Election wrap: PM Modi's retort to Sam Pitroda's racist slur, Rajnath Singh on India's poverty reduction efforts and more

PM Modi

Prime Minister Modi launched an all-out attack on the Congress over Sam Pitroda's remarks while addressing a rally in Telangana. However, the Congress distanced itself from its senior leader's remark.

Here are the other big political developments of the day:

'People won't tolerate this disrespect': PM Modi says 'filled with anger' after Sam Pitroda's racist remark

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at the Congress party on Wednesday after a video of one of its leaders, Sam Pitroda, went viral on social media. Pitroda, the chairman of Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) stirred a major controversy as he attempted to draw an analogy of India's diversity.

"I got to know that there is an uncle in America who is the philosophical guide of 'Shehzada' and just like the third umpire in cricket this 'Shehzada' takes advice from the third umpire," he said in an apparent reference to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Sam Pitroda.

"This philosophical uncle said that those who have black skin are from Africa. This means that you are abusing several people of the country on the basis of their skin colour," Modi said while addressing a rally in Telangana's Warangal.

Delhi excise policy case: SC order on Kejriwal's interim bail plea likely on Friday

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it may pass order on granting interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam on May 10.

This comes a day after the top Court deferred its order on Kejriwal's interim bail plea. Separately, Delhi's Rouse Avenue court has extended Kejriwal's judicial custody till May 20.

On May 7, a bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said Kejriwal will only be granted relief subject to the condition that he will not discharge any official duties as it may have a “cascading effect”. The judges also asserted that the situation was “extraordinary” since Lok Sabha elections are once in a five-year event.

'BJP capable of anything during polls, Pulwama is still a ....' says Congress' Amarinder Singh Warring

BJP is capable of doing anything during elections, Congress leader Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said on May 7, referring to the May 5 Poonch terror attack.

Interacting with the press, Warring also commented that the Pulwama attack, where over 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives on February 14, 2019, remains a "big mystery".

"The Pulwama attack is still a big mystery, a big story. I am not referring to the Poonch attack, but rather saying that the BJP is capable of doing anything during elections", he remarked during an interaction with the media, reported ANI.

Poverty to be fully eradicated from India in next 10-15 years: Rajnath Singh

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday claimed that poverty would be completely eradicated from India in the next 10-15 years and this is 'Modi Ki guarantee'.

Singh said this while addressing the BJP's 'Vijay Sankalp' rally here in the district headquarters town of Kalahandi. "Though Congress leaders beginning from Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru to Indira Gandhi and Manmohan Singh all have promised to end poverty, all of them have failed. However, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has started the process to end poverty," he said.
Noting that about 25 crore people have been lifted from below the poverty line during the nine years rule of Modi, the Defence minister said that this was not the claim made by the BJP, but the report of Niti Aayog. No previous government had ever done so as Modi did in the last nine years, he claimed. Singh said: "There will be no family in India which will not have a pucca house, pipe drinking water and LPG gas connection in the next 5 years."

Karnataka police summons JP Nadda, Amit Malviya over controversial post by BJP state unit

The Karnataka Police has summoned BJP chief JP Nadda and IT cell head Amit Malviya over a post on X put by the party's state unit, reported news agency ANI. The investigating officer has reportedly given them a week to appear.

A first information report (FIR) had been registered at the High Grounds Police station in Bengaluru in connection with the post and the two leaders were named in it.

The summon comes days after a FIR which was filed against BJP chief JP Nadda, Karnataka unit chief BY Vijayendra, and the party's IT cell chief Amit Malviya for allegedly fueling communal hatred.

The 17-second animated video shared allegedly by the BJP's Karnataka unit on May 4 depicts caricatures of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Karnataka chief minister  Siddaramaiah.