News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • Shiv Sena, BJP MP Narayan Rane supporters clash in Maharashtra

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Supporters of the Shiv Sena and BJP MP Narayan Rane clashed at Kudal in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district on Saturday during an event organized by the Sena on its foundation day which highlighted rising petrol prices, police said.

    The incident came two days after Shiv Sena and BJP workers came to blows outside the Sena headquarters in Mumbai.

    Local Sena MLA Vaibhav Naik and his supporters had organized an event on the party’s foundation day where they were distributing money to vehicle owners who came to buy fuel at a petrol pump at Kudal on Saturday morning, a police official said.

    The pump is run by a person close to BJP Rajya Sabha member and former Shiv Sena leader Narayan Rane, he said.

    Soon BJP supporters gathered there and started raising slogans against Naik which led to heated arguments and a clash.

    Police soon arrived on the spot and dispersed the workers of both the parties, the official said.

    Naik and his supporters then organized the same program at another petrol pump nearby, he added.

    An FIR was registered against the Sena MLA and 12 of his supporters and the BJP’s Aanand Shirvaikar and 20 others at Kudal Police Station under IPC sections related to unlawful assembly as well as disobedience of public servant’s order, and also for the violation of COVID -19 related norms.

    No arrest has been made yet, the official said.

    On June 17, fights broke out between the supporters of the former allies when the youth wing of the BJP took out a protest march here against the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana’s critical comments about the Ayodhya land purchase deal controversy.

  • You are equally guilty for enacting UAPA : AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi to P Chidambaram

    By Express News Service
    HYDERABAD: Asaduddin Owaisi, the AIMIM chief questioned the sincerity of former Union Minister, P Chidambaram who welcomed the release of Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha. He demanded that Chidambaram speak out about the real problem, as it was Congress regime that enacted amendments to ‘draconian’ UAPA.

    These 3 youth deserve apology from BJP & INC, not platitudes from men responsible for torture & unjust imprisonment of Indians 2/2
    — Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) June 19, 2021

    Responding to Chidambaram’s tweets, Asad tweeted “Three empty tweets but not a word about the elephant in the room? Say the magic word @PChidambaram_IN : UAPA. You enacted draconian UAPA amendments destroying innumerable Muslim & Adivasi lives. When BJP amended it to make it worse your party @INCIndia eagerly supported in RS.”

    Asad demanded an apology from BJP and Congress while holding them responsible for ‘torture and unjust imprisonment’. “These 3 youth deserve an apology from BJP & INC, not platitudes from men responsible for torture & unjust imprisonment of Indians,” he tweeted. 

  • Concerned UP BJP begins to mollify smaller parties

    By Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: Shaken by a none-too-impressive show in the recent panchayat polls and internal party surveys suggesting the tough road ahead in the next year’s assembly polls, the ruling BJP is now busy re-cementing its ties with small parties as well as wooing back estranged allies.

    Anand Swarup Shukla, a junior minister in the Yogi Adityanath government, said on Friday that an estranged ally, the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), will be welcomed back. His argument was that the party had won four of the eight seats it had contested in 2017 assembly polls only after it joined the BJP-led alliance.

    “SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar has been in politics for 30 years. He came into prominence only after he joined forces with BJP. If he returns to the BJP-led alliance, he would be welcomed,” said Shukla, an MLA from Ballia.

    His remarks came a day after Surendra Singh, another party MLA from Ballia, ridiculed the SBSP chief, saying “he was an ungrateful politician, who could even disown his own father if it came to reaping political dividends.” Rajbhar, a former UP minister, has dubbed BJP a sinking ship and ruled out his return to the ruling alliance, claiming he didn’t even talk to BJP chief JP Nadda over the phone recently. Rajbhar’s party is a significant force in east UP districts where the most backward Rajbhar caste population is in significant numbers.

    The BJP has also started working to streamline its ties with existing allies, the Apna Dal (S) and Nishad Party. Top BJP leaders recently met Apna Dal (S) MP Anupriya Patel as well as Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad in Delhi following reports that the two parties were in touch with opposition Samajwadi Party leaders.

    Sources said Apna Dal (S) MP Anupriya Patel can be re-inducted into the Union council of ministers. Anupriya, an MP from Mirzapur in east UP, was a minister in the previous Modi government at the Centre between 2016 and 2019. Her party represents the Kurmi/Patel caste, which has a significant population in east and Central MP as well as Bundelkhand region. On the other hand, the Nishad Party represents the Nishad caste, which is a dominant group in the Gorakhpur region, the home turf of CM Yogi Adityanath.

  • Mamata Banerjee’s counsel seeks reassignment of election petition against Suvendu to another bench

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s counsel Friday wrote to the secretary of the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, seeking reassignment of her petition challenging the election of BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram, to another bench.

    Claiming Banerjee has been made aware that Justice Kausik Chanda, who is hearing her plea, was “an active member of the BJP” and since the adjudication of the election petition will have political ramifications, it was prayed that the matter be assigned to another judge by the Acting Chief Justice, who is the master of roster.

