The roadshows of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi today, the last day of the campaigning for Gujarat polls, stood cancelled after the Ahmedabad Police denied permission for the events. (PTI)
Ahmedabad Police deny nod to roadshows of PM Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi today
The roadshows of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi today, the last day of the campaigning for Gujarat polls, stood cancelled after the Ahmedabad Police denied permission for the events. The police cited congested roads and communally sensitive areas that fall enroute as the reason. The move comes in the backdrop of inputs gathered by central intelligence agencies that a “lone wolf” may try to target roadshows of “big political leaders” during the campaigning for the upcoming elections. The BJP had sought permission for the roadshow from Dharnidhar Derasar to Bapu Nagar in the city, while the Congress wanted the nod for its roadshow from the Jagannath Temple to Menco area and corner meetings on the route, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) H R Muliyana said.
Narendra Modi talks of Pakistan, China but not Gujarat, says Rahul Gandhi
President-elect of the Congress Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for talking about Pakistan, China, Afghanistan and Japan in the Gujarat elections but avoiding speaking about his home state. Gandhi also questioned Modi’s ‘silence’ on the company promoted by BJP president Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah whose turnover was claimed to have shot up manifold after the BJP came to power at the Centre. Gandhi, who was declared elected as Congress president today, said Modi was frequently shifting his campaign plank in Gujarat. He said, first it was the Narmada water, but after farmers started saying it has not reached their fields, Modi changed tack and began speaking about OBC issues. When that also did not find favour with people, he went for development issues “but people punctured it”, he said.
Rahul Gandhi elected Congress president, to assume office on December 16
Rahul Gandhi was elected the Congress president marking a generational shift in the grand old party and becoming the sixth member of the influential Nehru-Gandhi clan to occupy the post. He will take over the reins of the party from his mother Sonia Gandhi, who steered it through success and failure for 19 years, the longest in the party’s 132-year history, on December 16. Mullappally Ramachandran, the chief of the Congress’s central election authority, announced Gandhi’s election today, the last day for withdrawal of nominations, when the 47-year- old leader, who appeared to have lately undergone a transformation– from the tentative to the assertive–was busy canvassing for the party in Gujarat.
Gujarat polls: Rare row between PM and predecessor; Manmohan Singh tears into Narendra Modi
A rare row between a sitting and a former premier broke out after Narendra Modi insinuated that Manmohan Singh colluded with Pakistan in the Gujarat polls with the Congress leader accusing his successor of setting a “dangerous precedent” and asking his apology. Launching a sharp counteroffensive, Singh tore into Modi over what he called the prime minister’s “ill-thought transgression” and rejected his charge as “innuendos and falsehoods”. In uncharacteristically strong words, a usually reticent Singh crossed swords with his predecessor to say the Gujarat polls was never raised by anyone present at a dinner hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar for a visiting Pakistani leader at his house on December 6 and that the discussion was confined to India-Pakistan ties.
Anushka Sharma, Virat Kohli get married in Italy
India’s most watched couple — Bollywood star Anushka Sharma and Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli — tied the knot in Italy, ending days of suspense and media speculation about the couple’s marriage plans. In one of the most awaited weddings in tinsel town and the playing fields, the two were married in a private ceremony, attended by close family members and friends, at a resort in Tuscany, Italy. “Today we have promised each other to be bound in love forever. We are truly blessed to share the news with you,” Sharma and Kohli said on Twitter, posting pictures of the wedding ceremony. The bride looked resplendent in a pink Sabyasachi wedding lehenga, while the groom looked dapper in a colour-coordinated sherwani from the same designer.