Tag: BJP

Will make Jharkhand No. 1 state in country: Amit Shah

Source: indiatoday.in

Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday promised that the Bharatiya Janata Party governments at the Centre and in Jharkhand would work together to make the state the No. 1 state in the country. Shah said that since Narendra Modi came to power at the Centre, Naxalism has declined in the state and various welfare schemes have been successfully implemented in the state.

Shah was addressing a rally in Jharkhand’s Jamtara district. Jharkhand, along with Maharashtra and Haryana, is expected to go to the polls later this year. Shah was speaking after launching the BJP’s ‘Johar Jan Ashirwad Yatra’.

The yatra will crisscross Jharkhand’s 81 assembly constituencies ahead of the polls in the state.

Speaking at the rally, Amit Shah also Prime Minister Narendra Modi showed Pakistan its place by abrogating Article 370 and 35A and established that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India.

Shah said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi should tell people of Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana, when he goes to those election-bound states, whether he was with the decision to abrogate Article 370.

ATTACKS CONGRESS

“Removing Article 370, Modi ji showed Pakistan its place, and established that Kashmir is an integral part of India,” Shah said.

“Our stand has been to remove Article 370 ever since it had been there,” Shah said and asked “why the Congress felt a ‘stomach ache’ following its abrogation?”

Launching a scathing attack on the Congress, Amit Shah said the party had also opposed and sought evidence after the surgical strikes.

“They (Congress) should tell the people which direction they want to go,” he added.

Shah said even while being in the opposition, his party leaders had supported the government on important issues.

“Atal Bihari Vajpayee had supported former prime minister Indira Gandhi after winning the Bangladesh Liberation war.

‘CONGRESS DID NOT HEED JHARKHAND’S WISHES’

Amit Shah went on to question what the Congress did for the state and slammed the party for not heeding the decades-old demand to create a separate state. (Jharkhand was a part of Bihar until 2000).

Shah said that the Congress had not accepted Jharkhand people’s decades-old wishes for a separate state and that it was former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who fulfilled the dreams.

“I don’t hesitate to say that Atal ji created Jharkhand and Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji nursed it towards development during the last five years,” Shah said.

“There is Modi government above [at the Centre] and Raghubar Das government below [in the state]. The double engine governments have changed Jharkhand, and the evidence is that the people of Jharkhand gave 12 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats to Modi government in the Lok Sabha elections,” Shah said.

“Naxalism was there, but now Jharkhand is headed towards [becoming] almost naxal-free and moving forward with developmental initiatives,” Shah said. “The double engine governments will make Jharkhand the number one state in the country.”

‘Ploy by Companies to Pressure Govt to Lower Taxes’: Bihar Minister Says There’s No Economic Slowdown

Source: news18.com

Patna: The country is not facing economic slowdown and big companies are trying pressurise the government to lower tax rates by showing a decline in manufacturing, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi claimed on Wednesday. His comment invited immediate ridicule from the opposition RJD.

Modi, who also holds the finance portfolio in the Nitish Kumar government, cited the example of Parle G biscuits and said its demand had, in fact, increased in Bihar.

He doubted the claim of its manufacturers that a fall in demand of the company’s biscuits could have been caused by developed states opting for expensive pastries instead of the cheap confectionary with a higher tax rate. But it did not appear to be so.

Parle, the manufacturers of Parle G biscuits had recently warned of a massive lay-off following a slump in production which they blamed on a fall in demand caused by an increase in prices.

The rise in prices, it said, is due to a rise in the cost of production resulting from higher tax rates payable for confectionery items under GST, which came into force two years ago.

There is no mandi (economic slowdown). All these reports one gets to see in the media about automobiles and other sectors suffering is actually a ploy by lobbies in the corporate world to put pressure on the government for lowering tax rates, the senior BJP leader said at a programme organized by a news channel in Ranchi.

Sushil Modi was heavily trolled on Twitter by opposition RJD for his comments. Veteran RJD leader Shivanand Tiwary charged him with “trying to wish away a financial crisis that is too stark”.

“Of late, Sushil Kumar Modi has begun sounding like the French monarch who said if people did not have bread, they should eat cakes,” Tiwary told PTI here.

The phrase is commonly attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette supposedly uttered during one of the famines that occurred in France in 1789 during the reign of her husband

King Louis XVI ahead of the French Revolution.

