Narendra Modi to be PM again as BJP heads towards landslide

Agencies
May 23, 2019

New Delhi, May 23: Narendra Modi will be India’s prime minister again after his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looked set for a landslide win on Thursday in the world’s biggest general election.

With all 542 seats reporting, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance was ahead in 331 seats, a near-repeat of its remarkable 2014 win, and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was ahead in 106.

Exit polls released last week pointed to a large victory for the BJP, which would enable them to create history with back-to-back clear mandates.

After an early scare, Congress president Rahul Gandhi was leading his main rival Smriti Irani in the Gandhi family bastion of Amethi, though the BJP looked to confound all expectations by repeating their 2014 landslide in India’s most populous state. Rahul was leading in his second seat, Wayanad in Kerala.

Elections were held to 542 seats, with the poll in Vellore constituency cancelled. A simple majority is 272 seats.

Stock markets cheered the verdict, with the Bombay Sensex climbing 2.6% or 1,000 points, breaching the 40,000 mark for the first time in history.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, seen as a key member of any opposition formation that could counter Modi, was getting wiped out in his own state, where assembly elections were held. He was trailing by eight seats to 167 against Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP party. In the Lok Sabha elections in his state, Naidu was trailing 2-23 against Reddy.

In Karnataka, the BJP was heading for a near-sweep, ahead in 25 seats out of 28. This could threaten the survival of the JD(S)- Congress coalition in the state.

In Bengal, the BJP looked set to make history, overtaking the Trinamool party of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

At the Centre, the BJP’s campaign has been centred around Modi, who managed to make this a presidential-type election.

Congress created a minor flutter with a well-thought-out manifesto but soon lost its way in the face of an aggressive and sometimes cynical campaign by the BJP that fully exploited the leniency of the Election Commission. The BJP is also likely to have gained from retaliatory air strikes against Pakistan after a terror attack in Kashmir, and a strong showing on the infrastructure front.

Like him or loathe him, Modi is seen as a strong and decisive leader, and voters may have leant towards a clear and stable choice versus the possible chaos that could follow an opposition victory, with many claimants for the top job.

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News Network
April 30,2024

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Bengaluru, Apr 30: In a horrific incident, a quarrel between a 60-year-old woman and her 19-year-old daughter ended in the murder of the latter, after they both stabbed each other. The incident took place in Shastri Nagar in Banashankari police station limits in Bengaluru, on Monday evening.

The deceased has been identified as Sahitya, who had completed PUC this year. Her mother, who has sustained stab injuries, has been hospitalised. Police said the incident occurred around 7.30 pm, when a fight broke out between the mother and daughter at their house.

They both allegedly picked up knives and started stabbing each other. While the mother stabbed the daughter thrice in the neck and stomach, the daughter stabbed her mother four times. Hearing the commotion, the neighbours rushed to their house and alerted the police on seeing both of them lying in a pool of blood.

The police, who rushed to the scene, shifted both women to hospital, where Sahitya was declared brought dead. The mother, whose name was not revealed, is undergoing treatment. 

“As per the initial probe, only the two were living in the house. The reasons for the incident will be known only after the mother recovers and we record her statement,” the police said. The Banashankari police have registered a murder case and are further investigating.

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News Network
May 2,2024

Bengaluru, May 2: Prajwal Revanna, grandson of former Prime Minister Deve Gowda, was issued fresh summons on Thursday by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) which is investigating the case of obscene videos involving the former JD(S) member, several news outlets reported.

The SIT also junked his appeal which sought seven days time to join the probe, as per these reports.

Prajwal and his father, H D Revanna, have sexual harassment and stalking cases filed against them over the matter. Gowda's son, H D Revanna, however, said that what took place '4-5 years ago' is now being turned into a legal case.

JD(S) in its core committee meeting suspended Prajwal from the party till the end of the probe. Prajwal, meanwhile, took to X to state he would join the probe in seven days time, asserting 'truth will prevail'.

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News Network
April 23,2024

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The genocidal Israeli war on the Gaza Strip has entered its 200th day, with occupation forces killing more Palestinians in defiance of widespread international outcry to end the carnage.

The aggression marked its 200th day on Tuesday with no end in sight to the Israeli war that has so far killed a shocking number of Palestinians and led to a humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Israeli forces have committed three "massacres" over the past 24 hours, killing at least 32 Palestinians and wounding 59 others.

The numbers, it added, bring the Palestinian death toll to more than 34,183, with at least 77,143 injured and an estimated 7,000 missing and presumed dead since early October.

More than 14,500 children and 9,500 women are among those killed, making up over 70 percent of the victims, according to health officials.

Israel waged its brutal US-backed war on the Gaza Strip on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Israel has been carrying out war crimes in Gaza by deliberately starving people and forcing their evacuation, as well as targeting hospitals and schools sheltering displaced Palestinians.

Despite all these atrocities, the regime has failed to achieve its declared objectives of “destroying Hamas” and finding Israeli captives held in Gaza.

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