Lok Sabha Elections 2024: PM terms I.N.D.I.A bloc as 'anti-farmer' during his Meerut rally

Top Congress leaders met here on Sunday to discuss the party's Lok Sabha poll candidates for Bihar and Odisha, with sources saying Mohammad Jawed and Tariq Anwar are likely to be fielded from Kishanganj and Katihar respectively. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi, party general secretary K C Venugopal and the members of its Central Election Committee (CEC), including senior leaders Ambika Soni, Madhusudan Mistry and Salman Khurshid, were present at the meeting. For discussions on Bihar seats, state unit chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh and AICC in-charge of state Mohan Prakash were present at the meeting.

LJP (Ramvilas) Chief Chirag Paswan was greeted by party workers and supporters as he reaches Patna.  "We will start with our election campaigning from tomorrow. When PM Narendra Modi is starting the election rallies in Bihar, his first rally will be held in Jamui... During his agitation with Anna Hazare in Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal always carried a list of corrupt people with him, and today all those people were standing hand in hand on one stage..." he told the media. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at the grand old party, claiming that the country is 'still paying for the misdoings' of the previous Congress government. While addressing a mega rally at Uttar Pradesh's Meerut on Sunday, PM Modi said, "Today another anti-national act of Congress has come before the country. The island of Katchatheevu, which lies between India and Sri Lanka and is extremely important from the perspective of national security, was given away by Congress after independence."

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who is contesting from Rajgarh Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh, said he was making efforts to get 400 people to file nominations so that polls will be held through ballot paper. He said this after asking people during a corner meeting in Kachnariya village in Susner if they wanted elections to be held through EVMs or ballot papers. Responding to the crowd shouting ballot paper, Singh said, "There is only one way for this (election through ballot paper). If 400 candidates fill out nomination forms. I am preparing for this. Candidates in the general category will have to submit security deposit of Rs 25,000, while those in reserved categories will have to give deposit of Rs 12.500," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed Congress during his address in Meerut. "During Congress rule, thousands of crores of rupees of poor, small investors, and banks were wrongfully confiscated... We have confiscated the property of the corrupt people and more than Rs 17000 crore have been returned to those whose money had been wrongfully taken from them," 

Addressing the rally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the upcoming elections are not just to form the government but it is to develop India and to make India the third-largest economy in the world. "In 2014 and 2019, I started my election rally for the Lok Sabha elections from Meerut and in 2024, I am doing the first rally again from Meerut," he added. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is addressing a mega public rally in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut. The Prime Minister'srally in Meerut ia a part of the campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP has fielded Arun Govil from Meerut, the actor who played Lord Ram in Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan in the 80s. The BJP also eyes Western UP with optimism to achieve its ambitious target of 370 seats on its own, despite facing setbacks in the last elections. In 2014, the BJP secured 24 out of 27 seats in the region, which dwindled to 19 in 2019, with all eight seats going to the SP-BSP combined.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was felicitated ahead of his public rally in Meerut. He was present with a lotus-embedded cricket bat by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Meerut in Western Uttar Pradesh. He will shortly address a mega public rally in the city in the run-up to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. 

Former Bihar state president of Congress Anil Sharma resigned from the primary membership of the party. He said that there is disappointment among the party workers due to seat distribution. "Congress has been given such seats where it is difficult to win, while the easily winnable seats have been snatched from the party. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has given weak seats to Congress. This is their well-thought-out strategy, so that Congress remains marginalised in Bihar," Sharma alleged. 

Mamata Banerjee challenged the BJP to cross 200 seats in the Lok Sabha elections across the country. She stressed that she will not let CAA be implemented in West Bengal.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal on Sunday (March 31) participated in the Opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc's 'Maha Rally' at Ramlila Maidan in the national capital. She read out the message from Arvind Kejriwal. She described Arvind Kejriwal as a "lion" and asked the people if he should resign, as being demanded by the BJP. She attacked the BJP over the Delhi CM's arrest and said that the government "will not be able to keep him in jail for long".

"Your own Kejriwal has sent a message for you from jail. Before reading this message, I would like to ask you something. Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi put my husband in jail, did the Prime Minister do the right thing? Do you believe that Kejriwal Ji is a true patriot and honest person? These BJP people are saying that Kejriwal ji is in jail, he should resign. Should he resign? Your Kejriwal is a lion, they will not be able to keep him in jail for long," she said.

