The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday complained to the Karnataka election panel’s chief that the police were acting like the ruling Congress’ “puppet,” harassing and implicating its party workers in criminal cases in the run up to the May 12 assembly polls.

In its memorandum to Karnataka chief electoral officer Sanjiv Kumar, the saffron party also complained of ‘rigid and arbitrary” interpretation of the Model Code by poll panel’s officials and said it was creating problems for them.

A BJP delegation, including Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and Ananthkumar and party general secretary P Muralidhar Rao met CEC and submitted the party’s memorandum to him.

Accusing the police of harassing BJP workers and its others sympathisers, the memorandum said false cases were being lodged against them.

“The police department is acting as a puppet of the ruling Congress party, arresting several right wing activists. No action has been taken against the biased officials,” it said.

The BJP petition also referred to the implementation of the election code of conduct with “rigid and arbitrary interpretation.”

It said the “Mushti Dhaanya” programme (collecting of fistful of food grains from farmers household), aimed at showing solidarity with farmers in distress, covering all 224 assembly constituencies, was to conclude with sharing food with them at Yeddyurappa’s residence.

The government officials, however, restricted the party leaders from holding the event. The programme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public rally recently.

“The programe had begun much before the announcement of elections. However, the Election Commission officials, under the guise of Model Code of Conduct, are restricting farmers from reaching the house of Yeddyurappa.

“It is beyond our imagination why the EC is creating obstructions to the smooth conduct of the in-house programme,” the memorandum said.

It also alleged that officials were preventing party workers from holding bike rally, though BJP is a cadre-based party having a large base of workers who voluntarily want to participate in the programmes.

Whether one likes it or not, Yogi Adityanath, the powerful head of the Gorakhnath mutt, is now the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. His party, the BJP, has won the recent electoral contest convincingly, defeating all other competing forces. For many, the ascendance of Yogi Adityanath is unthinkable, while for others it is a positive development. A part of the existing narrative wants to allay the anxieties among those who belong to the ‘unthinkable’ crowd but painting him as a saint (in the social sense of the term and not in the literal theological sense) with certain extraordinary human qualities — a lover of animals, supported by minorities, simple lifestyle and such.

In this age of media, such spins and counter spins compete. That is where reality is made, far away from actual truths on the ground. Given the attempted whitewashing of Yogi Adityanath, it is important to present some of Adityanath's public statements that he has not denied and try to see what are the ultimate implications of such a stance. More importantly, what are the repercussions of having a leader who believes in such stances while being the chief minister of the most populous Indian state.
Much of what Yogi Adityanath has said is on public record. This article will not quote his whole speeches, but only portions that are relevant. Are those taken out of context? Possibly.  However, it is also the perspective of the reader or the listener who end up finding a context to these lines:

This statement comes with certain issues. Uttar Pradesh has nearly 20 percent of its population comprising of Muslims. Now, whether Muslims of Uttar Pradesh have Islam as their culture, we don’t know since human cultures revolve around numerous things, including religion. Take for example, Yogi Adityanath’s decision to ban "illegal" slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh, which incidentally means most places where animal slaughter takes place in South Asia. These are non-cow slaughterhouses, since cow slaughter is banned in Uttar Pradesh. So, it affects non-cow meat eaters. I am a Bengali Shakto of Bengal. Meat is the prasad of Kali that we consume with respect and veneration. We sacrifice buffaloes, goats and various animals, not cows, to the holy mother and seek her blessings. We have been doing this for centuries. Our religious tradition is timeless. Yogi Adityanath is not. Yogi Adityanath will not take this prasad because he does not belong to that "culture".

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party declared victory on Thursday in the northeastern state of Assam, an election boost that will help his right-wing nationalist government rebuild some momentum after poll losses last year.

Grabbing power in Assam, one of five states electing new assemblies, would be a first for the Bharatiya Janata Party in India's volatile northeast, a sign its political influence is expanding beyond its traditional northern and western belt.

The BJP led in the races for 81 of the 126 seats in Assam where clear trends had been set, unofficial tallies compiled by television broadcasters showed.

The opposition Congress Party, which has ruled the state assembly since 2001, trailed with 26 seats.

Modi called the Assam victory an "exceptional win" on Twitter and congratulated his party leaders.

Elsewhere, tallies by television channels showed popular regional parties heading for victory in the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the eastern state of West Bengal, where the BJP has a small presence and was not expected to win.

Modi called the chief ministers of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu to congratulate them, he said on Twitter.

