1. Gujarat: PM Narendra Modi Ups the Ante, to Address 3 Rallies Today
With less than a week to go for Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat, the campaigning is entering its final phase. To that end, on Wednesday, 17 April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to address three rallies in his home state, while Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be in Gujarat over the next two days.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address public meetings in Sabarkantha, Surendranagar, and Anand on 17 April , and in Amreli on 18 April,” the state BJP said in a release.
Incidentally, all four Lok Sabha seats where Modi is slated to address the rallies are among the 6-7 seats that the Congress expects to win. A senior BJP leader said that they expect the PM's rallies to tilt the balance in these seats in favour of the party and enable it to repeat its 2014 sweep, when it won all 26 LS seats in the state.
(Source: DNA)
2. Unseasonal Rains Kill 11 Across Gujarat
The afternoon of 16 April saw a sudden change in weather with rains hitting many parts of the state. While it brought relief from the blistering heat, strong winds, dust storms and lightning strikes killed at least 11 people.
A woman died under a falling live wire in Vasnava village of Viramgam block in Ahmedabad district. Three people were killed in Mehsana district, one by a falling tree and others by lightning while two each from Morbi and Banaskantha districts also died in lightning strikes. In Khakharabela village of Paddhari pocket of Rajkot district, a woman died when a tree fell on her.
In yet another incident, a man was killed when an electric pole fell due to the storm. One person in Ashiya village under Dhanera block and another in Chala village were also killed. Two people died in lightning strikes in the villages of Wankaner and Morbi blocks of Morbi district. In Surendranagar district, a woman was hit by a broken railway barricade damaged in a storm.
(Source: DNA Ahmedabad)
3. LS Poll: Modi Will Be Ex-PM on 23 May, Claims Ahmed Patel
Narendra Modi will become ex-Prime Minister on 23 May when the Lok Sabha results are declared, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel said in Vadodara. He said the people were "harassed" by the ruling BJP with its policies and would be voted out in the April-May Lok Sabha polls.
Patel, a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat, expressed confidence that the Congress would win between "12-15" out of the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress had drawn a blank in Gujarat.
"The people are harassed by the ruling party's policies but the BJP is trying to paint a rosy picture. But people are not going to be mislead this time," Patel said on Monday, 15 April while attending a private function here.
"Narendra Modi will become ex-PM on 23 May when the Lok Sabha results are declared," he said, adding that the opposition parties' "mahagathbandhan" will choose its prime ministerial face after winning the general polls.
(Source: Times of India)
4. PM Modi Has Put Cameras in Booths, Is Watching: BJP MLA Warning in Gujarat
A BJP MLA has run into trouble for reportedly telling voters that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has installed cameras inside polling booths to find out “who votes for the BJP and who votes for the Congress”. According to a purported video clip, he also warned that areas which did not vote for the BJP would get “less government grants”.
The District Election Officer has issued a showcause notice to Ramesh Katara, BJP MLA from Fatehpura in Dahod Lok Sabha constituency.
Katara reportedly made the remarks while addressing a gathering in Fatehpura on Sunday, 14 April. Telling voters to press the button on the EVM with the photograph of BJP candidate and sitting MP Jaswantsinh Bhabor, Katara is seen telling them, in Gujarati, that Modi has fitted cameras inside the booths to watch the proceedings from Delhi.
(Source: Indian Express)
5. Narendra Modi Is Prime Minister Only for Wealthy: Navjot Singh Sidhu
Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ignoring the interests of the poor, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu said on Tuesday, 16 April, that the prime minister represented only the affluent.
Sidhu, a minister in the Punjab government, launched the attack on PM while addressing an election rally in Dangs, part of the Valsad Lok Sabha seat. The Congress has fielded MLA Jitu Chaudhary against MP KC Patel from Valsad seat.
"Modiji, you are the Prime Minister of only one per cent wealthy people. You are not the PM of poor citizens. You are asking these locals to vacate their land and go elsewhere. Almost 80 per cent of locals of this region are working as labourers in other states," the cricketer-turned-politician said.
(Source: DNA Ahmedabad)
6. Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani & Rajeev Satav Exchange Barbs on Political Endgame
Gujarat state Congress in-charge Rajeev Satav and Chief Minister Vijay Rupani got into a war of words about ending the political fortunes of rival parties. Satav on Tuesday, 16 April said that chief minister Vijay Rupani will not remain in his post after two months, drawing a sharp rebuke from the latter as the hustings hotted up for the Lok Sabha elections in the state.
"The chief minister will not be in office after two months," Satav said when asked about Rupani's criticism of the Congress in the run-up to 23 April polls.
Reacting to Satav's remark, Rupani said that Congress president Rahul Gandhi's politics will be over in the next two months, seeking to imply that the Congress would lose the Lok Sabha polls. When contacted, Rupani said, "Is Satav joining the BJP and will come to our party to take a decision to remove me? He is daydreaming. The Congress tried to spread such rumours before 2017 state assembly elections," Rupani told reporters.
(Source: DNA Ahmedabad)
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