News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee to visit Delhi amid fresh talks of anti-BJP front

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to visit New Delhi later this month where she will hold talks with leaders of non-BJP parties, TMC sources said on Thursday, amid the renewed buzz over formation of an anti-BJP front ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

    According to some reports, she will head to the national capital on July 25.

    Sources in West Bengal’s ruling TMC said the party supremo’s Delhi visit could happen any day after the Martyr’s Day rally in Kolkata on July 21.

    The TMC holds a rally every year to commemorate the killing of 13 people in police firing on Youth Congress workers on July 21, 1993, during a protest led by Banerjee, who was then its leader.

    The talk of an anti-BJP front got revived after leaders of various parties and prominent individuals congregated at NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s New Delhi residence last month.

    However, there was no tangible movement forward in that direction at the meeting hosted by Pawar and called by former union minister Yashwant Sinha, who is now in the TMC.

    Sinha, a former BJP stalwart, is a strident critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    The speculation about an anti-BJP coalition grew again after election strategist Prashant Kishor had a string of meetings with Pawar and the Gandhis, including the one he had with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former party chief Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Vadra together.

    Though what exactly transpired at the parleys is not known yet, media speculated a broad-based coalition against the Centre’s ruling NDA might have been on the agenda.

    “Banerjee is likely to visit New Delhi after the 21st July Martyr’s Day rally. She may give details about her visit during her speech. The date is yet to be fixed but it will be after the rally,” sources told PTI.

    Banerjee, who is likely to spend a few days in the national capital, has apparently timed her visit to coincide with the monsoon session of Parliament as senior leaders of opposition parties will be in town.

    The sources said Banerjee may visit some other states as well.

    On her part, Banerjee told a press conference that there was nothing unusual in her visit.

    “Everytime after elections I visit Delhi to meet old and new friends. So, this time too, I would be going to Delhi for few days as the COVID-19 situation is presently under control,” she said.

    “Mamata didi has further grown in stature after defeating the BJP in the assembly elections. She now wants to reach out to anti-BJP and non-BJP parties at the national level ahead of the 2024 general elections,” a TMC leader said.

    He said Banerjee will, in all probability, meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, her Delhi counterpart and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Sharad Pawar during the visit.

    Kishor, who crafted Narendra Modi’s 2012 Gujarat assembly campaign and devised his successful prime ministerial bid in 2014, is also being hailed for drawing up the TMC’s strategy that saw Banerjee triumph over the formidable BJP in the West Bengal polls.

    The astute election manager also rendered his services to AAP in Delhi, Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh and, more recently, M K Stalin’s DMK in Tamil Nadu with great success.

    Banerjee, arguably the most doughty opposition face after the TMC’s resounding victory, now seeks a larger role in national politics and, helped by Kishor’s personal equation with a host of opposition leaders, will try to become the rallying point for anti-BJP parties.

    “This is the first step towards reaching out to them,” the TMC leader said.

  • Calcutta HC admits Mamata’s plea against Suvendu’s election, asks EC to preserve all records

    The judge directed that in the meantime, notice be served upon Adhikari, a BJP MLA, and other parties in the matter.

  • PM Modi asks ministers to come prepared for Monsoon Session as Congress looks to corner government

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday asked the Union Council of Ministers to come prepared for the upcoming Monsoon Session of parliament, sources said.

    Chairing a meeting of the revamped Union Council of Ministers here, he also asked them to do their homework and put forward the government’s views effectively during the session, the sources added.

    A presentation on parliamentary procedures and rules was made during the meeting with the prime minister asking the ministers to go through all procedures.

    The session commences on July 19 and would conclude on August 13.

    The government has listed 17 new bills for introduction in this session.

    Six other bills are pending at various stages in the two Houses and before parliamentary panels.

    During parliament sessions, besides answering questions, ministers of state at time also pilot bills in the absence of Cabinet ministers.

    This was the second meeting of the Union Council of Ministers after the recent rejig of the Cabinet.