"The BJP had nothing to lose in these elections, only something to gain," said Manoj Joshi, a political analyst at the Observer Research Foundation. "And they have gained. It shows the momentum is still with them."

Counting of votes from the five states began at 0230 GMT and complete results are expected later on Thursday.

POLARISING CAMPAIGN

The BJP waged a polarising campaign in Assam, an underdeveloped state rife with ethnic and religious tension, and vowed to disenfranchise millions of Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants, to curry favour among discontented Hindus.

Modi took a less prominent role in elections this year after a bad loss in a November poll in the eastern state of Bihar that turned into a referendum on his personal leadership. His party also lost in the capital New Delhi early last year.

"The people of Assam have accepted our winning combination. This is going to be a great victory," BJP chief ministerial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal told Indian television, as supporters gathered in the state capital, Guwahati.

Victory in Assam, while symbolic, will have little impact on Modi's ability to control the upper house of parliament, where his party lacks a majority and the opposition has stymied key economic reforms.

But the prospect of Congress weakened further by the state vote will raise his party's hopes for its bitter foe to be less resistant to the legislation.

Unofficial counts showed a Congress-led coalition was headed for defeat at the hands of leftist parties in Kerala.

(Additional reporting by Biswajyoti Das in GUWAHATI and Sujoy Dhar in KOLKATA; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Clarence Fernandez)

 Congress on Wednesday demanded that Smriti Irani resign as HRD minister after a trial court took cognizance of a complaint about her educational qualifications, the party taking pleasure in the fact that PM Narendra Modi's weapon to take on Rahul Gandhi was on the back foot.

AICC spokesman Ajay Maken said Irani could not be the minister in-charge of education when an inquiry seeking details from Delhi University about her degrees was on. "Is it not a conflict of interest? She should resign or the PM should remove her," he said.

Maken reminded that Congress had raised the issue immediately after the PM constituted his Cabinet as Irani's election affidavits had serious discrepancies with different claims about her degrees.

NSUI, the Congress's students' outfit, held a demonstration in front of Shastri Bhavan which houses the HRD ministry to seek Irani's resignation. Shouting slogans, NSUI members burnt her effigy. NSUI chief Roji John said, "It is an insult to the academic and student community that a person who is not clear about her own educational qualifications is the country's HRD minister. She must resign."
Congress is set to pile more pressure with the party's Delhi unit deciding to hold a protest at Jantar Mantar seeking Irani's resignation on Thursday.

For the party aggressively pursuing 'Modigate', the court observation on Irani has brought special relish that goes beyond the satisfaction of punching holes in BJP's claim of "scam-free" governance.

BJP had lately deployed Irani to take on Rahul after the latter's post-sabbatical aggression against Modi government, especially the PM, in Parliament.

Irani's forays into Rahul's constituency Amethi reflected a strategy to tie down Rahul to his seat and cut down on his national campaign. The HRD minister contested unsuccessfully against Rahul in the 2014 polls. After Rahul accused the Centre of "politics of revenge" for cancelling the food park in Amethi, Irani held a rally in the UP town attacking the Congress leader. She then challenged that "the Gandhis would be seeing more of me in Amethi".

BJP and the Shiv Sena were on Sunday trying to to make last ditch efforts to salvage their alliance in Maharashtra for the upcoming Assembly polls after the Uddhav Thackeray's final offer of giving 119 seats to the coalition partner was rejected.

Hours after Uddhav Thackeray's tough talk on seat-sharing and that Sena cannot give beyond 119 seats, BJP told its old alliance partner that it was the duty of both the parties to continue the tie-up and sort out issues instead of going through the media, in remarks directed at the Sena chief.

Squabbling over seat-sharing showed no signs of resolution during the day with the BJP saying there was "nothing new" in Shiv Sena's final offer to give it 119 seats and hoped it can be mutually settled. In Mumbai, Shiv Sena made it clear that it won't make any more concession for BJP, offering to cede it only 119 out of the total 288 seats in Maharashtra Assembly for the next month's polls, and said this was "the final attempt" to break the logjam over seat-sharing.

Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray also reminded Prime Minister Narendra Modi that late Sena supremo Bal Thackeray had backed him in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat riots.

"Today I am making a final attempt to ensure that the Mahayuti (grand alliance of opposition parties) stays intact. Sena had initially asked for 160 seats. But now we are ready to part with nine seats. Shiv Sena will fight on 151 seats, leaving 119 seats for BJP. The remaining 18 seats will be given to our allies," he said.
Suggesting a way out to end the standoff, BJP leaders of opposition in Maharashtra Assembly and Legislative Council Eknath Khadse and Vinod Tawde said here the party wants Sena to re-negotiate on such seats that they never won in the last 25 years, so that they are not given to the NCP-Congress alliance on a platter in the upcoming polls. .

