THE HEADLINES:-
- Senior BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a rally at Nawada in Bihar today; To also start BJP’s campaign for Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh with a roadshow in Jabalpur.
- NIA arrests two prime suspects from Bhupatinagar in East Medinipur district of West Bengal in connection with 2022 blast case.
- Indian Coast Guard rescues nine fishermen off Andhra Pradesh coast in Bay of Bengal.
- IMD issues orange alert for rain in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Odisha today.
- In IPL Cricket, Rajasthan Royals beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 6 wickets in Jaipur.
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Senior BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold an election rally in Nawada in Bihar today. The Prime Minister will address a public meeting around 11 am supporting the NDA candidate. Along with BJP leaders, members of other constituent parties of NDA will also attend the rally.
This is the second election rally of the Prime Minister within a week. Earlier on the 4th of April, Mr. Modi had launched the Lok Sabha election campaign of NDA in the State from Jamui constituency. From the Nawada parliamentary constituency, BJP has fielded Vivek Thakur, who is the son of senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Dr. C P Thakur. Elaborate security arrangements have been made in view of Mr. Modi’s programme in Nawada.
Polling will be held on the 19th of April in the Nawada Lok Sabha segment along with Gaya, Aurangabad and Jamui under the first phase of parliamentary elections.
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Senior BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will start BJP’s campaign for Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh today with a roadshow in Jabalpur.
“Senior BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will start his election campaign in Madhya Pradesh from today. Mr. Modi will lead a roadshow for about an hour from Bhagat Singh Chowk to Shankaracharya Chowk in Jabalpur at 6 pm. At the same time, the convener of BJP’s new joining team Narottam Mishra has claimed that 1.25 lakh people have joined BJP in one day on BJP’s foundation day. Among these, the highest number is of leaders coming from Congress. Meanwhile, with the announcement of the remaining three candidates for Morena, Gwalior and Khandwa by the Congress, the contest in Madhya Pradesh has become clear, while there is confusion in Khajuraho seat due to the rejection of the nomination of Samajwadi Party candidate. The campaign for the first and second phase of voting has also intensified in Madhya Pradesh. Sanjeev Sharma, AKASHVANI NEWS, Bhopal.”
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Senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah has hit out at Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge over his remarks on Jammu and Kashmir at a rally in Jaipur. In a social media post, Mr Shah said that it is shameful to hear that the Congress party is asking, what is the relation with Kashmir. Mr Shah said that he would like to remind the Congress party that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India, and every state and citizen has the right over J&K, just as the people of J&K have the right over the rest of India. He said, the Congress does not know that many brave sons of Rajasthan have sacrificed their lives for peace and security in Kashmir. He said, such statements hurt every patriotic citizen who cares for the unity and integrity of the nation.
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BJP National President J P Nadda held a roadshow at Kozhikode in Kerala, yesterday, in support of MT Ramesh, the party candidate in the Kozhikode Parliamentary constituency.
Addressing party workers at the end of the roadshow, he said during the past ten years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took care of all sections of the society, including youth, women, farmers and other marginalised sections.
Mr Nadda observed that the Opposition ranks are bereft of leaders as they are either in jail or on bail. Stating that both UDF and LDF in Kerala are two sides of the same coin, he alleged that both are interested only in corruption. The BJP leader observed that “Lootocracy” prevails in the State, and added that although the two fronts fight each other locally, their joining hands at the national level smacked of hypocrisy and ideological confusion.
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The Congress Party kicked off its General Election campaign from Telangana with a public meeting titled “Jana Jatara,” at Thukkuguda, Ranga Reddy district 40 kilometres from the State capital Hyderabad last evening. Addressing a public gathering after unveiling the party’s election manifesto in Telugu, Rahul Gandhi asserted the Congress party’s commitment to its promises made during assembly elections in Telangana. Rahul Gandhi pledged to fulfill them. Highlighting job creation efforts, Rahul Gandhi mentioned that the Congress government in Telangana has already facilitated 30,000 jobs, with plans for further employment opportunities. He outlined initiatives to provide training and a stipend of one lakh rupees per year to unemployed individuals across various sectors. He promised financial support to working women and advocated for a caste census in the country, He addressed issues of farmer suicides and assured minimum support prices (MSP) for crops, as recommended by Dr Swaminathan.
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Voting through postal ballots has started for the personnel engaged in Lok Sabha election duty in Rajasthan. Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said that 3 lakh 76 thousand officers and employees engaged in Lok Sabha duty have been facilitated to vote through postal ballots. Yesterday, 20 thousand 751 personnel used their franchise on the first day at the facilitation centres set up in all the districts. Meanwhile, election campaigning has now intensified in the State.
“Political heat has also started rising along with the increasing temperature in the state. Congress and BJP have now fielded their senior leaders for the election campaign. Union Defense Minister and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh will address public meetings in Kolayat in Bikaner state and Pilani in Jhunjhunu district today. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will hold public meetings in favour of BJP candidates in three Lok Sabha constituencies. On behalf of Congress, former Chief Minister of the state Ashok Gehlot and State President Govind Singh Dotasara will address public meetings in favour of party candidates at various places. Jitendra Dwivedi, Akashwani News, Jaipur.”
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In our series of profiling key constituencies, today we will talk about the Mandla parliamentary constituency of Madhya Pradesh. Voting will be held in the first phase in Mandla on the 19th of April.
