News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • Rajasthan BJP incharge warns Vasundhara Raje faction of action over indiscipline

    By PTI
    JAIPUR: BJP national general secretary and its incharge for Rajasthan, Arun Singh, on Tuesday cautioned the party workers against making any statement that weakens the party and said they may face action for such comments.

    Singh also asked the party’s state unit to prepare a list of such workers.

    Reacting to some reported statements from the supporters of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje that “Raje is BJP and BJP is Raje”, Singh said such statements weaken the party.

    “I do not think that any prominent leader has given this statement. However, even if a general worker gives this kind of statement, then it certainly weakens the party. No one should give such statements which make the party weaker,” he told reporters after a semi-virtual working committee meeting.

    He said he has asked the state unit to prepare a list of those who are giving these statements.

    “We will talk to them, and if this continues then action would be taken. Enough is enough,” he said.

    “If one has to give a statement, then it should be against the Congress government,” he said, while targeting the Ashok Gehlot government in the state.

    He alleged that the law and order in the state has deteriorated and the people are “fed up with the Congress rule”.

    Singh said that the day cabinet expansion takes place in Rajasthan, there would be an “explosion” in the Congress.

    On a question about CM candidate in BJP, he said it is decided by the party’s parliamentary board and not by a single leader or any MLA.

    “It is for the parliamentary board to decide the name of the CM candidate. The party has contested elections in some states while projecting a CM candidate while in some states, we have fought elections without presenting a CM face,” he said.

    In the semi-virtual working committee, Singh appreciated the party workers for helping people during the Covid pandemic.

    He said the government should give unemployment allowances to youths and the issues of farmers should be redressed.

    Singh also highlighted the achievements of the Modi government and said BJP leaders and workers should publicise the works of the Modi government among people.

    BJP state president Satish Poonia, Leader of Opposition Gulabchand Kataria, Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore and other leaders were present in the party’s state headquarters while former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, union minister Arun Ram Meghwal, RS MP Omprakash Mathur and others attended the meeting through video conference.

  • Demand for dividing Bengal part of larger conspiracy of BJP, says Adhir Chowdhury

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Congress’ West Bengal unit on Tuesday accused the BJP of conspiring to divide the state claiming that it is a part of a larger gameplan of the RSS, the ideological parent body of the saffron party.

    BJP MP John Barla recently sought a separate union territory comprising north Bengal districts, another Lok Sabha member of the party, Saumitra Khan, raised a similar demand for the Junglemahal region in the southern part of the state.

    The Bengal BJP leadership, however, said it is not in favour of the state’s division.

    “It is known that the RSS is behind every such move by the BJP. (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi is influenced by the RSS and it has a longstanding plot to carve out Muslim- dominated regions in different states,” state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told reporters.

    “They have that plan for Uttar Pradesh, they have that plan for West Bengal,” he said without elaborating.

    Chowdhury, also the leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha, claimed that the BJP would have executed “this heinous plan” after a certain period had it formed the government in West Bengal.

    “But after the defeat in the assembly polls, they are desperate and impatient to fulfil their agenda immediately.

    Bengalis must stand united and protest across the state against this diabolical gameplan of the BJP,” he said.

    Chowdhury claimed that Narendra Modi is scared that he is losing popularity and is desperate to retain power in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

    “That is why they (BJP) are taking resort to such conspiracies. They want to disturb the Trinamool Congress regime as it won with a huge majority in the assembly polls,” he said about BJP.

  • Bengal: BJP workers return to Trinamool, some after shaving heads in ‘repentance’

    By PTI
    KHANAKUL: A large number of BJP activists from Hooghly district on Tuesday returned “home” to Trinamool Congress here on Tuesday after shaving their heads “in penance for their sins”.

    A total of 500 BJP activists rejoined Trinamool in the presence of local MP Aparupa Poddar at Balpai locality in Khanakul area and said they were fed up with the communal, hatred-filled policies of the saffron party and wanted to return to TMC, Poddar told reporters after the programme.

    Eight of those 500 activists shaved heads at the function claiming they were repentant for their conduct in the assembly polls and hence were doing penance.

    The Trinamool Congress activists had left the party for BJP before the assembly polls but returned on Tuesday after party supremo Mamata Banerjee recently said the TMC would consider the appeal of those wishing to return to the party-fold, if they were not harshly critical of Trinamool during the assembly poll campaign.

    BJP MLA from Khanaku, Sushanta Ghosh however described it as a drama staged by Trinamool.

