Tag: Bhowanipore

  • TMC-led civic body puts off opening of quarantine centres until after Bhowanipore bypoll

    Express News Service

    KOLKATA: The chief health officer of the Trinamool Congress-led Kolkata Municipal Corporation in a recent advisory said institutional quarantine and safe home services may be reopened in the municipality after September 30—the day when the high-decibel by-election is scheduled to be held in south Kolkata’s Bhowanipore. 

    “Institutional quarantine and Safe Home services may be reopened if required (but after 30.09.2021 after Bhowanipore Assembly Election) to contain Covid situation in Kolkata during and after Durga and Kali pujas,” reads the advisory. It comes amid a rise in Covid cases in the West Bengal capital. 

    The Covid advisory mentioning the bypoll date has made some TMC leaders uneasy. They feel the BJP may now capitalise on this and demand that the election, which Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee must win to continue as CM, be put off. 

    “The BJP was against the by-election citing the pandemic. But, she needs to get elected as an MLA within November 5 to continue as CM, and if the by-election is deferred, she will have no option but to step down from the post of state CM,” said a senior TMC leader.

    “No one knows what will be the pandemic situation a week from now. How can we set up a time frame for opening quarantine centres and safe home facilities?” asked an official of the state health department. The advisory did not miss the BJP’s attention. The party’s Bengal chapter said it shows the state government is trying to distort the true picture.

    “If quarantine centres and safe homes are reopened before the bypoll, the question of conducting the election amid the pandemic may be raised. This why the advisory clearly mentioned the facilities can be reopened after the by-election,’’ said a BJP leader.

  • Bhowanipore bypoll: BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal files nomination

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal on Monday filed her nomination for the assembly bypoll in Bhowanipore where she is up against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress candidate. Bhowanipore will go to the polls on September 30 and the results will be declared on October 3.

    The CPM has fielded lawyer Srijib Biswas from the seat, while Congress has refrained from taking part in the by-election. Tibrewal, also a lawyer, filed her nomination at the Survey Building in Alipore. She was accompanied by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and BJP MP Arjun Singh, among other senior party leaders.

    অত্যাচারী সরকারের মুখ মমতা ব্যানার্জীর বিরুদ্ধে মনোনয়ন পত্র পেশের আগে গোলমন্দিরে এসে ঈশ্বরের আশীর্বাদ নিলামBefore submitting the nomination papers against Mamata Banerjee, the face of unjust tyrannical oppressive government; I came to Golmandir to receive the blessings of God. pic.twitter.com/RDze502shb
    — Priyanka Tibrewal (@impriyankabjp) September 13, 2021
    TMC’s Sovandeb Chattopadhyay who won the election from Bhabanipur resigned, prompting the Election Commission to declare a by-election so that Banerjee could fight it, having lost the election to Adhikari from Nandigram.

    Banerjee has to get elected by November 5 to retain her chief minister’s post.

  • Bhowanipore set for unequal battle as CM Mamata Banerjee faces ‘lightweight’ rivals

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Having emerged as the face of opposition resistance to the Narendra Modi juggernaut after the Trinamool Congress’ triumph in the assembly elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is locked in an unequal battle as she squares off with “lightweight” rivals in her own lair–Bhowanipore.

    Banerjee, who described herself as an “injured tigress” after an incident on the campaign trail in Nandigram which left her with a plastered foot, and was licking her wounds following her defeat at the hands of one-time protege Suvendu Adhikari, will likely roar back to victory, those watching the electoral battle unfold in the constituency feel.

    She is pitted in the by-poll against Priyanka Tibrewal of the BJP and CPM’s Srijib Biswas.

    Tibrewal, whom the state BJP president Dilip Ghosh called a “fearless soul”, is a lawyer and one of the petitioners in a string of PILs filed against the TMC government over incidents of violence that rocked West Bengal after the assembly elections in March-April this year, but has nothing to show by way of political accomplishments.

    She had contested the assembly election from Entally and lost. Biswas is a political greenhorn. For the BJP, political analysts say, the battle for Bhabanipur is more about retaining its 35 per cent vote share than winning the seat.

    For the once mighty Left, it’s about proving it is still alive if not kicking in a state which it ruled for 34 years without a break. For the redoubtable Mamata Banerjee, it is not only about exacting revenge for her defeat in Nandigram but her larger ambition to play a key role in shaping the opposition’s future in national politics.

    The Congress, after initial prevarication, decided not to field a candidate against Banerjee and also stay away from campaigning. Both the Congress and the Left, which fought the assembly elections in alliance, had drawn a blank.

    “Bhabanipur Nijer Ghorer Meyekei chai (Bhabanipur wants her own daughter)” has become the battle cry for the TMC rank and file as they have plunged headlong into the campaign for the 66-year-old Banerjee, a resident of Bhabanipur.

