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The BJP has fielded 14 sitting MPs, including four Union ministers, and dropped the only woman lawmaker from Rajasthan as it announced its first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls.
In its first list, the BJP on Thursday announced candidates for 16 of the total 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.
The party has dropped the only woman MP from the state, Santosh Ahlawat, from Jhunjhunu seat and replaced her with Narendra Khinchad. Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal (Bikaner), Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (Jaipur rural), P P Chaudhary (Pali) and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (Jodhpur) have made it to this list.
The party also retained Nihal Chand (Ganganagar), Sumedhanand (Sikar), Ramcharan Bohra (Jaipur), Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria (Tonk-Sawaimadhopur), Devji Patel (Jalore), Arjun Lal Meena (Udaipur), C P Joshi (Chittorgarh), Subhash Chand Baheria (Bhilwara), Om Birla (Kota) and Dushyant Singh (Jhalawar-Baran). Dushyant Singh is the son of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje.
“The party once again showed faith in me and it was because of the works I did for the constituency and the party workers. My victory was with the highest number of votes last time and I hope the same win this time also,” Jaipur MP Ramcharan Bohra, who was retained by the party said.
Former MLA and member of erstwhile royal family of Jaipur Diya Kumari was also in the race for a ticket from Jaipur or Tonk Sawaimadhopur but she was not given the ticket. BJP state president Madan Lal Saini said the party’s target was to win all the constituencies under its mission 25.
“The party is prepared and the workers are geared up. We will win all the seats in the state,” he said. In Ajmer, the party gave a ticket to Bhagirath Bhagirath Chaudhary.
The Ajmer Lok Sabha seat lies vacant after Congress’ Raghu Sharma, who had won the seat in the Lok Sabha bypoll held last year, was elected to the state legislative assembly in December.
The Lok Sabha elections will be held in two phases in the state where 13 constituencies will go to polls on April 29 and remaining 12 on May 6.
According to the schedule, Tonk-Sawaimadhopur, Ajmer, Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Kota and Jhalawar-Baran will go to polls on April 29.
The polling in Ganganagar, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa and Nagaur will take place on May 6.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called the Congress’ scepticism about the Balakot attacks shameful.
In a wide ranging interview to news agency ANI, Rahul Gandhi confidant and Chairman of the Overseas Indian National Congress Sam Pitroda has questioned the death toll in the Balakot airstrike conducted by the Indian Air Force in Pakistan in retaliation of the Pulwama terror attack.
“If they (IAF) killed 300, its ok. All I am saying is can you give me more facts and prove it,” said Pitroda told ANI.
Modi retaliated: “The most trusted advisor and guide of the Congress President has kick-started the Pakistan National Day celebrations on behalf of the Congress, ironically by demeaning India’s armed forces. Shame.”
He said: “Loyal courtier of Congress’ royal dynasty admits what the nation already knew. Congress was unwilling to respond to forces of terror. This is a New India. We will answer terrorists in a language they understand and with interest.”
Modi said the Opposition “insults our forces time and again”. “I appeal to my fellow Indians — question Opposition leaders on their statements. Tell them — 130 crore Indians will not forgive or forget the Opposition for their antics. India stands firmly with our forces,” he said.
In the ANI interview, Pitroda had said international news outlets had an alternate view of the impact of the air strike and that the people of India deserved to know the facts of the Air Force operation.
“I would like to know a little more because I read reports in the New York Timesand other newspapers. Did we really attack? We really killed 300 people? I don’t know that. As a citizen, I am entitled to know and if I ask it is my duty to ask, that doesn’t mean I’m not a nationalist, That doesn’t mean I am on this side or that side. We need to know the facts. If you say 300 people were killed, I need to know that. We all need to know that, people of India need to know that and then comes global media which says nobody was killed. I look bad as an Indian citizen,” said Pitroda.
Pitroda, who is part of the Congress’ manifesto committee for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and is considered a senior ideologue of the party, sought a dialogue with Pakistan. “I am a Gandhian, I believe in more compassion and respect. I believe in more dialogues personally. I think we should have a dialogue with everybody. Why just Pakistan? We are having dialogue with the whole world,” added Pitroda.
Pressed further to clarify if talks with Pakistan was an option post the Pulwama terror attack which killed 40 CRPF jawans, Pitroda said that it would be naive to assume that if some people came here and attacked, every citizen of that nation is to be blamed. “I don’t know much about (Pulwama) attack, it happens all the time, attack happen in Mumbai Taj hotel and Oberoi hotel. We could have reacted then and sent our planes but that is not the right approach according to me that’s not how you deal with the World. Eight people come (referring to Mumbai 26/11 attacks) and do something, you don’t jump on the entire nation,” said Sam Pitroda in an interview to ANI.
When asked if he questioned the Indian Air Force’s version of the Balakot air strikes, Pitroda clarified that an attack is different from making a claim of 300 dead. “We cannot be emotional. Data has to be neutral. So you come in today and say ‘I killed 300 people’ and I say wait a minute, the World is saying we didn’t kill anybody or kill less or kill more.. I don’t know,” added Pitroda.