    “It is nothing but a drama. None of our workers have left the party. Those present at the TMC programme today have no links with our party,” he said.

    BJP state President Dilip Ghosh however said if any BJP activist has left the party for Trinamool anywhere in state, they are being forced to do so by the ruling party which has been threatening BJP workers.

  • Trinamool attacks PM Modi over Alapan episode, claims petulance now a state policy

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday hit out at the BJP-led central government accusing it of trying to disturb the functioning of the West Bengal government by initiating disciplinary proceedings against Alapan Bandyopadhyay, former chief secretary of the state.

    The TMC also claimed that petulance has become part of state policy of the Narendra Modi government and the action against Bandyopadhyay, now working as an advisor to the chief minister, amounted to opening of a provocative chapter in federal conflicts.

    The BJP however, denied the charges as “baseless” and accused the Mamata Banerjee-led party of politicising the bureaucracy.

    “The BJP has resorted to disturb the functional affairs of the government of West Bengal to further its political agenda its humiliating defeat in the election.

    “It is the prime minister who sits at the helm of the DoPT, and there’s no point in guessing that this is nothing but personal rage, which is desperately finding a venting point to roar,” senior TMC MP and party spokesperson Sougata Ray said.

    The comments by the TMC came a day after the Centre initiated “major penalty proceedings” against Bandyopadhyay, amid a tug-of-war between the Union government and the Mamata Banerjee dispensation over him, which may deprive him of post-retirement benefits, partially or fully.

    The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has sent Bandyopadhyay, who retired on May 31 and is now the chief advisor to the CM, a “memorandum” mentioning the charges giving him 30 days to reply.

    Referring to the death of Bandyopadhyay’s mother a few days back, Ray claimed that the Central government is also heartless.

    “They (the Centre) simply want to deprive Alapan of the benefits that he was entitled to post-retirement. After losing (the poll in) Bengal, the BJP is trying to create unnecessary tussle in the functioning of the state government. By making petulance part of state policy, Modi has opened a provocative chapter in federal conflicts,” he said.

    The action initiated against Bandyopadhyay is inhuman, Ray claimed.

    “The TMC condemns it. People of West Bengal also are seeing how the central government is harassing an honest officer. People of Bengal will not tolerate such humiliation,” he said.

    The West Bengal BJP denied the charges and claimed that it is the state’s ruling party which has politicised bureaucracy.

    “We have nothing personal against Alapan Bandyopadhyay or anyone else. He was an all-India cadre officer, and the matter is between him and the union government. It is the TMC which has politicised the police and bureaucracy and have been using them to serve its political interests,” state BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said.

    Bandopadhyay was set to retire on May 31, but the state had recently sought and received permission for extension of his tenure by three months as he played a crucial role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

    He was, however, handed over a transfer directive by the DoPT, shortly after a row broke out over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s post-cyclone review meeting, which the CM and the state chief secretary did not attend.

    The bureaucrat, instead of reporting to Delhi, chose to retire amid the Centre-state tussle.

    He was subsequently appointed as the CM’s chief adviser.

    The DoPT had sent him a reminder after he failed to report in response to its May 28 order.

    The Union Home Ministry has also slapped a show-cause notice on Bandyopadhyay under a stringent provision of the Disaster Management Act that entails imprisonment for up to two years for abstaining from the meeting presided over by the PM.

    The notice said Bandyopadhyay “acted in a manner tantamount to refusing to comply with lawful directions of the central government”.

    Bandyopadhyay had responded to the Home Ministry’s notice.

  • Meeting at Pawar’s house: Apolitical exchange of views or a political mobilisation of anti-BJP forces?

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A meeting of opposition leaders from many anti-BJP parties, all except the Left being regional forces, hosted by the veteran leader and NCP president Sharad Pawar on Tuesday is being seen by political pundits as a beginning of an exercise by them to join forces to put up a more cohesive challenge to the saffron party.

    The meeting participants were, however, at pains to downplay its political import, more so as such attempts of unity among regional parties have often come unstuck, and projected it as an interaction among “like-minded people” under the aegis of Yashwant Singh’s Rashtra Manch, an apolitical grouping with distinct anti-BJP views.

    However, no one can overlook the fact that it was hosted by Pawar at his residence and comes close on the heels of the astute politician’s recent meetings with political strategist Prashant Kishor, including one just a day before, political watchers feel.

    The meeting comes against the backdrop of the Trinamool Congress handing over a crushing defeat to the BJP in West Bengal in the recent spate of assembly polls.

