News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • After Tathagata Roy lashing out at BJP over Bengal defeat, party veteran summoned to Delhi

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: BJP leader Tathagata Roy on Thursday said his party’s top brass has called him to Delhi at the earliest, a day after he criticised some of the measures taken by the saffron camp’s decision-makers ahead of the assembly elections.

    The BJP pocketed just 77 seats in the just-concluded Bengal polls, with the TMC having bagged 213 constituencies.

    The saffron party had set a target of winning over 200 seats.

    Taking to Twitter, the former governor of two northeastern states — Tripura and Meghalaya — said, “I have been asked by the party’s topmost leadership to come to Delhi ASAP. This is for general information.”

    Roy, during his interaction with reporters on Wednesday, had claimed that “unwanted elements” from the TMC was inducted into the BJP ahead of the assembly polls, and leaders having no idea or understanding of Bengali culture and heritage were made to helm the election campaign in the state.

    On the migroblogging site, he also wrote, “In the depths of my frustration I think of my icons Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay. How they had suffered and compared to that what is my suffering! Such thoughts, such suffering will not go in vain. Never!”

    In a no-holds-barred diatribe aimed at state BJP minders and the Bengal unit chief, he further tweeted, “Kailash-Dilip-Shiv-Arvind (KDSA) foursome have dragged the names of our respected Prime Minister and Home Minister through mud and have sullied the name of the biggest political party in the world. Sitting atop Agarwal Bhavan of Hastings (W Bengal BJP’s election headquarters).”

    On Tuesday, Roy, known for his controversial remarks and tweets, had said that three new female entrants in the BJP from the tinsel town, who got defeated by big margins, are “politically stupid”, raising several eyebrows.

    “What great qualities were these women possessed of? Kailash Vijayvargiya, Dilip Ghosh & Co must answer (sic),” he had tweeted.

    Reacting strongly to Roy’s jibe at his industry colleagues, Kanchan Mallick, an actor who fought on a TMC ticket and won the Uttarpara seat, “It is insulting for them even though they belong to my rival party,” he said.

  • ‘Not even 24 hours since I took oath as CM, central teams have started arriving’: Mamata lashes out at BJP

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said 16 people have lost their lives in post-poll violence in the state, and announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for their families.

    Banerjee, during a press meet here, also said that her government will provide jobs of home guard to one family member each of all five persons killed in CAPF firing in Cooch Behar’s Sitalkuchi area last month.

    She further said that a CID team has initiated a probe into the incident of firing in Cooch Behar that took place when the voting exercise was underway for the fourth phase of assembly elections, on April 10.

    “At least 16 persons – mostly from the BJP and the TMC and one of the Samyukta Morcha — died in post-poll violence. We will pay a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to their family members. Our government will also provide jobs of home guard to the next of kin of Sitalkuchi victims,” she said.

    Taking a swipe at the BJP, the CM said that the saffron party was yet to come to terms with people’s mandate.

    She accused central leaders of inciting violence in the state.

    “Not even 24 hours have passed since I was sworn-in as the CM, and letters, a central team have started arriving. This is because the BJP has not yet reconciled to the mandate of common people. I will request the saffron party leaders to accept the mandate,” she told reporters.

    “Please allow us to focus on the COVID situation. We do not want to engage in any squabble,” she added.

    A four-member fact-finding team of the Union Home Ministry, tasked with looking into reasons for the post-poll violence in West Bengal, arrived in the state on Thursday.

    Led by an additional secretary of the ministry, the team visited the state secretariat and held a meeting with the home secretary and DGP, sources said.

    The team, which will also assess the ground situation in the state, is likely to visit several areas in the city as well as South 24 Parganas, Godkhali, Sunderbans and Jaggadal, they said.

    The ministry had on Wednesday sent a terse reminder to the West Bengal government to submit a detailed report on the post-poll violence and to take necessary measures to stop such incidents “without any loss of time”.