Recently, he (Sushil Modi) said that the decline in automobiles was because people did not like to buy vehicles during the Pitri Paksha which in fact began only last week and continues for only a fortnight,” Tiwary, who was a member of the Rabri Devi cabinet, said.

“Before that he had scandalized all by claiming that economic slowdown was some sort of a seasonal phenomenon which occurred during monsoons and automatically got rectified later on. It all displays his utter ignorance about financial matters, though he is the minister in charge of the department, the RJD national vice-president said.

He said, the recent report by an international media house has stated that investors are withdrawing capital from the country and there are no fresh investments. Noted economists have time and again pointed out that the unimpressive GDP growth rate of five per cent too might be an exaggerated figure as it does not take into account the huge unorganized sector which is yet to recover from the impact of demonetization, Tiwary said.

Our Deputy CM seems to be in the same frame of mind as last year when he had hoped for less crime during a religious festival by cajoling criminals with folded hands to give up their activities for the period, he quipped.

At the inauguration of the Pitri Paksh fair at Gaya in 2018, Sushil Modi had urged those involved in anti-social activities to refrain from indulging in crimes during the fortnight-long congregation as visitors came from far and wide and they might return with a bad image of Bihar in mind. The deputy chief minister had invited severe ridicule from political opponents for it.

With new poll symbol, Nitish to fight BJP in Jharkhand

Source: deccanherald.com

Nitish Kumar may be an ally of the BJP in Bihar but he will be contesting against the BJP Government in Jharkhand headed by Raghuvar Das during the Assembly elections in November this year.

The Election Commission has, however, allotted a new poll symbol to the JD(U) after the party’s existing symbol ‘arrow’ created confusion with the election symbol of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). The JMM has ‘bow and arrow’ as its symbol.

Ever since Nitish decided to contest on all the 81 Assembly seats in neighbouring Jharkhand on its own, the JMM approached the EC to freeze the JD(U) symbol ‘arrow’ as it might confuse the voters in tribal-dominated State. After much deliberations, the EC recently allotted ‘farmer driving a tractor’ symbol to the JD(U).

Nitish earlier this month sounded the poll bugle in Ranchi where he came down heavily on the BJP Government in the State. “It’s around 19 years since Jharkhand was formed after bifurcating Bihar in November 2000. And the mineral-rich tribal State has witnessed virtually no development in the last two decades. On the other hand, ever since I took over the reins of Bihar in 2005, the State’s growth rate has increased by leaps and bounds,” said Nitish lashing out at his Jharkhand counterpart, although he refrained from taking his name.

It’s not only the JMM but Shiv Sena too, which had protested a similar election symbol of the JD(U). The Maharashtra-based party Shiv Sena too has ‘bow and arrow’ as its symbol and it protested to the EC when it came to know that the JD(U) would field its candidates during October 2019 Assembly polls in Maharashtra. “The EC has allotted ‘diesel pump’ as the election symbol to the JD(U) for Maharashtra Assembly polls,” said a ruling party source here in the state capital.

Ever since the JD(U) performed well in Arunachal Pradesh during the May 2019 elections (when it won seven Assembly seats in the N-E State), Nitish, who is also the national president of the JD(U), is in expansion mode of his outfit, aiming to get it a status of national party.

Nitish Kumar is captain of NDA in Bihar, says Sushil Modi

Source: thehindu.com

Days after party MLC Sanjay Paswan’s statement that Nitish Kumar should quit his post of Bihar Chief Minister and enter national politics, senior leader of Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday tweeted to say, “Nitish Kumar is the captain of NDA in Bihar and will remain its captain in next assembly elections in 2020 also.”

Earlier, State BJP MLC Sanjay Paswan had urged Nitish Kumar to relinquish his post for the BJP, at least for one term.

“Nitish Kumar is the captain of NDA in Bihar and will remain its captain in next assembly elections in 2020 also…when captain is hitting 4 & 6 defeating rivals by inning where is the question of any change,” tweeted Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi. Mr. Modi is a senior BJP leader in Bihar and considered close to Mr. Kumar.

Mr. Sanjay Paswan had on August 9 created upheaval in the State’s ruling NDA alliance by saying, “Nitish Kumar should now step down from the post of Chief Minister for BJP…we trusted him for 15-long years and he should now reciprocate the same for the BJP for at least one term.”

