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Priyanka Gandhi won’t make difference to Congress in UP predicts BJP MP
Bulandshahr: BJP’s Bulandshahr MP Bhola Singh, who won the 2014 election by over four lakh votes, is hoping to increase his victory margin this time around as he dismissed the BSP-SP-RLD alliance as of no consequence and said Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi was a flop.
Asked if the opposition “gathbandhan” is a challenge for the Bharatiya Janata Party, Singh told journalist: “The Gathbandhan, in a way, has helped me. All local leaders as well as the voters are now 100 per cent with me…”
Talking to media persons at his Yamunapuram residence, Singh claimed that the public knows that the opposition coalition’s leaders were “afraid” because they did not think about basic facilities like toilet and gas connections and “only tried to divide the country for their own benefit and to fill their pockets”.
With over six lakh votes, Singh, who crushed his Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Pradeep Kumar Jatav in 2014, now hopes to get more votes.
“As more people have come out in my support. I will find over 6.04 lakh votes which I got in 2014 elections,” he said.
Asked about the Congress, Singh, with a smile on his face, said: “Congress has vanished from here.
“A joint Congress-RLD candidate had fought from here last time but he could secure only 59,000 votes. So, the scenario is clear. How much votes the Congress will get this time when it along with the RLD (Rashtriya Lok Dal) unitedly could not grab votes?”
To a question if there is any change after Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi started to campaign in Uttar Pradesh for her party, Singh said he does not think that there is any impact.
BJP MP predicts Priyanka Gandhi won’t make difference to Congress in UP:
If there would have been any change after Priyanka Gandhi’s entry, why did her brother and Congress President Rahul Gandhu chose to file nomination from another constituency besides Amethi, he asked.
Over issues of the public in Bulandshahr, which has remained with the BJP in all elections since 1991 save in 2009, the MP said people in the regime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi “are problem free because all schemes run by him have reached to them honestly”.
Asked about the work done by him in last five years and the programme for next regime if he wins the elections, Singh said that Bulandshahr comes into National Capital Region (NCR) but it had been only on the paper before 2014 as nothing was done in this regard.
“In the last five years, there has been PNG and CNG, passport facility, train for Vaishno Devi (in Jammu and Kashmir) and a Kendriya Vidyala in double shift. There is also four lane road work in progress from Bulandshahr to Meerut; Badayun via Debai; and Garh via Syana.”
Asked over people’s anger against him for not visiting in the constituency, Singh said he “is not a gram pradhan”.
“I am not a gram pradhan of a village. I am an MP of 951 Gram Panchayats. I have visited every village. Visiting villages every day is not a work of an MP. MP’s work is to make policy for the welfare of the constituency, and I have done it very well,” he claimed.
Singh also alleged the violence in Bulandshahr in December – which left a police inspector and a youth dead – was a conspiracy of the opposition to defame the BJP.
Bulandshahr witnessed clashes between Hindutva activists and the police over alleged cow slaughter in the area.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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