Amit Shah lauds India's Ukraine evacuation mission; says 'Had positive effect on polls'

As the poll campaign for the 5 state elections wrap up, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief JP Nadda addressed the press in Delhi on Saturday. Predicting a BJP victory across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa, Shah also lauded India's 'Operation Ganga' which has evacuated over 16,000 citizens from war-torn Ukraine. He added that the evacuation has had a 'positive impact on elections' - hinting it being a factor favouring the saffron party. Results of the 5 poll-bound states will be announced on March 10.

Shah: 'Evacuation has a positive impact on elections'  

"The government sent Russian-speaking teams to four nearby countries of Ukraine and also set up a control room. Over 13,000 citizens have reached India and more flights are coming in. This process had a positive impact on elections and on the people also," Shah said in a press conference.

Operation Ganga

Currently, India has flagged off Operation Ganga to evacuate Indians from Ukraine via Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia at its own expense as Ukraine has closed its airspace for civilian flights. Until now, Over dozens of flights have taken of from Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Moldova and Poland including Indian Airforce flights bringing back over 6200 Indian nationals - often welcomed by Union Ministers at various Indian airports. Indian Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia is handling evacuation from Romania and Moldova borders, Kiren Rijiju from Slovakia border, Hardeep Singh Puri at Hungary border and V.K Singh at Poland.

As per MEA's latest statement, more than 7400 Indians are scheduled to be brought back in the next two days. While Indian embassies have evacuated all Indians from Kharkiv, Pisochyn, 700-900 students remain in Sumy - where heavy Russian shelling is happening. India is in touch with both Ukraine and Russia to evacuate the Indians via a humanitarian corridor to Russia. Approximately 8,000 Indians, mainly students, were stranded in Ukraine when the war broke out.

5 state elections

Elections were conducted in 5 states - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur and Punjab. The ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh under CM Yogi Adityanath faced a resurging Akhilesh Yadav, in Uttarakhand it faced a strong Congress under ex-CM Harish Rawat. In Goa, Pramod Sawant faced a tricorner fight with Congress, TMC and AAP in the fray and Manipur CM Biren Singh faced a beleaguered Congress. However, in Punjab, it is the ruling Congress, which is heavily embroiled in infighting, facing a rising AAP, Akali Dal-BSP and an unlikely combination of BJP-Amarinder Singh, apart from the farm union political leaders.