Daily Bulletin: Congress likely to announce Lok Sabha candidates for Delhi; Narendra Modi to campaign in Gujarat, Rajasthan; day's top stories

Narendra Modi to campaign in Gujarat, Rajasthan; Amit Shah to hold roadshow in Gandhinagar In preparation for the next phase of the Lok Sabha election scheduled to take place on 23 April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to be on the campaign trail in Gujarat’s Patan, and in Chittorgarh and Barmer in Rajasthan. BJP president Amit Shah will also be campaigning in Gandhinagar, from where he is a candidate for the first time in a Lok Sabha election. His roadshow will be organised in the Sanand area of Gandhinagar, reports said. He will also meet BJP leaders from Ghatloadia and Vejalpur Assembly constituencies. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who had been banned by the Election Commission from campaigning for three days last week over “hate speeches” made in election rallies, will address the public in four of Uttar Pradesh’s cities on Sunday — Rampur, Lakhimpur Kheeri, Hardoi, and Kanpur [caption id=“attachment_6485871” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Reuters[/caption] Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur to reply to EC regarding remarks over Hemant Karkare Malegaon blast accused and the BJP’s candidate from Bhopal, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur is expected to reply to the Election Commission regarding the poll panel’s notice for her remarks about slain Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare. On Friday, Pragya had said that Karkare, who was killed by terrorists in the 26/11 Mumbai attack, had died because she had “cursed” him. On Saturday, the EC had issued a show cause notice to Pragya. “We took suo motu cognisance of the statement and sought a report from the assistant returning officer (ARO) on the matter. We got the report this morning and we have issued notice, which is returnable within 24 hours, to the organiser of the programme and the person who made the statement,” District Election Officer and Bhopal Collector Sudam Khade told PTI. “We have also sent ARO report’s copy to the EC,” he said. Asked about the point of serving the notice to her as she has already tendered apology, Khade said, “Let the reply come, then we will decide.” The organiser of the Thursday’s event had been given permission on certain conditions as the Model Code of Conduct was in force, he said. One of the conditions was that “objectionable language to defame anyone” will not be used, he said. Out on bail, Thakur (48) is facing trial under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the blast case. Congress likely to announce seven candidates for Delhi today Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit Saturday said the names of candidates for the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital will be announced in a couple of days. She was talking to reporters after inaugurating a control room at the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) office for the Lok Sabha election campaign. “The party will announce the candidates tomorrow or day after,” Dikshit said on Saturday. Dikshit’s statement comes after Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia told reporters that the talks of an alliance between the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress had broken down because the Rahul Gandhi-led party was insisting on an alliance only in Delhi, and had “backtracked” on a tie-up in Haryana. IPL 2019 super Sunday: SRH face KKR; RCB take on CSK A top-heavy Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to tame an Andre Russell-reliant Kolkata Knight Riders in a high-pressure clash on Sunday. Both teams have eight points though SRH has played one match less. The hosts snapped their three-match losing streak with a win over table leaders CSK and KKR now need to do the same having lost their last four games. Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings will be expected to shrug off a rare loss and effectively seal a play-off berth against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Defending champions CSK, who lost to SRH in the previous game for only their second loss this season, will get to 16 points with a win at the M Chinnaswamy and it should be enough to guarantee a place in the top-four.