    The BJP-led front also fared poorly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where the alliance led by the DMK and Left won respectively, and its main national rival Congress also showed no signs of revival in its fortunes as it lost to the BJP in Assam.

    It also failed to impress in Kerala.

    While several assembly polls are expected next year, including in key states like Uttar Pradesh and Punjab in the first few months, efforts to bring together regional forces and other non-BJP parties are mainly being seen as aimed at the next Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

    With the regional parties historically putting up a much better show than the Congress against the BJP since it stormed to power at the Centre, the view that they should challenge the Modi government in a more united voice at the national level has gained momentum in the recent past.

    Banerjee had written to leaders of 15 anti-BJP parties, including the Congress, seeking a more united fight against the saffron party in March, when she was busy fighting the assembly polls in her state.

    CPI-M’s Nilotpal Basu, who attended the meeting, said they discussed governance issues like Covid management, unemployment and an alleged attack on institutions by the BJP and downplayed its political significance.

    Besides Pawar, Basu and Sinha, a former BJP leader now TMC vice president, Ghanshyam Tiwari of Samajwadi Party, Jayant Chaudhary of RLD, Omar Abdullah of National Conference, Binoy Viswam of the CPI and Sushil Gupta of AAP, several members of civil society were part of the meeting.

    Even those who did not represent any political party, like famous lyricist Javed Akhtar and former diplomat K C Singh, are known for their critical views of the BJP.

    While invites were sent to some Congress leaders, none of them attended, a clear signal that the main opposition party does not want to be a part of the grouping spearheaded by regional parties.

    Congress leader Rahul Gandhi parried questions on opposition leaders holding the meeting and efforts to form a possible third front, saying today is not the time to discuss politics.

    Gandhi, who held a virtual press conference on the pandemic situation, said he wanted to focus on the COVID-19 situation and how to save the country from a potential third wave of the pandemic.

    LJP’s Chirag Paswan, who has been himself battling challenges from within his party, on the other hand, said “one can never say never” in terms of possibilities when he was asked whether he sees a role for himself in a grouping of various anti-BJP regional parties and Pawar seen to be working on it.

    He also said “friends” from the rival RJD-Congress alliance in Bihar have reached out to him for joining them but added that his priority is not an alliance but to deal with the political and legal battle with the rival faction on hand.

    Many prominent regional parties like Shiv Sena, DMK and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, which is in power in alliance with the Congress in Jharkhand, were not part of the meeting held at Pawar’s house.

    Previous experiments of regional parties to form a third or fourth front to challenge the Congress, when it ruled at the Centre, have been short-lived.

    Central governments headed by them in 1989, when the BJP had supported them, and then in 1996, when the Congress backed them to keep the BJP out, did not last for even two years.

  • Nitish Kumar leaves for Delhi amid speculations about JD(U) joining Union government

    By PTI
    PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday left for the national capital, purportedly for medical reasons, though speculations ran rife that bargaining a decent share in the Union cabinet was also on the agenda of the JD(U) de-facto leader.

    The JD(U) has been a BJP ally for close to three decades, barring a hiatus in 2013-2017.

    Kumar, who had himself served in the cabinet headed by late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, turned down the offer of the saffron party of a “token representation” to all alliance partners after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls which saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi steering the BJP to a thumping majority.

    “I do not know why his Delhi tour is being linked to the proposed cabinet reshuffle. To the best of my knowledge, he needs treatment for some eye problem and is visiting the national capital for the purpose,” said Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan, one of the closest aides of Kumar.

    The Union cabinet reshuffle is a prerogative of the prime minister and it is for him to decide whom to hold consultations with on the issue, Singh said.

    ALSO READ | Nitish confidants to find place in Union Cabinet? 

    Singh, who has been with Kumar ever since the latter broke ranks with Lalu Prasad to chart his own political course, is seen as one of the candidates the JD(U) might strongly back, were it to join the Union council of ministers.

    Another ministerial probable RCP Singh, who succeeded Kumar as the national president of the party a few months ago, laughed off at the suggestion but dropped ample hints that the JD(U) was now eyeing a spot in the Union government.

    “My name has been doing the rounds since 2017. Any decision as to who will be in the Union cabinet from our party has to be taken by our leader. Of course, he does so after consulting all,” said Singh, a former IAS officer whose rise in politics, after retirement from service about a decade ago, has been meteoric.

    ALSO READ | LJP getting rid of Chirag Paswan works in favour of Nitish Kumar

    He said, “We agree, it does not look good that we are partners in power in the state but not at the Centre, though we are a part of the NDA there as well. Things will look up for both parties once we join the Union government.”

