav in Southwest Delhi when he and his supporters were returning home after visiting a temple after his victory, killing a party volunteer, police and a senior AAP leader said.

The firing incident happened in Kishangarh village late Tuesday night.

Police said they have detained a person for questioning and the incident appears to be a case of personal enmity. Sources said seven rounds were fired at the MLA's convoy.

Another person injured in the incident has been admitted to a hospital.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh identified the dead party volunteer as Ashok Mann.

“Convoy of MLA Naresh Yadav attacked in Mehrauli, Ashok Mann killed. Naresh Yadav was returning home after visiting a temple,” Singh said in a tweet in Hindi.

“At least one volunteer has passed away due to bullet wounds. Another is injured,” AAP tweeted.

Ankit Lal, AAP's social media in-charge, added that miscreants in another car opened fire on the MLA's convoy near Fortis Hospital.

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News Network
May 11,2020

New Delhi, May 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a fresh round of consultation with chief ministers on ways to strengthen the COVID-19 containment strategy and stepping up of economic activities in a calibrated manner as the 54-day nationwide lockdown nears an end.

Large-scale movement of migrant workers from urban to rural India and the problems their return to home states may cause in restarting the economy will also be among the focus areas during the fifth virtual interaction between the prime minister and chief ministers since the outbreak of the deadly virus in the country.

There will be an effort to ensure that all participating chief ministers get an opportunity to air their views during the interaction, as some of the CMs had complaint that they were not allowed to put forth their views during the last interaction on April 27.

At a meeting on Sunday with Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, state chief secretaries told him that "while protection is required from COVID-19, economic activities also need to be stepped up in a calibrated manner", according to an official statement.       

With thousands of migrant workers taking special trains to go back to their home states, the restarting of industrial activities will prove to be a challenge for states though several relaxations have been made in labour laws to increase factory output.    

The meet is also likely to discuss efforts to convert 'red' zones with high COVID-19 case load into 'orange' or 'green' zones.       The prime minister interacted with the chief ministers last on April 27. Days after the meeting, the central government had extended the lockdown by two more weeks till May 17 to arrest the spread of the virus, but gave several relaxations in economic activities and movement of people.

The nationwide lockdown has been in force since March 25 to contain the spread of the virus, which has killed more than 2200 people, and afflicted more than 67,000 in the country.

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News Network
July 10,2020

United Nations, Jul 10: India is a "good example" as solar auctions have seen popularity amidst the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, UN chief Antonio Guterres said on Thursday, underlining that renewable energy is the only energy source expected to grow in 2020 and offers more jobs than the fossil fuel industry.

In his remarks to the International Energy Agency "Clean Energy Transition Summit'', UN Secretary-General Guterres urged the international community to commit to further usage of coal and to end all external financing of coal in the developing world.

"Coal has no place in COVID-19 recovery plans. Nations must commit to net-zero emissions by 2050 and submit more ambitious national climate plans before COP-26 next year," he said.

"The seeds of change are there. Renewable energy is the only energy source expected to grow in 2020. Solar auctions have seen popularity amidst the height of the pandemic. India serves as a good example. Renewables offer three times more jobs than the fossil fuel industry," Mr Guterres said.

Last month, Adani Green Energy said it has bagged the first of its kind manufacturing-linked solar contract worth Rs 45,000 crore from the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to develop 8 GW electricity generation capacity and 2 GW equipment manufacturing facility in the country.

Mr Guterres said he has asked all countries to consider six climate positive actions as they rescue, rebuild and reset their economies.

"We need to make our societies more resilient. We need green jobs and sustainable growth," he said, adding that bailout support to sectors such as industry, aviation and shipping should be conditioned on alignment with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Countries also need to stop wasting money on fossil fuel subsidies and place a price on carbon, he said, noting that countries need to consider climate risk in their decision making.

"Every financial decision must take account of environmental and social impacts. Overall, we need to work together," he said.

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