Oppn leaders target BJP as campaigning peaks for second phase of Lok Sabha polls

Campaigning has peaked for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 26 with opposition leaders from the INDIA bloc hitting out at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party BJP over Prime Ministers mangalsutra remark over the BJPs Surat MP winning unopposed with Congress leaders reiterating promise to conduct a caste censusCongress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday said that her party is committed to conducting a caste survey if it is elected to power at the Centre and the Kadugolla community in Karnataka will be included among Scheduled Tribes ST Addressing a rally in Karnatakas Chitradurga she said that Congress will pass a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent cap on reservations for SCs STs and OBCsFor Scheduled Castes SC Scheduled Tribes ST and OBC like my brother Rahul Gandhi says everywhere a complete count will be done in the entire country as to who belongs to which caste and how much is their population and who is earning how much and then new policies will be made under that The reservation limit will be increased from 50 per cent and the SC ST subplan will be implemented A special budget will be issued for SC ST and the Kadugolla community will be given ST status she saidLater at a public meeting in Bengaluru Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his Mangalsutra comments saying that the latter does not understand the struggles of women and her mother Sonia Gandhis mangalsutra was sacrificed for the countryIn the last two days they are discussing that the Congress party wants to rob you of your mangal sutra your gold It has been 70 years since the country gained independence The Congress has been in power for around 55 years Has anyone taken off your gold your mangal sutra When we were at war Indira Gandhi gave off her gold to the country My mothers Sonia Gandhi mangalsutra was sacrificed for this country Gandhi said speaking at a public meeting in BengaluruAddressing a public rally in Wayanad Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that Rahul Gandhis leadership is not just limited to Wayanad but the entire country Rahul Gandhis leadership is not only limited to Wayanad he is the leader of the entire country Today we stand at a crucial junction in our nations history where the very soul of our country is under attack Accounts of the Congress party have been frozen while the BJP has illegally collected Rs 13000 crores in donations through the illegal electoral bondsHitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modis Mangalsutra remark Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav said that the trends coming out after the first phase of elections show that the BJP would be defeated This is a trend of defeat The first phase of elections is over and now the trends have started coming Using this language and talking like this weakens our democracy The youth farmers and businessmen have decided to vote out this government Yadav saidLater on BJP Surat candidate Mukesh Dalal declared winner unopposed in the constituency Akhilesh Yadav also said in a post on X that the BJP has snatched away the right to vote The public has been insulted in Surat They were not even allowed to cast their votes there We have been saying from before that BJP will snatch away the right to vote See that is what has happened This is also a murder of the Constitution because the people who have won through such rigging are not the elected representatives of the public BJP is defying the Election Commission Yadav said in a post on XThe Election Commission should at least take action for its own defamation Like the Chandigarh mayor election we once again appeal to the Supreme Court and the Election Commission to take suo motu cognizance of the Surat incident and cancel the election and give the harshest punishment to all the conspirators The election process should be started afresh in Surat he addedSpeaking on BJPs unopposed Lok Sabha win in Surat Shiv Sena UBT MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said One thing we have been saying repeatedly this is the work to finish off democracy it is called Russian style of democracyIn Surat the main candidate of the Congress party was rejected then the substitute candidate was also rejected and all independent candidates withdrew the formsThis will be their democracy without casting votes BJP people get elected and PM Modi will keep the governmentMeanwhile West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that there was an alleged assassination attempt on TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee One of the Gaddars traitors in the BJP said that a bomb will be exploded If you have a grudge against me you can kill me by a bomb You even tried to kill Abhishek but we came to know in advance They even conducted a recce at his house called him on Facetime and asked for an appointment Had Abhishek given him time he would have shot and fled These people want to kill everyone or put them behind bars who speak against them If you were confident that you would win with peoples votes then what was the need to terrorise people she saidOn the other hand Bahujan Samaj Party BSP chief Mayawati asked people not to vote for either the BJP or the Congressled INDIA bloc Like previous governments under the present government of BJP poverty unemployment and inflation are increasing Corruption is also not finished Our borders are not fully secure This is a matter of great concern In the Lok Sabha elections we need to make sure Congress BJP and their ally parties dont come to power at the Centre she said in a public meeting at MeerutThe Lok Sabha polls are being held in India in seven phases from April 19 to June 1 to elect the 543 members of the 18th Lok Sabha While the first phase of the elections have concluded the second phase of polling will be held on FridayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness 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