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Tag: BJP

  • BJP will play role of constructive Opposition in Bengal: Newly-elected MLA Ashok Lahiri

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The BJP will play the role of a constructive opposition in West Bengal, said former Finance Commission member Ashok Lahiri, a newly-elected MLA of the party.

    Lahiri, a former chief economic advisor to the Centre, was among the well-known professionals fielded by the BJP.

    While the others in that list, including columnist Swapan Dasgupta, former deputy Army chief Subrata Saha and strategic analyst Anirban Ganguly, lost their maiden electoral foray, Lahiri who was tipped to be Bengal’s finance minister in case the BJP formed a government in the state bested TMC’s Shekhar Dasgupta by nearly 14,000 votes from Balurghat.

    “I have won my battle, but we have lost the larger ‘war’. This means we will be sitting in the opposition benches, but I can assure you that we will work as a constructive opposition,” Lahiri told PTI.

    The economist, who has worked with governments led by both Atal Behari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh, said, “Sitting in the opposition, one is obviously constrained by many factors.”

    However, he hoped that the voice of the opposition will be heard, especially when they make constructive suggestions for the betterment of the state.

    Lahiri, an alumnus of Presidency College and Delhi School of Economics, had earlier said that he joined politics to “come back and work” for his home state and promised to focus on Bengal’s education, health and infrastructure.

    The economist said, “We targeted 200 seats, but our party’s performance is still creditable — we have taken a huge leap, increased our tally from just three.”

    The BJP won 77 seats in the just-concluded elections, against the TMC’s 213.

    “I, personally, will work for my state and for Balurghat,” he said.

    “We will look at the micro-picture here and work to help out people in their lives,” he added.

    Lahiri was first fielded from Alipurduar but protests against his nomination forced the BJP to relocate him to Balurghat, with which his family has historic ties.

    Violent protests were staged by party workers in Alipurduar, which many in the state BJP believed was due to the central leadership’s strategy of parachuting leaders from Delhi to safer seats.

    Lahiri, who was the chairman of Bandhan Bank and executive director of ADB, besides stints with the World Bank and IMF, had a smooth run in connecting with BJP workers in Balurghat.

    Managing to cash in on his image of a soft-spoken, learned bhadralok, Lahiri won comfortably from this strategic border town after leading in almost all rounds.

  • BJP’s ‘arrogance’ among reasons for its defeat in West Bengal polls: Shiv Sena

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena on Tuesday claimed the BJP’s ”arrogance” was among the reasons for its defeat in the West Bengal Assembly polls.

    An editorial in the Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ also said the BJP’s “intolerance” was responsible for it being out of power in Maharashtra.

    The comments came days after Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil reportedly asked state NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal to weigh his words while speaking about the saffron party.

    Bhujbal had made certain remarks about the BJP in the context of the recent West Bengal polls, where the saffron party was defeated by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC).

    “When did Maharashtra become so intolerant?” the editorial asked.

    After the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls, long-terms allies Shiv Sena and BJP parted ways over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.

    The Shiv Sena later tied-up with the NCP and Congress to form the state government.

    On Sunday, the TMC romped home in West Bengal, pocketing 213 of the 292 Assembly seats that went to polls, while the BJP got 77 seats.

    The editorial said Bhujbal had praised Banerjee for her resounding victory, and asked what is wrong in that.

    “The BJP’s arrogance was among the reasons for its defeat in the West Bengal Assembly polls,” the Marathi daily said.

    Due to the defeat in West Bengal, the BJP is not ready to enjoy its win in the Pandharpur Assembly bypoll in Maharashtra, the Sena said.

    In a setback to the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra, BJP candidate Samadhan Autade on Sunday won the by-election to Pandharpur-Mangalvedha Assembly seat in Solapur by defeating his nearest NCP rival by a margin of over 3,700 votes.

    “The MVA lost the Pandharpur bypoll and everyone congratulated the BJP and the winning candidate. But, no MVA leader threatened those who congratulated the winner,” the editorial said.

  • Rift within Madhya Pradesh unit of  BJP over COVID crisis

    By Express News Service
    BHOPAL: Resentment is growing within the ranks of the ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh over the government’s handling of the Covid-19 situation in the state.  

    Two BJP lawmakers, a former minister, and two young leaders of the party have publicly expressed their disappointment over the handling of the Covid-19 situation in the state in recent days.

