BJP's Dharmendra Pradhan serves food to party leaders, supporters

BJP president JP Nadda paid homage to Velayutham who won from Tamil Nadu's Padmanabhapuram constituency in the 1996 Assembly elections.

"Deeply saddened by the passing away of former MLA and social worker C. Velayutham ji. He was the first-ever assembly candidate elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from the BJP, representing the Padmanabhapuram constituency in the 1996 elections. His commitment and dedication to the party and to society will always be remembered. My deepest condolences to his family and supporters in this difficult time. Om Shanti!" Nadda said in a post on 'X' on Wednesday.

Offering his condolences to Velayuthan's bereaved family, BJP Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai said, "The news of the passing away of Mr. C. Velayuthan, the first legislator of Tamil Nadu BJP and one of the pioneers of the party, is deeply saddening. He is devoted to the development of the party. He was a man of principled and worked hard. He sowed hope for the growth of BJP in Tamil Nadu." (ANI)

Read More National News 

Singh said this while addressing the BJP's 'Vijay Sankalp' rally at Bhawanipatna under Kalahandi Parliamentary constituency in Odisha.

"You saw what the Congress government did for so many years. All the Congress Prime Ministers, from Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh, had promised to end poverty. But in 70 years did they end poverty? However, Prime Minister Modi  took 25 crore people out of poverty in just 10 years," he said.

"There would be no family left in India which would not have a pucca house, pipe drinking water and LPG gas connection in the next 5 years," he added.

Earlier, people from NGOs were coming to Kalahandi and writing articles on 'poverty tourism', as the place was known for hunger, starvation-death and poverty. However, things have undergone a massive change during the 10-year rule of the Modi government at the Centre, the BJP leader said.

The Defence Minister urged the people to vote in favour of BJP candidates both in Lok Sabha and assembly polls.
"If voted to power in Odisha, the BJP government will implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme in the State immediately," he said.

Singh added that cutting across caste, creed and religion, all the people at the age of 70 years or above would be covered under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

The Defence Minister also claimed that during the Modi government, terrorism has almost come to an end due to timely and strong action against terrorists.

"Earlier, terrorist attacks would take place in almost every state across the country. After our Modi government came to power, terrorism almost stopped in the country, barring some minor incidents," he said.

Also Read: Pradhan Poses Five Questions To CM Naveen Over 'Poverty And Backwardness' In Resource-Rich Odisha

Claiming that the BJP does what it says, Singh said the Modi government has abolished Article 370, ended the triple talaq practice and installed Sri Ram Lala’s statue at Ayodhya as promised earlier.

Singh, who is also the chairman of BJP's manifesto committee, said each promise made in the party's manifesto is a "Modi Ki Guarantee". He again appealed to people to vote for BJP candidates contesting in Lok Sabha and Odisha Assembly polls

Simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections will be held in Odisha in four phases, starting May 13. 

Read More Odisha News 

In an exclusive conversation with IANS, Yashasvi Jaiswal's coach, father figure and mentor, Jwala Singh explained why he believes the young Indian prodigy "will be opening the innings," for the Indian side.

The West Indies may not be the most frequent destination for tours and tournaments but is the country where young Jaiswal broke onto the scene for India. The 22-year-old made his debut at the Windsor Park in Rosea, Dominica where he played a stellar 171 runs inning to power India to a dominant victory in a Test match that they won by an innings and 141 runs.

He also boasts a superb record in T20Is, a format in which he has only ever opened as a batsman. In the 16 innings he has played for India, Jaiswal has scored four fifties and one century along with a strike rate of 161.93.

"This debate rang out earlier too in Test cricket when he was going to the West Indies. Many people used to say he would play at number 3 because (Cheteshwar) Pujara was out of the team and that was the only spot. But, I believe when he played, the team management put in much trust in him... Shubman Gill played at the number 3 spot. As far as I know him, I think he would like to open the innings and rest team management, captain, and coaches will decide," Jwala told IANS.

He also went on to talk extensively about how he believes that the Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the major reasons behind the excellent mental development of Yashasvi’s game as it has enabled the explosive left-handed batsman to have "Grown to be quite mature and he (Jaiswal) now knows how to adapt in the different formats of the game and also how to help his team in different situations."

"He certainly took his time in the beginning starting from the Mumbai Indians U-16, India U-19. He scored only 20 runs on his Ranji Debut, and 44 on his Vijay Hazare debut so he surely takes his time. I think ever since he started playing in the IPL, in the last two seasons he has grown to be quite mature and he now knows how to adapt to the different formats of the game and also how to help his team in different situations.

"The World Cup is a huge stage for him and if Ravi Shastri has praised him then he surely must have observed his game before making the comments. I hope, as a coach, father figure and mentor, that he go and play good cricket and end the ICC trophy drought that the Indian cricket team has had. I will be very very happy," he said. (IANS) 

Read More Sports News