Sam Pitroda added a caveat to his remarks on the Pulwama terror attack and Balakot air strikes by saying that the views expressed by him were his personal views and not those of the Congress party. “I am talking as an individual. I am talking as a scientist. I believe in reason. I believe in logic. I believe in data. I don’t believe in emotions,” he added.
When asked if Dr Manmohan Singh when Prime Minister was as decisive in his actions as PM Narendra Modi, Pitroda said that PM Manmohan Singh was one of the best Prime Ministers the country ever had. “A lot of people ridiculed, a lot of people have written articles, they have done movies. It is all bogus,” he added. Pitroda also said that he disagreed with the way PM Modi acted post-Pulwama attack.
Pitroda went on to say in the interview that since 2014, a populist government had risen in both India and the United States. “The formula is to create fear by saying that there is enemy at the border. In India, it is Pakistan. In US, it is Mexican immigrants. Then say everything is bad because nobody is competent,” he added.
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The bodies of victims from New Zealand’s mosques mass shooting were carried in open caskets on the shoulders of mourners into a large tent at Christchurch’s Memorial Park Cemetery on Wednesday – the first burials of the 50 victims.
Wrapped in white cloth, the bodies were laid to face Mecca, and, after jenazah (funeral) prayers, were carried towards their freshly dug graves.
“Seeing the body lowered down, it was a very emotional time for me,” said Gulshad Ali, who had travelled from Auckland to attend the first funeral.
Several mounds of dirt piled high marked the site of multiple graves which will be used for New Zealand’s worst mass shooting.
Hundreds gathered to mourn, some men wearing a taqiyah (skullcap), others shalwar kameez (long tunic and trousers), while women wore hijabs and scarfs.
The majority of victims were migrants or refugees from countries such as Pakistan,
India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Somalia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The youngest was a boy of three, born in New Zealand to Somali refugee parents.
The first two victims buried, father and son Khaled and Hamza Mustafa, came from war-torn Syria.
“I cannot tell you how gutting it is…a family came here for safety and they should have been safe here,” said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, visiting the city for the second time since the massacre.
Heavily armed police stood watch with flowers tucked in their revolver holsters and attached to their high powered rifles.
Six victims were buried on Wednesday, with more expected during the week.
Ardern said this coming Friday’s call to prayers for Muslims in New Zealand will be broadcast nationally and there will be a two minute silence on Friday.
“There is a desire to show support for the Muslim community as they return to mosques on Friday,” she said.
The bullet-ridden Al Noor mosque, where more than 40 people died, is being repaired for Friday prayers.
Near the mosque, members of rival gangs did a Maori haka, a powerful indigenious ceremonial performance, and a crowd of people sung New Zealand’s national anthem as the sun set.
The Australian National Imams Council has called on Imams to dedicate this Friday’s Khutbah (sermon) to the Christchurch mosque mass shooting.
“The attack on any Muslim or any innocent person anywhere around the world is an attack on all Muslims and all people,” the council said in a statement.
“This is a human and an international tragedy, not only a Muslim and NZ tragedy. These acts of terror are there to divide us…and we reject this in all its forms and ways, but rather we will stay united and strong.”
Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist who was living in Dunedin, on New Zealand’s South Island, has been charged with murder following the attack.
He was remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5, when police said he was likely to face more charges.
New Zealand’s police chief said global intelligence agencies, including the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and those from Australia, Canada and Britain, were building up a profile of the alleged shooter.
“I can assure you this is an absolute international investigation,” Police Commissioner Mike Bush said at a media briefing in the capital Wellington.
Questions were being asked about New Zealand’s relaxed gun laws, which Ardern has promised to tighten, and on whether New Zealand authorities were focused enough on the risk from far-right extremists.
As of Tuesday night 21 victims had been identified, with the remainder expected to be completed on Wednesday before their bodies can be released for burial, police said.
Families of the victims have been frustrated by the delay as under Islam bodies are usually buried within 24 hours.
Bush said police had to prove the cause of death to the satisfaction of the coroner and the judge handling the case.
“You cannot convict for murder without that cause of death. So this is a very comprehensive process that must be completed to the highest standard,” he said.
Twenty nine people wounded in the attacks remained in hospital, eight still in intensive care.
Many have had to undergo multiple surgeries due to complicated gunshot wounds. The gunman used semi-automatic AR-15 rifles, with large magazines, and a shotgun.
Ardern, who has promised tough new gun laws which could ban semi-automatic weapons and make buying a gun harder, has said the victims would see justice.
She has refused to mention alleged gunman Tarrant’s name, saying he does not deserve publicity.
Ardern earlier visited Cashmere High School in Christchurch which lost two students in the attack – teenagers Sayyad Milne and Hamza Mustafa – plus Hamza’s father Khaled, and a former student Tariq Omar.
She talked to about 200 children gathered at the school auditorium about racism and changes in gun laws.
“Never mention the perpetrator’s name … never remember him for what he did,” she said, asking the children to focus on the victims.
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In his latest attack on Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India’s institutions have been the biggest casualty of dynastic politics.
PM Modi on Wednesday wrote in his blog that people voted decisively in the 2014 general elections for “honesty over dynasty” and “development over decay”.