    He also took a swipe at LJP leader Chirag Paswan, who has been cornered within the party following a revolt by all his fellow MPs who have floated a separate faction.

    “I heard his two statements that he is the son of a tiger (late Ram Vilas Paswan) and that he is now an orphan. Has anybody ever heard of a tiger lamenting for being orphaned?” the JD(U) chief said.

    The JD(U) suffered in the assembly polls last year because of Paswans sudden rebellion, initially believed to be having the backing of the BJP which has now distanced itself from the Jamui MP.

  • ‘BJP’s silence hurts, relations with them cannot remain one-sided’: Chirag Paswan on LJP crisis

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: “Hurt” at the BJP’s silence while he battles challenges from within his party, Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan said on Tuesday his relations with the saffron party cannot remain “one-sided” and he will consider all possibilities about his future political steps if attempts to corner him continue.

    Paswan said his father Ram Vilas Paswan and he always stood by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP like a “rock” but the saffron party was not there when he expected their intervention during these “difficult” times.

    Underlining that he retains his faith in Modi, Paswan said, “But if you are cornered, pushed and forced to take a decision, then the party will consider all probabilities….The LJP will have to take a decision about its political future based on who stood by it and who did not.”

    To questions on whether the BJP reached out to him during the current crisis and speculation about its role in the split, he said it was not “appropriate” for the saffron party to keep mum while the JD(U) worked to “engineer” a split in the LJP.

    ALSO READ | Chirag Paswan-headed LJP faction urges EC to seek its view over Paras group’s claims

    “I expected them (BJP) to mediate and try to sort whole things out. Their silence definitely hurts,” he said

    The BJP has maintained that the LJP crisis is an internal matter of the regional party.

    Asked why he kept mum on the BJP while targeting another NDA constituent JD(U), Paswan said it was the saffron party that has kept mum on him.

    He alleged that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s party played a “visible” role in splitting his party and has had a history of doing so.

    Kumar never wanted a Dalit leader to gain in stature and had earlier tried to weaken the LJP founder and his father, he said, citing a history of the JD(U) wooing LJP leaders to its side.

    Amid speculation that his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras, who has led a group of five MPs against Paswan and has been recognised as the LJP leader in Lok Sabha, may be inducted in the Union Cabinet, the two-term MP asserted that if the BJP offers Paras a ministerial berth as an LJP nominee then such a decision will not be acceptable to him.

    Paras may be inducted as an independent or in any other capacity but his representation as the LJP nominee will not be acceptable to him, Paswan said, adding that it is now for the Election Commission to decide on the rival claims about which faction represents the party.

    ALSO READ | Had no option but to oust dictator Chirag Paswan, says LJP MP Pashupati Kumar Paras​

    Asked if he still sees himself as a constituent of the BJP-led NDA at the national level, he said, “I don’t know. It is for the BJP to decide whether I am part of the alliance or not. I have proven my honesty as an ally with them….But this relation cannot be one-sided forever.”

    “If in return you do not recognise me, you help those who have separated from my party or are seen standing with them directly or indirectly. Then I cannot remain in this capacity forever. If you do not give me recognition and respect, then eventually as party president I will have to take a decision in future,” Paswan said.

    He, however, added that he would like the relations of “faith” that developed between his party and PM Modi when his father was around to continue.

    Ram Vilas Paswan was a Cabinet minister in the Modi government since it came to power for the first time in 2014 and till his death last year.

    Chirag Paswan said “friends” from the rival RJD-Congress alliance in Bihar have reached out to him for joining them but added that his priority is not an alliance but to deal with the political and legal battle with the rival faction on hand.

    Amid talks of various anti-BJP regional parties coming together and NCP leader Sharad Pawar seen to be working on it, he said, to a question on whether he sees a role for himself in the grouping, that “one can never say never” in terms of possibilities.

    On all contentious issues during the Modi government, be it revocation of article 370, abolition of instant triple divorce among Muslims or the enactment of Citizenship (Amendment) Act, his father and he had been vocal supporters of its stand and noted that the JD(U) took a different line from the BJP.

    He has announced “Aashirvad Yatra” from Hajipur in Bihar from July 5, the birth anniversary of his father, as he battles the rival front for the party’s ownership.

    While five of six LJP MPs are with Paras, Chirag Paswan has asserted that over 90 per cent of the party’s office-bearers are with him.

