Mumbai: Have you missed any news today? Here are the top national, international headlines of the day.
PM holds maiden press conference as campaign ends: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing his first press conference, said that his government would return back to power with full majority.
PM Modi said his piece but didn't take any direct question from the reporters, directing them to his party president Amit Shah.
Read: 'We will return with full majority,' says PM Modi in his first press conference
Chandrababu Naidu registers protest with the EC: Telugu Desam Party chief met the Election Commission to register his protest on the EC’s decision to conduct re-polling in five polling stations of Chandragiri assembly segment falling under Chittoor parliamentary constituency.
Read: Chandrababu Naidu writes, meets the EC; protests against re-polling
'BJP, RSS are God-se not God-ke lovers,' Rahul's attack: In an apparent reference to remarks by Pragya Singh Thakur and two other BJP leaders in support of Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse, Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "I finally got it. The BJP and the RSS... Are not God-Ke Lovers. They are God-Se Lovers."
Read: BJP, RSS not God-ke but God-se lovers: Rahul Gandhi
Priyanka's jibe 'Sr Bachchan would be a better PM': Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who held a massive roadshow in Mirzapur parliamentary constituency, took a potshot at PM Narendra Modi by calling him "sabse bada abhineta".
Addressing the ebullient gathering, Priyanka told people that it would have been great if you had chosen veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan as the PM.
Read: Amitabh Bachchan would have been better pick for PM: Priyanka's jibe at Modi
'Gandhi is Father of Pakistan', says BJP leader; suspended: The BJP has suspended its Madhya Pradesh spokesman for his comment of Mahatma Gandhi.
This comes a day after BJP's Bhopal Lok Sabha candidate Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur hailed Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse as a "true patriot".
Read: BJP's Anil Saumitra calls Mahatma Gandhi 'father of Pakistan', suspended
Rahul on PM post: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that a decision on the Prime Ministerial post of a non-BJP government at the Centre would be taken after the Lok Sabha poll results are out on May 23.
Gandhi's comment comes after senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that his party does not have any problem if it did not get the PM's post as it wants to dislodge the NDA government.
Read: Will decide on PM's post after results are out on May 23: Rahul Gandhi
PM's comment on Sadhvi Pragya's Godse remark: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that he could not forgive Pragya Singh Thakur for her remark calling Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse a ‘deshbhakt’ (partiot).
Read: Can’t forgive Pragya Thakur for insulting Bapu: Narendra Modi
Race for PM post: Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday said that it wasn’t true that Congress would not claim or was not interested in the Prime Minister post.
“Of course we are the biggest and oldest political party. If we have to run the government for five years biggest political party should be given a chance,” Azad said.
The statement came a day after Ghulam Nabi Azad had said that Congress would accept a regional party Prime Minister.
Read: Cong is biggest, oldest party; should run govt and be in PM chair: Azad
Saradha chit fund scam: The Supreme Court on Friday gave former Kolkata commissioner Rajeev Kumar seven days to approach appropriate courts to seek protection from arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Read: Saradha chit fund case: SC gives 7 days to ex-Kolkata top cop to seek bail
Modilies controversy: Union Minister Anantkumar Hegde Friday stoked a controversy by calling Congress President Rahul Gandhi a "moron" for his tweet that 'Modilies' is a new word in the English dictionary.
Read: ‘Moron’: Hegde slams Rahul Gandhi over 'Modilie' comment
Pakistan on Samjhauta train blast: Pakistan on Thursday said it is considering to move international forums against the acquittal of the 2007 Samjhauta train blast case suspects that left 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, dead.
Read: Will move int'l forums against acquittal of Samjhauta train blast suspects: Pak
Drone strikes in Iran: Saudi Arabia accused Tehran of being behind a drone strike that shut down a key oil pipeline in the kingdom, and a newspaper close to the palace called for Washington to launch “surgical” strikes on Iran, raising the spectre of escalating tensions as the US boosts its military presence in the Persian Gulf.
Read: Saudi blame Iran for drone strikes; want US to launch 'surgical strike' on Tehran
