News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • Smriti Irani attacks Congress over Hooda riding tractor pulled by women, BJP seeks his apology

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The BJP on Thursday attacked the Congress over its leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda riding a tractor being pulled its women legislators to protest the rise in fuel prices and asked if women in a political organisation be treated as “bonded labourers”.

    Union minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani said it was “absolutely shocking” to see the former Haryana chief minister sitting calmly on a tractor while having woman members of his party pull it physically.

    In a separate statement, BJP Mahila Morcha (women wing) chief Vanathi Srinivasan said they are organising a nationwide agitation against the “mistreatment” of women by Congress leaders and sought Hooda’s unconditional apology for his alleged misconduct.

    Irani said here, “I understand he wants to protest. I understand he wants to make a political statement but should that be done at the cost of women? This is irrespective of our politics.

    “Can women in political organisations, especially the scene we saw in this protest by the Congress, be treated as bonded labourers. It is shocking no male member of the Congress even intervened to stop that.”

    Hooda had earlier defended this, saying it was women who were feeling the pinch of the rising prices of cooking gas and other essentials.

    Taking a swipe at Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Irani, who is the women and child development minister, said her silence also speaks volumes about how the women in her party are reduced to tasks that even men refuse to do.

    Noting that Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar expressed his anguish at the protest on the floor of the Assembly, Irani said it was ironical that on the one hand Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for celebrating female potential and enterprise on International Women’s Day and on the other, Hooda reduced their stature and compelled them to pull a tractor atop which he sat for a “political stunt”.

    He did this for a “family enterprise” called the Congress, she said, noting that the incident had happened on International Women’s Day on March 8.

    Echoing Khattar’s view, she asked couldn’t Hooda have extended the courtesy of allowing the women to ride the tractor, that too on International Women’s Day.

    Asked if she had any demand, Irani quipped, “Should not they (Congress) have been conscientious enough to act on their own.”

    Describing Hooda’s conduct as “shocking and deeply distressing”, Srinivasan said “such cruel, irresponsible behaviour does not befit someone who has held positions of great influence and power for considerable amount of time.”

    She said Modi has introduced and implemented several programmes in Haryana state in which woman empowerment has been given top priority.

    Khattar has also done commendable work towards woman empowerment but, sadly, Hooda’s behaviour negates the positive impact.

    The Haryana chief minister had turned emotional while criticising the protest, saying he could not sleep all night due to the visuals.

    “This treatment to women MLAs was worse than bonded labour,” he had said in the state Assembly on Tuesday.

    Htting back, Hooda had said it was women who were feeling the pinch of the rising prices of cooking gas and other essentials.

    However, Khattar said if he had to protest, he should have pulled the tractor.

    On this, Hooda said, “The government has turned a blind eye to the pain of women who are sitting with farmers protesting on borders against farm laws. Power connections were cut at the protest site, you cannot see their pain.”

  • Eyeing another five-year term, BJP launches poll campaign in Assam

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: The ruling BJP in Assam launched its campaign here on Wednesday for the coming Assembly election amidst promises by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal that the party will take all steps for all round development of the state.

    Sonowal speaking on the occasion said during the campaign BJP will take the message of his government’s acheivements and success in giving protection to the culture and heritage of the people to live with dignity and the economic relief provided to 18 lakh people of the state under Orunodoi scheme.

    BJP state president Ranjit Dass, state cabinet members, BJP MPs and MLAs were among those present in the poll campaign launch rally besides the chief minister.

    “We are honour bound to ensure that all people in the state live with dignity. We were successful in ensuring that during the last five years of our administration. We gave social protection to all and gave equal opportunity for their development,” he said.

    BJP party, Sonowal said, will take all measures for the socio-economic-cultural development of all communities, thereby ensuring the state’s progress and development.

    The chief minister said that during his tenure the government was also successful in fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s motto of ‘Sabka saath, sabka bikas, sabka vishwas’ (Together, for everyones growth, with everyones trust).