    Paras, on the other hand, has claimed that his faction is the real LJP.

    He was also elected president of the party recently, a development rejected by Paswan as “unconstitutional”.

    Paras and four other MPs have been expelled from the party by Paswan-leaded group.

  • Farmers wave black flags outside Yoga Day event venue with BJP’s Babita Phogat in attendance

    By PTI
    CHARKHI DADRI: Farmers protesting against the Centre’s three farm laws on Monday waved black flags when BJP leader Babita Phogat was attending an event here related to the International Yoga Day celebrations.

    A group of farmers gathered outside the event venue after Phogat arrived here to take part in the programme.

    Outside the venue of the Janta College stadium, the farmers gathered for a while and raised slogans against the BJP-JJP government and demanded that the Centre roll back the “black farm laws”.

    Police had been deployed in strength to maintain security.

    A farmer leader said that peasants will continue to stage protests and oppose the public functions of the BJP-JJP leaders till the farm laws are rolled back.

    Last month too, the wrestler-turned-politician had also faced a protest by farmers in Charkhi Dadri when she had gone to address public meetings in a few villages.

    Phogat had joined the BJP in 2019, but lost her first election.

    She was later appointed as chairperson of Haryana Women Development Corporation by the BJP-JJP government.

    Farmers have been opposing public functions of BJP-JJP leaders in the state over the laws.

    The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of various farmers’ unions, is spearheading the stir against the Centre’s new farm laws.

    Farmers have been camping at Delhi’s borders since November last year demanding that the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 be rolled back and a new law made to guarantee minimum support price for crops.

  • Will Yogi Adityanath lead BJP in UP polls? Saffron party, RSS conduct hectic parleys

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: BJP’s national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh and Uttar Pradesh in-charge Radha Mohan Singh on Monday held meetings with the top state leaders and RSS office-bearers here to review the party’s programmes in the politically crucial state where assembly polls are due next year.

    UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, deputy chief ministers Dinesh Sharma and Keshav Prasad Maurya, and senior RSS official bearers Dattatreya Hosabole and Krishna Gopal were present at a meeting held at the CM’s residence by the central leaders who arrived on a two-day visit.

    “No political discussions took place in the meeting. It was more on the organisation, especially the programmes, training and ‘pravaas’ (taking stock of organisational matters),” a senior leader, who was privy to the consultations, said.

    He also said that no discussions were held on the election of zila panchayat chairpersons or the 2022 assembly elections.

    This is the second visit by the central leaders this month as the party sets in motion preparations for the crucial assembly polls next year in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    During their earlier visit from May 31 to June 2, Radha Mohan Singh had shot down speculation of a leadership change in the state and had defended the Yogi Adityanath government’s handling of the COVID-19 situation.

    On Sunday, Uttar Pradesh minister Swami Prasad Maurya said the state’s next chief minister will be decided by the BJP’s central leadership after the assembly polls, prompting the Samajwadi Party to suggest that the ruling party is divided on the leadership issue.

    Earlier in the day, the two central leaders met UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh and state general secretary Sunil Bansal and discussed various campaigns of the party.

    The two leaders later headed for the office of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Niralanagar locality in the state capital.

    Party sources said that at the RSS office, Santhosh and other party leaders met Sangh office bearers, including ‘Kshetra Pracharak’ Anil.

    They are understood to have held discussions on 2022 UP Assembly elections and the allegations of corruption in the purchase of land in Ayodhya by the Ram temple trust, the sources said.

    However, when asked about the meeting, Swatantra Dev Singh said that it was a courtesy call and no particular issue was discussed.

    A UP BJP spokesperson said that Santhosh will hold meetings with party office bearers and review COVID-19-related campaigns and other ”seva” works.

    He will also give his guidance for upcoming party campaigns and programmes.

    A party office-bearer said that Santhosh has come for the “monthly review” of the various ongoing programmes of the party.

    “There are 11 programmes, and he has come to see how they are being implemented by the UP unit of the BJP,” he said.

    Opposition parties have been attacking the Yogi Adityanath government over the situation during the second COVID-19 wave and plan to raise it as a major election issue.

    In recent days, they have trained guns at the BJP over allegations of corruption in the purchase of land in Ayodhya by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, which has dismissed the charges as politically motivated.

    The BJP leaders have hit back at the opposition, claiming it was an attempt to derail the Ram Temple construction by levelling false allegations.

    Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh minister Swami Prasad Maurya has said the state’s next chief minister will be decided by the BJP’s central leadership after the assembly polls, prompting the Samajwadi Party to suggest that the ruling party is divided on the leadership issue.

