Modi calls Cong ‘high-handed’, rakes up Sabarimala issue

Kanyakumari (TN), April 2

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called the Congress ‘high-handed’, saying it lacked an understanding of local sensibilities and asserted that his government did not see people’s caste or faith before serving them.

In Tamil Nadu, the situation was such that senior DMK leaders who worked shoulder to shoulder with late party patriarch ‘Kalaignar’ (M Karunanidhi) were feeling suffocated due to ‘the newly minted crown prince’ of the party (DMK youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin), he said, addressing a poll meeting here, adding that ‘politics did not work this way’.

“The Congress invoked Article 356 several times and both DMK and AIADMK governments in Tamil Nadu have been dismissed by that party in the past,” he said. In Kerala, the PM attacked the Left government for its action against Ayyappa devotees during Sabarimala protests, saying they tried to “destabilise” sacred places and that devotees were not criminals. The Ayyappa devotees, who should have been welcomed with flowers, were lathi-charged, Modi said bringing up the Sabarimala women entry issue at an election rally at Konni in Pathnamthitta district, near the famous Lord Ayyappa shrine. The state had witnessed violent protests after the LDF government decided to implement the 2018 SC verdict allowing women of all ages to offer prayers at the shrine. — PTI

BJP seeks EC action against Mamata for ‘violating’ poll norms

• A BJP delegation on Friday met Election Commission officials here and demanded action against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, alleging she violated elections norms in Nandigram while votes were being cast on Thursday.
• “For the first time in the country’s history, a CM sat on a dharna in a polling booth when polling was on. Before she sat on her dharna, 74% votes were polled in Nandigram and the polling was by and large peaceful,” Union minister Prakash Javadekar said. PTI

BJP’s Himanta barred from campaigning

• The EC has issued an order debarring BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma from campaigning for the next 48 hours over his “threatening remarks” against Opposition leader Hagrama Mohilary of the BPF.
• The complaint against Sarma was lodged with the poll panel by the Congress, the BPF’s ally in Assam. Sarma denied the allegation, but the EC was “not satisfied with his reply”.