Daily Bulletin: Rahul Gandhi asks Sam Pitroda to apologise for comment on anti-Sikh riots, Narendra Modi to campaign in UP; day's top stories

Rahul Gandhi says Sam Pitroda should apologise for 1984 anti-Sikh riots comment Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that Sam Pitroda should apologise for his remarks about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. In a Facebook post, Rahul said, “I think what Sam Pitroda ji said is completely out of line and he should apologise for it. I think 1984 was a needless tragedy that caused tremendous pain.” “The former prime minister, Manmohan Singhji has apologised. My mother, Sonia Gandhi ji has apologised. We all have made our position very clear - that 1984 was a terrible tragedy and should never have happened,” he said. Earlier on Friday, Congress had distanced itself from the “so what” remarks of Sam Pitroda about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and asked the leaders of the party to be careful and sensitive in future. [caption id=“attachment_6511851” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Twitter/@INCIndia[/caption] Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the party abhorred violence of any kind against any person or group of people on the basis of caste, creed, colour, region or religion, adding that riots and violence had no place in the Indian society. Poll watch: Narendra Modi to address rallies in UP, Rahul Gandhi to campaign in MP With the six phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha election due on Sunday, and only one phase left in the massive seven-phase democratic exercise, Opposition and BJP leaders will be on the campaign trail on Saturday, addressing rallies across the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will campaign in Uttar Pradesh, with rallies in Sonbhadra and Ghazipur. BJP president Amit Shah will also address rallies in Bihar’s Sasaram and Aarah and will also hold a roadshow in the state capital, Patna. Congress president Rahul Gandhi, meanwhile, will address rallies in Madhya Pradesh’s Shujalpir, Amjhera, and Khargone. The campaigning for the sixth phase ended on Friday. The results of the election are scheduled to be declared on 23 May. Rahul Gandhi writes to EC, says ‘don’t be discriminatory’ The Congress president is learnt to have told the Election Commission to  be “fair and non-discriminatory” in dealing with complaints of poll code breach and claimed “not guilty” of its violation by his charge that the Narendra Modi government has enacted a new law that allowed tribals to be shot at. Responding to a show cause notice by the EC, Rahul is learnt to have told the poll panel that he had tried to summarise a proposed amendment to the Indian Forest Act in a simple language during a political speech. He told the poll panel that his words, in Hindi, were used in a “free flow of a political speech” and there was no intention of “misleading, misrepresenting or stating false and non-existent facts”. Rahul also asked the poll body “to maintain a fair, non-discriminatory, non-arbitrary and balanced approach” besides ensuring a level playing field among leaders of national political parties. He cited a number of statements of BJP leaders including that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, made during campaigning, in which some “objectionable” words have been uttered and which have been decided by “unreasoned and cryptic orders” and that too after more than 40 days of the complaints. Cyril Ramaphosa’s ruling ANC wins re-election in South Africa South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ruling ANC won re-election Friday with an absolute majority in parliament, results showed, but with diminished support, complicating efforts to boost growth and fight corruption. The African National Congress (ANC) held an unbeatable lead with 57.73 percent at 16.10 GMT after 95 percent of voting districts were officially tallied following Wednesday’s vote. That means they will be mathematically assured more than 50 percent of votes cast in the final official tally, due to be announced Saturday, and a similar proportion of parliamentary seats. Supernovas take on Velocity in final of Women’s T20 Challenge 2019 Supernovas take on Velocity in the final of Women’s T20 Challenge 2019 in Jaipur, today. The final will also see two of the biggest names in Indian cricket - Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur - take on each other once again. Supernovas defeated Velocity by 12 runs in their previous encounter in the tournament. ICRA looking into IL&FS rating issue, hires external experts for assistance ICRA is working on addressing issues pertaining to credit rating of crisis-hit IL&FS and its subsidiaries and has sought help from external experts in the matter. “The company is in the process of addressing certain matters related to credit rating assigned to one of its customer and its subsidiaries, and an anonymous representation,” ICRA said in a regulatory filing on quarterly earnings announced 9 May. In an investor communication in December, ICRA had informed about receiving a notice from market regulator Sebi for conduct of adjudication proceedings in relation credit ratings assigned to Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) and one of its subsidiaries – IL&FS Financial Services. “These proceedings are under…Sebi Act, 1992, which deals with potential imposition of monetary penalty,” it said in the investor communication presented on 19 December, 2018.