Congress President Rahul Gandhi launched Congress poll campaign in Punjab today, alleging that unemployment and poverty has increased during the rule of the Narendra Modi government. He also blamed the Centre for the attack by right-wing groups on two Kashmiri traders in Uttar Pradesh. "Hate, anger is being spread in the country," Mr Gandhi said while addressing a rally in Punjab's Moga district.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address a public meeting in North Goa and Party president Amit Shah will address workers from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission -- which is yet to declare dates for the Lok Sabha elections scheduled this year -- has said the allegations of deliberate delay by some political parties are unwarranted. "We don't operate as per PM's schedule, we have our own schedule," a senior official of the Election Commission told NDTV.
Opposition parties have alleged that the election dates were being delayed deliberately to help PM Modi with last-minute announcements of programmes and welfare schemes.
Here are the LIVE Updates of political rallies on Lok Sabha Elections:
- Hate, anger being spread in the country
- The number of poor and unemployed have increased during PM Modi's tenure. We will address this when we come to power
- We waived off farm loans in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh like we promised. We did this in 10 days of forming the government
- Vijay Mallya absconded with ₹10,000 crore. He met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley before escaping from the country. Why doesn't Modi government take any action against him?
- In 2019, our focus will be to provide employment to the youth. We have introduced historic policies before, we will do it again in the form of Minimum Income Guarantee
- 2 crore jobs are missing, fair MSPs for farmers are missing, Businesses are missing due to GST... And today, Rafale files are missing
- They say they want to investigate media for missing Rafale files, but they don't want to investigate the person who stole ₹30,000Cr, and who conducted parallel negotiations in Rafale deal, for which there is proof
- Basically, everything possible is done to safeguard Narendra Modi
- Everyone is equal under the law. On one hand you are saying, documents are missing, which implies these are authentic documents. Documents clearly state that Narendra Modi conducted parallel negotiation
- Investigate the missing documents, but also investigate Narendra Modi for his actions mentioned in those missing documents
- The contents of the files have clearly stated that the Prime Minister started a parallel negotiation and delivery of Rafale aircrafts was delayed because of his intention to benefit Anil Ambani
- It's a blatant case of corruption, it is clearly stated that the PM of India is carrying out a parallel negotiation. Why should there not be a criminal investigation?
- The problem in India is, there is a criminal investigation only on people who oppose PM Modi
- If PM is not guilty, why doesn't he himself agree for an investigation? Why did he refuse to form a Joint Parliamentary Committee?
- Media is being punished because they are being brave. I'm very proud that they have the guts to stand against Narendra Modi
Congress President Rahul Gandhi will kick-start Congress poll campaign in Punajb and Himachal Pradesh.