“In Madhya Pradesh, tribal-dominated Mandla seat is reserved for the Scheduled Tribe. The key feature of Mandla parliamentary seat is that the women voters outnumbered the male voters. Mandla constituency is consisting of eight assembly seats situated in four districts. In Mandla Lok Sabha constituency, there are a total of 20 lakh 97 thousand 51 voters in which the number of male voters is 10 lakh 48 thousand 96 while the number of female voters is 10 lakh 48 thousand 930. There are also 25 voters of third gender in this seat. 14 candidates are in the fray from Mandla seat. Union Minister for State for Rural Development and Steel, Faggan Singh Kulaste is the candidate from BJP. Congress has given ticket to Kamal Singh Maravi. Being a tribal-dominated seat, apart from the Gondwana Ganatantra Party, Bharatiya Adivasi Party and BSP, seven independent candidates are also in the fray. In the last Lok Sabha elections, Shri Kulaste had won by a margin of around one lakh votes. Mandla’s seat will be voted in the first phase on April 19th. Sanjeev Sharma, Akashvani News, Bhopal.”
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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested two prime suspects from Bhupatinagar in East Medinipur district of West Bengal in connection with a 2022 blast case. The NIA said that in a breakthrough in the Bhupatinagar blast case, two key conspirators — Balai Charan Maity and Manobrata Jana — have been arrested after extensive searches at five locations. Three persons had been killed in the blast on December 3rd, 2022.
The NIA team that went to arrest the prime accused was attacked by a mob in Bhupatinagar yesterday. The NIA said, one of its officers was injured and a vehicle was damaged in the attack. Governor CV Ananda Bose said, the matter should be treated with all seriousness that it deserves and sought a “factual report” from the state government on it. The opposition BJP alleged that it was a “state-sponsored” attack, and accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of inciting violence.
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Indian Coast Guard ship ICGS Veera has rescued nine fishermen off Andhra Pradesh coast in Bay of Bengal. These fishermen had suffered severe burns injury after their boat caught fire and sank at sea. The Ministry of Defence said that sensing the urgency of the situation, ICGS Veera reached the location within a few hours to provide assistance to the survivors. It added, all nine survivors were shifted to ICG ship where they were provided first aid by a medical team. Later, all the injured fishermen were shifted to King George Hospital, Visakhapatnam for further treatment. Due to the swift response by the ICG ship, the entire rescue mission was completed within a short span of six hours. The Indian Coast Guard is the lead agency for providing assistance to fishermen at sea as well as the national coordinating agency for Search and Rescue at Sea.
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The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued orange alert for rain in parts of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Odisha today. The IMD has forecast moderate rainfall with isolated thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds over various parts of the nation. In North East India, these conditions will prevail during the next six days with gusty winds of upto 50 kilometers per hour speed. In East India, these conditions will be present over Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Bihar till tomorrow. In West and South India, the same weather conditions will continue over Andhra Pradesh today, over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Telangana tomorrow, and over Maharashtra and Kerala till the 12th of this month. In North India, light rainfall and snowfall will occur over Uttarakhand during the next 6 days. The IMD has also predicted hailstorm over Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh today.
Meanwhile, the IMD has predicted heatwave conditions across parts of east and peninsular India today and tomorrow. Heatwave will prevail over parts of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana today. The IMD added that hot and humid weather will continue over Karnataka and Goa today, and over Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry and Kerala till the 10th of this month.
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In IPL Cricket, Rajasthan Royals defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 6 wickets at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur last night. Chasing a victory target of 184 runs, Rajasthan Royals made 189 for 4 in 19.1 overs. For Rajasthan Royals, Jos Buttler made unbeaten 100 runs and was declared Player of the Match. Sanju Samson also made valuable 69 runs. For Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Reece Topley took two wickets while Yash Dayal and Mohammed Siraj claimed a wicket each.
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NOW, FOR A LOOK AT TODAY’S NEWSPAPERS
- A day after 2 militants were killed while attempting to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Army has alleged that Pakistan wants to destabilise the Union Territory ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, writes The Asian Age.
- The latest feat of the Border Roads Organisation in Ladakh – an all-weather road connecting Himachal Pradesh and Leh – has added significantly to India’s strategic depth in the hostile border neighbourhood, writes The Hindu.
- ‘Three more Maoists killed by security forces in Chhattisgarh’ reads the top headline in Hindustan Times. The total number of insurgents killed this year is 50, writes the paper.
- 17 Indians forced into cyber fraud in Laos have been rescued, reports The Tribune.
- As Microsoft warned India about China’s alleged plan to create AI-generated content to benefit its interests during Lok Sabha elections, the Centre has warned global digital companies to fix their platforms, writes The Statesman.
- And finally, CBI has busted an infant traffickers gang operating out of Delhi, arresting 7 people and rescuing 3 children, reports The Pioneer.
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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN.
- Senior BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a rally at Nawada in Bihar today; To also start BJP’s campaign for Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh with a roadshow in Jabalpur.
- NIA arrests two prime suspects from Bhupatinagar in East Medinipur district of West Bengal in connection with 2022 blast case.
- Indian Coast Guard rescues nine fishermen off Andhra Pradesh coast in Bay of Bengal.
- IMD issues orange alert for rain in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Odisha today.
- In IPL Cricket, Rajasthan Royals beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 6 wickets in Jaipur.
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