INDIA’S
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Kiran Bedi bats for Modi in Kolkata
ELECTIONS SPECIAL 2014 w w w . l e m a t i n a l . c o m
Kiran Bedi on Tuesday batted for Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister during a lecture she delivered at a city hotel. "He (Modi) is tried and tested and he can take the country forward," Bedi said. And added that she read a lot about leadership and understand leadership and the language of leadership. He (Modi) will make a good leader."
LE MATINAL, PORT-LOUIS, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2014
Take bribes from all, vote for us I n remarks that could fall foul of the Election Commission, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal advised Amethi residents to accept bribes given to them by political parties but vote for 'jhaadu'. Kejriwal, who is on the second day of his roadshow in the Gandhi bastion, said, "Elections are here. They will offer you cash, take it. It's your own hard earned money that they looted in the 2G and the CWG scam. Take the sarees and blankets they offer, take it all. But don't vote for them. Vote for the jhaadu." Earlier, he alleged that BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had a "secret" deal with the Gandhi family and had
promised them not to investigate Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra. "Both BJP and Congress are hand-in-glove," he said.Kejriwal, who is campaigning for AAP's Amethi candidate Kumar Vishwas, questioned the series of attacks against both of them. "How is that I am attacked by the BJP and Kumar has been attacked by the Congress? You never hear of Congress attacking Modi or BJP people attacking the Gandhi family. They are in cahoots," he said. Seeking votes for Vishwas, Kejriwal said, "After the election, Rahul will not come back, and Smriti Irani (BJP candidate from Amethi) will go back to doing her soap operas. — TOI
MODI DISAPPROVES OF IRRESPONSIBLE STATEMENTS “P etty statements by those claiming to be BJP’s well-wishers are deviating the campaign from the issues of development and good governance” A day after political storm was kicked up over Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia’s “hate speech”, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi moved into damage control mode on Tuesday and disapproved of “irresponsible” statements.“Petty statements by those claiming to be BJP’s wellwishers are deviating the cam-
paign from the issues of development and good governance. I disapprove (of) any such irresponsible statements and appeal to those making them to kindly refrain from doing so,” Mr. Modi said in a number of tweets. How-
ever, he did not mention any names but his obvious reference was to controversial utterances by Mr. Togadia and Bihar party leader Giriraj Singh. Though the BJP distanced itself from such statements, its allies and arch-rivals condemned such utterances.Stressing upon the core issues during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections which the BJP has focussed on, Mr. Modi said in one of his tweets: “With great happiness, the entire nation is looking towards BJP for going to people solely on the issue of good governance and development.” — TOI
Congress comes out in Robert Vadra’s defence
A
s Priyanka Gandhi vowed to fight back the allegations against her husband Robert Vadra, Congress on pulled out all the stops in his defence, slamming Narendra Modi for levelling "cheap and baseless" allegations against members of the Gandhi family. Shedding its inhibitions, Congress, which was describing Vadra as a "private individual" till the other day, went hammer and tongs against Modi and BJP for "practising politics of malicious persecution with a revengeful attitude against the Gandhi family". The spirited defence of Vadra came at the AICC briefing as Priyanka Gandhi broke her silence on the opposition attack to say that she was "pained" that her husband was being targeted for political reasons. Party spokesman Randeep Surjewala told reporters that in the last two years, it has been seen that Modi and some leaders of the BJP have been levelling cheap allegations against "different members" of the Gandhi family despite knowing that there is no truth in those allegations. "They have resorted to politics of malicious persecution with a revengeful attitude aimed at members of the Gandhi family knowing fully well that neither there is any truth in the allegation, nor there is a foundation." "Modi and his party are now
resorting to petty politicking and malicious campaign. People of India have rejected such BJP sponsored allegations in the past against Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi and we are sure that people of India will once again reject this petty politicking," he said. Surjewala said that there was BJP sponsored public interest litigation before the Allahabad high court in this regard and it was rejected in March 2013 by the court which said that the PIL was filed with a motive. "Not satisfied with the verdict of the division bench of the High Court, members of Sangh Parivar and friends of Modi sponsored another litigation in the guise of a PIL in the Supreme Court. It was in fact a private interest litigation to help BJP." "Even in Supreme Court it was rejected, which questioned the motive behind the PIL and observed that it was not a sin to be relative of a particular leader. The matter should have rested after being tested by the highest court of India...," he said. Surjewala said people of India are not going to fall in this trap again and will give a befitting reply to such divisive forces. In Rae Bareli, Priyanka Gandhi said her resolve to fight back will increase the more the opponents attack. Vadra has been under attack from BJP and some other parties for quite some time over
controversial land deals in Haryana and Rajasthan. Campaigning for her mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi in this constituency of Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka said Vadra was being attacked by BJP to divert the attention of people from the development issues to "meaningless talk" and that the "truth" about her husband will prevail. — TOI
Priyanka Gandhi broke her silence on the opposition attack to say that she was "pained" that her husband was being targeted for political reasons.