Mr. Paswan had further said that, “When people are supporting PM Modi government on all issues like abrogation of Article 370, Ram Mandir, Triple Talaq and NRC, why should Nitish Kumar not relinquish his post for the BJP for one term in Bihar?” He also added, “He [Nitish Kumar] has been the Chief Minister of the State for long 15 years and now the BJP should get chance for the development of the state with the PM Modi model.”

Party sources told The Hindu that Sanjay Paswan might not have made such comment about Nitish Kumar without having a “green signal” from the top party leadership in Delhi.

Supporters of another Bihar BJP leader and MP from Begusarai, Giriraj Singh, have performed prayers to see him as the chief minister of Bihar. However, Mr. Singh, who is also a Minister in the Modi Cabinet, later explained that his supporters might have said this “in over-excitement out respect for him”.

The Janata Dal-United (JD-U), though, reacted sharply to Sanjay Paswan’s comment. “Only Nitish Kumar will be the face of the NDA in the next Assembly elections in the State and it has been accepted even by the top BJP leaders,” said party leader and spokesperson Nikhil Mandal, while another party leader and chief spokesperson Sanjay Singh asked Mr. Paswan, “Where were you during the 2015 Assembly poll when the people of Bihar had voted for Nitish Kumar and not the BJP?”

Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav, though, dared the CM to “contradict” what the BJP leaders were saying. “Has the CM guts to contradict what BJP leaders are saying? Is it not true that honourable Nitish Kumar got votes in the name of PM Modi without releasing his party’s manifesto and got 16 of his party leaders elected as MPs on the BJP manifesto [in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll]…Is it not true that he has been supporting the BJP on every Bill?…Then how come he is different?” tweeted Mr. Yadav.

Recently, projecting Mr. Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate for the Assembly poll next year, the JD(U) released its revised party slogan “Kyon kare vichar, jab hain hi Nitish Kumar (why should we mull over, when there is Nitish Kumar)”. Earlier, the slogan was “kyon kare vichar, thike to hain Nitish Kumar (why should we mull over, when it’s okay to have Nitish Kumar) but they revised it when the media raised questions over the word “thike” (just okay).

RPI demands seats, silent on contesting on BJP symbol

Source: freepressjournal.in

Mumbai: Republican Party of India (RPI) led by Ramdas Aathwale has demanded 10 seats for the forthcoming Assembly election, but has kept a secret whether the party will contest on BJP symbol Lotus or not?

RPI Mumbai unit held a rally at NSCI Stadium in Worli on Thursday. The event was attended by CM Devendra Fadanvis, Union Minister of State Ramdas Athawale, Lok Sabha member Rahul Shewale, Ministers Mahadev Jankar, Suresh Khade and Avinash Mahatekar, among others.

It was being said Athawale will open his cards about whether RPI candidates would contest on Lotus or not. But he did not utter a single word about it. “We want 8-10 seats in the Assembly election. I am confident our alliance will win 240 seats in the poll,” Athhawale said.

Replying to his demands, CM Fadnavis assured him him that RPI will have its own representative in the state Assembly.

“It is now certain the BJP Shiv Sena-RPI-RSP grand alliance will again come to power in the state. But, I promise the next Assembly will have leader of RPI as its member,” Fadnavis assured among thunderous applaus from the audience.

Power follows me, says Athavale

“I am always criticised for compromising valuses to be in power. Actually, wherever I go, power follows me. When I joined the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, they were in opposition.

Later, we came to power at the Centre as well as in the state,” Athawale stated, while addressing his workers. He also praised the BJP-Sena government for effective implementation of various schemes of SC and ST.

Won’t allow change in Constitution

Athwale also countered allegations of the Opposition and stated he would not allow the Modi government to change the Constitution.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a strong supporter of reservation of SCs and STs. The BJP is not anti- Ambedkar or anti-reservation. If any anti-Constitution thing happens, I am there to protect the Constitution,” Athavale said.

Echoing the same sentiment, CM Fadnavis said it was a malacious campaign of the Opposition parties that the BJP would end reservation. “In fact, when the 50 years limit of the SC and ST Reservation ended in 1997,

it was BJP PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee who extended this limit. We are not anti-Constitution. When Modi took oath, he saluted Constitution,” Fadnavis said.

