My job is not to campaign; if I give speeches Cong gets less votes: Digvijaya Singh

Agencies
October 17, 2018

Bhopal, Oct 17: A controversy erupted in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh Tuesday after a video went viral in which senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh is heard saying that his party’s votes get reduced if he campaigns for it.

The video was recorded on October 13 but it emerged on a day Congress president Rahul Gandhi is in the state to campaign for the upcoming Assembly elections.

Significantly, Singh, the two-time former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, has been conspicuous by his absence in the programmes and rallies which Gandhi has been addressing in the state over the last few weeks.

“.. mera kaam keval ek. Koi prachar nahi, koi bhashan nahi. Mere bhashan dene se to Congress ke vote kat-te hai, mai jata nahi” (I have only one job, no campaigning, no speech. When I deliver a speech, Congress votes get reduced, so I don’t go),” Singh is heard saying in the video.

In the video, in which he is seen talking casually to party workers at the residence of MLA Jitu Patwari here, Singh also advises Congress workers to campaign for candidates wholeheartedly to achieve victory.

“Dekho, khwaab dekhte rah jaaoge agar kaam nahi kiya to.Nahi banegi sarkar agar aise kaam kiya to. Jisko ticket mile, chahe dushman ko mile, jitao (You will continue dreaming if you do not work. You can’t form the government if you work like this. Even if the ticket is given to a rival in the party, you should ensure his victory),” he is seen telling the party workers.

When contacted by PTI, Singh said the video was not being shown in a proper manner.

“It is not being shown in the right manner, especially the first part. If you hear the first part, you will understand it in a proper way,” Singh said.

The ruling BJP was quick to take a dig at the opposition party over Singh’s comments, with chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan saying the Congress should not treat one of its senior leaders in this manner.

“We (BJP) have not given him (Singh) this pain. It was given by the Congress itself. His posters are not being put up, he is not being given prominence,” Chouhan said.

“I never imagined the Congress will treat one of its leaders in this manner. Congressmen should, at least, respect their leader,” the chief minister added.

State Congress chief Kamal Nath parried questions on Singh’s video by saying, “I am not aware of the context in which he was stating this”.

Polls for the 230-member MP Assembly are scheduled for November 28 while counting of votes will be taken up on December 11.

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News Network
February 17,2020

New Delhi, Feb 17: Two alleged criminals were killed in an exchange of fire with the Special Cell of Delhi Police at Pul Pehlad Pur area in New Delhi on Monday morning, officials said.

The encounter took place around 5 am, they said.

Raja Qureshi and Ramesh Bahadur, who were injured during the encounter, were rushed to a nearby hospital, where they were declared brought dead by doctors, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) P S Kushwah said.

According to police, the two men were involved in multiple cases of murder and robbery.

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News Network
May 18,2020

New Delhi, May 18: With the highest-ever spike of 5,242 new cases in last 24 hours, the total number of positive COVID-19 cases in India reached 96,169 on Monday, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

With 157 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the death toll has risen to 3,029, as per the latest update by the ministry.

Out of the total number of cases, 36,824 have been cured/discharged/migrated.

This comes a day after the nationwide lockdown, imposed as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of COVID-19, was extended till May 31.

Maharashtra remains the worst-affected state due to the virus with 33,053 cases, including 1,198 deaths. It is followed by Gujarat (11,379), Tamil Nadu (11,224) and Delhi (10,054).

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News Network
February 29,2020

Feb 29: The "Dadi of Shaheenbagh" on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not understand the pain of losing children, as speakers at an anti-CAA rally here called on protesters to maintain peace and not give in to any provocation.

Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, said that the battle is not for a day or two, but the protesters will have to be prepared to continue it for years to come.

Asma Khatoon, who has earned fame as the "Dadi of Shaheenbagh" in Delhi, asked how can a person take care of the whole country when he cannot maintain his own family.

"He would have realised how it feels to lose a child if he had his own children," she told a gathering at the Park Circus Maidan, which is being termed as the Shaheenbagh of Kolkata with women holding a sit-in for the last 53 days to protest the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, proposed nationwide NRC, and the NPR.

The death toll Delhi's communal violence has gone up to 42.

She said it is not biryani that has attracted women to the protest at Shaheen bagh while holding that such vilification campaigns will have no effect on the agitation.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh has claimed that "uneducated men and women" are protesting at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh and Kolkata's Park Circus as they get money and biryani purchased with foreign funds.

"Home Minister Amit Shah has called 20 protesters to meet him, but I want to tell him that we are one lakh and I want him to mention the place where he wants us to go for the meeting," she said.

Tushar Gandhi said, "People should stay united and not give in to any provocation," he said.

Gandhi said that the people of West Bengal are lucky to have Mamata Banerjee as their chief minister.

"They will try to break her also and it is necessary that you continue to give her support," he said.

Gandhi claimed that no one can harm a country where its mothers and sisters come out to save it.

He claimed that the CAA is not about Hindus or Muslims, but will really affect the poor people, who will be made to run around to get their papers instead of earning for their basic and daily needs.

"It's a dichotomous government that we have at the Centre. On the one hand, they want us to provide documents to prove our citizenship, while on the other they refuse to accept the papers that one produces before it for the purpose," he said.

He claimed that the government is forcing its people to resort to lies and declare that they are political refugees from countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Gandhi claimed that time and again documents with the government like electoral rolls and land documents have been used to identify people of certain communities during riots.

"So it is dangerous to give too much information to the government," he said.

He called on the people to have faith in non-violence and asked them to maintain peace and harmony.

B R Ambedkar's great-grandson Rajratna Ambedkar claimed that it is the Adivasis who will also be affected by the CAA.

"I want to tell Modi and Shah that the country runs on the Constitution by Ambedkar and not M S Golwalkar (of RSS)," he said, adding that because of the rights conferred on people by the Constitution, those backward people who did not have the right to sit on a bullock cart are now flying jet planes.

He said that Modi and Shah committed an error by enacting the CAA as it has turned the people of the country into Indians only, instead of Hindus, Muslims, Christians or Sikhs.

"Every machinery of the country has been taken control of by the RSS. If one Modi or one Shah goes, they will bring in several more Modi or Shah," he said.

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