    The CM’s lawyer also stated in the letter that she “had objected to the confirmation of the Hon’ble Judge as a Permanent Judge of the Hon’ble High Court at Calcutta” and as such, apprehends there is a likelihood of bias on the part of the judge concerned.

    Banerjee’s counsel urged that the letter be placed before the Acting Chief Justice forthwith “for necessary re- assignment of Election Petition so as to avoid any prejudice and/or presumption of prejudice”.

    Justice Chanda earlier in the day adjourned till June 24 Banerjee’s petition for declaring election of Suvendu Adhikari, at present the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, from Nandigram null and void.

    Meanwhile, a section of lawyers staged a protest in front of the high court over Justice Chanda being assigned to hear the election petition by the Trinamool Congress supremo.

    “We have no personal ill-feeling or allegation against the judge, but he was associated with a particular political party,” one of the lawyers said.

    The judge should recuse himself from hearing Banerjee’s plea, he added.

  • BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari submits petition to Bengal Speaker seeking Mukul Roy’s disqualification as MLA

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Leader of the opposition in Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Friday submitted a petition to Speaker Biman Banerjee seeking disqualification of Mukul Roy’s membership in the House under the anti-defection law as he has recently crossed over from the BJP to the TMC, a senior leader in the saffron party said.

    The TMC, in response, insisted that the opposition leader should request his father and parliamentarian Sisir Adhikari to lead by example, as he, too, switched over to the BJP from the Mamata Banerjee camp ahead of the assembly polls.

    The speaker, when contacted, however, said he won’t be able to say anything about the petition for now as he was yet to visit the Assembly.

    “We have submitted a letter to the Speaker seeking disqualification of MLA Mukul Roy’s membership in the House. He had won the election on a BJP ticket, but joined the TMC subsequently.

    “Therefore, as per law, he should resign. We have requested the Speaker to look into the matter,” saffron party MLA Manoj Tigga said.

    Earlier this month, Roy rejoined the TMC, of which he was once the second-in-command, following his three-and-a-half year-long stint in the BJP.

    He had contested the March-April assembly polls on a BJP ticket and bagged the Krishnanagar Uttar seat.

    Adhikari, a few days ago, had met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to complain about Roy.

    Takiing to Twitter, Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta, who had unsuccessfully contested the assembly election on a BJP ticket, said the law demands that he resign as MLA as he was elected on the BJP symbol.

    “Last week Mukul Roy joined AITC in presence of @MamataOfficial. There was no ambiguity over his defection. Politics will take its course, but law demands he resign as MLA elected on BJP symbol. Let him follow his own course of resigning from Rajya Sabha in 2017 before joining BJP,” Dasgupta tweeted.

    Making light of BJP’s assertions, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh, said the leader of opposition should ask his father Sisir Adhikari, who joined the saffron camp in March, to “resign as our party MP before lecturing others”.

    Sharing a similar view, TMC Rajya Sabha deputy leader Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said the BJP, which has formed government in other states by “poaching MLAs” from others parties, shouldn’t be the one giving sermons on the anti-defection law.

    “The TMC has not forced anyone to join the party, unlike the BJP. The BJP in other states have used every trick — from threats to intimidation — to poach MLAs of other parties,” he added.

  • BJP cites Modi government’s decisions on Punjab to laud its spirit of ‘cooperative federalism’

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The BJP on Friday highlighted a number of decisions taken by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government for Punjab in the “true spirit of cooperative federalism” and attacked its rivals for their “falsification”.

    Addressing a press conference, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri targeted opposition parties, which have accused the government of overriding powers of states, and said “for anyone to suggest they have been short-changed or not given their legitimate share will be a falsification”.

    The government recently sanctioned medical oxygen plants for 41 locations in Punjab under the PM Cares Fund, he said.

    He also took a swipe at the Congress government in Punjab over its alleged profiteering by selling its quota of Covid vaccines to private hospitals, and said it sparked conflicting statements from within the party.

    “Congress leaders are not on the same page. Some of them think profite_ering on centrally supplied medicines is legitimate. The health minister of Punjab govt claimed he had nothing to do with this scam,” Puri said.

    Citing various decisions of the Modi government, he said it abolished a “blacklist” carrying names of 333 Sikhs, granted citizenship rights to thousands of Sikhs oppressed in different countries, ensured action in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, gave FCRA registration to Golden Temple to receive foreign donations, launched 14 trains to connect holy Sikh sites and gave GST exemption to langar services run by gurdwaras.

    The list is long, he said, adding this is what Modi personally and his government have been doing for all states.

    Noting that it was alleged that the minimum support price (MSP) for grains will be abolished and mandi system repealed when the government enacted three farm laws, he said the Centre in fact made record procurement and transferred tens of thousands of crores directly to bank accounts of farmers.

    “Government has made it clear that if there are any doubts (regarding laws) we are ready to sit with you and are open to all suggestions. But template has to be benefit to farmers,” Puri said.

    He also demanded probe into crimes which have allegedly occurred at the sites of farmer protests.

    BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra added that democracy has space for agitations not crime. 

  • ‘Improved law and order, better farm returns will help Yogi’

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: The BJP is hopeful that the performance of CM Yogi Adityanath on law and order front and measures for small and marginal farmers will help the party in the Assembly elections next year, UP minister Suresh Rana said on Thursday.

