
Situation in the country is worse than emergency, says Minister Santosh Lad
'BJP leaders are organising events against the Emergency of 1975. Emergency was imposed 50 years ago. But the country is facing a crisis which is more serious than the emergency. Why are BJP leaders not talking about that?' he told reporters.
He alleged that the BJP was trying to divert attention away from its failures in various fields. 'BJP does not want the people to raise questions about the government's failures in cases like Pahalgam and Pulwama. They do not want any discussion among the public on any serious issue. That is why it is going around speaking about the emergency,' he said.
'According to the BJP, our country or State can not be compared to any other country or State. They believe we have the best Prime Minister ever. In such a situation, is any discussion about the emergency relevant?' he said.
Asked to react to a statement by R. Ashok, leader of the opposition, that there would be a new Chief Minister in Karnataka, Mr. Lad said the question as to who would be the new Chief Minister should be asked to Mr. Ashok.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Hindu
2 minutes ago
- The Hindu
CM Revanth Reddy gets PM Modi's time, not Rahul Gandhi's appointment: BJP
The BJP Telangana unit has said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi denying appointment to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy is an 'insult' to the people of Telangana. 'The Chief Minister made 46 trips to Delhi in the last 19 months. Neither Mr. Gandhi nor other senior Congress leaders had bothered to meet him. But, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Central Ministers gave appointments to Mr. Revanth Reddy,' reminded State BJP president N. Ramchander Rao on Monday. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi at the Telangana Bhavan, the BJP chief said Congress leaders are 'fooling' the Telangana people with regard to the 42% quota bill for the Backward Classes (BCs) and deliberately enacting a 'drama' to avoid holding local body polls. Reiterating the party's stand against including 10% Muslims quota in the 42% reservation for the BCs, he questioned the government's seriousness about the reservations as it seemed to have overlooked the prevailing legal issues pending in the Supreme Court. 'Does the Congress government know the procedure to include the BCs quota in the Ninth Schedule? What is the opinion of their legal advisors? The government has to amend section 285 of the Panchayat Raj Act to include the BC quota,' he said. It is not fair on the part of the State government to blame the Centre without having a clear idea on how to go about implementing the BCs quota in the forthcoming local body elections, he maintained and said that even if the quota is inserted into the Ninth Schedule, it can still come under the judicial review as was made clear in the 1973 Kesavanand Bharati case by the SC.

The Hindu
2 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Prepare to be unseated in 2026, Suvendhu tells Mamata; parties ramp up rhetoric
Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, said on Monday (July 21, 2025) that he would 'make Mamata Banerjee the former Chief Minister of the State' in the Assembly elections of 2026. 'Trinamool has challenged us by declaring that they will win more seats in 2026. I am also challenging them — I defeated you in Nandigram in 2021; I will make you the former Chief Minister in 2026,' Mr. Adhikari said, directing his remark at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The BJP MLA staged a protest march to Uttarkanya, the branch secretariat of the West Bengal Government in Siliguri, on Monday, the same day that Trinamool supremo Ms. Banerjee spelled out the party's political line at the party's 33rd Martyrs' Day event in Dharmatala, Central Kolkata. Demands revision of poll rolls 'We want Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list here, like in Bihar. Everyone can rest assured that the tortured Hindus who have come from Bangladesh are refugees, not infiltrators… But we will not allow even one Rohingya Muslim or Bangladeshi Muslim to remain on the voters' lists,' Mr. Adhikari said during the programme. The Chief Minister, in her address on Monday, stated that 40 lakh voters have been disenfranchised in Bihar due to SIR, and that if the same is done in West Bengal, massive agitations and gherao programmes will be conducted. Mr. Adhikari also took a jab at Trinamool, claiming that the ruling dispensation had questioned the religious identity of the Rajbanshi and Matua communities of West Bengal, which constitute a large portion of the State's scheduled caste population. The two communities have been a source of political contention between the two parties and are expected to exert significant electoral influence in the upcoming Assembly polls. At the Trinamool rally at Dharmatala, Ms. Banerjee brought on stage Uttam Kumar Brajabashi, the 55-year-old Rajbanshi farmer from Coochbehar, who had received an NRC notice from the Assam Foreigners Tribunal. 'The Chief Minister claims she has given everyone employment in this State. Then why are there 60 lakh migrant workers from West Bengal? Why are 2 crore 15 lakh people unemployed? Why is there no industry? She has no answers,' Mr. Adhikari said at the rally. He also announced that he will visit Cooch Behar on August 4. BJP here to stay Meanwhile, the recently appointed State president of the BJP, Samik Bhattacharya, said on Monday that the Chief Minister will 'not see India or the Central government be free of the BJP in her lifetime.' 'The Trinamool is attacking the Bengali language. They are attacking Rabindranath Tagore, Vande Mataram, and the works of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. They are trying to erase the history of West Bengal,' Mr. Bhattacharya claimed. At Kharagpur in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur, former BJP MLA Dilip Ghosh organised a separate party programme 'to pay tribute to our martyred party workers who lost their lives to political violence.' The Trinamool Congress has been observing Martyrs' Day in Central Kolkata on July 21 with a massive rally for over two decades to pay tribute to 13 people killed in police firing during an agitation by the West Bengal Youth Congress on 21 July 1993. 'I believe this is Trinamool's final Martyrs' Day programme. Next year, Trinamool itself will get martyred. They will not be able to observe this day next year,' Mr. Ghosh said.


The Hindu
2 minutes ago
- The Hindu
SC verdict is a resounding slap on face of Centre's vendetta politics, says CM
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has termed the Supreme Court's verdict rejecting the Enforcement Directorate's appeal to investigate his wife Parvathi, in connection with the MUDA site allotment case, as a 'resounding slap on the face of the Central Government's vendetta politics'. In a release, the Chief Minister said: 'This verdict has not only exposed the malice behind the case but has also unequivocally cleared our names of all the baseless allegations.' 'I humbly welcome the verdict delivered by Chief Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran of the Supreme Court. Throughout my long political career, I have always bowed before the Constitution and the rule of law. This verdict upholds and protects that very belief,' he said. He said: 'Unable to defeat me politically, the BJP and its allies stooped to misusing constitutional agencies like the CBI and ED to fabricate baseless cases against my wife and harass my family. This is not just an abuse of power but also a disgraceful and cowardly act. The mental agony we have been subjected to will forever remain a painful chapter in our lives.' Referring to Chief Justice Gavai's remarks that 'electoral battles must be fought through the people, not through the misuse of institutions like the ED', Mr. Siddaramaiah said these words reflect the voice of his own conscience and of every Constitution-believing Indian. 'This is the voice of justice rising against tyranny,' he maintained. 'This verdict restores faith in the judiciary, especially among all who have fallen victim to the BJP's political witch hunt over the past 10 to 11 years,' the Chief Minister said. 'Even now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah must wake up and stop weaponising constitutional agencies for political gain. It is time they restore the autonomy of these institutions and cleanse themselves of the sins of political misuse,' he demanded. He also demanded that 'the BJP and JD (S) leaders in Karnataka should publicly apologise if they have even an ounce of dignity or shame left.' Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge too launched a counter-attack at the Opposition by demanding that Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashok and BJP State president B.Y. Vijayendra should resign if they have any dignity left in them.