    The Congress will seek to corner the government on the issues of Covid mismanagement, border disputes with China, farmers’ agitation, the Rafale deal and fuel prices in the upcoming session of Parliament, with party leaders Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Mallikarjun Kharge leading the charge in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha respectively.

    Sources said the issues to be raised during the monsoon session of Parliament starting July 19 were discussed at a meeting of the Congress parliamentary strategy group on Wednesday, which was chaired by party chief Sonia Gandhi and attended by former prime minister Manmohan Singh and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

    The leaders also decided to raise the issues of unemployment, price rise and the condition of the economy during the monsoon session and demand a discussion on those.

    The opposition party will also raise the issue of an alleged attack on cooperative federalism and constitutional rights.

    Besides Chowdhury and Kharge, the virtual meeting was also attended by the Congress’s deputy leaders in both houses, Gaurav Gogoi (Lok Sabha) and Anand Sharma (Rajya Sabha), and AICC general secretary K C Venugopal.

    Congress chief whips in both houses Jairam Ramesh and K Suresh, besides Manickam Tagore and Manish Tewari also attended the meeting that lasted over an hour.

    Chowdhury will lead the charge in the Lok Sabha, contrary to reports that he may be replaced as the leader of the Congress in the Lower House of Parliament.

    The opposition party had rejected such reports as unfounded.

    The sources said the Congress would soon work out its floor coordination strategy with other opposition parties to strongly raise the issues in Parliament.

    A meeting of opposition leaders is also likely later this week.

  • BJP, Congress slam Akhil Gogoi for making public answer to Assembly query without following rules

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Independent Assam MLA Akhil Gogoi Wednesday drew flak from the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress for making public the answer to a question he had raised even before the days agenda was circulated to the MLAs.

    While addressing the electronic media waiting outside the Assembly before the days proceedings began at 9.30 am, Gogoi shared with them the answer to a starred question related to the Subansiri Lower Hydro Electric Project at Gerukamukh along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.

    Governments replies to questions are made available to the legislator concerned the night before the order paper listing the days business is circulated among the members.

    As soon as the House assembled for the day, BJP MLA Manab Deka drew the attention of Speaker Biswajit Daimary to the matter.

    This led to a noisy scene with all MLAs of the ruling party slamming Gogoi, and the Speaker announced that answers to queries raised during the Question Hour will no longer be made available the night before.

    Gogoi was heard saying “Will only BJP MLAs speak in the Assembly? Is it not a House for opposition MLAs?” After the end of the Question Hour, Deka again raised the issue and sought privilege motion against the Sibsagar MLA, leading to a noisy scene.

    Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said answers to questions raised in the House cannot be made public in this manner.

    “If a member has made it public, it is a breach of privilege. The process of hijacking the House, I think, should not be encouraged,” Sarma said.

    He also requested the Speaker to issue instructions to the media not to publish anything that is against Assembly rules.

    Meanwhile, Gogoi tried to clarify his stand, but the Speaker did not allow him amidst the noise and tried to move on to the next agenda.

    On this, Industries and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said: “I thought you (Speaker) would take some action.”

    The Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia said the allegation of one MLA against another should be taken seriously.

    Congress MLA Rakibul Hussain said, “All of us should follow the rules of the Assembly.”

    At this point, BJP MLA Jayanta Malla Baruah uttered an unparliamentary word about Gogoi, who objected to it immediately.

    The Speaker later expunged the word from the proceedings of the House.

    “We all have to follow the rules. We took an oath of secrecy,” Daimary said.

  • BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari moves SC for transfer of election plea outside Bengal

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari has moved the Supreme Court seeking transfer of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s election petition challenging his win in assembly polls from Nandigram constituency outside West Bengal.

    The BJP leader seeks transfer of Banerjee’s plea, pending in the Calcutta High Court, outside the state, lawyer Kabir Bose said.

    Adhikari, a former close aide of the chief minister, who joined BJP, is presently holding the post of the leader of opposition in the state assembly after defeating Banerjee in a closely-contested polls by the margin of 1,956 votes.

