NEWS

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, on Friday said his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee having been forced to chant Vedic hymns and Hindu mantras during poll rallies, is an "ideological" victory for the BJP. This, he said, will culminate into electoral win for the party soon.

Speaking at the at conclave organised by a media group, Adityanath said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has "dissociated" himself from Uttar Pradesh after people of Amethi rejected him in the Lok Sabha polls, therefore, he is clueless about how the state has transformed in the past four years.

Responding to several contentious questions including the recent remarks of Uttarakhand chief minister, Tirath Singh Rawat about ripped jeans and incident with nuns in Jhansi, Yogi said a section of so called "intellectuals" have different yardsticks as his ability as a leader was also questioned only for the fact that he wears a saffron rob.

After winning Tripura in 2018, the BJP central leadership set its next target—Kerala, the last Left bastion in the country. The Left lost West Bengal in 2011 after the mass killings at Nandigram and has since not been able to reposition itself against the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government or the fast-infiltrating BJP in the state where it had ruled for over 34 years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah chartered Operation Kerala with great confidence after the Left fell in Tripura. The BJP won 36 seats out of a 60-member assembly and increased its vote share from less than 1.5 per cent to 43.59 per cent within five years.

The BJP leadership worked out strategies, identified key players, monitored developing situations and tracked each and every person working in chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan's government using multi-level agencies, including the intelligence bureau and Income Tax department. The task force at the Centre scanned the IT returns filed by not only key persons in government and the CPI(M) party leadership, but their family members. Such massive surveillance had never been carried out in the past.

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar will hold a meeting with officials from district administration and Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Friday, to review the Covid situation in Pune.

With the number of new Covid cases refusing to slow down, Pawar will interact with officials, along with public representatives, to take a call on additional curbs in the city and rural parts of the district.

Pawar, who is also guardian minister of Pune district, along with health minister Rajesh Tope, on Thursday evening, met chief minister Uddhav Thackeray at his official residence “Varsha”, to discuss the situation in Pune and other parts of Maharashtra, and possible curbs.

The Congress on Thursday backed Delhi's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government that's protesting the passage of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill 2021 (commonly known as NCT Bill) in Parliament and slammed the BJP for trying to 'snatch power' in Delhi

The Delhi Congress said the BJP was trying to "enter Delhi from the backdoor" and attempting to snatch power from the elected government.

"Although they (AAP) are our political opponents, they are an elected government and we stand for the electoral process which gives them the right to govern the city," said Delhi Congress vice president Abhishek Dutt.