The fear of losing seats in the Lok Sabha polls has driven BJP to bring communal ideas upfront – that’s why the campaign has turned ugly.POLLING for the second phase of ongoing Lok Sabha elections was held on April 26 in 88 seats spread across 13 states. The BJP and its allies hold the lion’s share of these seats, barring the sole southern state of Kerala, where it had failed to open its account in 2019.What is notable is the sudden change in pitch and content of the BJP’s campaign, led by the prime minister himself.

HARD facts are staring at the government creating discomforts to the party in power. It is sad to see on the eve of election how the prime minister of India feels uncomfortable, perturbed and baffled in facing these hard realities.

THE All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), in a statement issued on April 29, has  expressed its anger and disgust against the revelations made about a sitting MP and a candidate in the Lok Sabha poll from Hassan, Karnataka, Prajwal Revanna who is the grandson of H D Deve Gowda and leader of the JD(S) which is an ally of the BJP.  The Karnataka government has filed an FIR against him and constituted an SIT to enquire into the serious accusations of sexual harassment that he faces.  There had been talk of his misdemeanors earlier too but he had been given relief by the High Court.

ISRAELI bombs continue to fall on Gaza, killing Palestinian civilians with abandon. Al Jazeera published a story about the destruction of 24 hospitals in Gaza, each of them bombed mercilessly by the Israeli military. Half of the 35,000 Palestinians killed by Israel were children, their bodies littering the overwhelmed morgues and mosques of Gaza.

HEAT waves were forecasted a few days earlier in Chennai and other parts of the state of Tamil Nadu, and the summer heat has already begun. The election-related heat and intense campaigning culminated with the state going to polls in the first phase on April 19.