    It has also asked West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar to give a report on the law and order situation in the state, particularly the violence that took place following the election results on May 2.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that 16 people have lost their lives in post-poll violence in the state.

    The BJP has alleged that TMC-backed goons have killed a number of its workers, attacked women members, vandalised houses and looted shops.

    Rejecting the charges, Banerjee had Wednesday said violence and clashes were taking place in those areas where BJP candidates emerged victorious in the assembly polls.

    Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress MLA Firhad Hakim hit out at the Centre for sending teams instead of COVID-19 vaccines.

    “They should send vaccines first, that’s the responsibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We are grieved that some people have died, and action will be taken against the culprits.”

    “But, what will happen to the inoculation process which is stalled because of the vaccine crisis?” Hakim said.

  • WATCH | Union Minister V Muraleedharan’s convoy attacked in Bengal, BJP sees ‘Trinamool’ hand behind it

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan’s car was vandalised at Panchkuri village in West Midnapore district on Thursday while he was visiting the area in connection with alleged post-poll violence on saffron party workers.

    Muraleedharan alleged in a tweet that the “TMC goons” were behind the attack on his convoy.

    “I went to West Midnapore to meet party workers who have been attacked and their homes were vandalised. I was moving from one house to another with my convoy and then all of a sudden a group of people started charging towards us and attacked,” Muraleedharan said.

    “I am safe, but my driver was injured, few car windows were also smashed,” the minister told PTI.

    BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha who was accompanying the minister claimed that the attack took place despite the presence of the police personnel.

    TMC goons attacked my convoy in West Midnapore, broken windows, attacked personal staff. Cutting short my trip. #BengalBurning @BJP4Bengal @BJP4India @narendramodi @JPNadda @AmitShah @DilipGhoshBJP @RahulSinhaBJP pic.twitter.com/b0HKhhx0L1
    — V Muraleedharan (@VMBJP) May 6, 2021

    An officer of Kotwali police station in West Midnapore said that they are probing into the incident of the attack on the minister’s convoy.

    “It happened at around 12. 30 pm today when some unidentified people attacked the minister’s convoy,” he said.

    No one has been detained or arrested so far, the police officer said.

    BJP president JP Nadda on Thursday condemned the attack and claimed that “TMC-sponsored” violence was in full swing in state after the assembly poll results were declared.

    Condemning the attack, Nadda alleged that law and order has completely collapsed in West Bengal.

    “If an Union minister can be attacked then what would be the condition of common man?” he posed.

    “TMC-sponsored violence is in full swing in West Bengal after assembly elections in the state,” the BJP president alleged.

    He also claimed, “Murderous attacks on BJP workers, rapes happening in West Bengal and people in thousands are fleeing to save lives.

    ALSO WATCH:

  • Post poll violence in Bengal: MHA asks Governor for report on law and order in state 

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Union Home Ministry has asked West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar to give a report on the law and order situation in the state, particularly the violence that took place following the election results last weekend, officials said on Thursday.

    The Home Ministry had earlier asked the state government to submit a report but has not yet received it, the officials said.

    The governor has been asked to assess the situation and submit his report to the ministry at the earliest.

    The ministry has formed a four-member, headed by an additional secretary ranked officer, to investigate the post-poll violence.

    The BJP claims six of its workers were killed by TMC supporters, a charge denied by the Mamata Banerjee-led government.

    The home ministry dispatched a terse reminder to the West Bengal government on Wednesday to submit a detailed report on the post-poll violence in the state, warning it that the matter will be taken “seriously” in case it fails to do so, and asked it to take necessary measures to stop such incidents “without any loss of time”, officials said.

    In a letter dispatched on Wednesday, the home ministry reminded the West Bengal chief secretary that on May 3, it had sought an immediate report from the state government on the post-poll violence.

    However, the West Bengal government is yet to send the report, the officials said.