    Meanwhile, the West Bengal CID officials on Wednesday visited house of Adhikary in Contai in connection with the probe into death of his security personnel around three years ago, a senior officer said.

    Besides, talking to the two security personnel who were former colleagues of AdhikarI’s ex-bodyguard Subhabrata Chakraborty, and are still posted there, the CID sleuths also talked to the BJP leader’s younger brother Dibyendu Adhikari, he added.

    Adhikari’s personal security guard had allegedly shot himself dead with his service revolver in 2018 in a police barrack in Kanthi in Purba Medinipur district.

    Earlier, in the morning, the CID officers went to Contai police station and went through the documents related to the investigation carried out by the police in the matter.

    “We have also collected some necessary documents in connection with the probe from Contai police station. We have also held discussions with the police officers there and had their view about the case,” the officer said.

    The sleuths also visited the barrack where Chakraborty had shot himself using his service revolver in October 2018.

    The security personnels wife Suparna Chakrabarty had filed a fresh complaint with the Contai police station demanding a probe into her husbands death.

    Chakraborty, who was from the state armed police, was part of Adhikaris security team since he was an MP and continued to be in the team after he became a minister in the Mamata Banerjee government in 2015.

    The reopening of the case triggered verbal duel between rivals BJP and the TMC.

    Referring to the visit of CID team to Adhikari’s residence, BJP spokesman Shamik Bhattacharya told reporters in Kolkata, “we wonder why the case has been raked up after two and half years?” “When the incident happened Suvendu Adhikari was a powerful minister in Mamata Banerjee cabinet.

    Now when he has left Trinamool Congress to join BJP and defeated the chief minister from Nandigram all these things-filing of FIR and visit of CID team are happening.

    “We guess there is a deep-rooted conspiracy behind it. This is part of revenge politics,” Bhattacharya said.

    Trinamool Congress MLA from Mahisadal and cousin of the deceased bodyguard, Tilak Chakraborty said, “why the death was passed off as a suspected case of suicide? We want the truth to come out.”

    Younger brother of Suvendu Adhikari and MP Dibyendu Adhikari said, “I think there is a deep-rooted conspiracy behind digging up an over two years old case. But, we are not afraid of any probe.”

  • ‘We need someone like…’: Sanjay Raut on ‘big task’ of finding face to take on BJP in 2024 polls

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Amid speculation over the likely formation of a third front, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday said bringing all the opposition parties together and forming a consensus on a face to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections is a huge task given that every regional party considers itself a king and tries to “dictate terms”.

    When queried if that probable face would be Sharad Pawar, Raut said the NCP chief is a senior national leader but at the same time, some people are thinking about West Bengal chief minister and TMC president Mamata Banerjee.

    “It is a huge task to bring all the Opposition parties together and form a consensus on a face to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections. Every opposition party equates itself with a king and tries to dictate terms,” he told a regional news channel in Delhi.

    “We need a face to counter the Union government like Jayprakash Narayan against then PM Indira Gandhi in post-emergency polls, V P Singh against Rajiv Gandhi. Later, (then prime minister) Manmohan Singh and (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi duo were challenged by Narendra Modi in the 2014 general elections,” Raut said.

    When asked who could emerge as a probable face to take on the BJP, Raut said, “Sharad Pawar has been a national leader for a long time. Some people think of Mamata Bannerjee after her spectacular performance in recent West Bengal polls. In such scenario, if (poll strategist) Prashant Kishor can do some magic, I will be happy”.

    Kishor had separately met Banerjee and Pawar in the recent past.

    Kishor called on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at the latter’s residence in Delhi on Tuesday.

    Raut said he shared good relations with Kishor and his meeting with Congress leadership is entirely his own business.

    Reacting to Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole’s comments on expanding the party’s base in the state, Raut said, “There is nothing to talk about it anymore. Every party leader speaks about his party’s expansion in party-level gatherings and rallies. The actual decision-makers are Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar and (Shiv Sena president and Maharashtra CM) Uddhav Thackeray”.