“As you go to vote- remember the past and how one family’s desire for power cost the nation so greatly. If they could do it then, they can surely do it now. Eternal vigilance remains the price of liberty,” he said.
Lashing out at Congress, Modi further stated, “The sense of entitlement can be seen in their conduct towards routine legal processes. At present, their top leadership is on bail vis-a-vis a major scam. When the authorities seek to question them on their dealings, they do not even bother to reply. Are they scared of accountability or do they not believe in it?”
“Congress’ modus operandi is simple- reject, discredit and threaten. If a judicial verdict goes against them, they reject it, then they discredit the judge and thereafter, talk about bringing impeachment motions against the judge,” he added.
This comes amid attack by the Congress alleging that Modi government has been undermining the institutions.
Responding to criticism, PM Modi said, “Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi called the Planning Commission led by Dr. Manmohan Singh, ‘A bunch of jokers’. This comment gives you a glimpse of how Congress treats government institutions.”
Referring to “ordinance tearing” by Congress president Rahul Gandhi in 2013, Modi said, “A policy decision taken by no less than the Union Cabinet was torn into pieces by someone who was not a member of any ministry and that too, in a press conference.”
Continuing his attack, Modi cited the creation of the National Advisory Council led by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and said, “The NAC was created as a body parallel to the Prime Minister’s Office. And then, Congress talks about institutions?”
Modi said that Indians were tired of the country being in the “Fragile Five”, where corruption, cronyism and nepotism made headlines instead of anything positive.
He said India voted to shed the baggage of the past in pursuit of a better future.
“Over the last five years, the Indian economy has been the cynosure of the world’s eyes,” PM Modi
In his blog, PM Modi highlighted the BJP-led government’s achievements in the last five years.
“India has made remarkable achievements in sanitation coverage (from 38pc in 2014 to 98pc now), banking the unbanked, financing the un-financed, building futuristic infrastructure, homes for the homeless, providing healthcare for the poor and educating the youth,” he said.
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India on Wednesday signalled that it will boycott China’s second Belt and Road Forum for a second time, saying no country can participate in an initiative that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity.
India boycotted the first Belt and Road Forum (BRF) in 2017 after protesting to Beijing over the controversial China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) overriding New Delhi’s sovereignty concerns.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently said that next month China plans to hold a much bigger, second BRF which will also be attended by Pakistan Prime Minster Imran Khan.
Speculation is rife whether India would attend the second BRF as China has deepened its commitment to expand the USD 60 billion CPEC, which aims to connect China’s Xinjiang province with Pakistan’s Gwadar port with a host of road, rail, gas and oil pipelines. China has also undertaken a host of energy projects under the aegis of the CPEC.
India’s Ambassador to China Vikram Misri told the state-run Global Times that “above all, connectivity initiatives must be pursued in a manner that respects sovereignty, equality and territorial integrity of nations”.
“No country can participate in an initiative that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he replied to a question about India’s concerns over the BRI and whether India would take part in the second BRF meet.
The Indian envoy’s interview was carried by the daily on Wednesday.
“To be honest, we have made no secret of our views and our position on the BRI is clear and consistent and one that we have conveyed to the authorities concerned. India shares the global aspiration to strengthen connectivity and it is an integral part of our economic and diplomatic initiatives. We ourselves are working with many countries and international institutions in our region and beyond on a range of connectivity initiatives,” Misri said.
“However, it is also our belief that connectivity initiatives must be based on universally recognised international norms, good governance and rule of law. They must emphasise social stability and environmental protection and preservation, promote skill and technology transfers and follow principles of openness, transparency and financial sustainability,” the Indian envoy said.
India along with the US and several other countries have been highlighting the concerns over the BRI projects, leaving a number of smaller countries in debt traps. The concerns grew louder after China took over Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port on a 99-year lease as debt swap. Several countries including Malaysia and even Pakistan have wished to reduce the Chinese projects over debt concerns.
Asked whether India-China ties are back on track, Misri said: “the bilateral relationship between India and China is of great significance not just to the two countries, but also to the larger region and the international community”.
He said that the Wuhan summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in April, 2018 was a “milestone in bilateral relations during which the two leaders exchanged views on overarching issues of bilateral and global importance, and elaborated their respective visions and priorities for national development in context of the current international situation”.
Last year, the two leaders also met on the sidelines of multilateral summits. “These meetings have reinforced strategic communication between the two countries at the highest levels and helped in elaborating a road map for continuing contacts. China is India’s biggest neighbour and we assign a very high priority to this relationship,” the Indian envoy said.
“Unlike some 50 years ago, when our relationship had a much narrower basis and there was not much communication, today we have what one would call a full-spectrum relationship. This has been possible because our respective leaders have realised that mutually-beneficial cooperation responds to the most urgent developmental needs of our people and these needs to be prioritised over other issues,” Misri said.
Asked about the impact of India’s elections on India-China ties, Misri said: “my own feeling is that on foreign policy issues there is a broad political consensus in India on where our national interests lie. I do not think therefore that the outcome of the elections will impact the broad contours of India’s foreign policy in general or the very important relationship with China in particular”.