    Narayan Tripathi, the BJP MLA from the Maihar seat of the Satna district recently wrote a letter to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, stating that the ‘tamasha’ of virtual meetings won’t address the grave situation, but a month-long total lock-down is urgently needed in the state.  He also urged the government to conduct door-to-door testing and expand the vaccination programme.

    Just a few days prior to it, another MLA of the ruling party, ex-minister and Bhojpur legislator Surendra Patwa wrote to health minister Dr Prabhuram Chowdhary complaining about the state of hospitals in the state. Both, Patwa and Chowdhary are BJP legislators from the same Raisen district.

    Another senior BJP leader and ex-minister Anup Mishra (nephew of Atal Bihari Vajpayee) too had recently attacked the government over the rampant black marketing of oxygen and Remdesivir.

    “Oxygen and Remdesivir injections are being black-marketed. They are available either with middlemen or influential politicians, but not with the commoners, who need them,” Mishra had tweeted recently.  

    Further, Monu Patel, the nephew of Union Minister Prahlad Patel, alleging that the entire system had collapsed and the authorities were hiding the real picture.

  • BJP claims targeted killing of workers in West Bengal, plans national dharna

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: BJP’s West Bengal chapter alleged that party supporters and workers were being attacked after the results of the Assembly polls were announced on Sunday.

    The party has announced a nationwide dharna on May 5 against the violence, and said these protests will be held following all Covid-19 protocols.

    Pointing a finger at TMC, they alleged that six persons, including five of their party supporters, were killed in 24 hours. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sought a report from the West Bengal government.

    “Not even 24 hours have passed and there is post-poll violence across the state. Five of our supporters have been killed and thousands of shops and houses vandalised,” said state BJP president Dilip Ghosh. The other victim was identified as a supporter of Indian Secular Force.

    The BJP also lodged a complaint with Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar. “Violence is being perpetrated in front of the police. Thousands of our supporters have become homeless,” alleged Ghosh.

    Dhankhar expressed concern and said that he has directed officials to submit a report.  He summoned the Director General of Police, Police Commissioner of Kolkata and the Additional Chief Secretary, Home, to talks. Mamata Banerjee urged her supporters not to indulge in violence.

  • Regional leaders in limelight after BJP’s poor poll showing

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s power packed performance in Bengal defeating the BJP, as well as the victory by DMK and LDF win in Tamil Nadu and Kerala respectively, has brought to limelight strong regional leaders, but at the national level the Opposition still lacks the power and cohesion needed to take on the BJP with majority of regional leaders, including Sharad Pawar and Banerjee, having personal ambitions.

    NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy congratulated Banerjee for taking on PM Narendra Modi.

    Banerjee during the peak of the election had reached out to the opposition to join hands to defeat the BJP in Bengal.

    However, the Congress and Left decided to contest against the Trinamool and BJP in the state.

    Hailing her as “Bengal Tigress” who single-handedly fought for the self-respect of Bengal and led her party to victory in the assembly elections, Thackeray said: “Didi was fighting a lone battle to uphold the pride of the people of Bengal. All forces converged to ensure her defeat, yet, she emerged victoriously. I congratulate her & the people of WB. Now let us all keep politics aside & focus on our battle against Covid.”

    Mamata’s spectacular win against the BJP has vaulted her to the national league.

    Pawar, who is considered as someone who could unite opposition parties under a coalition, wished her, “Congratulations Mamata Banerjee on your stupendous victory. Let us continue our work towards the welfare of people and tackling the pandemic collectively”.

    Any possible opposition coalition in future would depend upon the role played by strong regional parties and if their leaders will be able keep aside personal ambitions. With the Congress slowly leaving the space to regional parties, unifying such strong leaders would be a challenge.

  • Mamata Banerjee to be sworn in as Bengal CM on May 5; will move court over Nandigram verdict

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee will be sworn in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for a third consecutive term on May 5, senior party leader Partha Chatterjee confirmed.

    The newly-elected MLAs of the Trinamool Congress unanimously elected Banerjee as the legislative party leader at a meeting here, its secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said.

    The TMC legislators elected the speaker in the outgoing House, Biman Banerjee, as the pro-tem speaker in the new Assembly.

    “The newly-elected members will take oath in the Assembly from May 6,” Chatterjee told reporters at the party headquarters here after the meeting of the legislators.

    The BJP emerged as the main opposition party with 77 seats under its belt, while incumbent TMC has won 213 of the 292 seats where polling was held in eight phases in March and April.