NRC demand in Bihar makes NDA a divided house

Source: hindustantimes.com

First came the opposition to the triple talaq bill. Then the disagreement on the abrogation of Article 370. And when things seem to be settling down within the NDA, the BJP’s demand for National Register for Citizens (NRC) in the Seemanchal region has once again brought uneasiness in the alliance in Bihar.

The two alliance partners, the Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal(United), have come face-to-face after the BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP and senior RSS leader Rakesh Sinha initiated the demand for NRC in four Bihar districts bordering West Bengal that have strong Muslim population.

While Sinha and few other BJP leaders are insistent that the influx of foreigners in these four districts has adversely impacted their local demography, JD(U) leaders, especially its minority face Gulam Rasool Baliyawi and party principal general secretary KC Tyagi, have criticised it as a case of minority hunting. The JD(U)’s vice-president Prashant Kishor had also criticised NRC in his recent tweet.

“We strongly favour NRC in the Seemanchal region. The region is replete with Bangladesh nationals, who have illegally migrated and settled there over the last several years,” said Sinha, who had been one of the most vocal protagonists of Hindutva politics. “There is an urgent need for NRC in Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnea and Araria districts,” he added.

Though no senior BJP leader has come out strongly in support of Sinha’s demand, none of them has opposed it either. In fact, Sinha has the silent support of several of his party’s leaders, who are only preferring to stay away from making any statement.

The BJP and RSS have been eyeing to consolidate their position in Seemanchal for a long time but have failed to penetrate because of the high Muslim population in the region. Muslims account for 67.70% of the population in Kishanganj, 38% in Purnea, 43% in Katihar and more than 40% in Araria. However, Muslims only form 16.5% of Bihar’s 105 million population as per 2011 census.

The BJP, in a tactical move and taking into account the Muslim factor, gave four Lok Sabha seats to the JD(U) and contested only Araria earlier this year. The JD(U) won Purnia, Katihar and Madhepura and the Congress managed to win the Kishanganj seat, a traditional Congress bastion which it has won eight times so far. The BJP and JD(U) together won 17 and 16 seats respectively out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

In the 2015 assembly elections, the Grand Alliance, of which the JD(U) was then a part, had won 29 seats out of 37 seats in the Seemanchal and Kosi regions. Out of these, the JD(U) had won 14, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) seven and Congress eight. The BJP could manage to win just seven seats, while one seat had gone in favour of CPI(ML).

The assembly elections in Bihar are due in 2020. The GA comprising the RJD, JD(U) and Congress had won 178 out of 243 seats while the BJP could win 53 seats only in the last state polls. The JD(U) returned to the NDA’s fold in 2017. The alliance, also comprising the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), won a whopping 39 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in 2019, almost clean-sweeping the polls.

“The BJP’s demand for NRC is irking,” a JD(U) leader, who did not want to be named, said.

“The 2020 polls are knocking at the doors and such announcements will only displease the minorities, who have in the LS polls, voted for NDA in large numbers,” he added.

The JD(U)’s prominent Muslim face Baliyawi went on to seek NRC across the country. “Muslims in Seemanchal are not afraid of NRC but my question is why the minorities are being targeted through such absurd steps,” he asked.

Another senior JD(U) leader and Bihar industries minister Shyam Rajak said there is no outsider or foreigner in Bihar. “All those living here are Biharis,” he said.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who is also the JD(U) president, has repeatedly said that his party is not in favour of NRC.

“NRC is a very sensitive issue and it was implemented in Assam following clearance from the Supreme Court. But there is no need for NRC in Bihar or other states in the country. Our party is fully against sending citizens outside the country in the name of NRC,” said JD(U)’s principal general secretary Tyagi.

Prashant Kishor, who is an election strategist and close aide of Nitish Kumar, had two days ago opposed NRC, saying that it is a ‘botched up’ process meant to leave lakhs of people as foreigners in their own country.

BJP dares Cong chief to clear stand on ‘thieves’ remark

Source: dailypioneer.com

State BJP leader and party spokesperson, Pratul Shahdeo has demanded State Congress president Rameshwar Oraon to make his stand clear on his ‘all are thieves’ comment. A few days ago, the State Congress chief, while talking to media persons on Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) future in State remarked that Chor Log Chori Karte Samay Ek Rahte Hain, Aur Chori Ka Maal Baatte Samay Alag Ho Jate Hain (thieves are together while committing theft, but fall apart while sharing the loot).