"There is nothing new in the latest Shiv Sena offer as BJP has been contesting 119 seats ever since the alliance came into being. We want the alliance to continue. It is the duty of both Shiv Sena and BJP to maintain the alliance.

"We have 25 year-old ties and seat-sharing issue can be sorted out mutually through face to face talks and not through media (TV)," Tawde told reporters in a hurriedly convened press conference.

Khadse said, "Shiv Sena has been losing on 35 seats while we have been losing on 19, if these were to be re allocated then we would all benefit instead of these seats going automatically to Congress-NCP alliance."

"Many such seats had been lost by narrow margin in the previous elections. That was the thought and mindset behind the proposal for the 135 seats," he said. However, the BJP leaders also said they were ready to accept 130 seats --five seats down from its earlier demand.

The bench then adjorned the matter asking the Centre to file affidavit within two weeks giving details about what it proposes to do for cleaning the river.

"In this matter you said there is urgency... Now there is no urgency for you. You are shuttling the issue between two ministries," the bench observed.

The bench also said that cleaning project should be done in stretches as it cannot be undertaken at one go. It suggested that initially the government should focus to clean first 100 km of the river and then it should take the task of cleaning another part of the river.

On the last date of hearing on August 5, the case was adjourned as the Centre sought more time to file response.

The issue of cleaning up of river Ganga has been monitored by the apex court and several applications have been filed.

The unchecked pollution of river Ganga has evoked sharp criticism by the apex court which has been hearing the case since 1985.

The 2,500 km stretch of the river passes through 29 major cities, 23 small cities and 48 towns.

Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah, at a press conference early today, accused the Samajwadi Party (SP) workers of booth capturing.

Alleging cases of booth capturing in the ongoing Lok Sabha election the BJP leader has called for increased security measures in the remaining two phases of the elections. "For last two phases, there should be paramilitary troops, micro observers and cameras in all booths," he said.

The allegation were refuted by the SP leaders, who called it a sign of desperation. "Such allegations are sign that they are losing," said SP leader Ramgopal Yadav. "It's just frustration on their part," added another SP leader Gayatri Prajapati.

On the controversy surrounding the snooping scandal, Amit Shah said, "Instead of conducting probes in the massive scams, they are doing this," he said. He further dismissed the issue by adding, "Anyway, we have no problem."

 BJP president Rajnath Singh has indicated that he will not be part of the government if his party comes to power after the Lok Sabha election.

BJP president Rajnath Singh has indicated that he will not be part of the government if his party comes to power after the Lok Sabha election.

"My responsibilities are already decided and I think, in the BJP, I have many colleagues who are capable who should be given a chance in the government," he added.

Rajnath Singh categorically said Narendra Modi will be the prime minister if the party comes to power.

"No matter what happens, under any circumstances, Modi will be India's PM.

"I want to clarify this as president of the party, because just by sitting in an office, people can't run a government," he added.

Rajnath Singh gave an interview to Zee news and spoke about the party leadership and why Narendra Modi would become the PM:

*In an exclusive interview with Zee News, BJP President Rajnath Singh denied that he had any ambitions of becoming the PM. He said only Narendra Modi would be the PM of a BJP-led NDA government, under any circumstances.

*Rajnath Singh also claimed that Narendra Modi was made the PM nominee after consultations with and agreement of all party leaders. He said the party cadres and leaders are disciplined and there is agreement on key issues.

*Singh also brushed aside the suggestion that the Lucknow seat, on which he is contesting, is of any significance to the PM's post. Atal Bihari Vajpayee won from Lucknow in 1998 and became the PM. However, Singh said that this does not imply that he would also become the Prime Minister. He quoted the example of Lalji Tandon, who also won from the Lucknow seat after Vajpayee. Rajnath Singh went on to say that it would be against his values to seek the Prime Minister's post after anointing Narendra Modi as the nominee.

*Singh asserted that a Prime Minister must not merely possess legal and constitutional authority, but also moral authority to be the Prime Minister. He said Narendra Modi possessed such moral authority to take over the reigns of governance at the Centre.

*The media has been abuzz about the bonhomie between Rajnath Singh and Narendra Modi. Singh however denied that there was anything extraordinary about this. He said that there must be good relations between the party president and the Prime Minister for efficient functioning of the country. Singh explained that he had always believed Modi to be the most popular leader in India, even before becoming the party president.