    ALSO READ | West Bengal Assembly Election results: Nandigram swung like a pendulum

    The party is set to return for a third term after registering a resounding win overall but Nandigram remained a bone of contention with a neck-and-neck tussle between CM Mamata Banerjee and BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari.

    ALSO WATCH:

    Banerjee, who lost to Adhikari in the constituency by a narrow margin, has decided to move court over the verdict after the Election Commission refused its request for a recount.

    READ MORE HERE | Mamata loses Nandigram but wins election ‘khela’ of the decade in Bengal at a canter

    “How come the EC reversed the Nandigram result after formally announcing it? We will move court, she said at a press meet. 

    The TMC supremo also stated that this is the first time she didn’t receive a congratulatory call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was spearheading BJP’s campaign in the poll-bound state.

    It is for the second time in succession that Banerjee powered her party to two-thirds majority in the state assembly.

    Importantly, Trinamool Congress has refrained from celebrations amid surging coronavirus cases in the state and decided to hold a victory march once the pandemic is over.

    (With inputs from Online Desk)

  • Populism, Hindutva, ethnic outreach: BJP’s three-pronged strategy pays rich dividends in Assam

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: A three-pronged strategy by the BJP helped it sweep the Assam polls and retain power.

    The BJP managed to counter the Congress-led grand alliance of the Opposition through developmentalism coupled with populist schemes; core Hindutva with continuous focus on the threat to the land, language and culture of the indigenous populace from the illegal immigrants; and by aligning with ethnic political outfits to marginalize the discontent of mainstream Assamese.

    By indulging in competitive populism, the BJP-led government had targeted all communities, particularly tea workers, with various welfare schemes.

    The government had also come up with schemes for the weaker sex, including unmarried women and widows. Unmarried women from poor families get one-time financial assistance of Rs 40,000 during their wedding. Widows belonging to BPL category get a lump sum pension of Rs 300 per month.

    HIGHLIGHTS: How the Assam Assembly election results unfolded

    Under the Arunodoi Scheme launched last year, financial assistance of Rs 830 per month is given to around 17 lakh families where women, being the primary caretakers of the family, are the beneficiaries. In its election manifesto, the BJP had promised to increase the assistance to Rs 3,000 and the number of beneficiaries to 30 lakh. The BJP had also made admission in government institutions free from the primary level to post-graduation.

    Another measure of the party’s competitive populism was gifting scooties to girl students who excel in their Class 12 board exams. This election, the party had announced a gift of bullet bikes to boys but did not mention the eligibility criteria.

    “Without looking at the overall fundamentals of the economy, the BJP had created huge beneficiary schemes for all segments of the society. During electioneering, it also constantly talked about the threat to Assamese civilisation from illegal immigrants after the Congress had aligned with the minority-based All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF),” political scientist Akhil Ranjan Dutta of Gauhati University said.

    The AIUDF, seen by many in Assam as the protector of illegal immigrants, is a component of the 10-party and Congress-led grand alliance of the Opposition.

    ALSO READ: Himanta Biswa Sarma: Man of the Match of the Assam elections

    Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was at the forefront of the campaign against the AIUDF. He tried to scare people into believing that voting for the Congress would mean inviting AIUDF chief and MP Maulana Badruddin Ajmal to Dispur, the state’s seat of power.

    In the lead-up to the polls, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had made an appeal to the voters to defeat the Mughals, alluding to the AIUDF. So, the campaign had an impact on the Assamese people, particularly in Upper Assam where a strong sentiment of Assamese sub-nationalism works.

    The Assamese are inherently linked to “namghars” which are Vaishnavite prayer centres. Almost every village has a namghar. As part of its core Hindutva, the BJP-led government had offered Rs 2.5 lakh each to 8,000 namghars across the state for a makeover and evicted alleged illegal immigrants from the Kaziranga National Park and some “satras” that are institutional centers associated with Vaishnavism.

    The BJP could reach every ethnic community both in the hills and the plains. The Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) was a challenge but the BJP found a competent ally in the United People’s Party Liberal.

    The saffron party retained ethnic political outfits such as Rabha Joutha Mancha and Tiwa Oikko Mancha. The Gana Shakti, floated a few years ago by tribal Mishing leaders, got handicapped after the BJP had managed to bring its top two leaders to its fold.