    ALSO READ | Ministry of Home Affairs forms four-member team to probe post-poll violence in West Bengal

    According to latest inputs, the violence has not stopped in West Bengal and this means that effective measures were not taken by the state government to control it, the letter said.

    Therefore, necessary steps should be taken to prevent these incidents without any loss of time, it added.

    A detailed report should be sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) immediately, it said.

    In case the report is not sent by the state government, the matter will be taken seriously, the letter added.

    After the third straight convincing victory for the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, following a charged Assembly election campaign, West Bengal witnessed a number of violent incidents since Sunday, when the results were announced.

    At least six people were killed in post-poll violence in different parts of the state till Tuesday.

    The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alleged that TMC-backed goons have killed a number of its workers, attacked its women members, vandalised houses, looted shops of its members and ransacked its offices.

    Claiming that at least 14 BJP workers were killed and nearly one lakh people fled their homes in post-poll violence in West Bengal, party president J P Nadda alleged on Wednesday that the chief minister’s silence speaks of her involvement.

    Banerjee rejected the charges, saying violence and clashes were taking place in those areas where the BJP candidates emerged victorious in the election.

    Speaking to reporters at state secretariat Nabanna after taking oath, the chief minister also claimed that most of the videos of violence being shared on social media are either fake or old.

    “I have noticed that violence and clashes are taking place in those areas where the BJP have won the elections. These places can be seen as black spots,” she said.

    Banerjee said when these incidents happened, law and order in the state was under the Election Commission (EC).

    “Law and order in West Bengal deteriorated in the last three months. There were some sporadic incidents and not all were real, most were fake. The BJP is showing old videos,” she said.

    The TMC supremo said all the district magistrates (DMs) and superintendents of police (SPs) were asked to strictly deal with any emerging situation.

    “If someone is found involved in any incident, we will deal with it very strictly. We are not going to tolerate any lawlessness here,” she said.

    West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar had said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned him and expressed anguish over the law-and-order situation in the state following reports of post-poll violence from several districts.

    Banerjee had asked people on Sunday to show restraint and not indulge in any kind of violence.

    The BJP on Wednesday claimed that 14 party workers were killed and nearly a lakh people fled their homes in post-poll violence, charges which were denied as fabricated by the Trinamool Congress.

    ALSO READ | West Bengal: 50 per cent of BJP’s 77 seats in dalit strongholds

    BJP president J P Nadda at a press conference here claimed that 80,000 to one lakh people have left their homes in different parts of the state in the wake of Trinamool Congresss spectacular electoral victory and held Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee responsible, alleging her silence (on the violence) speaks of her involvement.

    Earlier in the day, Banerjee after taking oath for a third term in office said she would take strict action to stop any lawlessness and pointed out till her swearing in, the states law and order were supervised by the Election Commission which had changed many top-level police personnel responsible for tackling such incidents.

    Condemning the “brutal killings after the (election) results”, Nadda alleged that 14 BJP workers have been killed and women molested and raped in various parts of the state.

    The assembly election results were declared on May 2 with the ruling Trinamool Congress winning 213 of the 292 assembly seats.

    “Mamata Banerjee’s silence (on the violence) speaks of her involvement. She has blood on her hand,” Nadda said.

    During his two-day visit to the state from Tuesday, the BJP president visited the residences of some party workers who allegedly faced atrocities at the hands of TMC supporters.

    Alleging attacks on BJP workers in Canning Purba constituency in South 24 Parganas district and destruction of villages, he said the people there have faced “(cyclone) Amphan last year and `Mamataphan this year”.

    TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh however labelled the rival partys claims as fabricated and said most violence was because of intra-party spats within the Bharatiya Janata Party.

    He also claimed that six TMC men had been killed.

    Nadda claimed that people in north Bengal districts have been fleeing to neighbouring Assam to save their lives.

