“The BJP says it is the biggest political party in the world but it got scared by a small party and a small election. I dare the BJP for timely MCD polls,” he said.
Tag: BJP
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Mulayam Singh Yadav is ‘B-team of BJP’, not BSP: Mayawati attacks Samajwadi Party
By PTI
LUCKNOW: Hitting back at “B-team of BJP” jibe, BSP supremo Mayawati on Tuesday alleged that rather than her party, it is Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav who is openly with the saffron party and also got his son blessed by it.
She also attacked Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav for changing the names of institutions named after B R Ambedkar during his tenure.
“It is not the BSP, but SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav who is openly with the BJP. In the last swearing-in, he had got Shri Akhilesh blessed by the BJP and has now sent a member to the BJP for his work,” Mayawati tweeted in Hindi, in an apparent reference to Mulayam’s daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav, who recently joined the BJP.
“The Ambedkarites of UP will never forgive SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who had changed most of the names of schemes and institutions named after him (B R Ambedkar) during his (SP) government, which is disgusting and shameful,” she said in another tweet.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is often called the “B-team of BJP” by its political rivals, especially after Union Home Minister Amit Shah remarked that the party has maintained its relevance.
“The BSP has maintained its relevance. I believe they will get votes. I do not know how much of it will convert into seats, but it will get votes,” Shah had said during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.
Mayawati had later appreciated Shah for acknowledging that her party would get votes.
The senior BJP leader’s remark had also triggered speculation over the possibility of a post-election tie-up between the two parties.
In 1995, 1997 and 2002, Mayawati was sworn in as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh with BJP’s support.
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Will not be an exaggeration to say PM Modi an incarnation of Lord Mahadev: BJP MLA
BJP MLA Gyan Chand Parakh's remarks, made during a discussion on the Finance Bill, drew sharp reaction from the ruling Congress.
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BJP using central agencies to pursue vendetta politics, says TMC after ED grills Abhishek for 8 hours
By PTI
KOLKATA: The ruling TMC on Monday accused the BJP of employing central agencies to pursue vendetta politics after its MP Abhishek Banerjee gets questioned for eight hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an alleged coal scam in Bengal.
The BJP leadership was quick to hit back, stating that the ED and CBI are independent agencies. The party wondered why the TMC grunbled every time its leaders were summoned.
TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee on Monday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in New Delhi for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the alleged coal scam.
The 34-year-old Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary was seen entering the new office of the central probe agency in Delhi around 11 am.
He left the ED office around 7:30 pm. “ED and CBI are the biggest allies of the BJP. As they cannot fight us politically, ED and CBI are used to counter us. The BJP lost Bengal elections in 2021; they will register a poor performance again in 2024 Lok Sabha polls. This is nothing but vendetta politics,” Banerjee told reporters after the questioning.
Echoing him, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh wondered why saffron party leaders, who have been named in Saradha and Rose Valley scam, are not summoned by the central agencies.
“These central agencies are functioning arbitrarily. Whenever there is an election, they harass leaders of opposition parties. As there is a Lok Sabha and assembly by-poll slated, they have summoned Abhishek for questioning. But such pressure tactics would not help them win elections.”
“The BJP has turned into a washing machine as those involved in scams go scot-free once they join the party,” Ghosh iterated.
The Diamond Harbour MP has been earlier questioned in this case by the agency in September last year for about nine hours.
The latest ED summons against the two came after the Delhi High Court on March 11 dismissed a plea by the couple challenging the agency notices that asked them to appear in the national capital instead of Kolkata.
The agency lodged the case under the provisions of the PMLA based on a November 2020 FIR registered by the CBI that alleged a multi-crore coal pilferage scam related to Eastern Coalfields Limited mines in the state’s Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around Asansol.
The ED had claimed that the parliamentarian was a beneficiary of funds obtained from this illegal trade. It has arrested two people in this case till now.
Reacting to the allegations levelled by the TMC, BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said the Mamata Banerjee-led party had the habit of complaining every time they are summoned by the ED and CBI.
“The CBI and ED are independent and neutral agencies; the BJP has no connection with them. If they (TMC leaders) have any complaint, they can seek legal help,” he said.
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Pramod Sawant set to start 2nd term as Goa CM
Express News Service
The Ayurveda medical practitioner Dr Pramod Sawant will lead the BJP second time as Goa chief minister.
Dr Pramod Sawant is Maratha by caste initially started social work with Nehru Youth centre, but later he got attracted to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its social work. Dr Sawant in his early days worked as a doctor in government.
Apart from his official duty hours, Dr Sawant used to arrange the medical and health check-up camps through his NGO for the poor and needy people in various parts of Goa. The erstwhile chief minister of Goa late Manohar Parrikar saw the spark and social consciousness in Sawant and asked him to resign from government service and join politics.
Dr Sawant then contested the state byelections in 2008 on the BJP symbol after the seat was vacated after the demise of sitting MLA. But Sawant lost the elections narrowly to Congress candidate Pratap Gauns in Sankhalim (then Pale) Assembly segment. However, Sawant did not get disheartened with his electoral loss but started reaching out to people and become very much active in social work and politics.
In 2012, he managed to win the same seat and was given local board to head. Dr Sawant got re-elected in 2017 from Sankhalim and was made as Assembly Speaker. Then, after the demise of Manohar Parrikar in 2019, Sawant was the only BJP MLA who had not come from any political front in BJP, so he was the natural choice for the chief minister. It was big shoes to fill for Sawant but Sawant not only survived his government for the remaining years but brought 10 Congress MLA in BJP increasing BJP’s tally from 21 to 28 at the fag end of his government. It not only secured his chief minister chair but strengthened the party as well ahead of 2022 state polls.
