Daily Bulletin: Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi to campaign in Karnataka; SP-BSP-RLD to hold second joint rally in UP's Badaun; day's top stories

Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi on campaign trail in south India With the first phase of the Lok Sabha election concluded, the ruling BJP and Opposition parties have taken to the campaign trail again in preparation for the remaining six phases of the General Election. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing four rallies in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu on Saturday while Congress president Rahul Gandhi will also be holding public meetings in three districts of Karnataka. Modi will visit Tamil Nadu’s Theni and Ramanathapuram and Karnataka’s Mangalore and Bengaluru cities. Rahul will address rallies in Kolar, Chitradurga, and Mysore districts in Karnataka. The state will see polling for the first time as part of the Lok Sabha polls’ second phase on 18 April. Polling will also be held on 23 April. In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance will be holding its second joint rally in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. Mayawati, Akhilesh Yadav, and Ajit Singh will be addressing the public in Badaun. The alliance is scheduled to hold 10 rallies across Uttar Pradesh over the next few weeks, reports said. [caption id=“attachment_6195161” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Twitter@NarendraModi[/caption] Amit Shah calls attack on BJP MLA ‘political conspiracy’ BJP president Amit Shah on Friday described the recent Naxal attack in Dantewada, wherein a Chhattisgarh BJP MLA was killed, as a “political conspiracy” and sought a CBI probe into it. “Our MLA Bheema Mandavi was killed in the Naxal attack. I pay my tribute to him and pray that the departed soul rests in peace. It was not a normal incident and it seems to be a political conspiracy,” Shah said. “Mandavi’s wife has demanded a CBI probe into the attack. If the chief minister (Bhupesh Baghel) does not want to hide anything, then he should get the incident probed by the central agency. A neutral probe should be carried out into the attack,” he said. On 9 April, Mandavi, an MLA from Dantewada, and four police personnel were killed when Naxals blew up their vehicle with an IED near Shyamgiri village in the district. Shah also targeted Baghel for banning the CBI from investigating any fresh cases in the state without seeking the state government’s consent. “Why is Bhupesh Baghel so afraid of the CBI? The Raman Singh government had never banned the CBI,” he said. Addressing an election rally in Dongargaon town in Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency, Shah also sought to know whether Congress chief Rahul Gandhi supported National Conference leader Omar Abdullah’s demand for having a separate prime minister for Jammu and Kashmir. Maneka Gandhi says remark on Muslim votes ‘read out of context’ Union minister Maneka Gandhi claimed that her remark in Sultanpur on Muslim votes was being “read out of context”, reports said. Maneka, in an election rally on Thursday, told Muslims to vote for her as they will “need” her once the Lok Sabha elections are over. District poll authoirities on Friday issued a showcause notice to the minister. The Delhi Election Comission is also examining the transcript of the minister’s speech, which was condemned by Congress, PTI reported. “We are not Mahatma Gandhi’s children that we keep giving and not get anything in return,” she said in Sultanpur’s Muslim-dominated Turabkhani area. Maneka, the BJP candidate from Sultanpur Lok Sabha constituency, claimed she is all set to win and told the Muslim audience that “you might need me tomorrow.” “I am winning. I am winning because of the help and love of the people,” Maneka said at the meeting in the constituency earlier held by her son Varun Gandhi. “But if my victory is without the Muslims, I will not feel very good,” she said, adding she will be left with a bitter feeling. “If Muslims come for some work after this, I will think why bother, what difference will it make.” Suggesting that it was matter of give and take, she added, “We are not Mahatma Gandhi’s children to keep giving without getting anything in return.” IPL: Struggling RR, RCB hope to snap losing run against MI, KXIP An upbeat Mumbai Indians host Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium in an afternoon clash on Saturday. Mumbai Indians now have four wins out of six games, and find themselves at the third spot. Rajasthan, on the other hand, suffered yet another narrow loss in a four-wicket defeat to Chennai Super Kings at Jaipur. In the second game of the double-header, Kings XI Punjab host Royal Challengers Bangalore, who are yet to collect a win in the six games that they have played so far, and are languishing at the last spot in the points table. Naresh Goyal puts in bid for Jet Airways Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal has put in bid for buying stake in the ailing airline, sources said, a PTI report said. Goyal quit as Chairman of the carrier last month under a debt resolution plan that saw lenders taking control of the airline. Airline sources told PTI that Goyal has put in bid for Jet. It couldn’t be immediately ascertained whether he has partnered with any entity or airline for the bid, the report said. Skype now lets you share your Android or iOS phone screen on video calls Microsoft is bringing a new feature to its Skype app on Android and iOS to enable screen sharing. This will let you share anything on your phone displays to friends, family, or coworkers. To get access to this feature you will need to be part of Skype Insider which is Skype’s beta-testing program. There might be a Leaving Neverland sequel in the pipeline Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed has claimed that there may be a sequel to his two-part controversial documentary on child sexual abuse allegations against Michael Jackson. He said a sequel would reveal more about late pop icon, according to IANS. Leaving Neverland, a four-hour long, two-part documentary is built around the testimony of Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who have alleged that they were abused as children by Jackson. Reed confirmed via Twitter that the documentary is now second only to HBO’s Scientology expose as the most viewed of the past decade, reports mirror.co.uk. The filmmaker is now hoping to persuade more alleged victims of Jackson to come forward, with plans that the documentary will focus on Jordan Chandler and Gavin Arvizo, whose allegations sparked Jackson’s trial in 2005.