INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to repeat its 2014 stellar performance in Rajasthan as the latest trends show the party leading in 24 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state, with its ally the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party leading in the other seat.
The Congress, which has a wafer-thin majority in the state assembly, has failed to breach the BJP fortress of Bikaner, Churu, Jhalawar and Jalore where lotus has bloomed in the last three parliamentary elections.
In the Bakiner seat, union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal is leading by more than 260,000 votes over his cousin and former Indian Police Service officer Madan Gopal Meghwal.
Arjun Ram Meghwal had won the seat in 2009 and 2014 and before him, it was veteran Bollywood actor Dharmendra won the seat for BJP in 2004.
The Jat-dominated Churu parliamentary seat has been a BJP bastion for over a decade now. Former MP Ram Singh Kaswan's son Rahul is leading in the seat by 329000 votes over Congress' Rafiq Mandelia.
Dushyant Singh, the son of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, is leading by over 430000 votes and is all set to get elected for the fourth time from Jhalawar seat. The Congress had fielded Pramod Sharma, who had joined the party from the BJP.
Raje had represented the constituency in the parliament for five consecutive terms from 1989 to 2004.
In Jalore, the BJP's sitting MP Devi Ji Patel is leading by 261000 votes over the Congress' Ratan Devasi.
Patel won the seat in 2009 and 2014 while in 2004 the saffron party's B Susheela was elected from the seat.
The BJP alone had won all the 25 parliamentary seats in the state in 2014.
(PTI)
FILE PHOTO: A general view shows British Steel's Scunthorpe plant, in Scunthorpe, northern England, Britain, March 31, 2025. REUTERS/Dominic Lipinski
The FBU is planning to introduce new internal policies and wants the TUC to take action as well. (Representational image: iStock)
FBU chief raises concern over rise in racist online posts by union members
THE FIRE Brigades Union (FBU) and other trade unions are increasingly concerned about a rise in racist and bigoted online comments by their own members and officials, according to Steve Wright, the FBU’s new general secretary, speaking to the Guardian.
Wright said internal inquiries have revealed dozens of cases involving members using racist slurs or stereotypes, often aimed at asylum seekers.
He said similar issues were reported in other unions, prompting a joint campaign to counter false narratives around immigration and race promoted by far-right groups online.
“People with far-right views are becoming more brazen in what they do on social media, and I’ve witnessed it with my own union around disciplinary cases and the rhetoric of some of our own members,” Wright said to the newspaper.
He added, “Some of our members and sometimes our reps have openly made comments which are racist and bigoted. In my time in the fire service, that has gone up.”
The FBU is planning to introduce new internal policies and wants the TUC to take action as well. A formal statement addressing far-right narratives will be launched at the union’s annual conference in Blackpool next month.
Wright cited the influence of social media and figures like Donald Trump and Nigel Farage as factors contributing to these incidents. “It feels like an itch that we’ve got to scratch,” he said.
The FBU barred a former official last year for allegedly endorsing racist content on X, including posts from Britain First and Tommy Robinson.
Wright also warned that the union could strike if the government moves to cut frontline fire services.