News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • Assam polls: BJP trashes reports of dissidence in party after 11 sitting MLAs denied tickets

    By Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: The BJP trashed reports that the denial of tickets to 11 MLAs and other aspirants triggered dissidence in the party.

    “This happens in every election. The candidates are selected keeping in mind the best interest of the party and overall picture,” BJP’s Assam unit chief Ranjit Kumar Dass told journalists on Sunday at a joint press conference with Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL). The three parties are in an alliance.

    The supporters of the 11 BJP MLAs, including a Minister, and the aspirants have already vented their ire in public. Some missing the bus are mulling contesting the polls on the tickets of other parties or as independent candidates.

    Dass claimed that people believe in the BJP and the AGP as the state government succeeded in all spheres in the past five years. The BJP heads the state’s coalition government which also has AGP and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) as constituents.

    The BJP’s ties with the BPF have since soured and the saffron party has found a new ally in UPPL. The BPF too has joined hands with a Congress-led and seven-party grand alliance of Opposition. BPF and UPPL hold sway in four districts under the Bodoland Territorial Region that has 12 seats.

    Dass was confident the BJP-AGP-UPPL and the Rabha Joutha Mancha, a tribe-based organisation, would be able to grab 100 of the state’s 126 seats, a goal the alliance has set. In the 2016 elections, the BJP-AGP-BPF combine had won 86 seats (BJP-60, AGP-14 and BPF-12).

    AGP president Atul Bora said the coalition would contest the polls as a team where one would support the candidate of the other. Except in five seats where BJP and AGP will have friendly contest, they are fielding consensus candidates in the remaining seats.

    “Our workers will work for BJP and UPPL where AGP is not contesting and vice versa. We want to defeat this unholy alliance of Congress and AIUDF (All India United Democratic Front),” Bora said.

  • ‘Modi has time to address rally in Bengal, but can’t meet protesting farmers’: Pawar lashes out at PM

    Express News Service
    RANCHI: Making a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar said that the former has time to visit foreign Countries and address rallies in West Bengal, but has no time to visit farmers at the Delhi borders who have been protesting for the last 100 days. 

    Addressing the State level workers conference in Ranchi on Sunday, Pawar also alleged that the BJP is spreading “communal poison” in the country.

    “The farmers have been protesting on Delhi borders for the last 100 days, but the Prime Minister, who has time to visit foreign Countries, address rally in West Bengal, has no time for the farmers who have been protesting merely 20 kilometers from his official residence,” said Pawar.

    Later, talking to the media persons, the NCP Chief also hinted on supporting Mamata Banerjee in the upcomming Bengal polls.

    “Though, we used to contest on some of the seats in West Bengal, but the way BJP is targeting Mamta Banerjee, we are mulling on supporting her in the upcomming Assembly elections. Party workers have opined that the centre is misusing its power to defeat Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and hence it is high time that she may be lent support,” said Pawar. 

    They are mulling not to field their candidates in Bengal and support her in the upcomming elections, he added.

    Pawar further added that ‘communal poison’ is being spread in most of the states and prices of which are being paid by the poor and people of minority communities.

    Taking a dig at BJP, Pawar said that the centre is taking help from AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi to win elections.

    “The ruling party at the centre, in order to divide votes, always takes help of others and Asaduddin Owaisi is one of them,” said Pawar.

    The NCP chief alleged that the Central government is using central agencies to suppress the voices of Opposition in non-BJP ruled States.

    “The way the Prime Minister, Home Minister and other top leaders of BJP have launched a campaign against the governments of West Bengal and other non-BJP ruled states by misusing the central agencies like CBI and ED, it is a serious issue and all of us must think about it,” said Pawar.

    The NCP Chief said that his party will expand its base in Jharkhand in the coming days.

  • BJP wants to impose ‘company rule’ in country, says SP chief Akhilesh Yadav

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday equated the BJP regime with the British rule, alleging that the party wanted to impose a “company rule” in the country.

    “There is no possibility that income of farmers is going to double. The truth is that whatever income farmers had also ended. The BJP wants to force a company rule in the country the way British captured India with the East India Company,” Akhilesh said in a statement here.

    Mentioning the farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s farm laws, Akhilesh said, “When thousands of farmers are raising an issue, the government should resolve it but the BJP government has forced its laws against farmers’ will.”

    Farmers are apprehensive that they will turn labourers after the new laws are implemented, Akhilesh said.