    Banerjee had won the seat twice in 2011 and 2016 but shifted to Nandigram, where the anti-farmland acquisition movement against the Left Front government had transformed her into a major political force in the volatile state, to dare BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, now the Leader of the Opposition, on his home turf.

    She now must win Bhabanipur to ensure an unbroken stint as the chief minister. Banerjee is required to win a seat in the state assembly by November 5 in conformity with the constitutional provisions to continue as chief minister.

    The Constitution allows a non-member of a state legislature or Parliament to continue in a ministerial position without getting elected only for six months. After her defeat in Nandigram, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, state cabinet minister and TMC MLA from Bhabanipur, vacated the seat to facilitate her return to the assembly from there.

    “For us, victory is not an issue. That Mamata Banerjee will win this seat is a foregone conclusion, even the opposition parties know that. Our target is to ensure a victory by a record margin. The people have decided to elect the chief minister by a record margin to avenge the conspiracy that was hatched in Nandigram,” senior minister and TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee told PTI.

    Top leaders like Chatterjee, Firhad Hakim and Subrata Bakshi have been deployed to manage the campaign in the constituency in Kolkata with eight municipal wards, two of which have sizeable Muslim population which has stood firm behind the TMC supremo through times good and bad.

    “We are happy that Didi is back in our constituency. It is a matter of pride for us that the CM is our neighbour,” said Pradyut Roy, a Bhabanipur resident, reflecting the resonance “Bhabanipur Nijer Ghorer Meyekei chai” slogan has found with the local people.

    “Everybody knows who will win. But we want civic issues to be addressed, especially during the rains, as early as possible,” said another voter. Chattopadhyay had won Bhabanipur for the TMC defeating his BJP rival by more than 28,000 votes.

    Smarting under the assembly poll defeat and defection of its MLAs to the TMC thereafter, the BJP, had a tough time finding a candidate for the by-poll. “Most senior leaders were unwilling to fight the by-poll against Mamata Banerjee and that too from Bhabanipur. We have to ensure that our vote share remains intact and rather increases,” a senior BJP leader said, requesting not to be named.

    Tibrewal is, however, confident about her victory and has decided to make post-poll violence a major poll plank. “Mamata Banerjee is fighting this election to save the chief minister’s chair. My task will be to reach out to the people of the constituency and inform them about the atrocities, torture and violence that her party unleashed on opposition workers after the assembly polls. I am confident that people of Bhabanipur will vote for me and defeat her,” Tibrewal, state vice president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), said.

    Left Front candidate Srijib Biswas said the alleged lack of development under Banerjee will be a key issue in the by-poll. “Our fight is against both the TMC and the BJP. We will highlight how there has been no development in the state in the last 10 years,” he said.

    A metropolitan constituency with around two lakh voters, Bhabanipur is home to a sizeable number of Gujaratis, Sikh and Biharis living alongside Bengalis. For a long time after it was created in 1952, the constituency was a bastion of the Congress.

    The constituency ceased to exist after the 1977 delimitation but revived in 2011. The TMC has won the seat in all the three assembly elections that were held there ever since. However, in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had led from the assembly segment which is a part of the Kolkata South Lok Sabha constituency, which Banerjee has won six times.

    The BJP managed to take a lead in the assembly segment in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as non-Bengali voters plumped for it, but failed to maintain a grip on the sizeable Sikh and Punjabi population in the 2021 assembly elections following the farmers’ agitation in Punjab.

    “The Bhabanipur assembly by-poll is a battle of the unequal. On one hand you have Bengal’s most heavyweight politician and on the other two political lightweights. The TMC is fighting to secure a record margin. The BJP, whose own house is in complete chaos, is fighting to retain their vote share. The Left is fighting to make its presence felt,” said political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty.

    Another political analyst Suman Bhattacharya concurred, and said it is of great significance that the Congress has decided not to field a candidate against Banerjee or campaign against her for the first time. “This poll is also a sort of litmus test for national opposition unity as two major players– Congress and the TMC– have decided to virtually come together to take on the BJP,” he said.

  • BJP’s Priyanka Tibriwal to contest from Bhowanipore against CM Mamata Banerjee in bypoll

    By Online Desk

    BJP leader Priyanka Tibriwal will contest against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the upcoming  Bhowanipore bypoll on September 30.

    Meanwhile, the Congress  has decided not to field a candidate against Mamata Banerjee.

    The TMC chief, who lost to BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram Assembly constituency, will contest the bypoll from the seat vacated by party leader Sovandeb Chattopadhyay. 

    CM Mamata has to get elected as an MLA by November 5 to continue as the chife minister on West Bengal. 

