& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Rahul's riposte

Launches tit-for-tat campaign against Modi in Varanasi

Star Report
Days after Narendra Modi took on Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, the Congress vice-president yesterday retaliated by campaigning on the last day in the temple town of Varanasi, where the BJP's prime ministerial candidate is in the fray.
Donning a Gandhi cap, Rahul, 43-year-old scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family, flanked by Congress candidate
Ajay Rai began his roadshow in a Muslim-dominated Gol Gadda area, waving to supporters who surrounded his vehicle.
Rahul's roadshow follows a massive one conducted by Aam Aadmi Party challenger Arvind Kejriwal on Friday and another one by Modi the day before, reports The Hindu.
The outdoor electioneering for the 35-day Lok Sabha polls ended at 5:00pm yesterday, 48 hours before the final phase of the nine-round voting tomorrow covering 41 of the total of 543 constituencies.
Polling for 502 constituencies was held in the previous eight phases. Counting of votes in the world's biggest democracy will be held on May 16.
Varanasi goes to polls tomorrow along with 40 other constituencies spread across three states, including 18 out of a total of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh and 17 out of 42 seats in West Bengal, writes The Daily Star correspondent Pallab Bhattacharya.
Besides Modi, who is also contesting Vadodara in his home state of Gujarat where he is chief minister, the politicians whose electoral fate will be decided in the last phase of polling include Arvind Kejriwal, who is pitted against Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The high-octane campaign ended on a note of controversy as BJP questioned the impartiality of the Election Commission over allowing Rahul's
roadshow in Varanasi while denying permission for a rally of Modi in the temple town two days ago.
Modi, 63, had addressed an election rally in Amethi, the parliamentary constituency of Raimi in Uttar Pradesh a week ago, violating an unwritten code that a top political leader does not campaign in the political backyard of a top rival politician.
Returning the compliment today, Rahul travelled in an open-top car along with thousands of Congress supporters through some of the most congested localities of Varanasi, many of which are Muslim-dominated, in an impressive road show.
BJP leader Arun Jaitley, considered close to Modi, yesterday slammed the Election Commission for allowing Rahul's 's roadshow at a locality in Varanasi where Modi had been refused permission for a rally just a couple of days ago on security concerns.
"The Rahul Gandhi roadshow is passing through the area where we
were denied permission," Jaitley told CNN-IBNTV channel.
Varanasi, which has been the hotbed of numerous political activities with roadshows to rallies to even skirmishes among rival political activists, is witnessing Modi locked in a contest against Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal, and low-profile Congress candidate Ajay Rai.
Rahul's roadshow, featuring a crowd that stretched in more than half a kilometre, revived Congress' subdued campaign in Varanasi after being flagged off from a Muslim-dominated locality, Pilikothi, at around 8:40am and passed from Beniyabagh locality, the same area where BJP was denied to hold a rally recently.
On reaching Beniyabagh, which is the native place of late shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan and is largely inhabited by Muslim weavers and traders, Rahul's convoy was welcomed with a photograph of the musician and a "charkha".
Locals gathered on the roof of houses in the congested lanes and bylanes of the city and welcomed the convoy, waving and showering flower petals on the Congress vice president.
Later addressing a rally in Varanasi, Rahul took Modi head on and said the BJP's PM candidate does not understand the strength of India and its people and accused his party of following a politics that was "full of anger".
He also attacked Modi on the controversy over snooping of a young woman in Gujarat and advised him to change slogans on BJP posters promising he would give power to women, as "he was the person sending police after women and tapping their phone in Gujarat."
"India is for everybody. It is for Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. It belongs to every caste and community, poor and rich people and it will remain for everybody."