    Due to a stubborn attitude of the BJP, social workers of various countries have also supported the farmers’ agitation in the country, he said.

    “Time magazine has devoted its cover page to women farmers, who are participating in the agitation fearlessly,” he added.

  • In show of strength, Vasundhara Raje reminds Rajasthan BJP of her mother’s role

    Express News Service
    JAIPUR: Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje began her religious visit with a massive ‘show of strength’ on Sunday amid the ongoing tussle in the Rajasthan BJP.

    Soon after arriving by helicopter at ‘Pooncchri Ka Lautha’ in Bharatpur, Vasundhara addressed the public which had come in large numbers to welcome her and reminded the gathering (and the BJP high command) about her family’s contribution to the party.

    As she started her two-day ‘Dev Darshan Yatra’, Raje said, “Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia played an important role in not letting the BJP’s ‘lotus flower’ wilt.  She was always full of nationalism and the BJP in every pore of her body. And I am the daughter of the same mother.”

    Though her words can be interpreted in many ways, most political experts see them as Raje’s message to both – her critics and the party high command – that she cannot be forgotten or side-lined in the party.

    The Yatra, which has been timed to coincide with Raje’s birthday on March 8, attracted over 2 dozen sitting BJP MLAs, a few MPs, 70 former MLAs and numerous office bearers of her faction who were all present with the former Chief Minister on Sunday.

    In addition, while addressing the gathering, Raje, also attacked the Gehlot government. She said that many schemes were launched during her tenure as CM for the development of the state but today the government has closed all of them. “We all have to work together to root out Ashok Gehlot’s Congress government. With the name of Gir-raj Maharaj, all of us will pray for the resumed development of Rajasthan,” she remarked.

    With this, Raje has clearly indicated that she has no plan of shifting to the national stage as the party high command reportedly wants her to. Instead, Raje has sent out a clear message that Rajasthan will remain her main focus – no matter what her critics in the state unit might do or say.

    For the past several months, Raje has been locked in a major fight with state BJP President Satish Poonia from the RSS lobby in the party. Given this tussle, BJP national president JP Nadda who had visited Jaipur on Tuesday had even got Raje and Poonia to join and raise hands together in order to bridge the growing rift. Nadda had stressed on the need for unity in the party ahead of the state assembly bypolls.

    Through the Dev Darshan Yatra, Raje and her supporters also want to send out a message to her critics that she is the most popular leader in the BJP. For weeks, Raje loyalists have claimed that the party has sidelined her and have been openly demanding that she should be the CM face in the 2023 Assembly elections.

    On the second day of her Yatra, loyalists plan to celebrate Raje’s birthday as a ‘Swabhiman Diwas’ or a Self-Respect Day as a means to revive Raje’s political fortunes. Besides visiting several temples, Raje and all leaders and workers of the party supporting her will celebrate her 69th birthday in a grand style in her home district of Dholpur.

  • Ex-CM Mahanta’s traditional seat given to BJP considering ‘winning possibility’: AGP

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a constituent of the ruling BJP-led coalition in Assam, on Sunday said that Barhampur, the traditional seat of former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, was allotted to the saffron party this time considering his “winning possibility” from there.

    Mahanta, an MLA since 1985, won the Barhampur constituency in Nagaon district for six consecutive terms since 1991.

    The seat has now gone to the BJP which selected Jitu Goswami to contest the Assembly polls from there.

    “There is no conspiracy in giving Barhampur to the BJP. We considered the winning prospect of a seat. We have to see whether the NDA is going to win a seat or not,” AGP president Atul Bora said at a press conference here.

    When asked if Mahanta, the founder president of the AGP, is unlikely to win Barhampur this time, Bora said that the “decision was made after a discussion”.

    The AGP chief also refused to say whether Mahanta was taken into confidence before handing over the seat to the BJP.

    Asked if Mahanta’s open opposition to the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act was a reason he did not get the seat he is holding for three decades, Bora said, “That was not a factor. His health was one issue.”

    Following the announcement of the Barhampur seat going to the BJP, Mahanta’s followers staged protests and a process has gained momentum to revive the AGP-Progressive, a defunct breakaway faction of the AGP.

    Sources said that Mahanta has been in discussion with the Congress leadership in Guwahati over joining the opposition’s Grand Alliance led by the party.

