Rajnath takes over campaign

BJP chief Rajnath Singh has been appointed as the election campaign committee chief, after party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi decided to relinquish the post. Mr Modi, who was declared as the campaign committee chief in June 2013 and the PM candidate on September 13, proposed the name of Mr Singh in the BJP parliamentary board meeting on Sunday. Party leaders said this decision was on expected lines as Mr Modi could not have run his own campaign. “Modi proposed Rajnath Singh’s name and it was accepted unanimously by all the parliamentary board members,” BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar said. Mr Kumar said since 20 sub-committees have already been formed under the election campaign committee and these are headed by various senior leaders, it was only proper that Mr Singh be appointed to head the panel. The parliamentary board also discussed the ordinance on convicted MPs and MLAs. Mr Kumar said the party appeals to the President of India not to sign the ordinance. The panel also discussed the voters’ right to reject and said with it the matter of compulsory voting naturally comes to the fore. The BJP demanded that an all-party meeting should be called to discuss this issue.

*** Criticism irks media body AGE CORRESPONDENT New Delhi, Sept. 29

Terming Narendra Modi’s criticism of the role of the Indian media in its interaction with Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif as “objectionable”, the Broadcast Editors’ Association (BEA) on Sunday charged that the saffron leader has demeaned the institution and shown it in poor light. “The BEA finds Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s statement against Indian media at a public rally in New Delhi today as objectionable. It believes that such a statement aims at demeaning Indian media, which is a key institution of democracy,” BEA president Shazi Zaman said in a statement. BEA general secretary N.K. Singh said the body is disturbed at the attempt to project the Indian media team visiting the UN in a poor light. “Modi’s statement has been made without knowing the full facts of the matter and without realising the dignified role the media is expected to play at international fora,” he said.