"If you give the INDIA bloc the responsibility, we will build a great India. I give six guarantees. First, we will make arrangements for 24-hour electricity across the country. Second, we will make the electricity of the poor free across the country. Third, we will make excellent government school in every village. Fourth, we will make Mohalla Clinic in every village and mohalla. We will make multi-speciality government hospital in every district. We will make arrangements for free treatment of every citizen of the country. Fifth, will give appropriate cost of crops to farmers according to MSP. Sixth, we will give Delhi the status of a state," Sunita Kejriwal read out.

BJP announced candidature of Damodar Agarwal from Rajasthan's Bhilwara constituency.

Actor Govinda will not contest elections, but will campaign for Shiv Sena, sources said. Recently Govinda joined Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena.

Former Uttar Pradesh minister Swami Prasad Maurya, who recently parted ways with the Samajwadi Party, on Sunday said he will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Kushinagar as a candidate of his Rashtriya Shoshit Samaaj Party. Claiming that he held talks with the INDIA bloc constituents from Uttar Pradesh over seat sharing but got no response, Maurya also announced that S N Chauhan will be his party's candidate from the Deoria Lok Sabha seat.

BRS MLA Kadiyam Srihari and his daughter Kadiyam Kavya joined Congress in the presence of Telangana CM Revanth Reddy.

Political parties in Jharkhand are leaving no stone unturned to woo nearly 71 lakh voters in the age group of 18 and 29, who could play a significant role in electing candidates. Ruling JMM is banking on a slew of schemes, ranging from providing education loans to imparting skills, launched by the state government for the youth.

Some people pelted stones and damaged several cars during an election rally in support of the BJP's Lok Sabha candidate and Union minister Sanjeev Balyan in Khatauli area of Muzaffarnagar district, police said on Sunday.

"The main cause is to cover up the corruption. And these birds of the same feather have flocked together to protect their family fiefdom and corruption," BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said.

"All the corrupt people are joining the BJP now. So it has become 'Bhrasht Janata Party'," he said in a press conference.

There are pictures of PM Modi and former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh on the stage. The program has been named Gaurav Samaroh. The entire focus of the program seems to be on catering to Jat and other vote banks in the West UP.

(With inputs from Shuaib)

Pallavi Patel, who won the Legislative Assembly elections on the symbol of Samajwadi Party, will contest the elections with AIMIM Chief Owaisi. Both will hold a press conference in Lucknow this afternoon.

(With inputs from Ruchi Kumar)

Congress workers organised a blindfold protest at the Ramlila Maidan.

Sonia Gandhi (Congress), Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), Rahul Gandhi (Congress), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena UBT), Aditya Thackeray (Shiv Sena UBT), Akhilesh Yadav (SP), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Derek O Brian (TMC), T Shiva (DMK), Farooq Abdullah (NC), Champai Soren (JMM), Kalpana Soren (JMM), Sitaram Yechury (CPM), D Raja (CPI), Dipankar Bhattacharya (CPI-ML), G Devrajana (Forward Bloc).

(With inputs from Bhaskar Mishra)

Taking to X, Maurya lashed out at the Opposition parties over the delay in declaring the names of the candidates.

"We went to the streets of Delhi and we saw that there is anger among the people against Arvind Kejriwal's arrest," Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said.

"In the last 10 years, our government, through its work, has given a new lease of life to the aspirations of my family members across the country. To give further impetus to this, the countrymen have once again decided to go with BJP-NDA in the Lok Sabha elections. We will get the privilege of receiving blessings from the public at around 3.30 pm today in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh," PM Modi posted on X.

"The whole nation is gathered against this. They have gathered to tell that the country will run as per the Constitution and not by the 'Vasooli gang'," AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak said.

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal will attend the I.N.D.I.A bloc's 'Maharally' at Ramlila Maidan that begins at 10 am today.

Opposition's I.N.D.I.A bloc will hold a huge rally in Delhi's Ramlila Maidan today against Arvind Kejriwal's arrest in the Excise Policy case. Top leaders from almost all Opposition parties will participate in the rally.

PM Narendra Modi will hold a massive rally in Meerut today. The NDA allies in Uttar Pradesh will participate in the rally in a show of strength by the alliance as it heads into the Lok Sabha polls next month.