    The Orunodoi scheme of the Assam government provides financial help of Rs 830 per month to beneficiaries through direct bank transfer to buy fundamental items like medicine, pulses and sugar.

    Elections to the 126-member Assembly will be held in three phases from March 27.

    Election to 47 constituencies will be on March 27, to 39 seats in the second phase on April 1 and to 40 seats in the third phase on April 6.

  • Modi calls for regular attendance of BJP MPs in Parliament: Sources

    Addressing the BJP #39;s parliamentary party meeting after almost a year, Modi sternly said it is inappropriate that party MPs are to be reminded again and again about attendance in House.

  • ‘Fighting unitedly under Sonia Gandhi’s leadership’: Anand Sharma on ‘groupism’ in Congress

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Rejecting the allegation of groupism in Congress Party, senior party leader Anand Sharma on Wednesday said there were no two groups within the party as all were fighting unitedly under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other opponents in the upcoming Assembly polls.

    Addressing a press conference here, Sharma, a prominent member of the group of 23 leaders who had written to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in August last year urging for an organisational overhaul said: “It is one Indian National Congress and the president of the party is Sonia Gandhi and right now the only objective before the Congress Party is to fight these elections together to defeat the BJP, to defeat other opponents.”

    “There should be no wrong impression about groupism in the party,” he added.

    The deputy leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha, Sharma said the Congress has historically stood for internal discussions, where issues are debated within the organisation.

    “In the long history of the INC from the days of the freedom struggle, when Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru Vallabhbhai Patel, Subhas Chandra Bose were there, the tradition has continued,” he said.

    The senior Congress leader was reacting to allegations of groupism by PC Chacko who announced his resignation from the party on Wednesday who also said the party’s high command was a mute witness to groupism.

    Reacting further on the Kerala leader’s resignation, Sharma told ANI, “Those who have to leave will leave, it happens in political parties. But the Congress party will show how it can unitedly fight in this elections. That will be the endeavour of the Congress.”

    Chacko on Wednesday announced his resignation from the party and said: “I have quit Congress and sent my resignation to party’s interim chief Sonia Gandhi. I had been deliberating upon this decision for the past many days. I come from Kerala where there’s no Congress party as such. There are two parties – Congress (I) and Congress (A). It’s a coordination committee of two parties functioning as KPCC,” Chacko said.

  • BJP , Shiv Sena duel in Lok Sabha over Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train, metro projects

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  Lok Sabha proceedings on Wednesday saw verbal duels between BJP and Shiv Sena, who accused each other of non-cooperation over important infrastructure initiatives like the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train and Mumbai Metro project in Maharashtra. 

    While Railway Minister Piyush Goyal charged the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government of stalling the bullet train project, the Shiv Sena accused the Centre of not cooperating with the state dispensation over the Metro car shed project.

    Goyal said it was because of the “ego” of the state government that the car shed issue remains unsolved.

    After the formation of the MVA government, the Shiv Sena changed the Metro car shed site from Aarey to Kanjur.

    The Kanjur land belongs to the Centre.

    Arguments began during Question Hour when Shiv Sena MP Prataprao Jadhav asked whether there are any plans to run a bullet train between Mumbai and Nagpur. Goyal said: “Decisions were taken swiftly and work also started on it rapidly. World’s best technology was brought to India. But I am pained that since the new government was formed in Maharashtra, there is a sort of full-stop to the work,” Goyal said.

    Goyal also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly desires that the country has an advanced technology, railways run faster and people get world class facilities.

    For the same purpose, work on a high-speed railway line between Mumbai and Ahmedabad was being undertaken.

    The minister said the land acquisition started at a fast pace and 95 per cent land of land under the jurisdiction of Gujarat has been acquired.

    Land from Dadra Nagar Haveli too has been acquired.

    He said there is still hardly any progress on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train after the new government came to power in 2019.

    He said only 24 per cent of land required for the work under the jurisdiction of Maharashtra has been acquired.

