BJP ropes in 120 MPs to outsmart Kejriwal

January 30, 2015

BJP ropes

New Delhi, Jan 30: As the going gets tough for the BJP in Delhi Assembly polls, party chief Amit Shah engaged his leaders in plain speak at a review meeting on Thursday and directed them to go all out against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal.

To thwart Kejriwal’s ambition of becoming chief minister again, Shah has roped in 120 MPs to micromanage all 70 constituencies.

The MPs will have to ensure that “Panna Pramukhs”, workers who are party’s direct interface with the voters, have contacted every voter at least thrice in the door-to-door campaign.

Each “Panna Pramukh” has to contact 70 families. Shah is believed to have expressed his unhappiness over the poll campaigning which has been “reactionary” rather than setting the agenda.

The faction-ridden Delhi unit is the main concern for the party top brass, forcing Shah to micromanage the show. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) senior functionary Krishna Gopal, who held a meeting of its workers on Wednesday, has also got a feedback about tremendous infighting in the Delhi BJP.

To tackle this, the BJP central leadership has taken over the poll scene, witnessed by the large presence of Union ministers, including Arun Jaitley, at its state unit office. The review meeting at BJP’s Ashoka Road headquarters was attended by Union ministers Jaitley, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ananth Kumar, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Nirmala Sitharaman.

Party general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal and state unit chief Satish Upadhyay were also present. At the meeting, the BJP decided to adopt a different strategy by asking five questions daily to Kejriwal. Shah and Lal are monitoring booth level arrangements. The RSS has also deployed its workers at the booth level so that coordinated effort could be launched.

The party is likely to fall back on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give a decisive edge in the stiff challenge it is facing from the AAP. Several poll surveys have projected a close finish. Modi will address four rallies here but the number may go up depending on the feedback. The prime minister’s first rally before poll dates were announced did not attract large crowds.

The HT-C fore survey, interestingly, projected seats in the range of 31 to 36 for both the BJP and AAP. However, the survey stated that voters preferred Kejriwal to BJP’s Kiran Bedi as chief minister.

The survey said that 43 per cent wanted Kejriwal as chief minister, while 39 per cent opted for Bedi. Another survey by The Week-IMRB suggests that the BJP will win 39 seats in the 70-member Assembly, while the AAP will manage 29.

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Agencies
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11: With Election Commission">Election Commission's trends indicating a landslide victory for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), party chief Arvind Kejriwal expressed his gratitude towards the people of the national capital and said that this is the victory of the people who consider him as their son.

Making his first public appearance after the day's results, Kejriwal made a brief address to supporters in which, AAP chief thanked supporters, outlined his personal connection with citizens and party workers as well as credited his family for their continued support.

"I thank people of Delhi for reposing their faith in AAP for the third time. This is not my personal victory, this is the victory of Delhiites. This the victory of the people who consider me as their son and voted for us," Kejriwal said at party office here.

He also referred to the trends of the assembly polls, as the beginning of a new kind of politics.

"This is the beginning of a new kind of politics. This is a new sign. Only the party will get vote who will built mohalla clinics and good schools... This is the victory of mother India and India. Today is Tuesday, Hanuman-ji's day. Hanumanji ji blessed Delhi today, I thank him. We pray that Hanuman Ji keeps showing the right path to us so that we continue to serve people for the next five years," he said.

According to Election Commission", AAP won 5 seats while the party is leading on 58 seats in 70-member Delhi Assembly. 

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Agencies
May 19,2020

New Delhi, May 19: Former Union Minister P Chidambaram said that as the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown amid the coronavirus scare began from Monday, his thoughts were with the people of Kashmir who were in a "terrible lockdown within a lockdown."

The senior Congress leader said that at least now, the people in the rest of India will understand that he dubbed the "enormity of the injustice" done to those who were detained in Kashmir and those still under detention" immediately before and after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution on August 5, 2019.

Chidambaram said that former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was the "worst sufferer" of preventive detention and even courts had shirked their constitutional duty with respect to detainees.

"The worst sufferers are Mehbooba Mufti and her senior party colleagues who are still in custody in a locked-down state in a locked-down country. They are deprived of every human right," he said in a statement.

"I cannot believe that for nearly 10 months, the courts will shirk their constitutional duty to protect the human rights of citizens," he added.

The detention on Mehbooba Mufti under the Public Safety Act (PSA) had been extended for three more months on May 5. Booked under the stringent PSA, she was initially kept at the Hari Niwas guesthouse in Srinagar but later shifted to a Tourism Department hut in the Chashma Shahi area.

She was shifted to her Gupkar Road official residence on April 7.

Besides Mehbooba Mufti, two other former Chief Ministers -- Omar Abdullah and his father Farooq Abdullah -- were also detained under the PSA but later released.

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News Network
June 16,2020

New Delhi, Jun 16: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday demanded a rollback of hike in fuel prices, saying the government's decision to increase the prices of petrol and diesel during the coronavirus crisis is "wholly insensitive" and "ill-advised".

The government is doing nothing short of "profiteering off its people" when they are down and out, she said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked for the 10th day in a row on Tuesday.

"I am deeply distressed that in these exceedingly difficult times since the beginning of March, the government has taken the wholly insensitive decision to increase petrol and diesel prices on no less than ten separate occasions," Gandhi said in her letter.

She accused the government of earning an additional revenue of nearly Rs 2.6 lakh crore through these "ill-advised" hikes in excise duty and increase in prices of petrol and diesel.

"I urge you to roll back these increases and pass on the benefit of low oil prices directly to the citizens of this country.

"If you wish for them to be 'self-reliant' then do not place financial fetters on their ability to move forward," the Congress president said.

Gandhi also urged the government to use its resources to put money directly into the hands of those in need in these times of severe hardship.

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