In the 2022 polls, Dr Sawant faced a tough task but managed to win again with a margin of 666 votes against his nearest rival Dharmesh Saglani of the Congress. Despite this narrow margin victory, BJP leadership chose him to lead Goa again as chief minister reason under his leadership, BJP won the highest ever 20 seats despite having 10 years of anti-incumbency and without having an alliance with any local party. Manohar Parrikar won 21 seats in 2012 but that includes three seats of alliance partner MGP while in 2022, BJP on its own won 20 seats which are the highest ever tally of BJP in Goa.
“The biggest advantage of Sawant is he is a man of patience to hear out all sections of the society. He hardly stirs any controversy by making controversial statements. He is not an arrogant person. He has also a good grip over administration and emerged as Bahujan’s face of the BJP in Goa therefore Catholic community also goes along with him without any issue. Under his leadership, BJP won seats in state polls where they never imagined to win that’s the magic of Sawant,” said Kishor Naik Gaonakar, editor of Goan Varta.
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Pushkar Singh Dhami to continue as Uttarakhand Chief Minister
By PTI
DEHRADUN: Pushkar Singh Dhami will continue as the Uttarakhand chief minister, said the BJP on Monday, ending the 11-day suspense over it.
The BJP legislative party meeting to elect the new chief minister of Uttarakhand had begun here around 5 pm.
It was attended by BJP’s central observers for Uttarakhand Rajnath Singh, Meenakshi Lekhi and the party’s poll incharge for the state, Pralhad Joshi.
Dhami under whose leadership the BJP had contested the February 14 Assembly polls was the frontrunner for the post.
The BJP’s dilemma on the choice of a chief minister for Uttarakhand was caused by Dhami’s loss in Khatima, a seat he had been winning since the 2012 Assembly polls.
The party had won 47 of the 70 seats in the Assembly polls, the results of which were announced on March 10.
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Biren Singh sworn in as Manipur CM, five others take oath as cabinet ministers
By PTI
IMPHAL: BJP legislature party leader N Biren Singh was Monday sworn in as the chief minister of Manipur for the second time at the Raj Bhavan here.
Singh, along with five cabinet ministers, were administered oath by Governor La Ganesan.
Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Kiren Rijiju had on Sunday handed over a letter to Ganesan, stating that Singh was elected unanimously as the leader of the BJP legislature party with 32 MLAs.
The governor then invited Singh to form the next government in Manipur.
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Trouble for Fadnavis? Maharashtra to probe irregularities in women empowerment scheme funds under previous BJP government
By PTI
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government will set up a committee to probe the alleged misuse of state funds in the implementation of the “Prajwala” scheme launched by the erstwhile BJP-led government, Women and Child Development Minister Yashomati Thakur told the Legislative Council on Monday.
The Prajwala scheme was launched in 2019 by the then government aiming at creating awareness about legal matters, social and financial knowledge among members of women Self Help Groups (SHGs).
The scheme was implemented by the Maharashtra Women Commission.
Responding to calling attention raised by Shiv Sena legislator Manisha Kayande, Thakur said, “The Maharashtra government will set up an inquiry committee which will probe the alleged misuse and wrongful usage of state funds under Prajwala scheme. The then chairperson of the state women’s commission will be also asked to depose before the inquiry commission”.
BJP leader Vijaya Rahatkar was the chairperson of the state women’s commission during 2014-19.
Kayande told the Council that the bills submitted by officials of the state women commission were hand-written and not final.
“The submitted bills were not in the proper format which is required as per the guidelines. The scheme was supposed to be implemented in all the 288 assembly segments but it was implemented in select 98 assembly constituencies,” she said.
Kayande said that the assembly segments were selected in such a way that the scheme would benefit only BJP.
“This is completely unethical. There are some earlier CAG reports as well which had passed some strictures on the implementation of this scheme,” she said.
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Pushkar Singh Dhami or a new face? All eyes on BJP legislature party meeting to decide next Uttarakhand CM
By PTI
DEHRADUN: BJP MLA from Kaladhungi, Banshidhar Bhagat was on Monday sworn in as the protem speaker of Uttarakhand Assembly.
The oath of office was administered by Governor Lt Gen (retd) Gurmit Singh at a function at Raj Bhawan which was attended by caretaker chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Chief Secretary S S Sandhu, Principal Secretary Anand Vardhan and secretary to the governor, Ranjit Kumar Sinha.
Soon after being sworn in, Bhagat rushed to the Vidhan Bhawan here to administer the oath to the newly-elected MLAs.
Bhagat is one of the senior-most BJP leaders from the state who was state party president till March 2021 when he became a minister in Dhami’s cabinet.
All eyes are set on the BJP’s legislature party meeting here on Monday to decide the next chief minister of Uttarakhand where the party stormed back to power for an unprecedented second successive term.
The meeting to be attended by BJP’s central observers for Uttarakhand — Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi — is scheduled to start at the state party office here on Balbir Road at 5 pm.
The meeting will end the 10-day long suspense over who will wear the crown in Uttarakhand where the BJP contested the elections in the name of a young chief minister in Pushkar Singh Dhami.
Though Dhami lost his own seat of Khatima, he is the frontrunner for the top post among about half-a-dozen names doing the rounds.
Other probable names for the top job include those of Chaubattakhal MLA Satpal Maharaj, Shrinagar MLA Dhan Singh Rawat former Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt.
The party’s newly-elected MLAs will also gather at the BJP office here for the meeting to elect their leader.
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BJP pushing country towards another division: Mehbooba
She said Jammu has been home to all religious faiths and beliefs and the city has accepted everyone from across Jammu and Kashmir, irrespective of their faith.