*Singh though stated that Narendra Modi would have the complete authority to run the country once he became the PM. There would be no interference from him or the party leadership. Rajnath claimed that it was the Congress that believed in remote-controlling the Prime Minister, because they were run by a single family all the time. He said that BJP was a democratic party which did not believe in such remote-controlled governance.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday slammed BJP for hobnobbing with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in Maharashtra saying the people of Bihar will reject the party's collusive politics of communalism and regional chauvinism.

2:50 pm Modi concludes his rally by ensuring that the BJP will usher in a better and brighter future for Jharkhand. And the people (Congress) who just believe in doing 'Aakashwani', will be of no use.

2:50 pm This is a historic rally. When I was watching it from the chopper, I could see a sea of humanity queued up for this rally.

2:48 pm The country need development, and not division. People need employment and not political chaos. The elders need support and not struggle.

2:47 pm The Congress is cut off from the people. Their leaders can't hear the public's voice.

2:45 pm Jharkhand's electorate must support the BJP and we ensure it a bright future. Otherwise, its young can never be 'Bharat ke Bhagya Vidhata'.

2:40 pm People ask me what's your vision? Jharkhand has coal but no electricity stations. Where is the vision? If there were power stations here, then Jharkhand could create so much electricty as to illuminate the entire nation. But the Centre doesn't care.

2:32pm: Delhi government has been paralysed. The Centre has done nothing for Jharkhand since Independence.

2:30pm: In 2014, we have Lok Sabha Elections. Let all 14 Lok Sabha seats come to the BJP.

2:21pm: Jharkhand people would have not been poor if there was a BJP government in the state. People ar epoor here despite abundant resources.

Narendra Modi in Ranchi

2:14 pm: Three states were formed at the same time - Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh & Uttarakhand. Why is it that Ch'garh is on a development trajectory but other two are lagging way behind?

2:10 pm: It was Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji who had a vision for Jharkhand, that vision needs to be realised.

2:05 pm: Modi starts addressing the rally

1:30 pm: Modi reaches the venue

Narendra Modi landed near the venue in a chopper from Birsa Munda airport.

11:00 am: Crowd starts to gather at the venue

The people of Jharkhand began assembling for the Narendra Modi's speech. Modi will make the speech from the stage which is shaped like a Parliament House.

The Dhurva Ground in Jharkhand's Ranchi is all set to be graced by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modion who will address the crowd in his 'Vijay Sankalp' rally today.

The remarkable point about this rally is that Modi will address the crowd from the stage with a model of the Parliament in the background.

The back side of the stage from where Modi will address the crowd, has been made in the form of a Parliament house to give an impression of the Parliament. Read More

BJP on Sunday criticised newly-appointed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for forming a government with the support of the "corrupt" Congress party, claiming that the latter would abandon it sooner or later.

Arvind Kejriwal

"It is really strange that Kejriwal has taken the support of the same Congress which he has been always been describing as a corrupt political party," BJP national vice president Prabhat Jha told PTI.

Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal was yesterday sworn-in as as the seventh Chief Minster of Delhi.

ar term, Jha said, and claimed that "Congress would withdraw its support from the Kejriwal government sooner or later."

Kejriwal has been making tall claims about removing corruption, but it has no meaning if his government has the backing of a corrupt political party, he said.

"I feel that a time will come when Kejriwal will be exposed," Jha said.

Asked if the BJP would support Kejriwal in case Congress withdraws support from his government, he refused any such move saying, "There can be no question of it."

A crucial meeting of the Political Affairs Committee of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) began on Monday to discuss the results of the public referendum on whether or not to take Congress support in forming government in Delhi.

According to reports, meeting is being attended by all top AAP leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Dr Kumar Viswas and all newly-elected MLA of the party.

After the meeting, the AAP chief is likely to hold a press conference to announce his party's decision on the issue of government formation in Delhi.

Kejriwal is also due to meet Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung in the afternoon to apprise him about his party's stand on ending the political stalemate in Delhi.

Kejriwal's meeting with the Lt Governor comes amid clear signs that his party is preparing to take power in Delhi with Congress support.

After five days of a virtual referendum on whether or not AAP should form a minority government, there were enough indications - but no announcement - that the one-year-old AAP was ready for the plunge.

Officially, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia, who could become a minister if Kejriwal forms a government, told that the final decision would be taken only Monday morning.