    “People are well aware of the law and order situation when the Samajwadi Party was in power. The state government led by Yogi Adityanath has ensured much improved law and order situations. The people in the state have a sense of security,” Rana told journalists through video conference.

    He also stated that the BJP government has ensured record payments to sugarcane farmers. He also said small and marginal farmers have benefited from a number of measures taken by the central and the state governments in the recent years. 

    Rana stressed that UP farmers unlike their counterparts in Punjab and Haryana have no issues with the central farm laws. “The procurements on MSPs have gone up along with the direct payment to the accounts of the farmers. This has contributed to the realisation of the remunerative prices for the farmers.” He claimed that the Yogi Adityanath government’s decisions have brought positive changes for sugarcane farmers and sugar industry in Uttar Pradesh.

    “Along with giving a new flight to the dying sugar industry, the state government has turned the tables around by setting a new record of payment to sugarcane farmers,” said Rana. “So far, the state government has made a record payment of `1,37,518 crore to more than 45.44 lakh sugarcane farmers. This is twice what the BSP government and one and a half times more than the SP government had done for the sugarcane farmers.”

  • RSS to hold key brainstorming session in Chitrakoot ahead of Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls

    By Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: Ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections and other state polls, the BJP’s parent organisation RSS is set to hold a brainstorming session in Chitrakoot on July 9.

    The session, slated from July 9 to July 13, will be attended by the RSS’ entire top brass, including chief Mohan Bhagwat, general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, Dr Manmohan Vaidya, Dr Krishna Gopal, Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi and Arun Kumar.

    According to sources, the meeting will particularly see discussions for the Uttar Pradesh state polls, which will be held in 2022, along side polls in four other states, including BJP ruled Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.

    The meeting will also see senior National level pracharaks of the organisation join the meeting virtually.

    RSS national general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale had toured the state earlier this month and his report on the state of affairs in the politically crucial state is likely to be discussed by the RSS top brass during the meet.

    The meeting is also likely to delve upon COVID pandemic second wave management by both Centre and the UP government.

    The meeting is also taking place at a time when controversies over the land deals involving the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust in Ayodhya have surfaced.

    As per sources privy to the developments, the meeting will zero upon the issues which are important in context with the Uttar Pradesh polls, particularly as internal BJP surveys are not painting a rosy picture for the saffron party in the state.

  • Centre withdraws Z-category VIP security cover of turncoat MLA Mukul Roy

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Z-category VIP security cover of West Bengal politician and MLA Mukul Roy, who recently re-joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) after a brief stint with the BJP, has been withdrawn, official sources said on Thursday.

    They said the Union Home Ministry has directed the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to recall its detachment deployed with the 67-year-old Roy. Roy had last week joined West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led TMC along with his son Subhrangshu in Kolkata.

    Sources said Roy, who won the assembly election as a BJP candidate from Krishnanagar Uttar constituency, had written to the Centre to withdraw the security cover, which has now been given effect to. Roy had quit the TMC after being removed from the post of the party’s national general secretary.

    He had joined the BJP in November, 2017, and was made the party’s national vice president. Soon after, he was accorded a low category Y+ central security cover of the central paramilitary CRPF which was upgraded to the second top level of Z just before the assembly polls in the state that were held in March-April this year.

    He had a contingent of about 22-24 armed CRPF commandos who used to move with him every time he travelled in West Bengal. Sources said the small category security cover being provided to Subhrangshu by another central paramilitary force CISF has also been withdrawn.

    The father-son are now being provided security by the state police.

  • BJP eyes ‘social influencers’ in Punjab, inducts six

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH:  Bearing the brunt of widespread public anger in Punjab over the central farm laws, the BJP is finding it difficult to get new allies in the state even though it’s apparently not averse to fresh tie-ups after its break-up with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) last year. 

    The party is now eyeing splinter political groups and paratroopers from other parties. But more importantly, it’s keen on inducting ‘influencers’ to broaden its social base in the state ahead of the 2022 assembly elections next. In accordance with this strategy, the BJP on Wednesday welcomed into its fold six Sikh faces a day after the party brass took stock of the political situation in Punjab.

    Those who joined the party at its headquarters in the national capital in the presence of state BJP chief Ashwani Sharma and state affairs in-charge Dushyant Gautam included former vice-chancellor of Guru Kashi University Jaswinder Singh Dhillon, Col (retd) Jaibans Singh, advocates Harinder Singh Kahlon, Jagmohan Singh Saini and Nirmal Singh and Kuldeep Singh Kahlon, a former president of the All-India Sikh Students Federation.

    Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said the party will gain strength in the state with the new set of leaders joining its ranks and they would help in dispelling the misconceptions. “The BJP has a vision of prosperous Punjab. The party will keep striving for such a state. There are some anti-social elements who work to create social strife,” said Shekhawat in an apparent reference to the protests saffron party leaders are facing in Punjab. 

    However, a state BJP leader said these new faces are not mass leaders this will harm the party more, but it “feels their joining is significant in terms of perception”.