    Mamata was elected twice in 2011 and 2016 from Bhowanipore, has been campaigning heavily for the crucial bypoll.

    (Inputs from Agencies)

  • BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal to contest from Bhowanipore against CM Mamata Banerjee in bypoll

    By Online Desk

    BJP has fielded party leader Priyanka Tibrewal to contest against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the upcoming  Bhowanipore bypoll on September 30.

    Meanwhile, the Congress  has decided not to field a candidate against Mamata Banerjee.

    A lawyer by profession, Tibrewal is one of the petitioners in the post-poll violence cases against the TMC government in the Calcutta High Court.

    The TMC chief, who lost to BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram Assembly constituency, will contest the bypoll from the seat vacated by party leader Sovandeb Chattopadhyay. 

    CM Mamata has to get elected as an MLA by November 5 to continue as the chief minister on West Bengal. 

    Mamata was elected twice in 2011 and 2016 from Bhowanipore and has been campaigning heavily this year for the crucial bypoll.

    The results of the Bhowanipore bypoll will be announced on October 3.

    (Inputs from Agencies)

  • TMC leaders being targeted soon after Bhowanipore bypoll dates were announced, claims Mamata

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday accused the BJP of using central agencies to target Trinamool Congress leaders pursuing its vendetta politics, as soon as the assembly by-poll dates were announced.

    The TMC supremo, who started her poll campaign for the Bhowanipore by-election, also alleged that the saffron party is targeting party general secretary and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee for political reasons, claiming there is no valid case against him.

    Abhishek Banerjee was questioned for about nine hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Delhi on Monday in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal pilferage scam in West Bengal.

    ​ALSO READ | Bhowanipore bypoll: Congress not to field candidate against Mamata

    “We only know how we fought against all odds to win the assembly polls. The BJP brought in goons from other states during the assembly elections. I had to contest this by-poll as a conspiracy was hatched against me (in Nandigram),” she said while addressing a workers’ meet here.

    Banerjee was defeated by the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari from the Nandigram seat in the assembly elections held earlier this year.

    ​ALSO READ | Bhowanipore bypoll: Bengal BJP struggles to find candidate against Mamata

    She needs to win the by-poll to continue as chief minister.

    “The BJP is pursuing vendetta politics and is targeting Abhishek Banerjee….As soon as by-poll dates are announced, TMC leaders are being summoned by (central) agencies,” she said.

    Meanwhile, Banerjee also asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to ensure that Covaxin is recognised by it, so that those who availed that vaccine against Covid-19 can travel abroad.

  • With Mamata needing to get elected and almost no Covid in seven seats, TMC insists on by-polls

    Express News Service

    KOLKATA: Armed with the state health department’s report revealing either zero or negligible Covid-19 cases in seven Assembly constituencies where by-elections are yet to be held, the ruling Trinamool Congress has decided to approach the Election Commission seeking immediate by-polls.

    “By-elections in Bengal are important to us because Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will have to get elected within six months and the deadline is November 5. Now, BJP is playing the dirty game of trying to postpone the by-polls citing Covid-19 pandemic to force the CM to resign,” a senior TMC leader said.

    Jangipur, Shamsherganj and Shantipur Assembly constituencies recorded zero Covid-19 cases and Bhowanipore, Khardah, Gosaba and Dinhata have recorded only one or two Covid cases daily for the past few days.

    The poll panel has already asked all political parties to share their opinions on whether by-elections can be conducted considering the present pandemic situation. 

    TMC sources said the BJP leadership in Bengal have already decided to oppose the by-elections citing the Covid-19 pandemic and say the poll panel’s decision to seek the opinion of all political parties may delay the process.

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    In Bengal, 600 to 700 Covid positive cases are being reported every day and the daily death toll has come down to 8-10. Two months ago, the scenario was grim as the state used to record 1700 to 2,000 new Covid cases every day and the number of daily deaths used to be between 35 and 45.

    CM Mamata had been defeated in Nandigram by her former lieutenant Suvendu Adhikari, who defected to the BJP ahead of the Assembly elections. She is supposed to contest from Bhowanipore Assembly constituency, her erstwhile seat from where she was elected in 2011 and 2016.

    After coming to power for third straight term, Mamata had blamed the BJP and the poll panel for the spike in Covid infections in the state that she said was caused by the decision to conduct the Assembly elections in eight phases.

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    “All BJP heavyweights visited Bengal every day and addressed mega rallies during the election in which Covid protocols were grossly flouted. Now the situation is much better and under control but the BJP is trying to play a new trick to force the CM to resign,” a TMC leader said.

    BJP leaders in Bengal have decided to stick to their stance. “Hundreds of people are still getting infected every day in the state and experts are warning about the third wave. We are against by-election at this hour of crisis,” said a BJP leader.