Bhopal, April 30 (IANS) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that his party and the INDIA bloc are making every effort to save the Constitution while the BJP, PM Narendra Modi and the RSS are bent on destroying it.

“Today there is a fight between two ideologies in the country. On one side is the Congress Party and the INDIA bloc, which are engaged in saving the Constitution. On the other side are Narendra Modi and RSS, who are trying to destroy the Constitution. Whatever you have got is from this Constitution, but BJP wants that the Constitution book be thrown away and the country be run by 20-25 people,” he said while addressing a public rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind.

“BJP leaders have said that if they win the elections, the Constitution will be changed. But I want to tell you — the Constitution is the soul of the poor, no power can erase it,” he added.

The Congress MP also alleged that the BJP government privatised public sector companies in order to end reservation.

“If the BJP is not against reservation, then why have all the public sectors been privatised by PM Modi’s government,” he questioned.

Congress has fielded Phool Singh Baraiya from Bhind Lok Sabha seat which the BJP has retained since 1989.

The election in Bhind along with six other Lok Sabha seats including Guna, Morena Bhopal and Vidisha will be held in the third phase on May 7.

–IANS

pd/as/uk

Kolhapur (Maharashtra), April 30 (IANS) Situated in the progressive farming heartland, Hatkanangale Lok Sabha constituency in Kolhapur District of the erstwhile Chhatrapati royal kingdom, has undergone three avatars as a parliamentary seat and will now witness a fierce four-cornered contest.

In the fray are the ruling Mahayuti-Shiv Sena sitting MP Dhairyasheel S. Mane, the Maha Vikas Aghadi-Shiv Sena (MVA-UBT)’s Satyajeet Patil-Sarudkar, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA)’s Dadgonda C Patil and the two-term veteran Swabhimani Paksha’s Raju Shetti, a prominent farmers’ leader.

Shetti was the first MP elected in 2009 after the newly-carved Hatkanangale constituency came into being, and later he also pushed back the first BJP-wave of 2014 to sail through.

However, in 2019, the VBA entered the scene and the (undivided) Shiv Sena nominee easily won it, while ruining the prospects of Shetti.

At present, riding high on his credentials as a farmers’ messiah, Shetti is hoping for his third innings from Hatkanangale in 2024.

Keen to get the Opposition MVA’s nomination or at least outside backing, he held negotiations with its leaders but there were serious differences on the poll symbol, after which he decided to go solo.

The current MP Mane shrugs off all competition and is preparing to win on the basis of the Mahayuti’s Shiv Sena-BJP-NCP combined strength, and the farmer-friendly policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi which have boosted rural development.

Despite flexing the huge peasantry support base he commands, Shetti has willy-nilly admitted that the 2024 Lok Sabha battle won’t exactly be a cakewalk as the poll plank of all four rivals is common.

However, he feels that his own record as a two-time MP is a big plus, aided by the simmering anger in the farming community of Maharashtra and rest of India.

SS(UBT) leader Patil-Sarudkar’s nomination came after Shetti’s talks with the Uddhav Thackeray-led party failed and there was no response even from the other MVA allies Congress-NCP(SP) offering him support. As far as the VBA’s Patil is concerned, this time the party is not in alliance with the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and is likely to be relegated to the sidelines causing little or no damage to the other three contenders, local leaders opine.

The predominantly rural constituency with a royal past was first established in 1962 as Ichalkaranji, later dissolved in 1977, and again sliced out in 2008 as the present day Hatkanangale.

The seat has six Assembly segments of which one, the Jan Surajya Shakti is supporting the ruling Mahayuti, one is with the Congress, two with NCP(SP) and two have elected Independents.

They are Shahuwadi (JSS MLA Vinay Kore); Hatkanangale-SC (Congress MLA Raju Awale); Islampur (NCP-SP state President and MLA Jayant Patil); Shirala (NCP-SP MLA Mansingh F Naik); and Independents in Shirol (MLA Rajendra Patil) and Ichalkaranji (MLA Prakash Awade).

The Kolhapur region is famed for its chief attraction, the Mahalakshmi Temple and one of the 18 MahaShakti Peethas in India, a reputed garment and uniforms hubs in the country, several forts, lakes and gardens.