    “The work on high-speed railway is not progressing in Maharashtra. The work in Gujarat is moving at fast pace but it has stopped in Maharashtra,” he said.

    Replying to a question on the same issue by Manoj Kotak, BJP MP from Northeast Mumbai, Goyal said even the land from where the bullet train is to start from Mumbai has not been handed over to Centre.

    “The member (Jadhav) desires that a high-speed railway should run between Mumbai to Nagpur. Who desires it more than myself. I hail from Mumbai, was born and brought up there. Prime Minister’s dream is to have a high-speed railway but for that my pain is the Maharashtra government has hindered the progress of the project.”

    “In such a case how can there be a railway between Mumbai and Nagpur. It’s beyond my understanding,” Goyal said.

    Shiv Sena MP Jadhav said the reason why people of Maharashtra oppose the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train is they feel this is a ploy to shift big businesses to Gujarat.

    To this, Arvind Sawant, another Shiv Sena member and a former Cabinet minister till he resigned after his party parted ways with the BJP to join hands with Congress and NCP to form the MVA government, accused Goyal of lying.

    “We always speak truth. The job to lie is of leaders for the post of chief minister,” Goyal said alluding to Thackeray.

    “I don’t know what the leaders desire. They don’t cooperate with us even for developmental work,” he said.

    Goyal asked Jadhav to put pressure on the Maharashtra government for cooperation from its end.

    Hitting back, Jadhav said the reason why people of Maharashtra oppose the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train is because they feel “this is a ploy” to shift all big businesses to Gujarat.

    “Even before this all corporate offices, government offices have moved out of Mumbai. This is a ploy of the Centre to reduce the importance of Mumbai,” he said.

    Rubbishing the charge, Goyal said when the BJP-led government was in Maharashtra from 2014-19, there was no flight of businesses from Maharashtra to any other state.

    “Yes, but looking at the condition prevailing today, the work it has done and also the way it has failed in COVID management and running the government with taints of corruption. In such a scenario if people (business) leave Mumbai, then who is responsible,” he said.

    “The line which has already been decided, for which Maharashtra has already given its approval, if there is no cooperation even on that then what attitude it will adopt for future lines,” Goyal said.

    To this, Sawant, who represents Mumbai South constituency, accused the minister of “speaking half-truth”.

    Sawant said the state government has to receive Rs 1 lakh crore from the Centre.

    “You will not give that (Kanjur) land. You have kept mum on the land for Metro car shed.

    He said the Centre was not cooperating with the state government by giving its land for the Metro car shed project,” he said.

    “It (that the Centre has to give Rs 1 lakh crore to Maharashtra) is baseless. I will give the details of how much money Maharashtra government has to pay the Centre. Just because there is no cooperation many of the projects have been hit,” Goyal said.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Mamata has severe injuries to her ankle, right shoulder, neck, confirms doctor

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Preliminary medical tests conducted on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee late on Wednesday night detected severe bone injuries in her left ankle and foot, and injuries in right shoulder, forearm and neck, a senior doctor of the state-run SSKM hospital said.

    Doctors at the hospital decided to closely monitor Banerjee, who has been complaining of chest pain and breathlessness since the alleged attack at Nandigram in Purba Medinipore district earlier in the evening, for the next 48 hours, he said.

    The Trinamool Congress chief has slight fever and has been shifted to aspecial ward at the hospital’s VVIP Woodburn Block soon after the MRI at the Bangur Institute of Neurosciences, he added.

    “We will keep her under observation for the next 48 hours. There will be more tests needed to be done, and after evaluating her condition we will decide on our next course of treatment,” a doctor, part of the team treating Banerjee, told PTI.

    Doctors conducted x-ray on the chief minister as soon as she was taken there from Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district on Wednesday night.

    She is undergoing treatment at the 12.5 special cabin of Woodburn Block of the SSKM hospital.

    The state government has constituted a team of five senior doctors to treat Banerjee.