  • Useless statements being made to create panic: Health Minister Mandaviya on vaccine shortage charge

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Amid complains by some states about shortage of COVID-19 vaccines, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday said “useless”‘ statements are being made only to create panic among the people, and asserted that states know very well when and in what quantity they will get the doses.

    The Centre has informed states about the allocation of doses in advance, he said.

    In a series of tweets, Mandaviya said the availability of vaccines can be better understood by an “actual analysis of the facts”.

    “Regarding the availability of the vaccine, I have come to know from statements and letters of various state governments and leaders. This situation can be better understood by an actual analysis of the facts. Useless statements are being made only to create panic among the people,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.

    To enable vaccination through government and private hospitals, Mandaviya said, 11.46 crore vaccine doses were made available to the state governments and union territories in June and this availability has been increased to 13.50 crore in July.

    ALSO READ | ‘Jumle hai, vaccine nahi’: Rahul Gandhi slams Centre on alleged COVID jabs shortage

    The Centre had informed the states on June 19 about how many doses of the vaccine would be made available to them in July, he said.

    On June 27 and July 13, the states were informed about the availability of vaccines every day for the first and second fortnight of July.

    “So the states know very well when and in what quantity they will get the vaccine doses. The central government has done this so that the state governments can do the work of vaccination up to the district level by planning properly and people do not face any problem,” he said, “If the Centre is already giving this information in advance on its behalf and yet we see mismanagement and long queues of vaccine takers, then it is very clear what the problem is and who is the reason for it,” he said.

    Hitting out at leaders who make statements that create confusion and concern in the media, he said they need to introspect whether they are so far removed from the governance process and related information that they are not even aware of the information already being given in the context of vaccine supply.

    Some states like Rajasthan, West Bengal and Maharashtra, which recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases on Monday, have raised the need for more vaccine doses.

    Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said the state needed a minimum of three crore vaccine doses per month to inoculate the entire eligible population against coronavirus at the earliest.

    COVID-19 inoculation sessions were not conducted in at least 25 of Rajasthan’s 33 districts on Monday due to vaccine shortage, a state official said.

    A senior West Bengal health department official also said that the state government was finding it difficult to evenly distribute the doses among its 23 districts.

  • Rajasthan BJP MLA remanded in judicial custody in fake marksheet case

    Express News Service
    JAIPUR:  The BJP’s troubles over fake degrees and marksheets got a new twist in Rajasthan on Tuesday when BJP MLA Amrit Lal Meena was sent to jail for allegedly forging his wife’s marksheet to make her eligible to contest the Sarpanch election in 2015. 

    Amrit Lal MeenaMeena, an MLA from Salumbar in Rajasthan, has been remanded to judicial custody till July 23 after he surrendered before a lower court in Udaipur district. Meena had allegedly signed the fake documents as a guardian of his wife Shanta Devi for contesting the election in the Semari gram panchayat. A forged marksheet of Class 5 was presented, following which, a chargesheet was filed against Shanta Devi, who is currently out on bail.

    MLA Meena was denied interim bail from the high court after which he moved a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court, which directed him to surrender before the court in Sarada town within three weeks and stayed his arrest. The legislator surrendered before a court in Sarada but as his interim bail was rejected by the court, the MLA was sent to jail till July 23

    Shanta Devi had contested the election of Semari Sarpanch in which she had won. But the defeated candidate Saguna Devi had filed a complaint claiming Shanta’s Class 5 marksheet was fake. In the police probe, the marksheet submitted by the MLA’s wife was found to be fake. The investigation by CB-CID, found that Shanta Devi had not passed Class 5.

  • Petrol prices, COVID, farmers movement to top Trinamool’s agenda in monsoon session

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress is likely to raise the issue of hike in fuel prices, alleged mishandling of COVID situation and farmers stir against the three agri laws to corner the BJP-led central government during upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, party sources said Tuesday.

    The Parliament session will commence from July 19 and end on August 13.

    “We will raise the issue of petrol price hike, COVID mishandling, farm bills and attempts to undermine the federal structure.

