Farooq, Mehbooba too address
NEW DELHI, Mar 31:
Displaying their show of strength, ‘INDIA’ bloc leaders on Sunday participated in a mega rally at Delhi’s Ramlila ground and urged people to vote out Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
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The leaders from across various parties including TMC, DMK, NC, PDP and Shiv Sena (UBT) accused the Government of misusing the Central agencies such as Enforcement Directorate (ED), CBI and Income Tax (I-T) department to target the Opposition.
Among the senior leaders in attendapresident Mallikarjun Kharge, former Congress presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar and KC Venugopal.
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Senior AAP leader and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren also addressed the rally.
Speaking at the rally, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi made five demands on behalf of the INDIA bloc which included immediate release of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Jharkhand CM and JMM leader Hemant Soren.
Among other demands, she said that Election Commission must ensure equal opportunities to everyone in elections, central agencies should stop coercive action, any action to strangulate funding of Opposition parties should be stopped and a special investigation team (SIT) should be set up under the supervision of the Supreme Court to look into allegations of extortion through electoral bonds.
Rahul Gandhi alleged that the ruling BJP was choosing umpires and putting players behind the bars thus engaging in ‘match-fixing’ ahead of Lok Sabha polls.
He said that the Lok Sabha election is not an ordinary election but it was an opportunity to save the country’s Constitution and democracy.
In his speech at the rally, Mallikarjun Kharge accused PM Modi of putting pressure on opposition parties to not come together in the election and for this made all attempts.
“First pressure was put on Hemant Soren to join BJP. When he did not agree, he was arrested. Attempts were also made to topple the governments of Jharkhand and Himachal. After all this, a total of 12 accounts of the Congress Party were frozen. Notices after notices are being sent,” he said.
The opposition alliance leaders extended their support to arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and also Hemant Soren, the former chief minister of Jharkhand.
AAP Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal read out his message which included six guarantees to people if elected to power.
“We are going to give six guarantees. They are 24×7 electricity, free power for the poor, world-class schools in villages, Mohalla clinics in villages and multi-speciality hospitals in districts, fair price (MSP) for farmers in line with Swaminathan report, and full state status for Delhi. These guarantees will be fulfilled in five years,” read the message from Arvind Kejriwal.
Speaking at the gathering, former Chief Minister Jammu & Kashmir and NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah emphasized that he will not leave INDIA bloc till his last breath.
Abdullah reiterated that there is a need to make INDIA bloc stronger for the larger interest of Constitution of the country.
“Today our aim is to save Constitution of the country. You see there is an assault on our Constitution. Even Chief Justice of India (CJI) is getting threats. This is our situation today where we are stuck into,” Dr Abdullah said.
Speaking at the rally, CPI General Secretary D Raja said, “My party Communist Party of India joins all of you to declare our common resolve to save India, to save the Constitution, to save Democracy, and to defeat the BJP.”
The message from TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee read, “We are part of the INDIA bloc with all our strength.”
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti at the rally said that the country is currently going through a very difficult phase and people are being put behind bars without ‘vakil, daleel or appeal’.
Shiv Sena (UBT) Chief Uddhav Thackeray urged the people to remove the BJP from power stating that the apprehension of the country moving towards dictatorship was very much real.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that democracy was under threat in the country.(PTI)
Added RJD leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, “There is undeclared emergency in the country.”
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav also addressed the rally and said that BJP was set to lose power in the coming Lok Sabha election. (UNI)
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