    The team consists of one cardiologist, an endocrinologist, a general surgery doctor, an orthopedist and a medicine doctor.

    ALSO READ | ‘Attack’ on Mamata: Theatrics for public sympathy, says Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

    Banerjee sustained injuries on her left leg and waist as she fell on the ground after she was allegedly pushed by unknown miscreants while campaigning for assembly elections in Nandigram.

    Earlier, Banerjee had filed her nomination to contest the ensuing assembly elections from Nandigram seat.

    Meanwhile, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar visited Mamata and sought a report from the administration on the incident.

    Dhankhar spoke to Banerjee over the phone shortly after the incident and later visited her at the state-run SSKM Hospital in Kolkata, where she was admitted.

    A highly-placed source told PTI that the governor was in the chief minister’s cabin for around half an hour and she briefed Dhankhar about the incident.

    Senior Trinamool Congress leaders Abhishek Banerjee, Firhad Hakim and Derek O’Brien were outside the cabin during the one-on-one discussion, the source said.

    “Sought an update from Director, Security and Chief Secretary in matter. Health Secretary and Director of Hospital urged to take all caution,” Dhankhar tweeted.

    Banerjee has alleged that no local police personnel were near her when four-five men deliberately pushed her causing the injury.

    ALSO READ | Delhi CM Kejriwal condemns ‘attack’ on Mamata, says those responsible must be arrested

    In the tweet, the governor said that he had spoken to her at 6.40 pm soon after the incident was reported, while she was still at Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district.

    Dhankhar, who has been at loggerheads with the West Bengal government over several issues, was greeted with “go back” slogans by Trinamool Congress supporters when he entered the hospital.

    He faced a similar situation when he left the hospital after more than half an hour, by which time the number of TMC supporters had multiplied at the premises.

    Banerjee submitted her nomination papers for Nandigram earlier in the day.

  • With less than a year ahead of state polls, new Uttarakhand CM Tirath Rawat faces multiple challenges

    Express News Service
    DEHRADUN:  With the BJP springing a surprise by asking Lok Sabha member Tirath Singh Rawat to take over the new Uttarakhand chief minister, he has the onerous task of cleaning up the mess created by his predecessor Trivendra Singh Rawat, despite having little legroom and the Assembly elections less that a year away.

    On the flip side, Tirath knows Uttarakhand’s politics inside-out as he did a stint as the state unit chief of the party and is credited with its 2014 Lok Sabha performance.

    Known as a simple and down-to-earth leader, Rawat takes over the reins of power in Uttarakhand at a time when the ruling BJP is preparing for the state Assembly polls due early next year.

    His principal challenge will be to ensure the party another term in office.

    He also has a clean image and is considered close to the top leadership of the party, including Union home minister Amit Shah. 

    However, since the last budget of the state government has already been passed, there is not much in terms of policy he can do to redeem the situation before Assembly polls in 2022, political experts said.

    ALSO READ | Who is Tirath Singh Rawat? All you need to know about the new Uttarakhand CM

    What’s doable though is to pacify the dissenters, reverse some of Trivendra’s unpopular decisions such as the Char Dham Shrine Board and the formation of the Gairsain commissionary, tighten the bureaucracy and run a fair and efficient government.

    “I am a small party worker from a village. I had never imagined that I will be a given an opportunity like this by the party. I hope that with everyone’s cooperation and blessings, I will fulfil the expectations from me,” he said.

    Since Tirath alone was administered the oath of office on Wednesday, the first challenge is to pick a balanced council of ministers.

    There was discontent within the party over giving major berths to Congress defectors in the outgoing ministry.

    At least 10 new faces are expected to be inducted into the new ministry.

    “He has to act on four fronts cabinet composition, budget and finances, Covid vaccination drive, and deal with the unpopular decisions of his predecessor in less than an year,” said Rahul Shekhawat, a Dehradun-based analyst.

    Ironically, Tirath was denied a ticket in the 2017 state elections, said party insiders.