    Asked whether the BJP was contemplating to seek imposition of Article 356 of the Constitution in West Bengal, he said that the procedure is that a report is sent by the governor, analysed by central agencies and Ministry of Home Affairs and a decision is then taken.

    “So, it is for them to make the decision”, he said.

    Under Article 356, if a state government is unable to function according to Constitutional provisions, the Centre can take direct control of the state machinery.

    ALSO READ | Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar terms West Bengal CM as ‘Mamata Khan’

    “As far as the BJP is concerned, even if it is a fit case (for the imposition of Article 356), we are people who fight democratically,” Nadda said.

    The chief minister speaking to reporters at state secretariat `Nabanna, claimed violence and clashes were occurring in areas where the BJP won the elections and added that most of the videos of violence being shared on social media were either fake or old.

    “I have noticed that violence and clashes are taking place in those areas where the BJP have won the elections.

    These places can be seen as black spots,” she said.

    The chief minister said that when these incidents happened, the law and order was under the Election Commission.

    “The law and order in West Bengal deteriorated in the last three months. There were some sporadic incidents and not all were real, most were fake. BJP is showing old videos,” she claimed.

    “I will appeal to all political parties to stop this (violence). Or else, law will take its course. Bengal is a land of peace, heritage and here we stay in peace with people from every section of the society,” she said.

    Hours after taking oath as the chief minister, Banerjee held a top-level meeting with senior officials of the state government, including Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and Home Secretary HK Dwidevi on the present law and order situation.

    She also reinstated Virender, as the Director- General of Police and Jawed Shamim as the ADG (Law and Order).

    Both the officers were removed from their respective posts by the Election Commission ahead of the polls.

    Meanwhile, Mamata on Wednesday initiated a major reshuffle in the police hierarchy, transferring 29 top-level police officers, mostly those who were shifted by the Election Commission prior to the polls.

    Among the top-level officers who have been brought back to their former positions are DG Virendra, ADG (Law and Order) Jawed Shamim and DG Security Vivek Sahay, an order issued this evening said.

    The government also suspended Debashis Dhar, SP of Cooch Behar district where four persons were killed in CISF firing during polling on April 10 in Sitalkuchi constituency.

    Banerjee has already ordered a CID probe into the incident.

    Dhar was replaced by K Kannan who had been sent to OCW (officer-on-compulsory-waiting) during the election.

    Virendra, who was transferred by the EC, has been reinstated to his former position.

    ALSO READ | Centre asks West Bengal government to send report on post-poll violence ‘at once’

    Neeraj Nayan Pandey, who had been made the DG in place of Veerendra, was now posted as DG (Fire Services).

    Similarly, ADG (Law and Order) Jagmohan has been transferred to the civil defence and Jawed Shamim who was moved out by the commission for alleged police excesses during a Left rally has been brought back as the ADG (Law and Order).

    In a separate order, Vivek Sahay, former DG Security, who was removed by the poll panel alleging lapse in security arrangements of the chief minister after she was injured in a rally in Purba Medinipur district, has been brought back to his former position.

    Gyanwant Singh who worked as ADG Security during the election got back his earlier post and he has been given the additional responsibility of ADG and IGP of the Armed Police.

    Another transferred officer Sanjay Singh, officer-on- compulsory-waiting, has been posted as ADG and IG of Western range.

    In the morning, the chief minister had indicated that she was not happy with the ‘inefficiency’ of the police in different areas.

    “The administration was not under my control for the last three months. It was under the control of the Election Commission. There is some inefficiency. We will take decisions regarding this soon,” she had said.

    The state home department, in addition to this, has made some significant transfers like bringing back Monoj Verma as the commissioner of Barackpore Commissionerate.

    Verma was transferred from Barackpore and was made IG of Counter Insurgency Force by the commission.

    Similarly, Mitesh Jain who was made the commissioner of Asansol-Durgapur Commissionerate has been sent to compulsory waiting.

