Why is PM not taking action against Adani, Ambani: Congress
This time, the Opposition RJD has elded Ms. Anita, an OBC candidate, hoping to pocket the community’s votes along with votes from the Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) and Muslims.
In Begusarai, the rebrand BJP leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh is pitted against the Mahagathbandhan candidate, Awadhesh Kumar Rai, of the CPI. In 2019, Mr. Singh had defeated CPI candidate and former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who is also from Begusarai, by more than 4 lakh votes. In that election, the RJD had elded Tanvir Akhtar who cut into the vote share of Mr. Kumar.
Begusarai has been a Left bastion and was once known as the “Leningrad of Bihar”. The constituency has a sizeable number of Bhumihar voters. But Muslims, Yadavs (OBC), and EBCs play a crucial role in deciding the fate of contestants. The CPI candidate is a Yadav, and he is expected to give a tough ght to Mr. Singh. Among the Bhumihars, the community to which Mr. Singh belongs to, the slogan doing
People waiting in queue outside a polling station during the third phase of Lok Sabha polls on May 7.
“Giriraj majboori hai, lekin Modi jaruri hai (Giriraj is a compulsion, but Modi is necessary)”.
Reserved seat
Samastipur is a reserved Lok Sabha constituency from where the youngest Dalit candidate of the State, Sambhavi Choudhary, 25, of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), led by Chirag Paswan, is contesting against the Congress candidate, Sunny Hazari, 33. Both come from SC communities and are children of Ministers in the Nitish Kumar-led Cabinet.
Maheshwar Hazari, who was also the former Deputy Speaker of the Assembly,
however, is not campaigning for his son and has said he will be with the Chief Minister. Ashok Choudhary is campaigning for his daughter Ms. Sambhavi.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Prince Raj, the nephew of then united Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, had won by defeating the Congress candidate, Ashok Kumar, by a margin of over 1 lakh votes. However, after Paswan’s death in October 2020, the party split. When the BJP made a seatsharing deal with the LJP (Ram Vilas) for the 2024 election and the party got ve seats to contest from, including Samastipur, Mr.
Raj was dropped and Ms. Sambhavi was named the surprise candidate.
Both Mr. Sunny and Ms. Sambhavi are expected to give a tough ght to each other and are highlighting issues of non-development and recurring ood.
In Darbhanga, the BJP has reposed faith in its sitting MP, Gopalji Thakur, while the Mahagathbandhan candidate is the RJD’s Lalit Yadav. In the last election, Mr. Thakur had defeated the RJD candidate, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, by over 2.5 lakh votes.
Mr. Yadav is the RJD MLA from Darbhanga Rural Assembly seat and is a long-time leader. In July 2000, he was a Minister in the Cabinet of the RJD government led by Lalu Prasad and was accused of plucking out the nails of a Dalit truck driver and the vehicle’s cleaner. He was infamously called the “monster of Bihar” by the media.
On May 4, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting in favour of Mr. Thakur in Darbhanga. The constituency has Brahmin voters and a sizeable number of Yadav and Muslim voters who can inuence the poll result.
In the Ujiarpur Lok Sabha constituency, the BJP has elded its MP and Union Home Minister for State Nityanand Rai against the Mahagathbandhan candidate, Alok Mehta (RJD). In the 2019 election, Mr. Rai had defeated the now-defunct Rashtriya Lok Samata Party’s Upendra Kushwaha by over 2.7 lakh votes. Mr. Kushwaha’s party is now renamed the Rashtriya Lok Morcha and he is contesting the election from the Karakat seat.
The RJD’s Mr. Mehta is an MLA from the Ujiarpur Assembly seat and has been a Minister several times in the Mahagathbandhan government. He has been a founder member of the RJD and is said to be the political mentor of Tejashwi Yadav. Both Mr. Rai and Mr. Mehta come from the OBC community and are considered suave leaders. While Mr. Rai has highlighted Mr. Modi’s “magic” and the NDA government’s welfare schemes, Mr. Mehta has campaigned against the “falsehood and propaganda of the Modi government”.
Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his allegations that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has gone “silent” in his criticism of top industrialists “Adani-Ambani” as they have bribed the Opposition, the Congress asked why the PM has not used investigative agencies against them if he has actionable evidence.
In a statement, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that Mr. Modi has “trapped himself” with his remarks and will nd it di©cult to “extricate himself ”.
Mr. Ramesh said that the Prime Minister’s accusation — that “Adani and Ambani” had supplied the Opposition with bags of cash, transported in “Tempo” vans, describing the alleged cash as “chori ka maal (loot)” — is an unexpected attack on India’s “top wealth creators” that raises several questions.
“How does the PM know that Adani and Ambani supply bags of cash loaded in Tempos? If he has this knowledge, why has he not done anything about it? What has prevented him from using his pet investigative agencies against Adani and Ambani if he has such detailed and actionable information?” Mr. Ramesh asked.
Alleged PM-Adani ties
The Congress leader asserted that his party and Mr. Gandhi “have long questioned the PM’s close relationship with Adani and other monopolists”.
“In 2023, we asked the PM 100 pointed questions under the Hum Adani ke Hain Kaun (HAHK) series. Is the PM now breaking his long silence with a confession to the nation about receiving bags of cash in tempos? The close and durable relationship between the PM and Adani, and the length to which the PM has gone to protect Adani’s illegalities, is well known to most Indians,” Mr. Ramesh said.