    Two years later, he contested the Lok Sabha polls from Pauri Garhwal and trounced Manish Khanduri of the Congress by over 3 lakh votes.

    Born in Siron village of Pauri district, he was a full-time worker of the RSS from 1983-88 and then rose to become the state vice-president of BJP’s Yuva Morcha of the erstwhile Uttar Pradesh.

    ALSO READ | With Trivendra Rawat ouster, BJP sends a clear message to its Chief Ministers

    Though Rawat has held important organisational positions both in the state and at the Centre, he is a first-time MP.

    Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, whose report to the central leadership of the party set in motion the process of leadership change in the hill state, said, “With the kind of challenges facing Uttarakhand, it has got a good leader.”

    Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank”, who was also being considered a contender for the post, said Rawat was a good choice.

    “Tirath Singh Rawat is indeed a good choice. Now the BJP is sure to win the 2022 Assembly polls in Uttarakhand,” he told reporters after coming out of the state party office.

    Rawat was the state’s first education minister, a part of the interim government when Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh.

    He went on to become the state BJP president from 2013 to 2015 and is now a national secretary.

    In the 2017 assembly polls, the BJP nomination for Chaubattakhal went to heavyweight Satpal Maharaj, overlooking Rawat’s claim to the seat he had won in 2012.

    But the party made up to him.

    Rawat was soon made a national secretary and given the ticket to contest from Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha constituency in the 2019 general elections.

    In that poll battle, he was pitted against BJP veteran and former chief minister Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri’s son Manish Khanduri, who was the Congress nominee.

    The senior Khanduri appeared to maintain distance as both his son and Rawat, who was considered his own protégé, tried to dig into his support base.

    ALSO READ | History of changing Uttarakhand CMs repeats itself, experts call BJP’s new move a gamble 

    Rawat, who had described himself as the true heir to Khanduri’s political legacy, won by 3,02,669 votes, one of the biggest margins in the state.

    Tirath Singh Rawat’s wife Rashmi, a professor of psychology, vouches for his “simplicity”.

    “He is simple and unassuming despite having occupied several organisational positions, and a long political experience. These are his virtues,” she told reporters after Rawat was elected leader of the state legislature party.

    “He is a serious man and does not speak much,” she said.

    Anti-incumbency

    Electoral activity will start in November-December, which leaves Tirath little time to shake off anti-incumbency. No party in Uttarakhand has got a consecutive mandate to rule so far.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Mamata undergoes X-ray, MRI; doctors say closely monitoring condition

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee underwent X-ray imaging on Wednesday night at the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata where she was taken to following the alleged attack in Nandigram during an election campaign, doctors said.

    A portable X-ray machine was used for the imaging after she was taken to the special cabin number 12.5 at the Woodburn Ward of the state-run hospital, they said.

    The chief minister was then taken to the Bangur Institute of Neurosciences in the same complex for an MRI, a senior doctor said.

    “X-ray has been conducted on the chief minister’s left leg. We also wanted to conduct an MRI. After calculating the degree of her injury, the next step of treatment will be decided,” the doctor, who is part of the team treating Banerjee, told PTI.

    ALSO READ: With Mamata in hospital, TMC supporters protest across Bengal

    The chief minister might be taken back to the special ward after the MRI is over, he said.

    “We need to monitor her condition closely before deciding on discharging her,” the doctor said.

    The state government constituted a team of five senior doctors to treat Banerjee who was allegedly attacked in Nandigram in the Purba Medinipur district during a poll campaign in the evening.

    ALSO READ: Delhi CM Kejriwal condemns ‘attack’ on Mamata, says those responsible must be arrested

    A cardiologist, an endocrinologist, a general surgery doctor, an orthopedist and a medicine doctor are part of the team.

    Banerjee alleged that she was pushed by four-five men, following which she fell flat on her face.

    She said that her left leg got swollen because of the injury and she was feeling feverish, besides having chest pain.

    The chief minister also has severe pain in the waist, her party TMC said.

