General Elections 2014 – Day 61

General Elections 2014

The penultimate Sunday before the end of General Elections 2014 saw top political leaders crisscrossing the country for one last push to secure votes for their respective parties. The day also exposed how dysfunctional UPA has become with allies of Congress publicly opposing decision of appointing a judge to probe Snoopgate just 10 days before declaration of election results.

BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi travelled to Eastern Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal today for campaigning. In Bengal he took on Mamata Banerjee for her paper tiger jibe. Modi attacked the state government over Saradha scam and lack of safety for women. Interestingly Modi clarified his Bangladeshi comment which evoked much furore in Bengal. He said anybody who has come to India from Bangladesh fearing religious persecution will always be welcomed. But those who have come here just to be added as a vote bank for certain parties have to pack their bags, he said categorically.

In his rally at Asansol, Modi threw a gauntlet at Election Commission. He criticised the Commission for failing to stop mass rigging and later added that if a case is registered against him for saying these words, then so be it. Already couple of FIR’s have been lodged against the Prime Ministerial candidate for violating Model Code of conduct but he seems to be in no mood to back off.

Bengal C.M Mamata Banerjee today issued a veil threat to Modi. She said that she will rock Delhi if even a single person is touched. TMC supremo alleged that Modi is not aware of the history of the state.

Modi’s prime opponent Rahul Gandhi is busy securing his family bastion of Amethi. The constituency is slated to go to polls on the next phase. Rahul won last time with a convincing margin but is facing a tough fight this time around with Smriti Irani and Kumar Vishwas putting up a spirited campaign. But today’s massive roadshow should help to calm the frayed nerves in the Congress camp. Rahul and Priyanka both were part of the two km roadshow where deluge of supporters thronged the streets. Priyanka Gandhi today snubbed BJP’s candidate Smriti Irani by even failing to recognize her name when asked a question!! Tomorrow, Narendra Modi is slated to visit Amethi.

Modi’s right hand man Amit Shah has again thrown a bombshell. Shah in charge of BJP’s poll strategy in U.P has branded Azamgarh as “base for terrorists”. He accused the current Samajwadi Party led state government of being soft on terrorists thus indirectly helping them. Shah levelled a serious allegation that state government has tried to advocate release of caught terrorists. SP supremo Mulayam Singh is standing for elections from Azamgarh.

Mulayam Singh today while campaigning for his party at Pratapgarh, U.P accused Congress and BJP of being hand in gloves with each other to try to stop a third front government. He today called Narendra Modi a “liar”, quoting statistics to prick holes in the much vaunted Gujarat model of development. He described Rahul categorically rejecting to support a third front government as a big change of heart and break from Congress tradition.

Increasingly UPA is looking like a sinking ship with allies ready to jump off it. Congress party has decided to appoint a judge to investigate the accusations of snooping against Gujarat C.M Narendra Modi and his closest aide Amit Shah. But some allies are unwilling to support it. Praful Patel of NCP today said that there is no need for such enquiry at this fag-end. Omar Abdullah of National Conference followed suit. He tweeted that if commission was formed on December, why no judge was appointed for last 5 month. He deemed appointing a judge at this moment wrong.

Congress though is unwilling to let go of this issue where they believe Modi is susceptible. Rather than backing down it today launched fresh attack on Snoopgate. Congress has now alleged that the Gujarat government led by Chief Minister Narendra Modi paid off the woman architect’s family involved in the Snoopgate scandal.

It has raised questions over why contracts were given to a company owned by the woman architect’s family without any tenders, alleging that out of turn favours were given by the Gujarat government to placate the family. Posing 10 pointed questions, party alleged that Indian Telegraph Act was violated by the Gujarat government.

Modi today in his own inimitable style indirectly addressed this Snoopgate issue. He asked Congress to leave with their dignity intact. Gujarat C.M alleged that the Gandhis with all the top agencies under their control have tried to “trap him” for the last 10 years albeit unsuccessfully.

In the film Sholay, villain Gabbar was finally trapped by Jay and Veeru. Now Congress leader Salman Khusrshid has equated Modi with Gabbar. He said that whenever he reads “Modi aane wala hain”poster he is remembered of the “Gabbar aa jayega” dialogue from Sholay. One is though not sure if Congress has any Jay and Veeru in their disposal to trap Gabbar.

Some Congress leaders are already in introspection mode. Union Minister Jayram Ramesh today blamed lack of communication of his party for the inability to counter BJP’s campaign that UPA is a tainted government. This comes in the heels of strong rumours that Congress is about to completely revamp its organisation after the elections are over.

Very significantly, Biju Janata Dal Supremo Naveen Pattanaik has decided to keep his options open regarding possible post poll options. He on Sunday refused to comment on the issue of joining third front saying that it is too early to speculate about it.

JDU leader Sharad Yadav after his brief tirade against Bihar C.M Nitish Kumar has fallen in line. He has used the oldest trick in the book to blame media for misinterpreting his statements. Earlier Sharad had accused Nitish of playing divisive caste politics fuelling speculations of possible split in JDU.

Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley today completely lampooned the idea of any third front government. He said that the choice for the nation is clear. They have to choose between NDA and chaos, according to Jaitley. He blasted the Left parties for pinning for an indecisive mandate.

Finally the political blame game may be far from over regarding massacre in Assam but uneasy peace prevailed today in the worst affected areas of Baska and Kokrajhar. On Thursday and Friday, suspected Boro militants had gunned down 32 innocent civilians as fallout of ethnic clashes.

The relatives of the victims, who had refused to perform the last rites till Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi visits to Nankekhadrabari area, buried the dead, following assurance from a representative of the state government.

Police today killed two suspected militant and nabbed 8 forest guards for their alleged role in the brutal killing of hapless citizens. Police clashed with those militants in a dense forest near Tejpur and finally managed to kill couple of them, while others fled.

These were the major news from today. We will be back with more soon….

Related Information:

Asansol Election Result
Kokrajhar Election Result
Pratapgarh Election Result
Azamgarh Election Result
Amethi Election Result
West Bengal Election Results
Uttar Pradesh Election Result
Gujarat Election Result
Election Results