    Besides Barhampur, the Lakhimpur seat where Mahanta’s confidante Utpal Dutta is MLA, and the Kamalpur constituency which was held by AGP MLA Satyabrat Kalita, were also allotted to the BJP.

    The saffron party on March 5 released its first list of 70 candidates for the Assam assembly polls.

    The three-phased elections for the 126-member Assam assembly will be held on March 27, April 1 and April 6.

  • NDA partners appeal to workers for united fight in Assam assembly election

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: NDA constituents in Assam on Sunday appealed to workers to help each other to ensure the victory of the BJP-AGP-UPPL alliance in the wake of protests by a section of supporters after announcement of seat-sharing and ticket distribution in the poll-bound state.

    Addressing a joint press conference here, the presidents of the three parties accepted that ground level workers are “slightly dissatisfied” which is “natural” in an alliance.

    “Workers of every party want leaders to contest from their areas. They also want inclusion of more candidates from their parties. But in an alliance, we have to accept give- and-take understanding,” BJP Assam chief Ranjeet Kumar Dass said.

    The aim of the BJP-led alliance is to win over 100 seats in the election to the 126-member assembly and it will be achieved with the help of its allies — the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), he said.

    “I appeal to all BJP workers to help the AGP in their 26 seats and UPPL in their eight seats, which were allotted as per the understanding. BJP workers should consider AGP and UPPL as one party and help them,” Dass said.

    Workers of the saffron party and the AGP have protested in over 10 places across the northeastern state following the announcement of the seat-sharing arrangement among the NDA partners and publication of the first list of BJP candidates.

    Already many leaders have switched their loyalty from the BJP to the Congress and from the AGP to the saffron party while several others are planning to do so in the coming days.

    Dass said, BJP workers are dedicated and the dissatisfaction of some of them due to ticket distribution will not have any impact on the poll outcome.

    AGP president Atul Bora said, the party joined hands with the BJP to defeat the Congress-AIUDF alliance and that is why all his party workers should work for the victory of NDA candidates in Assam.

    “After Independence, the Congress was in power for the maximum number of years in Assam and it ruined the state. So, people gave us a chance in 2016. If we get one more term, then Assam will be among the top states in India,” he added.

    UPPL chief Pramod Boro said, peace has returned to Bodoland areas because of the NDA government in the state and winnability is always more important than a particular individual.

    The Congress has formed an alliance with the AIUDF, BPF, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), and the Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM) against the ruling BJP-led NDA.

    The first phase of polling in Assam is on March 27 for 47 seats, second on April 1 for 39 seats, and third on April 6 for 40 seats.

  • Giriraj saying errant officials be beaten up with sticks not okay: Nitish hits back at Union Minister

    By PTI
    PATNA/BEGUSARAI: Union minister Giriraj Singh’s declamation that officials who did not listen to the people be “beaten up with bamboo sticks” was on Sunday frowned upon by his former boss, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

    Singh made his latest controversial remark at a function in his Begusarai Lok Sabha constituency on the previous day.

    The firebrand BJP leader was visibly peeved over repeated complaints from locals that officials often paid no heed when they were approached with grievances.

    Kumar, in whose cabinet Singh had served till less than a decade ago, was asked by journalists what he thought about the utterances.

    “You should go and ask Giriraj whether the use of such language is nyaysangat (proper),” said Kumar, a stickler for propriety in public behaviour, with a broad smile barely concealing his detestation.

    The Union minister, who moved to the Centre in 2014 and was elevated from MoS to the cabinet rank five years later, had made the remark at a function organised by an agricultural institute.

    Singh, who earlier represented Nawada but won Begusarai for his party by defeating CPI’s Kanhaiya Kumar by a margin of over four lakh votes, holds animal husbandry, fisheries and dairy portfolios.

    A video footage of the function has gone viral on social media.

    Singh can be heard lamenting, “People come to me with the complaint that officials do not listen (nai sunaichhe, an idiom in local Angika dialect).”

    “If that is the case, baans lekar maaro (beat them up with bamboo sticks),” said the MP, known for shooting from the hip, as some of the audience burst into laughter.

    “If you are approaching an official with a genuine grouse, you do not even need to come to me asking for help. Stand your ground. Giriraj is there with you, always. It is you (the people) in whom the real power is vested, not MPs, MLAs, DMs, BDOs or Mukhiyas,” he had added.

