BHUBANESWAR (TIP):
Beating the drums for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, yoga guru Baba Ramdev has again promised to bring back Indian currency stashed away in foreign banks within 100 days of the formation of the latter’s government in New Delhi. Baba Ramdev, who was in the temple city of Bhubaneswar, said: “I would commence the work for getting back the 100000 crores of Indian money within 100 days of Modi government.” Continuing his tirade against the ruling Congress, Baba Ramdev blamed the UPA Government for the lack of development in Odisha.

“In the last sixty years, Congress has done an injustice with Odisha. Despite having sufficient financial resources at its disposal, the Centre has dealt with the state of Odisha poorly. This deprivation has made the state even poorer,” he claimed. Baba Ramdev is an avid supporter of Modi, and has been touring India to garner votes for the BJP after the party accepted his proposal to bring back black money stashed in foreign banks.

Indian media often presents the parliamentary elections as a face-off between Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi. Polls have repeatedly indicated that although the BJP will emerge as the largest single party in parliament, it is unlikely to win an outright majority. Congress and its allies are battling to weaken Modi’s chances of building a coalition. Elections began on April 7. Polling will end on May 12. Already, 814 million people have registered to vote – a number exceeding the population of Europe and a world record. Results are due on May 16.