“I can't say now if we will indeed form a government,” he said late Sunday. “We still need to hold a few meetings. The final decision will be taken only on Monday.”

Kejriwal said earlier Sunday that “a major announcement” would be made Monday. The party said the activist-turned-politician would meet the media Monday before meeting Jung.

As the party's campaign to elicit a 'yes' or 'no' from people in the capital on government formation entered its final phase, the AAP said that most voters favoured an AAP government.

“Majority of the feedback we have received is 'yes',” spokesperson Ashwathi Muralidharan told reporters.

The party has got responses from over 6.5 lakh people through SMS, interactive voice response (IVR), Facebook and the AAP web site, she said.

Separately, AAP held public meetings in some 270 municipal wards across Delhi where too most people rooted for an AAP government by raising their hands, party leaders said.

A former Indian Revenue Service officer whose social activism won him the Ramon Magsaysay award, Kejriwal indicated that his party was readying to take power with Congress backing.

He denied that the promises made by his party – providing 700 litres of water daily to homes and sharply cutting power tariff among others – were utopian in nature.

“We will deliver whatever assurances we made in our manifesto. It (manifesto) was prepared after wide consultations, and a lot of thought went into it,” he told the media.

“Moreover, the people of Delhi are expecting much more from us, and we will perform.”

Later in the evening, Kejriwal told a public meeting in Sarojini Nagar in south Delhi that his party will keep “returning to the people” on major issues – even after forming a government.

“This is democracy, this is real democracy,” he said, denying criticism that the AAP decision to seek a referendum on whether or not to take power was “nautanki” (drama).

But AAP leaders made it clear that there would be no alliance with the Congress, which has only eight seats in the 70-member Delhi assembly but which, after being ousted from power, agreed to prop up a government of AAP (28 seats) in order to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) away.

The BJP, which finished as the largest group with 31 seats, decided not to form a government after falling short of the half-way mark by five.

The BJP's 'no' led the Lt. Governor to invite the AAP to try form a government. Kejriwal then said he was in a moral dilemma on whether or not to take power with Congress help.

So he decided to seek the views of the people in the capital, a move which again Sunday came under criticism from the BJP.

BJP leader Arun Jaitley said on Facebook: “The AAP had categorically stated that it represents alternative politics. It is guided by idealism. It will neither support nor accept support from either the Congress or BJP.

“Obviously, if the AAP stands by its publicly stated commitment, the Delhi assembly becomes a deadlocked assembly wherein after a reasonable time a fresh poll has to be ordered.

 Officers of Intelligence Bureau and Gujarat Police made BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi delay his arrival at the venue of his rally by 40 minutes to ensure that he stayed out of harm's way.

According to sources, Modi, who had touched down at Patna airport at 12.08 pm and insisted on addressing the rally even as bombs continued to go off, relented to the persuasion of the officers to defer his arrival at the rally ground.

The precaution was taken because of the apprehension that the bombers may have timed explosions to coincide with Modi's arrival at Gandhi Maidan, the crowded venue of the rally.

The precaution was justified as one of the bombs, planted closest to the dais, went off at 12.25, that is around the time Modi would have reached the ground had he set out immediately after touching down at Patna airport.

IB and Gujarat Police officers reckoned that a surge among the crowd for a closer look at the leader, a usual phenomenon at political rallies, and the panic caused by the explosions timed around that time would have led to a sudden rush.

Details available a day after the blasts suggest that the IB was sensitive to the threat to Modi from terror outfits. Sources in the district administration disclosed that the IB, at the urging of Gujarat Police, carried out an advanced security liaisoning ahead of the rally even though the drill was not mandated to be followed in his case.

Sources in the home department also confirmed that central intelligence agencies had advised the state government to take into account the threat that Modi faced from jihadi outfits, especially in light of the recently revealed facts about the reach of Indian Mujahideen's Darbhanga module.

It is learnt that governor D Y Patil has sought details from security agencies about the arrangements made for the rally addressed by a leader who figures on the top of the hit list of each jihadi outfit.

Tehsin Akhtar alias Monu, the mastermind of the terror attack, is a leading light of the Darbhanga module whose members have been found to be linked to terror attacks in different parts of the country and which helped Yasin Bhatkal and other terrorists like Pakistani national Waqas dodge police.

The details of a letter from IB to the state government can trigger a controversy in light of the statements of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and state police chief Abhayanand that they had no intelligence input.

The state government is already on the defensive about the failure of police to sanitize the rally ground, use sniffer dogs, run anti-sabotage checks and ensure frisking. There was no evacuation plan either.