Digvijay calls youth on stage, he praises Modi

POLL BUZZ

BHOPAL: Congress LS candidate Digvijay Singh faced embarrassment at a rally here on Monday when a youth he had called up on the dais started praising PM Narendra Modi over surgical strikes. Singh, addressing a rally in Berasia here, was lashing out at Modi and asked people who all had got Rs 15 lakh in their accounts. The youth raised his hand and when called on the dais,  he started praising the PM over surgical strike, leading to peals of laughter among the crowd, but leaving Congress leaders present at the event red-faced. “Surgical strike kar diya Modiji ne. Atankvadiyo ko mara (Modi conducted surgical strike, killed terrorists),” the youth said on the stage. PTI

Woman ‘blackmails’ minister Mahesh Sharma, arrested 

Noida (UP): A woman was arrested here on Monday for allegedly demanding Rs 2 crore from Union Minister Mahesh Sharma after threatening to make public an “objectionable” video from a pre-election meeting of the BJP leader. The woman is allegedly part of a gang helmed by a man who ran a local news channel that was shut down after demonetisation, the police said. “The woman reached Kailash Hospital, run by Sharma, on Monday with a letter from her boss. She sought Rs 45 lakh of the Rs 2 crore in cash, immediately after which Sharma alerted police,” the police said. PTI

POLL NOTES

249 candidates in fray for 25 LS seats in Rajasthan 

Jaipur: A total of 249 candidates are in the fray for the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan. The elections in the state will be held in two phases. Monday was the last day to withdraw names for the second phase of the elections. According to the Chief Electoral Officer, Anand Kumar, 249 candidates are in the fray.  Voting for 13 seats in the state will be on April 29, while the remaining 12 seats will go to polls on May 6. For the second election phase in the state, 173 have filed nominations, out of which papers of 153 candidates were accepted after scrutiny. Of these, 19 withdrew their names, leaving 134  in the fray.  PTI  

Shah Rukh Khan raps to encourage people to vote 

Mumbai: “Fantastic effort,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday after actor Shah Rukh Khan released a rap video urging fans to exercise their democratic right in the Lok Sabha elections in response to his appeal to celebrities to increase voting awareness.  In the 1.06 minute video, titled “Karo Matdan: It’s Time to Vote”, Shah Rukh is seen-and heard-telling people their vote is the lifeblood of democracy.  The video comes almost a month after Modi tagged a number of influential people on Twitter.  Sharing the video on Twitter, the actor explained he wanted to do something creative, hence the delay. PTI

POLL PUNCH

‘BJP drawing a wedge’

The BJP is trying to create a communal divide because that’s the only card they have left. Pragya joined the BJP a day before (her nomination as BJP’s Bhopal candidate) and she has no record of any political or public service and they put her there. Isn’t it obvious why they put her there? Kamal Nath, MP CM 

‘Army forced China back’

But you have seen how strongly the government has acted under Modiji’s leadership. Doklam is an example before you… to enter and after a two-month stand-off, (China) was forced to move back Yogi Adityanath, UP CM

‘Modi irresponsible’

Shri Modi has been irresponsible and callous in going to the extent of calling for use of nuclear weapons Sitaram Yechury, CPM General Secretary

‘Azam, son alike’

I used to see him (Azam’s son) as my son. I had not expected this from him. It shows how father and son regard a woman in society. His father called me Anarkali and now he has made the same comment Jaya Prada, BJP Candidate