Puneeth Rajkumar to be conferred Karnataka Ratna posthumously on 'Rajyotsava'

Amravati (Maharashtra): Amravati MLA Ravi Rana has claimed Shiv Sena (UBT) head and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray will join the Modi government in 15 days after the Lok Sabha election results come out on Tuesday.

Ravi Rana's wife Navneet Rana, the sitting MP from Amravati, contested the Lok Sabha poll from the seat this time on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's ticket.

In 2019, Navneet Rana won the Lok Sabha poll from Amravati as an independent candidate.

Speaking to reporters here on Sunday, the MLA from Badnera in Amravati district said he knows the way Uddhav Thackeray and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut have been speaking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"I can confidently say that 15 days after Modi ji becomes the prime minister again, Uddhav Thackeray will be seen in the Modi government and with Modi ji, because the coming era is of Modi ji and Uddhav Thackeray knows it," Ravi Rana claimed.

Leaders of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the state should keep blood pressure medicines and doctors with them as many of them will fall sick on June 4, the day of vote counting, the Yuva Swabhiman Party MLA said.

The MVA comprises the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP). The legislator expressed confidence that his wife Navneet Rana will win the Amravati Lok Sabha seat by a margin of more than two lakh votes.

Navneet Rana will become MP again as all sections of the society have voted for her in large numbers, he added.

In Amravati, Navneet Rana was pitted against Congress MLA Balwant Wankhede and Dinesh Bub of the Prahar Janshakti Party.

The Rana couple had taken on the MVA government over the recitation of Hanuman Chalisa in April 2022 when Uddhav Thackeray was the chief minister.

Mangaluru: The Bharatiya Janata Party has retained Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency for the ninth consecutive term with Capt Brijesh Chowta winning the segment by a margin of 1,49,208 votes.

Capt Brijesh Chowta secured 7,64,132 (53.97%) votes and Congress candidate Padmaraj R Poojary secured 6,14,924 (43.43%) votes. Captain Brijesh Chowta was leading with 8,514 votes in the first round of counting and maintained the lead in all the rounds of counting.

The vote share of other candidates are Kanthappa Alangar (Bahujan Samaj Party 4232 votes (0.3%), Durga Prasad (Karunada Sevakara Paksha 2592 (0.18%), independent candidates Supreeth Kumar Poojary Kateel (1901 votes( 0.13%), Maxim Pinto (1690 votes (0.12%), Deepak Rajesh Coelho (976 votes 0.07%), Prajakeeya Manohara (Uttama Prajaakeeya Party 971 (0.07%) and Ranjini M (Karnataka Rashtra Samithi 776 (0.05%).

Speaking after the victory, Capt Brijesh Chowta said "this is the victory of party workers and Hindutva."

Reiterating his commitment to Hindutva and development, he said “I will work for the comprehensive development of the district. Dakshina Kannada is the land of truth, faith,  and justice. “I consider this as a victory of faith, truth and justice. I will seek  the guidance of party leaders and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the development of the district.

The results has proved that DK is a strong forte of the BJP. “We were more cautious as the Congress and SDPI had come together in the election. It has also proved that the people of the district support development and do not support those engage in dividing the minds.

“I will work towards the nine focus areas that I had mentioned it in my manifesto —Nava yuga nava patha. I will work towards fulfilling the aspirations and dreams of the people in the district,” he added.

To a query on election on the basis of castes, he said “BJP did not seek vote on the basis of caste. We had discussed on Hindutva, social justice, poverty and uplifting the poor. We faced the election on the basis of nationalism,” he clarified.

On decline in the margin, he said," Congress and SDPI had worked together in the election. The party will introspect on the reason for decline in the margin.” Thanking the BJP workers, he said amid scorching sun the party workers have worked for the victory of the BJP.

DK district BJP president Sathish Kumpala said that the party workers and leaders had joined hands and worked continuously during the election campaign.

“The enlightened voters of Dakshina Kannada have given a major contribution to the party by electing our candidate again. As the district president of the party, I extend my sincere thank to all voters as well as party workers. We have a major challenge ahead as an organization. The newly elected MP will work for strengthening the party and also take up development works for the district.”

Inspite of SDPI, CPM, Congress coming together, the voters have given us clear mandate, he said.

The BJP has been winning the DK constituency since 1991. After 1991, the constituency was retained by the BJP with Dhananjay Kumar winning four consecutive terms in 1991, 1996, 1998 and 1999. Later, DV Sadananda Gowda won in 2004 and Nalin Kumar Kateel won hat trick from 2008 till 2019.

In the 2019 election, the vote share of Nalin Kumar Kateel stood at 57.57 per cent (7,74,285 votes) and Mithun Rai of Congress secured 4,99,664 votes (37.15 per cent). In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the BJP’s vote share stood at 53.23 against 41.33 per cent of the Congress. In 2009 election, it was 49.16 per cent for BJP against 45.18 per cent of the Congress.

Capt Chowta managed bag a huge share of postal ballots . Out of 8,773 postal ballots in the constituency, Capt Chowta secured 4,002 votes while 2,821 votes were polled in favour of Poojary. Meanwhile, 1,741 postal ballots were rejected in the constituency.

Chandigarh: Newly-elected BJP MP Kangana Ranaut on Thursday was allegedly assaulted by a woman constable of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the Mohali airport when she was on her way to Delhi, officials said.

The constable has been suspended and an FIR has been lodged against her, they said.

The CISF constable allegedly assaulted Kangana while frisking her at the airport before she boarded her flight.

The Bollywood actor was elected to Lok Sabha from Mandi Constituency in Himachal Pradesh where she defeated her nearest Congress rival by over 74,000 votes.

Speaking on the incident, Kangana said that she is "safe" and alleged that there is rise in "terror and violence" in Punjab.

In the video posted on X, Kangana said, "I am getting lot of calls from my wellwishers and media... I just want to say that I am safe."

"The incident took place while I was going through security check at Chandigarh airport. While leaving, there was a lady in other cabin who was security personnel of CISF. She waited for me to cross her, then came and hit me on the side of my face and started abusing me. When I asked her why is she doing this, she said that she supports farmers' protest," Kangana said in the video.

"I am safe but my only concern is that how do we handle the rising violence and terrorism in Punjab," she asked. 

Detained

CISF constable Kulwinder Kaur posted at Chandigarh airport was immediately detained and held in the commandant office at the airport while the police started recording her statements to file an FIR.

Kulwinder Kaur was reportedly angry with actor Kangana for her derogatory remarks made on the farmers protest.

In 2021, an FIR was filed against Kangana after she referred to farmers' protests (Kisan Morcha) as a Khalistani movement and the Sikh community as Khalistani terrorists.

"Khalistani terrorists may be arm twisting the government today... But let's not forget one woman... The only woman prime minister ne inn ko apni jooti ke neeche crush kiya tha (the only woman PM who crushed them under her shoes). No matter how much suffering she caused to this nation... she crushed them like mosquitoes at the cost of her own life... Lekin desh k tukde nahi hone diye (but she did not let the nation get divided)," Kangana posed on her Instagram story.