News Analysis India

Tag: Bengal elections

  • Bengal minister accuses Shah of spreading misinformation on fund disbursement

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra on Sunday accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of providing misinformation about disbursement of funds by the Centre to the state during a political rally and challenged him for a debate.

    He said the state government had received Rs 1.13 lakh crore from the Centre in the last six years, which is “nothing more than one-third of what the Union minister claimed”.

    Shah, in his recent visit to the poll-bound West Bengal, had reportedly said the Centre provided Rs 3.59 lakh crore to the state.

    “He has given wrong, misleading and politically-motivated information. The Centre, as a part of the federal structure, collects taxes from states and shares. We had received only Rs 1.13 lakh crore in the last 6 years (FY14 to FY20),” Mitra told reporters.

    Referring to his estimate, Mitra said the Centre might have collected around Rs 5 lakh crore in these years in the form of direct and indirect taxes from West Bengal and sent only Rs 1.13 lakh crore through central schemes.

    Mitra said the West Bengal government had spent Rs 3.1 lakh crore in these six years in different projects, which are fully sponsored by the state, apart from expenditures like salary, pension and other administrative expenses.

  • Not afraid of anyone, can’t be initimidated with jail: Mamata, nephew Abhishek hit out at Centre

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Amid rising political temperature in poll-bound West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Sunday that she is not afraid of anyone and cannot be intimidated with jail or anything else.

    She asserted that her mother tongue Bangla has taught her to fight like a tiger and not to be afraid of rats.

    Holding out a challenge without naming any one or political party as the state prepares to go to polls shortly, the Trinamool Congress supremo said that they have not learnt to lose.

    “Don’t try to intimidate us with jail, we have fought against guns and are not afraid of fighting against rats,” she said.

    “As long as there is life in me, I will not be afraid of any intimidation,” the feisty Bengal leader said at a programme here on International Mother Language Day celebrated on February 21.

    A few hours before the programme, the CBI had served notice to her nephew Abhishek Banerjee’s wife and sister-in-law for questioning in connection with a case of alleged coal pilferage.

    Maintaining that she is accepting all challenges on the historic February 21, she said “Let there be challenge in (20)21, let us see whose strength is more; there will be only one game in (20)21 and I will be the goalkeeper in that match and want to see who wins and who loses.

    “We have not learnt to lose and they won’t be able to defeat us,” Banerjee said without naming anyone.

    The ruling TMC and the Bharatiya Janata Party are engaged in a fierce battle for winning the coming assembly elections in the state.

    “My mother tongue Bangla has taught me to fight like a tiger and not to be afraid of rats,” she said, maintaining that she can speak so loudly and with pride because of the sweetness and beauty of the Bengali language.

    Banerjee said that she will give the slogan “Joy Bangla” even if she is sent to jail.

    The BJP has opposed the use of the slogan claiming that it is associated with Bangladesh.

    The TMC supremo and her party have been accusing the BJP of bringing outsiders into Bengal for the coming elections.

    The TMC launched its campaign slogan “Bengal wants its own daughter” Saturday, which the political analysts claimed is an attempt to rake up Bengali sentiments before the elections.

    “I love Bengali language and respect other languages also; why should I say Bangal and not Bangla?” she asked.

    The chief minister said that her government’s proposal to change the name of West Bengal to ‘Bangla’ has been lying with the central government for four years.

    She questioned whether the proposal is not finding favour because there is a Bangladesh.

    “We are a state and that is a country, there is Punjab in Pakistan and there is Punjab in India also,” she said, wondering what problem is there in changing the state’s name to ‘Bangla’.

    Banerjee said the state can also be called “Bangla Pradesh” like Andhra Pradesh or Himachal Pradesh.

    “I have always been seeing deprivation and a step-motherly attitude towards Bengal,” she said.

    Her nephew and party MP Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday asserted that the party will not be cowed by the CBI notice to his wife Rujira, asking her to join the probe in a coal pilferage case.

    The notice had asked Rujira to be present at their Harish Mukherjee Road residence at 3 pm to reply to queries related to the case of theft of coal from the mines of Eastern Coalfields Ltd in West Bengal “If they think they can use these ploys to intimidate us, they are mistaken.

    We are not the ones who would ever be cowed down,” Abhishek, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said in a tweet.

    “We have full faith in the law of the land,” he said, attaching a copy of the CBI notice in the tweet.

    Later in the day, the central probe agency also summoned Abhishek Banerjee’s sister-in-law Menaka Gambhir to join the probe.

    Gambhir was served a notice at her south Kolkata residence, to appear on Monday.

  • Bengal polls: BJP challenges Mamata to announce she will contest only from Nandigram, TMC hits back

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The BJP Saturday challenged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to announce that she will contest the coming state election only from Nandigram if she is confident of her victory, prompting TMC to hit back and ask the saffron party to first name its chief ministerial candidate.

    BJP national general secretary and Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya in a tweet asked Banerjee to announce whether she will be fighting only from Nandigram.