    “The people of the country are suffering due to several anti-people policies of the centre. We will raise those issues,” TMC Lok Sabha party leader Sudip Bandopadhyay told PTI.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee headed Trinamool Congress has 22 MPs in Lok Sabha and 11 in Rajya Sabha.

    In Lok Sabha, TMC and YSR Congress Party are the fourth largest with 22 MPs each after BJP, Congress and DMK.

    In the upper house TMC has third largest MPs after BJP and Congress.

    The upcoming monsoon session of Parliament will be the first after bitterly fought Bengal polls and the TMC is expected use every opportunity to pin down rival BJP.

    Echoing Bandopadhyay, party colleague Sougata Roy said the party would also raise the economic situation and how the BJP has failed to tackle it.

    “The fuel prices are not only triggering inflation in the country but also sent the economy for a toss. Its not just fuel prices.”

    “It is the anti-people, anti-poor policies that and mismanagement of the COVID situation that has pushed the economy to an all-time low,” Roy, TMC MP from Dum Dum said.

    Bandopadhyay also pointed out that while questioning the mishandling of the COVID situation, the parliamentary party would also discuss the eight-phase assembly polls in Bengal, leading to a spike in the COVID situation in the state.

    “While raising the issue of COVID, we would also point out how eight phases of elections were held in Bengal, which led to the spike in COVID cases.”

    “But, now the BJP leaders are planning to raise this issue to postpone assembly by-polls in six[i]seats in the state,” he said.

    He,however, stressed that the issues will be further sorted out after the all-party meeting on July 17.

    “We will also hold discussion with our party leadership on the outcome of the meeting and decide our course of action,” he said.

    Rakesh Tikiat and other farmers leaders of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) had recently met Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata and she supported their cause.

    When asked whether the party would push for greater opposition unity in Parliament to corner the BJP, Bandopadhyay said it doesn’t depend only on the TMC.

    The party during this session would also push for disqualification of Sisir Adhikari and Sunil Mondal, who was elected as TMC MPs but switched over to the BJP ahead of the assembly polls.

    “We had already moved to Lok Sabha speaker, requesting him to initiate the process for disqualifying memberships of Sisir Adhikari and Sunil Mondal.

    “We would take that process forward during this session,” another senior TMC MP said, who did not wish to be named.

    Sisir Adhikari, MP from Kanthi, is father of Suvendu Adhikari, a protege-turned-rival of Mamata Banerjee.

  • New HC bench to hear Mamata’s election petition against Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: A new bench will take up on Wednesday West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s election petition before the Calcutta High Court challenging BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s victory from the Nandigram constituency in the assembly elections.

    The case was reassigned to the bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal after Justice Kausik Chanda recused from hearing the Trinamool Congress supremo’s election petition.

    The matter has been listed for hearing at 2.30 pm on Wednesday.

    Adhikari defeated Banerjee from the Nandigram constituency by 1,956 votes in the assembly election held earlier in the year.

    Justice Kausik Chanda had on July 7 recused from hearing the Trinamool Congress supremo’s petition challenging the election of Adhikari from Nandigram, and imposed a cost of Rs five lakh on her for the manner in which the recusal was sought.

    Releasing the election petition of Banerjee on an application by her for recusal expressing apprehension of bias against her by his bench, Justice Chanda had said that he was doing so in order to thwart at the outset attempts by trouble-mongers to keep the controversy alive.

    Banerjee’s lawyers had suggested that Justice Chanda should recuse himself from the case since he was associated with the legal cell of the BJP before his elevation as a Judge and had appeared in a number of cases on behalf of the said party before the high court as a lawyer.

    Her lawyer had suggested during his submissions before the court that there is a conflict of interest since Justice Chanda had a close relationship with the BJP and the petitioner has challenged the election of a BJP candidate.

    In its order, the court had said that it is preposterous to suggest that a judge having a past association with a political party as a lawyer should not receive a case involving the said political party or any of its members.

    Justice Chanda had noted that like any other citizen of the country, a judge also exercises his voting rights in favour of a political party, but he lays aside his individual predilection while deciding a case.