    Ajay Thakur, presently posted as DIG, CID in the state police, was brought in his place.

    Two more commissioners were transferred.

    Gourav Sharma presently working as Commissioner of Chanadannagar Police Commissionerate has been sent to Siliguri Police Commissionerate as commissioner and Arnab Ghosh, presently posted as member secretary of West Bengal Police Reform Board, has been made the commissioner of Chandannagar in his place.

    DIG, Barasat range, Mukesh has also been sent to officer-on-compulsory waiting.

    The government has transferred SPs of 16 districts.

    Among them are some officers who were shunted by the commission during the election.

    Bhola Nath Pandey who was transferred by the commission following the attack on BJP president J P Nadda’s convoy in Diamond Harbour has been made SP of Alipurduar.

    Soumya Roy who was transferred as his wife was contesting the election has been brought back as SP Howrah (Rural).

    Meanwhile, the government sent Rahul Majumdar who is presently posted as joint secretary at the Chief Minister’s Office as the DM of Purulia district in place of Abhjit Mukhopadhyay.

    Mukhopadhyay was sent to OCW in the personnel and administrative reforms department in the state secretariat.

  • BJP will protest today against Bengal violence, Leader of Opposition Dharam Lal Kaushik will protest at his residence

    BJP leaders will stage a sit-in today to protest against the Bengal violence. Party officials and workers will sit on dharna outside their respective houses. Leader of Opposition Dharam Lal Kaushik will stage his Parsada residence.
    Explain that after the election results in West Bengal, violence took place. Unidentified people vandalized the blaze in the BJP office in Nandigram. In protest against this, the BJP held a nationwide protest on Wednesday.
    In Chhattisgarh Madhya Pradesh, BJP leaders also demonstrated outside the house, following the Corona Guideline. At the same time, BJP officials and workers will perform in Bilaspur today.

  • West Bengal: 50 per cent of BJP’s 77 seats in dalit strongholds

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA:  About half of the 77 seats won by the BJP in West Bengal were reserved for Dalits, including members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The state has 84 seats reserved for SC and ST candidates.

    The saffron camp has won 38 of these seats. Among the SC/ST seats won by the BJP, 18 are in north Bengal, where the party has made deep inroads since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In all, the BJP won 31 seats reserved for the SCs and seven seats reserved for the STs.

    Many of the seats are dominates by the Matuas, a Hindu religious sect comprising people who had immigrated from Bangladesh. They have been promised Indian citizenship by the BJP-led Central government through the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has strongly opposed the CAA.

    The saffron camp has also managed to retain its Dalit vote-bank in north Bengal regions where the Rajbanshi community forms a considerable chunk of the electorate. The Dalits, however, in Junglemahal voted against the saffron camp. The BJP won only in three constituencies out of 12 seats reserved for Dalits in Junglemahal.

  • UP panchayat polls a wake-up call for BJP ahead of 2022 Assembly elections

    By Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: The three-tier panchayat polls, which is seen as the semi-finals before the next year’s Assembly election in the UP, could well be a wake-up call for the ruling BJP in this very significant state. In many wards, candidates supported by the BJP have reportedly finished behind the Samajwadi Party. 

    Also, the performance of the candidates supported by the saffron party has been dismal in areas that have traditionally been the party’s strongholds, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency of Varanasi, CM Yogi Adityanath’s Fort Gorakhpur and the party’s prime Hindutva seat of Ayodhya.

    While the SP has emerged as the frontrunner with more than 740 supported by it winning the election, the BJP-backed candidates have won in only 680 seats out of the more than 3,100 seats that were in the play. The Mayawati-led BSP has claimed that around 320 candidates supported by it have tasted success, while the Congress too has claimed that about 270 candidates whom it has backed have won. In more than 1,000 wards, independent candidates have won.