    The Trinamool Congress was quick to hit back saying it wondered why BJP is scared of declaring its Nandigram candidate or its chief ministerial face.

    BJP has not announced its candidate for the seat and has said it will choose its chief minister only after coming to power in the state.

    Banerjee had announced at a TMC rally at Nandigram in January that she will contest from the seat.

    Nandigram had witnessed anti-farmland acquisition movement in 2007 in the aftermath of the then Left Front government’s plan to acquire land for a special economic zone.

    TMC rode the crest of the movement and came to power in the state in 2011 ending the 34-year rule of the LF.

    In 2016 the Nandigram seat in East Midnapore district was won by the then TMC heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari, who recently switched over to BJP and has publicly vowed to defeat Banerjee by 50,000 votes.

    Vijayvargiya in his tweet said “Mamata Banerjee has announced to contest assembly elections from Nandigram.

    But, she did not say that she will contest from here only! If she is confident of her victory, make this announcement too! Otherwise, it will be understood that you do not trust Nandigram!”.

    BJP national secretary Anupam Hazra said if TMC did not announce it now, it will be understood that that Banerjee will fight the election from more seats.

    “If Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is sure of her victory in Nandigram she should announce that she will contest only from the seat.

    This way she cannot deny her statement on the issue ater.

    Or else it is not unknown what they (TMC) will do next,” he posted on the micro blogging site.

    The TMC shot back saying “Why is BJP scared of declaring its Nandigram candidate? Or even its CM face? Mamata Di (eder sister as she is called by TMC workers and leaders) is TMC’s face for all the 294 seats.

    “BJP should first announce whom they will field against Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram.

    We are all set to win big,” it said in a statement.

    After having a limited presence in the politically polarised state for decades, the BJP has emerged as TMC’s main rival.

    It had won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general elections in West Bengal.

    The saffron party leaders are upbeat that the party will be able to end Banerjee’s 10-year rule in the state polls.

    Election to the 294-member state Assembly is due in April-May next year.

  • Bengal elections: Actor-turned-TMC MLA Chiranjeet Chakraborty wishes to quit politics

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Amid an ongoing exodus of TMC leaders from the ruling party in West Bengal ahead of the assembly elections, actor-turned-MLA Chiranjeet Chakraborty on Wednesday expressed his desire to quit politics and focus more on acting.

    The two-time Barasat MLA said he has already conveyed his decision to party supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has asked him to wait for a few days.

    “I was associated with the TMC even before 2011 (when it came to power in the state). Before the 2016 assembly elections, I had told party supremo Mamata Banerjee that I want to quit politics and return to acting but she asked me to contest the polls.

    “This time too, I have said that I don’t want to contest the elections and want to focus on acting. She has said that she will let me know,” Chakraborty told a news channel.

    When asked whether he has plans to join any other party, he replied in negative.

    “I want to be an apolitical person. I want to spend time acting. I am either a Trinamool member or apolitical. There is no question of me going to any other party,” he said.

    The party’s North 24 Parganas district chief and Food and Supplies Minister Jyotipriyo Mullick said he will speak to Chakraborty.

    Since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when the BJP bagged 18 seats, just four less than the ruling TMC and emerged as its main challenger in West Bengal, 17 MLAs of the Trinamool Congress, one TMC MP, three MLAs each of the Congress and the CPI (M) and one from the CPI have crossed over to the saffron camp.

    However, except for former state cabinet ministers Suvendu Adhikari and Rajib Banerjee, the rest have not resigned as MLAs.

    TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Dinesh Trivedi had recently quit the party and the post, claiming that he was feeling suffocated in the party.

    Elections to the 294-member state assembly are due in April-May.

  • Mend your ways or face retribution: BJP leader Dilip Ghosh tells TMC workers

    By PTI
    MIDNAPORE: Those trying to harm BJP workers in West Bengal should mend their ways or face retribution, the party’s state unit president Dilip Ghosh warned on Sunday.

    Addressing a public meeting at Keshpur in the West Midnapore district during the BJP’s Parivartan Yatra, Ghosh accused the ruling TMC of atrocities against workers of his party at different places of the state.

    “There is two-three months’ time before the elections and by then they (TMC workers) should start behaving like gentlemen, else they will face retribution,” he said.

    ALSO READ | PM Modi to visit West Bengal on Feb 22, to address rally in Hooghly’s Chinsurah

    “Your game has ended, now we will play and you will watch from the gallery,” he said, in an indirect reference to the popular “khela hobe” slogan of the TMC, meaning game on.

    “There will be change and also retribution,” Ghosh asserted at another rally in the district, claiming that the BJP will win the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

    Former state minister Rajib Banerjee, who recently switched over to the BJP from the TMC, claimed that the slogan ‘khela hobe’ indicate that the ruling party is trying to play a “dirty game” during the upcoming elections, which he said is against the culture of Bengal.

  • TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi announces his resignation from Rajya Sabha ahead of Bengal assembly polls

    By Online Desk
    Adding to the list of dramatic TMC defections ahead of assembly elections in Bengal, Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi announced his resignation in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

    He attributed rampant violence in West Bengal and suffocation in the party that is ‘no longer under Mamata Banerjee’s control’ as reasons for his decision to resign, leaving the party managers flustered. 

    In his final address, he stated increasing ‘political violence’ as the reason for his exit.

    “If you sit here quietly and cannot do anything, then it is better that you resign from here and go to the land of Bengal and be with people,” he said in the Upper House of Parliament.

    Trivedi said the world looks at India when something happens.

    “What I mean to say is the way violence is taking place in our state. Sitting here, I am feeling perplexed as to what should I do,” he added.

    The Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP said he is unable to bear various incidents that are happening in West Bengal.

    Soon after getting up to speak during the debate on the Budget, Trivedi said: “There are limitations here. My party has sent me here, so I am grateful. But now I can’t take what is happening any more. I am feeling suffocated. That’s why I want to resign from here.

    I want to work for my Bengal,” the former railway minister said. The BJP was quick to welcome him, if he wanted to make the switch. Criticising the violence, Trivedi said: “I am from the land of Subhas Chandra Bose. My soul is saying I sit here and say nothing, what is the point?”

    “I am grateful to my party that it has sent me here, but now I feel a little suffocated. We are unable to do anything and there is atrocity (going on).

    My voice of conscience is saying what Swami Vivekananda used to say — arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached,” Trivedi said, while announcing his resignation from the House.

    Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh said there is a due process for resigning from the House and asked Trivedi to submit his resignation in writing to the chairman.

    (With ENS, PTI inputs)

  • Bengal Polls: Congress, Left to hold seat sharing talks on 7 February

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: Left parties and the Congress will hold a third-round meeting on 7th February to discuss seat sharing for the West Bengal Legislative Assembly elections, Congress sources said.

    The remaining 101 seats will be finalised in the final round of talks between the two parties.

    Congress’ West Bengal in-charge Jitin Prasada, Congress MP BK Hariprasad will be present in the meeting.

    Earlier, Congress and the Left Front alliance held two rounds of meetings and finalised seat-sharing agreement for 193 of the total 294 seats in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections.

    The tenure of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal will come to an end on May 30, 2020.The upcoming state elections in West Bengal are slated to take place in 2021 for 294 Assembly seats.

  • Centre didn’t help migrant workers, but turncoats were given chartered plane to fly to Delhi: Mamata Banerjee

    The TMC supremo, training her guns at all deserters, said the turncoats would be defeated in the assembly polls.

  • LJP to contest all seats in West Bengal, Assam in upcoming elections

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) has decided to contest all seats in West Bengal and Assam in the upcoming elections, said Abdul Khaliq, LJP Secretary-General.

    While speaking to ANI, Khaliq said that this decision was taken after state party leaders expressed that the party had to be strengthened in order to raise the voices of the marginalised communities.

    “We have been having discussions with state-level leaders and all of them strongly feel that the party expand and be strengthened so that we become a force that raises the voices of marginalised communities,” he said.

    “The central leadership has taken this view and decided that the party will be contesting on all seats in West Bengal and Assam in the ensuing elections,” he added.

    State assembly elections for both states are slated to take place this year. 

  • MLA Prabir Ghoshal resigns from TMC posts, served notice

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress MLA Prabir Ghoshal, who had resigned from two posts alleging that he was not being allowed to work, was handed a show-cause notice on Tuesday. The Uttarpara MLA had resigned as a member of the Hooghly district committee and also quit as TMC spokesperson. “I have been forced to take this decision as there is an active lobby that is not allowing me to do my work in my constituency. I will still continue to be MLA keeping in mind the needs of people,” Ghoshal said.

    Ghosal was asked to explain why he had shared internal affairs of the TMC with the press, a party insider said. Due to infighting, the TMC legislator had claimed, he was not informed about Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s public rally at Hooghly on Monday. Ghosal, however, had announced earlier that he had no immediate plans to desert the ruling party

    He alleged that a conspiracy is being hatched to defeat him in the upcoming assembly polls “if I contest again from the Uttarpara seat”. Ghoshal claimed the Trinamool ended poorly in the Lok Sabha polls from the seat due to “infighting” within the party. “An important road connecting Kanaipur with Nabagram is in poor shape since long, and all my representations to the higher authorities have failed. It seems a vested interest is at work to not allow good people to stay in the party,” the disgruntled TMC leader said.

    The Trinamool Congress has been facing a string of exits from its ranks which includes the likes of Suvendu Adhikari, Arindam Bhattacharya, Sunil Mondal, Banasri Maity, Silbhdrada Dutta. Like Ghosal, another TMC leader and former forest minister Rajib Banerjee had resigned from party posts on January 22 alleging that he was not allowed to work by his party colleagues. A miffed Mamata on Monday had announced that those who are unhappy can exit the party but added that the doors of her party will be closed for turncoats.  Rajib Banerjee, meanwhile, vowed to contest from Domjur.