Shahdeo said, “The BJP wants to know from Congress chief that who is he referring to as Chor (thief) in his remark. With such a remark, Congress has equated JMM leader and former chief minister Hemant Soren, JVM (P) leader Babaulal Marandi and RJD chief Lalu Prasad on the same table.”

The BJP leader said this is not for the first time that Mahagathbandhan leaders have used such words for their partners. During the last Lok Sabha election, JMM executive president and former Chief Minister Hemant Soren had compared alliance leaders with rubble. The BJP leader said that Oraon’s remark, who is a senior Congress leader in State, implies that all is not well within the Mahagathbandhan camp.

Sources said that with just three to four months left for Assembly elections, the Mahagathbandhan leaders are yet to decide on alliance formula. Few days ago, Oraon stated that the Mahagathbandhan is still not clear about who they are going to project as their leader in coming Assembly poll. Oraon’s remark was a shock for JMM leadership as the JMM leaders have tried to project Hemant Soren as their Chief Ministerial candidate.

The Congress, on August 26, appointed Rameshwar Oraon as the new president of its Jharkhand unit and announced five working presidents for the State ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled later this year.

The new appointments in Jharkhand came after former State Congress chief Ajoy Kumar resigned from his post on August 9 owning moral responsibility, but blamed senior State leaders for sabotaging the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP leader on the occasion also attacked JMM for being anti-tribal. Shahdeo said, “JMM is number one party who is anti-tribal, as on several occasions the party has tried to betray tribals of this State.”

The BJP leader said that the JMM government introduced CSAT mode of examination in JPSC which is against the interest of tribals and moolvasi. Also in the JPSC examination very less weightage was given to local languages. Shahdeo said, “The JMM leader intentionally created hurdles in defining the local policy depriving lakhs of tribals from Government jobs.”

The BJP leader claimed that the JMM leaders, with an attempt to weaken the Gram Sabha, had provided sand license to businessmen from Mumbai. Also the JMM never made any local as Rajya Sabha members but made millionaire businessmen Muktinath Upadhaya and KD Singh as party’s representatives for Rajya Sabha.

Shiva, Hanuman of Bind caste, says Bihar minister

Source: hindustantimes.com

Senior BJP leader and cabinet minister in Nitish Kumar government, Braj Kishor Bind, has stirred a fresh row by claiming that Hindu Gods Shiva and Hanuman belonged to Bind caste. Bind is an OBC caste found in south west Bihar.

“When Lord Ram could be a Kshatriya, Krishna a Yadav then how not Lord Shiva and Hanuman could be a Bind,” the Bihar minister for mining, Braj Kishor Bind said while speaking to media during a visit to his home district Kaimur on Wednesday. Traditionally, members of Bind caste are known for their expertise in digging mud and fishing.

Referring to ancient Hindu text Shiv Puarana, Bind said that it was clearly mentioned in Part 2, chapter 36 of the holy book that Lord Shiva belonged to Bind caste. A book on ancient Indian history written by Vidyadhar Mahajan (BD Mahajan) had also referred Lord Shiva belonging to Bind caste, he claimed.

The minster went on to add, “I am a proud descendant of Lord Hanuman and Shiva and my Bind community. It is not the first time I have announced this fact. I revealed this secret on Tuesday in  presence of Bihar Governor, deputy CM and a couple of ministers, besides an august gathering of around 1500 people during felicitation function at Bapu Sabhagar. I can reiterate the same again and again with pride.”    

“According to the Hanuman Chalisa, a text written by famous medieval saint Tulsi Das, Hanuman was the son of Lord Shiva,” the minister claimed referring to the stanza- Shankar Suwan Keshari nandan (son of Shiva and Keshari).

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Aditya Nath during last parliamentary elections had created a similar row by saying that Lord Hanuman was a Dalit and a forest dweller.

The election commission had imposed a ban on his electioneering for three days.

“Now, Hindus and worshippers of Lord Shiva and Hanuman are highly confused on whether to believe Yogi Adityanath, the head of Nath Sampraday and Mahant of Guru Gorakshnath Peeth or the Bihar minister of his own party. It’s time the BJP top leadership takes a call on deciding who is right and who is wrong,” said Pt Bagishwari Prasad Dwivedi, a professor of Sanskrit and an authority on ancient texts.

“I have not seen such reference in Shiv Purana but will again read the book in light of the minister’s claim,” professor Dwivedi said.