    The labour minister made the remark Sunday at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s state headquarter here while replying to a question from reporters. The chief minister will be finalised by the central leadership after the Assembly elections,” Maurya said.

    The remark appeared to go against the statements made earlier by other party leaders who suggested earlier that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will be the party’s CM face again in the assembly elections early next year.

    Last week in Etah, BJP’s state unit president Swatantra Dev Singh said the polls will be contested under Adityanath’s leadership.

    “Corruption and hooliganism have ended and development is taking place. We will fight the 2022 elections under the hardworking and honest chief minister Yogi Adityanath,” Singh had told reporters.

    But Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya had earlier said in Bareilly that the party’s national leadership will decide under whom the upcoming elections will be fought.

    When asked if there was any confusion in the party over this, BJP spokesperson Harishchandra Srivastava played down the issue.

    “Swatantra Dev is the state unit president and what he has said is important. What Keshav Prasad Maurya and Swami Prasad Maurya have said is on the basis of the party’s norms and traditions,” he said.

    “Formally, the announcement of the chief minister’s name is made by the parliamentary board, and so Keshav Prasad Maurya and Swami Prasad Maurya would have said this,” Srivastava added.

    In a statement, however, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav termed the situation “laughable”.

    “Voices of dissent against UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have started to emerge from within the party.

    Two responsible ministers have said that after the elections, the centre (central leadership) will decide who will be the chief minister.

    This situation in the state politics is laughable,” he said.

    The opposition leader’s statement comes on a day when BJPs national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh and UP in-charge Radha Mohan Singh are on a visit to the state, meeting leaders from the party and the RSS.

    This is the second visit to Lucknow by the two central BJP leaders this month as the party gears up for the assembly elections.

    During their last visit, they had shot down speculation that change in leadership in the state was imminent.

  • Bengal BJP MP seeks separate Junglemahal state, party distances itself from demand

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Days after BJP MP John Barla sought a separate union territory comprising north Bengal districts, his party colleague Saumitra Khan on Monday raised a similar demand for the Junglemahal region of the state and its neighbourhood areas.

    Khan’s demand, just like Barla’s, was, however, not endorsed by the party’s state leadership, which clearly said that it was not in favour of Bengal’s division.

    The Lok Sabha MP from Bishnupur claimed that the Junglemahal area has barely witnessed any development over the years, and demands of locals could be met only after the area is carved out of Bengal and accorded the status of a state.

    “I think a Junglemahal state, consisting of Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram, and parts of Birbhum and two Medinipur districts, along with some other areas, should be carved out to meet the demands of employment and development. John Barla has voiced the grievances of people in north Bengal. I am also doing the same for the people in my area,” Khan said.

    He also asserted that there was “nothing secessionist” in his demand.

    “It will be a part of India, and the region won’t be denied financial package from the Centre for political reasons, as is being done under the TMC regime.

    “If the TMC dispensations leeway to Rohingya Muslims, who have settled all over Bengal, isn’t changing the demography of Bengal, the creation of a state, too, won’t,” Khan reasoned.

    He further said that the TMC dispensation has given key ministerial responsibilities to leaders in the metropolis, while those from Junglemahal and north Bengal faced neglect.

    “If Prime Minister Narendra Modi is labelled as ‘bohiragato’ (outsider) by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee why shouldn’t she be described as ‘bohiragato’ by the youth of Rarh Bangla (the region comprising Bankura, Purulia)”, Khan, who defected from the TMC to the BJP in 2018, said.

    Distancing himself from Khan’s views, BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said the party doesn’t support any demand for Bengal’s bifurcation.

    “We support holistic and inclusive development, keeping the state’s territorial integrity intact,” Bhattacharya underlined.

    Echoing him, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh said the “party does not endorse Barla and Khans views”.

    He, nonetheless, added that the TMC’s policy to “turn Bengal into Afghanistan or Syria amid unrelenting attacks on opposition BJP leaders, Dalits and women is forcing party leaders to make such demands out of sheer frustration”.

    Strongly reacting to Khan’s comments, TMC spokesman Kunal Ghosh said the BJP, after being rejected by the people of the state, is “raising the bogey of partition but their game plan will be foiled”.

    TMC MP Sougata Roy, on his part, sought to know why the BJP isn’t expelling Barla and Khan.

    “If the BJP does not endorse the statements of its MPs, why is it not expelling them? The party is planning to create unrest in the state,” Ghosh said.