    Six communities, such as Tai-Ahom, Moran, Motok, Chutia, Tea Tribe and Koch-Rajbangshi, have for long been demanding Scheduled Tribe status. The BJP had managed to quell the movement to some extent with its decision to create territorial councils for the Koch-Rajbongshi, Moran and Motok communities. The tea workers were kept in good humour with cash bonanza and a number of welfares schemes.

    Over the past five years, the BJP focused on infrastructure development. After capturing power, it first finished the unfinished projects of the previous Congress government. Thereafter, it started building roads, including highways, statewide. It is also building three bridges over the Brahmaputra.

    Dutta observes that parties retaining power has become a post-economic liberalization phenomenon.

    “If you look at post-economic liberalization from 2002, any government coming to power in any state is having at least two terms in power. It is due to competitive populism. It happened to the Tarun Gogoi government, Nitish Kumar government, Naveen Patnaik government, Narendra Modi government, AIADMK government,” Dutta said.

  • BJP heavyweights and turncoats unable to make dent in TMC’s bastions

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: The BJP’s plan of riding on the shoulders of Trinamool turncoats turned out to be a major dampener for the party looking to make inroads in West Bengal.

    As many as 148 turncoats, including 18 MLAs and one MP, joined the BJP in the run-up to the eight phase polls but most failed to win.

    “This is a major jolt to us. The high-command instructed to induct all TMC turncoats, who were elected in 2016 Assembly elections. The party wanted to win seats, no matter the candidate came from which party. Now it seems, it sent a wrong message to the electorate who were not happy with the decision of inducting such leaders,” said a BJP leader.

    Rajib Banerjee, a former Trinamool minister, was fielded from Domjur in Howrah from where he was elected in 2016 with a margin of more than one lakh votes. But Banerjee failed to retain his seat as a BJP candidate.

    “This is a clear indication that the people of the constituency did not accept Banerjee’s defection to the BJP,’’ said a BJP leader.

    Rabindranath Bhattacharya, BJP’s octogenarian candidate in Singur, Hooghly, was defected after he was denied ticket. He, too, failed to win from the constituency from where the BJP secured a lead of more than 10,000 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

    “Bhattacharya defected to the BJP within 48 hours of TMC’s announcement. Even two days ago he was our arch-rival… Within hours, he became the face of our party in Singur. People not only ejected our decision of inducting Bhattacharya but also his defection,’’ said another BJP leader.

    Similarly, Sabyasachi Dutta was fielded in Bidhannagar against fire services minister Sujit Bose.

    “Dutta and Bose was known for their rivalry in the TMC. The party decided to field Dutta to ensure a fierce battle against Bose. But it didn’t work,’’ said another BJP leader.

    BJP’s spokesperson, Sayantan Bose said an analysis would be done to find out the reasons behind the poor performance of the turncoats.

    “There might be factors like resentment among our supporters over the issue of candidate selection,’’ he said.

    Rajib Banerjee embarrasses saffron camp 

    Rajib Banerjee, a former Trinamool Congress minister, was fielded from Domjur in Howrah from where he was elected in 2016 with a margin of more than one lakh votes. But Banerjee failed to retain his seat as a BJP candidate.

  • West Bengal Assembly polls: BJP candidate Chandana Bauri, wife of daily wage labourer, wins Saltora

    By Online Desk
    BJP candidate Chandana Bauri scripted one of the historic wins in the West Bengal Assembly polls that will be long remembered by the people of the state.

    Chandana, the wife of a daily wage earner, won from West Bengal’s Saltora constituency. The 30-year-old Chandana Bauri defeated TMC candidate Sontosh Kumar Mondal by a margin of more than 4,000 votes.

    Following Chandana’s win, many took to Twitter and hailed her for this astounding success, despite coming from a humble background.

    According to the election affidavit filed by her, Chandana’s assets amount to just Rs 31,985, while her husband’s assets worth meager Rs 30,311. Chandana’s husband works as a mason for daily wages. Chandana, a mother of three children, along with her husband also owns three cows and three goats.

    During an interaction with ANI in March, earlier this year, she said, “Before the tickets were announced I had no idea that I would be selected as a candidate in the legislative assembly polls. Many people encouraged me to apply for a nomination online, but I did not think I would be able to achieve this feat.”

    Many hailed Chandana’s win as splendid and inspiring. Check out some of the reactions of people on Twitter.