Five BJP backbones who departed in last one year

Source: afternoonvoice.com

The ruling BJP won landslide victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and returned to power for second consecutive term at the Centre. But the party lost five tall leaders in past one year which is irreparable loss.  These five great leaders were Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manohar Parrikar, Ananth Kumar, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. The BJP and the entire country will always remember their contributions to the nation.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born on December 25, 1924, in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. He died on August 16, 2018, in New Delhi. He served as the prime minister of India thrice.

Vajpayee was first elected to parliament in 1957 as a member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) which was forerunner of the BJP. In 1977 the BJS joined three other parties to form the Janata Party which led a government that lasted until July 1979. As foreign minister in the Janata government, Vajpayee earned a reputation for improving relations with Pakistan and China. In 1980, following a split in the Janata Party, Vajpayee helped the BJS to reorganise itself as the BJP. In 1992 he was one of the few Hindu leaders to speak out against the destruction of the historic mosque at Ayodhya.

Vajpayee was sworn in as prime minister in May 1996 but was in office only 13 days, after failing to attract support from other parties. In early 1998 he again became prime minister, in elections in which the BJP won a record number of seats, but he was forced to make a shaky alliance with regional parties. In 1999 the BJP increased its seats in parliament and came back to power.

Manohar Parrikar

Former Defence Minister and the four times Chief Minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar passed away on March 17, 2019, at the age of 63. He was born on December 13, 1955. He was the Chief Minister of Goa since 14 March 2017. Parrikar was battling prolonged illness. He was diagnosed with a pancreatic cancer. A graduate in metallurgical engineering from IIT-Bombay in 1978, he was the first IITian to serve as the legislator of a state.

Parrikar proposed the name of Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate before 2013 BJP parliamentary elections convention in Goa. He served in the National Democratic Alliance government under Prime MinisterNarendra Modi as Defence Minister of India from 2014 to 2017. He was a former member of Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh. Parrikar was the Defence Minister in 2016 when India conducted a surgical strike on terror launch pads across the LoC, days after the terror attack in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir.

Ananth Kumar

Ananth Kumar was Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers. He was born in 1959 in Bangalore. Ananth Kumar was influenced by the RSS from his childhood and joined the ABVP, the BJP’s student wing. During the Emergency, he was imprisoned. He was later elected ABVP’s State Secretary and then its National Secretary in 1985. He joined the BJP and was nominated state president of the BJP Yuva Morcha. He was then made BJP National Secretary in 1996.

In 1996, he was elected from Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency and has been elected from the same seat six consecutive times. In 1998 he was inducted into the Union Cabinet headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the Minister for Civil Aviation. In 1999, he became a Cabinet minister in the NDA government. He handled various ministries like Tourism, Sports & Youth Affairs, Culture, Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation.

He became the President of the Karnataka state unit of BJP in 2003 and led the BJP to become the single largest party in the Legislative Assembly and won the highest number of the Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka in 2004. In 2004, he was appointed as the National General Secretary of the BJP.

Sushma Swaraj

Sushma Swaraj, a veteran leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and former Minister of External Affairs in the Narendra Modi government in its first term, died on August 6, 2019, following a heart attack. She was 67. She breathed her last in New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

She was also the Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs from May 26, 2014, to January 7, 2016. She represented Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha constituency in the 16th Lok Sabha. She had joined the BJS after the Emergency of 1975. Swaraj had won her first election at the age of 25 in 1977 from the Ambala Cantonment Assembly constituency. In July 1977, she had become a Cabinet Minister in the Janata Party Government under Chief Minister Devi Lal. She taken got the position of the state president of Janata Party (Haryana) in 1979. Swaraj was also the Education Minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party–Lok Dal coalition government in Haryana during 1987-1990.

A Cabinet minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Swaraj had held the portfolios of Health and Family Welfare, Information and Broadcasting at different junctures. She was the Chief Minister of Delhi from October 13, 1998 to December 3, 1998. In November 2018, Sushma Swaraj had announced that she would not contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 due to health reasons.

