People To Decide Next CM Of Odisha: Dharmendra

"A low pressure area is likely to form over southwest Bay of Bengal around 22nd May. It is likely to move initially northeastwards and concentrate into a depression over central parts of Bay of Bengal around 24th May,2024," the IMD's latest bulletin said.

Meanwhile, the Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre predicted light to moderate rain or thundershower over several districts in Odisha during next five days.

The Met Centre issued a yellow warning for heavy rain and thunderstorms with lightning over several districts during the next 24 hours.

"Thunderstorm with lightning accompanied with gusty surface wind speed reaching 40-50 KMPH is very likely to occur at one or two places over the districts of Koraput, Malkangiri, Kandhamal, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, Balangir also heavy rainfall is very likely to occur at one or two places over the districts of Koraput, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Nuapada," reads the bulletin.

"Thunderstorms with lightning accompanied with gusty surface wind speed reaching 30-40 KMPH are very likely to occur at one or two places over the districts of Nayagarh, Cuttack, Khordha, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara," it added. 

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Referring to Pakistan, Prime Minister Modi at an election rally in Ambala said the neighbouring country, which used to trouble India for the past 70 years, is now roaming with a begging bowl in its hands due to the BJP's 'dhaakad' government at the Centre.

"When there is a 'dhaakad' government in the country, enemies too think 100 times before doing anything. Pakistan had been troubling India for 70 years, it had bombs in its hands. Today it has 'bheekh ka katora' (begging bowl) in its hands . When there is a 'dhaakad' government, enemies tremble," Prime Minister said.

Prime Minister further stated that his "dhaakad' government demolished the walls of Article 370".

"Could a weak government have changed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir? Remember the time when there was a Congress government and the brave mothers of Haryana used to be worried day and night? Today, it has been 10 years--all of that has stopped. Modi's 'dhaakad' government demolished the wall of Article 370 and Kashmir started walking on the path of development," he said.

PM further said that the people of Haryana are well aware of the anti-national forces and that the INDIA bloc will be defeated on June 4.

"Only 17 days remain to go for June 4 (day of counting). In four phases of elections, Congress and the INDI Alliance, chaaron khaane chitt ho chuke hain. Whatever tactics the INDI Alliance used for the country have all been defeated by the public itself. Haryana is a state which has patriotism in its veins. Haryana knows anti-national forces very well," he said.

Accusing Congress of betraying the armed forces and soldiers, the Prime Minister said that the opposition party wanted to import arms and other materials from abroad to earn commission and make profits.

"Congress kept the Indian armed forces's capabilities weak so that they could earn huge profits in the name of importing arms from abroad. Our soldiers were not provided with proper clothes, shoes, bulletproof jackets. They did not even get good rifles. I started a campaign to make the Indian army Atmanirbhar. Today, the army is getting Made in India weapons. India, which once used to import weapons from other countries, is now selling weapons to other countries," PM Modi said.

Prime Minister further pointed out that it was the BJP government that brought back the copies of Guru Granth Sahib from Afghanistan in 2021, during the Taliban takeover of the nation. "It is our government that has started celebrating 'Veer Bal Diwas' in the memory of Sahibzadas."

Prime Minister Modi has run the government for 10 years in a "dhaakad" manner.

"Haryana means 'himmat', Haryana means 'hausla'. That is why, Haryana is 'dhaakad'. Just like Haryana, Modi has run the government for 10 years in 'dhaakad' manner. Today, when you see Rafale aircraft in the skies of Ambala, don't you feel proud? I have come to seek your blessings for the next 5 years," he said.

Voting for all 10 seats in Haryana will occur in a single phase of the sixth phase on May 25. (ANI)

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The Overseas Friends of BJP-USA ('OFBJP-USA') has organised webinars with 32 BJP candidates from across India and is asking members and supporters to call their relatives and acquaintances back home to ensure they go out and vote -- and for the BJP -- the President of the organisation told IANS here in a recent interview here.

The friends have also held yagnas, the ritual offering to divinity for blessings, in temples at eight places across the US to bring help from the heavens to the BJP in the elections, he said.

He clarified that the yagnas were conducted by individuals supporting the BJP and not by the temples.

In addition, he said, 'OFBJP-USA' also organised car rallies in four places as of May beginning, to rouse interest in the elections, he added.

The calls to voters in India is to "make sure that they understand the importance of the elections, that it's absolutely imperative to go out and vote (for the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi) because that's the future of India," he said.

"The elections are the biggest celebration of democracy," he added.

He said that the group was interested in getting the message of Prime Minister Modi's development story to the voters of the South, East, and the Northeast.

Dasgupta said that the webinars are for "spreading the word, the awareness, out here in the US and also in India" and bringing in some of the candidates for "learning from them, and to see how we can assist them or how we can help them".

BJP Lok Sabha member and former West Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh recontesting from Bardhaman-Durgapur, and candidates K. Annamalai contesting from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, and Madhavi Latha, an actress contesting from Hyderabad, were among those who participated in the webinars, he added.

OFBJP-USA Vice-President Rudra Talukdar said that the organisation is for anybody who supports BJP and is open to all.

Dasgupta added the organisation has more than 500 dues-paying registered members and tens of thousands of supporters.

He emphasised that the OFBJP-USA, which is a registered, tax-exempted non-profit organisaiton, is not a unit of the BJP or its agent.

"We are friends, we do share the ideology, what is called integral humanism, integral humanity," Dasgupta said.

"We share ideology with them. We do talk with them. We do exchange views. But at the same time, you know, we are an organisation based in the US, we follow US laws," he added.

The calls to India are done individually by supporters using their personal touch and the organisation does not use any mass dialers or phone lists, he said.

Robocalls are absolutely out, he added.

Another group that also calls itself Overseas Friends of Bharatiya Janata Party (USA) posted on Facebook that it had organised last month "Modi ka Parivar" – Family of Modi – marches in New York, Hollywood, Detroit and Chicago with photographs of the events.

The New Jeresy-based group that was active during the 2019 elections did not reply to e-mailed requests for information.

Dasgupta asserted that his organisation had registered its name and logo with the US Patent and Trademark office and, therefore, it alone could use the name.

(IANS)