    Congratulations on a splendid & inspiring victory Smt.Chandana Bauri ji.@BJP4Bengal https://t.co/d1LgtfSfNa
    — Sumiran Komarraju (@SumiranKV) May 2, 2021

    #Chandana Bauri Is Leading and will Declared Winner within Hours She Is Daily wager @doctorrichabjp Ji https://t.co/3auYYqYb3x
    — Shubham Thorat (@Shubham36551970) May 2, 2021

    Chandana Bouri from Saltora constituency has won by 4145 votes!Remember-her total worth is ₹31,985 with three goats, three cows and one hut. pic.twitter.com/1pTVxauY7D
    — Bengali Babu (@hatecommie) May 2, 2021

    Chandana Bouri from Saltora constituency has won by 4145 votes…. pic.twitter.com/LjbelrOBSw
    — Abhijit Basak (@Abhijit_Basak83) May 2, 2021

    Show her.. victory of this common woman.. chandana bauri Saltora seat.. a woman with no political background, Money powerThis is the reason to smile.. pic.twitter.com/1NR6bp519r
    — Sanjay Shrivastava #जय श्री राम (@casanjay_shri) May 2, 2021

  • Most turncoats in West Bengal who switched to BJP either trailing or taste defeat

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: They were rewarded by their new party with election tickets for switching allegiance. However, jumping sides backfired for most of the turncoats in West Bengal as many BJP candidates, who defected from the ruling TMC, were either trailing or tasted defeats in the assembly polls.

    However, a few defectors, who joined the BJP, got the better of their TMC rivals, including Suvendu Adhikari who emerged as a proverbial giant slayer, by defeating Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee albeit by a narrow margin.

    Among prominent TMC turncoats who lost the battle were former state minister Rajib Banerjee, ex-MLA from Singur Rabindranath Bhattacharya, actor Rudranil Ghosh and former Howrah Mayor Rathin Chakrabarty.

    Some of them joined BJP with much fanfare after being flown to the national capital on a chartered flight.

    Banerjee, who had defected to the BJP early this year, failed to make a hat-trick of win from Domjur constituency as he lost to TMCs Kalyan Ghosh by 42,620 votes.

    Bhattacharya, who quit the TMC after being denied an election ticket, was defeated by the ruling party’s candidate from Singur, Becharam Manna by nearly 26,000 votes.

    The BJP nominee was seeking re-election from the seat.

    Singur in Hooghly district has been on India’s political map after a farmers’ stir forced the exit of Tata’s small car project and is also a constituency which along with Nandigram shook the foundations of the mighty 34-year-old Left Front regime and propelled TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee to power in 2011.

    Ghosh, who had joined the saffron camp recently, tasted a crushing defeat to TMC’s heavyweight and minister Shobhandeb Chattopadhyay from Bhabanipur, the seat vacated by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

    Chattopadhyay won from the constituency by over 28,000 votes.

    Chakrabarty, who was mayor of the TMC-run Howrah Municipal Corporation and crossed over to the BJP before the polls, lost to former India cricketer and political debutant Manoj Tiwary from Shibpur by over 32,000 votes.

    Another top defectors to the saffron camp were former TMC legislator from Bally Baishali Dalmiya and ex-Asansol Mayor Jitendra Tewari.

    Tewari, a two-time former TMC MLA from Pandabeswar, who had also crossed over to the BJP before the polls, was trailing the ruling party nominee from the seat, Narendranath Chakraborty.

    Dalmiya, who was expelled from TMC for allegedly speaking out against the party’s leadership and had later joined the BJP, was also trailing behind Rana Chatterjee, a ruling party nominee from Bally.

    Prabir Kumar Ghosal, an ex-TMC MLA, who was seeking re-election from Uttarpara on a BJP ticket this time, also lost to Kanchan Mallick of the ruling party by over 35,000 votes.

    Another former TMC MLA Silbhadra Datta, who fought the elections as a saffron party aspirant, also tasted defeat from Khardah.

    Former TMC legislator Dipak Halder, who was nominated by the saffron party from Diamond Harbour, was trailing Pannalal Halder of the ruling party.

    While Sabyasachi Dutta, who had joined the BJP in October 2019, lost to Sujit Bose from the Bidhanagar seat by 7,997 votes.

    However, BJP’s vice president Mukul Roy who had switched side from Bengal’s ruling party in 2017, emerged victorious from Krishnanagar Uttar, defeating actress-turned- TMC nominee Koushani Mukherjee by a margin of 35,000 votes.

    Mihir Goswami, who had joined BJP a few months back, won the Natabari seat by defeating Rabindranath Ghosh of TMC.