Arun Jaitley

Arun Jaitley was born on 28 December 1952 in Delhi. Until 2014, Jaitley had never contested any direct elections. That year, he was BJP candidate in Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency, but lost to Amarinder Singh of Congress. Jaitley was selected by newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be Minister of Finance, Minister for Corporate Affairs and Minister of Defence in his cabinet. With Jaitley as FM, the Modi government was able to take several key economic decisions like demonetisation and GST. In Jaitley’s stewardship, the Modi government merged the railway budget with the general Budget. Moreover, the decision to advance the date of the general budget to February 1 was also taken with Jaitley as FM. GST went under several tax-slab revisions and Jaitley maneuvered them efficiently. He also introduced Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code to resolve the issues with companies that were turning insolvent.

Nitish banks on Prashant Kishore’s Jharkhand groundwork for rich poll harvest

Source: hindustantimes.com

Janata Dal (United) national president and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is all set to launch party’s election campaign in poll-bound Jharkhand on August 25. Mega preparations are on in the state’s capital city by the party workers to welcome Kumar, who would be holding a meeting with around 2,000 leaders from across Bihar during his four hours stay on Sunday.

Assembly elections are due in Jharkhand later this year. The state carved out of Bihar in 2000 has remained a traditional BJP stronghold. The opposition led by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), however, has had its brief share of power on more than one occasion with the JMM patriarch Sibu Soren and his son Hemant Soren – currently the party’s executive head – serving as chief ministers of the state thrice and once respectively.

The JD(U) since its formation in 2003 had remained in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) across states including Jharkhand, expect from June 2013 to August 2017, when the party switched to Rashtriya Janta Dal-led Grand Alliance (GA) in Bihar. The party, which had won six out of the 81 assembly seats in 2005, doesn’t have any presence in the state legislature as of now and its organisational strength has been fading with each passing year.

However, buoyed by its recent successes in the Lok Sabha polls when it won 16 out of the 17 seats it had contested in Bihar followed by the triumph in Arunachal Pradesh – where JD(U) went on to become the second largest party winning seven seats, the JD-U is now striving hard for Jharkhand assembly polls to build up on its push to become a strong national party.

“Nitish Kumar’s scheduled visit on Sunday has already set eye-balls rolling in Jharkhand’s political circles. The state badly needs Kumar’s model of development and we are confident that we will make a difference with or without any alliance in the coming polls,” said JD-U Jharkhand president and former BJP parliamentarian, Salkhan Murmu.

JD-U had contested the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar in alliance with BJP and also intends to contest the 2020 assembly polls under the NDA. However, during the recently held party’s executive committee meeting in Patna, the party leaders announced that outside Bihar they would go solo in all polls.

In Jharkhand, if JD(U) fails or refuses to bridge an alliance with any party, it would be pitted against a strong NDA – comprising BJP and All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) and a resolute Grand Alliance (GA) comprising JMM, Congress, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) and the left.

The party leaders, both in Patna and Ranchi, are unperturbed by the prevalent political combinations. Influenced from Rajya Sabha deputy speaker Harivansh in the state and backed by expertise of poll strategist Prashant Kishore, whose teams have been working clandestinely in all 24 districts for last six months, JD(U) leadership is confident of altering all the set poll equations.

“Our party vice-president, Prashant Kishore’s teams have done extensive ground work and have found out that there exists immense potential for JD(U) to make headway in the neighbouring state,” said a senior JD(U) leader requesting not to be quoted.

Though the party has announced to contest all 81 seats, it may scale down to 35 seats or even less after Kumar’s meeting with local leaders and office bearers, leaders, adding, they would field candidates in constituencies where they stand a chance to win or give a tough fight.

According to the insiders, the party would focus on constituencies with high Kurmi voters’ percentage. Several disgruntled Kurmi leaders associated with other parties are being lured to join JD(U).

Shailendra Mahato, vice-president of JD(U) unit in Jharkhand, said that among others, Kumar would be accompanied by Kishore, Member of Parliament Lallan Singh, Bihar welfare minister and Jharkhand in-charge Ram Sevak Singh and general secretary Arun Kumar Singh.

“Our national president would be in Gaya on August 24 where he would stay back overnight. Next morning after breakfast, he will leave for Ranchi by road and hold crucial meetings till 5 pm before he departs for Patna by the evening flight,” he said.

Nand Kishore Yadav, BJP’s Jharkhand co in-charge, said that JD(U)’s foray into Jharkhand assembly polls does not affect his party much as JD(U) has contested polls independently in several states. “Our alliance with them is only in Bihar. We do not have anything to do with their decisions,” he said.