–IANS

qn/rad

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in)

Kolkata, April 30 (IANS) BJP’s candidate from Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency Rekha Patra, who led the women’s protest in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali against a section of local Trinamool Congress activists over alleged sexual harassments, was manhandled on Tuesday.

The incident occurred when she went to Kharivanga area to meet local BJP activist Kalidas Bachar, who got injured on Monday allegedly following clashes between Trinamool Congress and BJP activists there.

As Rekha Patra reached the spot accompanied by local BJP leader Archana Majumdar and her security personnel, eyewitnesses said, a group of Trinamool Congress activists started protesting and shouting slogans against her.

This led to a scuffle between the Trinamool Congress and BJP activists. The ruling party activists, who included some women, also tried to attack Rekha Patra and Archana Majumdar with sticks. The BJP leadership claimed that the candidate and the party leader were injured.

“The attack was unprovoked. The police were there. But they remain mute spectators. Both me and Rekha were hit,” Archana Majumdar told media persons.

“Are they human beings? Trinamool Congress is trying to instigate violence in the area in such a manner,” said Rekha Patra.

However, the local Trinamool Congress leaders claimed that the scuffle was the result of the spontaneous protest by the local villagers and women against attempts by Rekha Patra to “create tension” in the areas.

The ruling party leadership claimed that on Monday, Kalidas Bachar and his associates “created tension” in the area by launching an “unprovoked attack” on the Trinamool Congress workers, and on Tuesday, Rekha Patra came to “aggravate the tension” further.

The Union government has given Rekha Patra Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) security cover. Besides Rekha Patra, five other BJP candidates — Pranat Tudu from Jhargram, Nirmal Saha from Baharampur, Ashok Kandari from Jaynagar, Ashok Purkit from Mathurapur and Kartik Paul from Raiganj — have also been given the CAPF security.

–IANS

src/svn

Panaji, April 30 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to address a public meeting in Goa on May 3.

BJP’s Goa unit president Sadanand Tanavade, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, said that Amit Shah will address the meeting at Mapusa in North Goa.

“We have received good support during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting last Saturday. We are expecting support from the public for Amit Shah’s meeting on May 3 at Mapusa,” Tanavade said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Union Minister Shripad Naik from North Goa and industrialist Pallavi Dempo from South Goa.

The coastal state will go to the polls on May 7, in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections.

–IANS

sbk/dpb

New Delhi, April 30 (IANS) Around 16 leaders, including Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, in seven states have been summoned by Delhi Police in connection with a doctored video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, where his statement indicating a commitment to abolishing reservation quotas for Muslims in Telangana, was changed to make it seem that he was advocating scrapping of all reservations, sources said on Tuesday.

The Special Cell has also sent police teams to Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh as a part of an ongoing probe into the matter.

Earlier, on Monday, Reddy along with four Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) members — Shiva Kumar Ambala, Asma Tasleem, Satish Manne, and Naveen Pettem were summoned to appear before police on May 1.

According to sources, one Samajwadi Party Lok Sabha candidate in Uttar Pradesh, and two Congress leaders in Rajasthan and Nagaland have also been asked to appear before police with their mobile phones.

This comes after Delhi Police on Sunday registered an FIR after two complaints were received by police, one from the BJP and another from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Following this, the Delhi Police Special Cell Cyber Wing’s IFSO unit filed an FIR.

A case has been registered under Sections 153, 153A, 465, 469, and 171G of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 66C of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

According to the FIR, a copy of which is in possession of IANS, the MHA, in its complaint, stated that it has been found that “some doctored videos are being circulated by users of Facebook and Twitter”.

“The video seems to be doctored, spreading misleading information with the intention of creating disharmony among communities which is likely to affect public tranquillity and public order issues. It is requested to kindly take necessary legal action as per the provisions of law,” the ministry said, as per the FIR.

It also stated that a report was attached with the complaint containing details of links and handles from which the doctored videos of the Home Minister are being shared.

The controversy erupted after a video surfaced on social media purportedly showcasing Home Minister Amit Shah making statements suggesting the BJP’s intention to annul reservation provisions for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

–IANS

ssh/dpb