    As per Lucknow-based political analyst and senior journalist Manoj Bhadra, “Till 2015, there were only two major players in Panchayat polls in UP, the SP, and BSP. But following BJP’s upsurge in the 2017 assembly polls and the 2019 general polls, the saffron party became the primary force to reckon with.”

    Bhadra added that when compared with the 2015 panchayat polls, BJP, which was then at a distant third, is now a close second to SP. “But when compared against its performances in the last Assembly polls and the 2019 general elections, the saffron party should be concerned about its performance in the recently-concluded panchayat polls.”

  • Half of BJP’s seats in West Bengal came from Dalit dominated constituencies

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Half of BJP’s final tally of 77 seats in the West Bengal Assembly elections came in constituencies reserved for the Dalits. The state has 84 constituencies reserved for SC and ST candidates and the saffron camp won 38 of these.

    Among the Dalit seats bagged by the BJP, 18 are located in north Bengal, where the BJP had made deep inroads in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. BJP won 31 seats dominated by the SCs and seven seats dominated by STs.

    Many of the seats are dominated by Matuas, a Hindu religious sect comprising those who had migrated from Bangladesh. They were promised citizenship by implementing the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which West Bengal chief minister Manata Banerjee is strongly opposing.

    ALSO READ | BJP’s Bengal blunders and a message that democracy is a chapati

    “We won 10 seats among the reserved category where Matuas are a deciding factor. We promised these sections of Hindu refugees citizenship before the 2019 general elections which could not be implemented because of Covid-19. Before this Assembly election, we again made the same promise and Matuas decided to keep their faith in us,” said a senior BJP leader in Bengal.

    The Matua-dominated constituencies won by the BJP are Gazole in Malda, Krishnaganj, Ranaghat (South), Ranaghat (North-East), Kalyani and Haninghata in Nadia and Bagda, Bongaon (North), Bongaon (South) and Gaighata in North 24 Parganas.

    The saffron camp seems to have managed to retain its Dalit vote-bank in the north Bengal region where the Rajbanshi community forms a considerable chunk of the electorate.     

    The Dalits, however, in Junglemahal, comprising Purulia, Jhargram, West Midnapore and parts of Bakura districts, rejected the saffron camp. The BJP bagged victory in only three of the 12 Dalit-dominated seats.

    “In 2019, we secured a thumping victory in Junglemahal. Dalits supported us en bloc. But in this Assembly election, we received a massive jolt in this region. Electorates in non-reserved seats, too, did not accept the BJP. In the 40 Assembly constituencies, we won in 14 only,” said the BJP leader.

    The leader pointed out that the BJP’s CAA narrative proved double-edged.

    “Where the Matuas and Rajbanshis supported us on the citizenship issue, the Dalits in the backward region of Junglemahal did not. The TMC’s campaign opposing the CAA managed to win the poor Dalits, who were scared of the citizenship act as most of them do not possess basic documents other than the Epic Card,” he said. 

  • MP: BJP leader Vijesh Lunawat, who tested COVID positive, dies at 55

    By PTI
    BHOPAL: Senior BJP leader and a key man behind the party’s mega events in Madhya Pradesh, Vijesh Lunawat died following cardiac arrest at a hospital here on Wednesday, family sources said.

    Lunawat (55) had not been well for quite some time and had recently tested positive for COVID-19, they said.

    The BJP leader is survived by his wife and two daughters.

    In his condolence message, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said Lunawat was an “able organiser, effective communicator and expert in election management”.

    He was a “master strategist and had played a major role in strengthening the BJP in Madhya Pradesh”, Chouhan said.

    “The void created by his untimely demise cannot be filled,” the chief minister said.

    State BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma, former chief minister and Leader of Opposition Kamal Nath and several leaders from both the ruling and opposition camps expressed grief over Lunawat’s death.