  • Will go to Kolkata, urge farmers to defeat BJP in polls, says Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait

    By PTI
    BALLIA: Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Wednesday said he will go to Kolkata this week to urge farmers to defeat the BJP in the West Bengal Assembly elections, but claimed he is not supporting any political party.

    Farmers are distressed, and election will be discussed with them, Tikait said, adding that he is not going to West Bengal to seek votes.

    “I will go to Kolkata on March 13. The clarion call for a decisive struggle will come from Kolkata. We will talk to farmers there and urge them to defeat the BJP,” the BKU leader said.

    He was in Ballia to address a ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’.

    Replying to a query if he would meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Tikait said there was no such programme.

    The farmer leader said a call has already been made to defeat the BJP in the five Assembly elections scheduled to begin from March 27, but asserted that he would not support any political party.

    Besides West Bengal, Assembly elections are going to be held in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

    Counting of votes will take place on May 2.

    ALSO READ: Farmers ready to continue protest on Delhi borders till Modi government lasts, says Narendra Tikait

    Tikait said the farmers’ movement would continue and that he is ready to negotiate with the central government.

    “If the Indian government talks, we will talk,” he added.

    Replying to a question, the farmer leader said he had no intention to contest elections.

    Addressing another farmers’ gathering in Rasda, Tikait said a long fight will be fought and success will be achieved.

    Earlier, at a ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’ in Sikandarpur, about 32 km from the district headquarters earlier, the farmer leader launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government.

    Without taking any names, he said “robbers” have to be driven out of Delhi.

    In an apparent reference to the prime minister, he said, “He will prove to be the last emperor.”

    Taking potshots at the ruling BJP, Tikait said he too belonged to Ayodhya and he is also a descendant of Lord Rama.

    He stressed that there is no need to divide the farmers’ movement on regional lines.

    Stating that political parties too have now started organising Kisan Panchayats, Tikait said 2021 would be the year of the movement.

    The echo of the farmers’ movement in India is being heard across the world, he added.

    Giving a call to intensify the farmers’ struggle, which he said is a symbol of their self-respect, Tikait warned that if the farmers are defeated, labourers and youth will also be defeated.

    Stressing that the fight has to be organised with full force, he asked the farmers to mend their tractor and trolleys and be prepared.

    He said the call to leave for Delhi could be given any day.

    He also called for giving a boost to the movement in neighbouring Bihar.

  • Bengal minister Bachchu Hansda, MLA Gouri Sankar Dutta join BJP after being denied poll ticket by TMC

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal minister Bachchu Hansda and Tehatta MLA Gouri Sankar Dutta joined the BJP on Wednesday after being denied nominations for the assembly polls by the Trinamool Congress.

    Hansda, the Minister of State for North Bengal Development, joined the BJP in presence of its state president Dilip Ghosh.

    He is a two-time MLA from the Tapan seat in the Dakshin Dinajpur district.

    Dutta, the MLA from Tehatta in Nadia, is a veteran politician.

    He also switched over to the BJP as defections continued to rock the ruling Trinamool Congress weeks ahead of the high-stakes election.

    Besides, Bengali actor Bonny Sengupta also joined the BJP.

    His close friend and actor Koushani Mukherjee recently joined the TMC and is a candidate from the Krishnanagar Uttar seat.

    TMC MP Pratima Mandal’s younger sister Jayanti also joined the BJP.

    Councillors of various municipalities and district- level leaders of TMC also switched sides with Dilip Ghosh handing them the party flag.

    Earlier this week, five TMC legislators, including four-time Satgachia MLA Sonali Guha and 89-year-old Singur MLA Rabindranath Bhattacharya, had switched over to the BJP after they were dropped by the ruling party from its candidate list.

    A total of 26 TMC MLAs and two MPs have switched over to the BJP since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

    However, except for the former state ministers Suvendu Adhikari and Rajib Banerjee, and Rajya Sabha MP Dinesh Trivedi none of them gave up their memberships of assembly or Parliament.