  • Always felt at home in Bengal: Gambhir ahead of joining BJP campaign in poll-bound state

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: BJP leader and MP Gautam Gambhir who is likely to join party’s campaign in poll-bound West Bengal on Sunday said he always felt at home in the state.

    The former top order Indian batsman is likely to begin campaigning in West Bengal from March 22.

    He will campaign in all eight phases of the assembly polls in the state as well as in three phases of the Assam assembly polls, said an aide of the East Delhi MP.

    This will be Gambhir’s first full-fledged election campaign for the BJP outside Delhi.

    Earlier, he had campaigned for former hockey player Sandip Singh in Haryana assembly polls last year.

    His plans for a visit to Jammu and Kashmir during the district development council (DDC) polls in December 2020 did not materialise.

    Gambhir said he felt “sad and dejected” over West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s remarks that the BJP was a party of “outsiders” and it had no place in the state.

    “Not even for a brief moment was I made to feel that I was an outsider and was not born or brought up in Kolkata or anywhere else in Bengal, that I had not attended Presidency College or Jadavpur University or that I did not have egg rolls from Park Street while growing up.

    “I always felt like a part of this huge and happy family which showered me with love and blessings every time I visited the state,” the former cricketer said.

    Gambhir, under whose captaincy Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won two finals of the IPL, has a fan following among the youth of the state where polls for 294 assembly seats will begin on March 27.

    The fate of the West Bengal people and the state cannot be decided by bombs and bullets, Gambhir said expressing concern over “incessant and mindless” killings of political workers and violent clashes between parties.

    Multiple reports of bomb making factories working in overdrive have surfaced in recent times, he said.

    “Intimidation, threats and violence have been made new normal by the Left and the Trinamool Congress for decades and it has now become a part of the political culture of Bengal?,” he alleged.

    He said the ruling party is willing to go to any extent to silence any opposition in the state.

    This is not the ethos of Bengal and the voters in the state must make it clear, the BJP leader said.

    People in Bengal have to put their foot down and decide whether they want the rule of “syndicate” or a ‘sonar Bangla’, nepotism or merit, and whether they want crime and corruption or ‘poribortan’, he added.

  • Omar targets Suvendhu Adhikari over ‘Bengal will become Kashmir’ remarks

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Sunday hit out at BJP leader Suvendhu Adhikari for his remarks that West Bengal will become like Kashmir if the Trinamool Congress came back to power in the state.

    “But according to you BJP wallas Kashmir has become paradise after August 2019 so what’s wrong with West Bengal becoming Kashmir? Anyway, Bengalis love Kashmir & visit us in large numbers so we forgive you your stupid, tasteless comment,” Omar said in a tweet.

    The former J-K chief minister was reacting to Adhikari’s reported statement that West Bengal would become like Kashmir if the TMC returned to power in the assembly elections.

    Adhikari, a former TMC leader, is contesting against his former boss Mamata Banerjee from the Nandigram seat.

  • Parmananda Rajbongshi quits AGP to join BJP ahead of Assam polls

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Former Asam Sahitya Sabha Parishad president Parmananda Rajbongshi quit the AGP and crossed over to the BJP on Saturday at the saffron party’s state headquarters here.

    Along with him, Rupesh Goala, the general secretary of a tea workers association in the state, also joined the saffron camp.

    BJP state unit chief Ranjeet Kumar Dass, after welcoming the two leaders to the fold ahead of Assam assembly elections, said they will further strengthen the party and help realise its goals.

    Dass also said that the party has decided to field Rajbongshi from Sipahjar constituency.

    Today, former Assam Sahitya Sabha President Dr Paramananda Rajbongshi & ACMS General Secretary Sri Rupesh Gowala joined @BJP4India in the presence of @BJP4Assam Prez Sri @RanjeetkrDass, MP Sri Bhubaneswar Kalita & other party leaders.I heartily welcome them both to BJP family. pic.twitter.com/cgvqRmO06J
    — Pallab Lochan Das (@pallablochandas) March 6, 2021

    “The BJP does not fight elections to come to power but to build a strong society,” he added.

    Rajbongshi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ideals and his efforts to bring peace and development to the northeast inspired him to join the BJP.

    Speaking on the occasion, Goala, the leader of Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha, said he was happy to be a part of the BJP and its development initiatives — launched by the prime minister and being implemented by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and state finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

    BJP MPs Bhubaneswar Kalita, Pallab Lochan Das and other senior members were present at the parttys state headquarters on the occasion.