  • Bengal’s champion sports trio, Dinda, Tiwary, Bose hope to recreate on-field magic in politics

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Hitting sixes, bowling unbeatable bouncers or scoring hattricks have been their forte, but now Bengal’s iconic sportsmen – Manoj Tiwary, Ashok Dinda and Bidesh Bose- hope to replicate their magic in the game of politics.

    Having won their debut electoral battles, the trio are all excited about “making a difference” in their new innings.

    Mohun Bagan’s legendary leftwinger Bidesh Bose and former India batsman Manoj Tiwary won in Uluberia East and Shibpur respectively for the ruling Trinamool Congress that swept the West Bengal Assembly elections winning 213 of the 292 seats.

    Former tearaway Bengal pacer Dinda, who played under Tiwary for several years, on the other hand won it for BJP which garnered 77 seats in the West Bengal Assembly Polls.

    There was a fourth former sportsperson, BJP’s Kalyan Chaubey, who too was in the poll fray.

    However, the former India goalkeeper lost to TMC heavywieght Sadhan Pande, three years after he had lost the Lok Sabha election fight to Mahua Mitra in his political debut at Krishnanagar.

    Dinda, who contested from Moyna in Tamluk of East Medinipur district defeated TMC’s two-time sitting MLA Sangram Kumar Dolai by a thin margin of 1260 votes.

    “You can call it like getting five wickets in a debut match,” Dinda, who is Bengals second most successful bowler after Utpal Chatterjee, with 420 first-class wickets in just 116 fixtures, told PTI.

    Pitted against the TMC heavyweight Dolai, who had won the previous 2016 Assembly Polls by more than 12,000 votes, his “debut match” was not an easy task.

    “Like in sports, it was ‘sheer hardwork’ that clinched it for me,” the 37-year-old, who retired from all forms of cricket earlier this year, said.

    “Everyday I would go to one village after another and talk to people, understand their problems and give them my promise to make a difference for them,” he said.

    “They would say they had hardly seen the ruling MLA visit them for even five minutes in his five-year tenure.”

    “So what if my party has not won. The work will not stop. Maybe I won’t be in power but I can take the people’s voice to the Assembly and work for them,” Dinda said.

    Lack of a proper medical facility in Moyna is Dinda’s main concern.

    “The two government hospitals here are in a bad shape, often people die on way to Kolkata. My priority is to create a state-of-art medical facility here.”

    A former India player and one of the finest batsmen to have emerged from Bengal in the post-Sourav Ganguly era, Tiwary is committed to work 24×7 for people of Shibpur.

    “Politics is not an easy place for a newcomer from a different sphere. I had campaigned door-to-door in Shibpur locality. They were convinced by my honest intentions. I want to be a politician who will be available for his people 24×7,” Tiwary, 35, said.

    “As of now, tackling the COVID-19 crisis will be our first priority. Then we will go step-by-step.”

    “So is it curtains for his cricketing career? “Not yet. I will maintain my fitness. There is going to be no Ranji matches for a year. I will wait and see how it goes. But I don’t rule out playing a few more games for Bengal.”

    For the star footballer of the 1970s, Bidesh Bose, it is about listening to his “head coach” Mamata Banerjee’s instructions in scoring a winning goal as he defeated BJP’s Pratyush Mondal and Abbasuddin Khan of Indian Secular Front.

    In Uluberia Purba where Muslims comprise nearly 34 per cent of the electorate and where BJP had launched a high pitched campaign, Bose faced a stiff challenge from both Khan and Mondal but the rookie politician stayed grounded.

    “When Didi first had offered me this seat in March, I didn’t know how to go about it, how do I live up to her reputation.”

    “Then when I personally went there, met the people and heard their problems, I realised that this is altogether a different pitch. It’s a completely different Maidan. But it was just like another game,” Bose said.

    “I’m not a man of politics so I will play the game as my coach and assistant coach instruct. We have got good roads but what’s missing is good sanitation and drinking water. There’s a bit of conflict with this being a Panchayat area. This will be my main priority at this moment,” he concluded.