News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • Will handsomely defeat ‘outsider’ Mamata in Nandigram, says Suvendu Adhikari

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Stinging West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for “running away” from her Bhowanipore seat in Kolkata, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday asserted he is “200 per cent” sure of handsomely defeating the TMC supremo, who is an “outsider” in Nandigram seat.

    The BJP named Adhikari, a former minister in Banerjee’s cabinet, as its candidate in the Nandigram seat in Purba Medinipur district, from where the chief minister will also contest the assembly elections.

    “Why have you deserted your Bhowanipore constituency? Why have you run away? Is it because the BJP had won in the booth at Mitra Institution in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections? You cannot even win in your own locality,” Adhikary said at a rally in the Behala area of Kolkata.

    Exuding confidence of trouncing Banerjee in Nandigram, Adhikary said, “I had defeated Lakshman Seth in Nandigram, I will defeat the honourable (Banerjee) this time. She is an outsider in Nandigram whereas I am a ‘bhumiputra’ (son of the soil) of the area.”

    ALSO READ | Bengal polls: It’s official! BJP’s Suvendu to take on Mamata in Nandigram

    Attacking the Banerjee family, Adhikari alleged that due to barricades and security arrangements in front of the chief minister’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee’s house on Harish Mukherjee Road, people are being inconvenienced as they are unable to take out any kind of procession, including the religious ones.

    He alleged that many small businesses in the area had to be shut down and the plots were given to big businessmen “to suit the interest of one family”.

    Adhikari said that the CBI did the right thing by questioning the Banerjee family as they are not above the law.

    Alleging large-scale irregularities in SSC, he said, “If voted to power, the BJP will fix the issue and ensure transparency in all recruitment exams, bringing smiles on the faces of three crore unemployed youths.”

    “The poor people who lost their money in ponzi scams like Saradha are yet to get back their money. These scams flourished under the patronage of the TMC ministers. Once elected to power, the BJP will ensure that the money is returned to these depositors,” he said.

  • Denied ticket, TMC MLA Sonali Guha hints at joining BJP ahead of West Bengal polls

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Sonali Guha, once a close aide of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee and a four-time MLA of the party, on Saturday hinted at joining BJP after she was denied a ticket for the coming assembly poll in West Bengal.

    The TMC MLA, who represented Satgachia seat for the past four terms, had broken down on Friday immediately after getting the news that she was not being given the party ticket this time.

    Guha said she will speak to BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy and decide her future course of action.

    “I wish to be given a honourable post, be acknowledged as a political personality,” Guha said without elaborating.

    She said, “May God give Mamata didi good sense and counsel. I have been with her from the beginning. I have to think about my future moves. I cannot sit idle being a political person”.

    Roy said apart from Guha many other Trinamool MLAs and leaders have contacted him since Friday evening after Banerjee announced the party’s candidates for 291 assembly seats in the state.

    Several TMC MLAs, an MP and a number of its leaders have already joined the saffron party.

    Guha was seen in every movement and rally by Banerjee during her days in the opposition and after TMC came to power a decade ago.

    She was also a former deputy speaker of the state assembly.

  • PM Modi to address rally at Bengal’s Brigade ground on March 7; suspense over Mithun Chakraborty’s presence continues

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will sharpen BJP’s campaign for the high-octane assembly elections in West Bengal with a mega rally at the Brigade Parade Grounds here on Sunday.

    The Prime Minister’s Sunday rally is said to be culmination of the “Parivartan Yatra” launched by the saffron party in the poll-bound Bengal in February this year.

    “Prime Minister will set the tone of the election campaign with a rally at Brigade grounds,” a BJP leader said.

    Sunday’s rally will be the first major event of the saffron party in West Bengal after declaration of eight-phase elections in the state.

    The BJP has planned to make it a grand success with a record crowd presence which the iconic ground has never witnessed.

    The BJP which was scheduled to come out with the candidate list for the first two phases on Friday had decided to postpone it for the brigade rally.

    “We have decided to postpone the release of the candidate list for the brigade rally. Once it is over, we would come out with our list,” BJP leader Rahul Sinha said.

    Along with Modi several top senior BJP leaders will be present at the rally.

    According to BJP sources, the rally might also throw up surprises as a few noted personalities including Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty might be present on the dais.

    “He may be present at the rally tomorrow. Let’s see what happens,” a senior BJP leader said.

    BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, however, said nothing has been discussed regarding Chakraborty’s joining the saffron camp.

    Once considered close to the CPI(M), Chakraborty was Rajya Sabha MP for the TMC for few years, before resigning expressing desire to quit politics.

    The BJP has gone all out to campaign for the rally launching innovative campaigns, from social media to the streets.

    The party activists have been hosting flash mobs over the past few weeks at several locations across the state, including busy traffic intersections and crowded localities to rally a large number of people at the Sunday event.

    After having a limited presence in the politically polarised state for decades, the BJP has emerged as the ruling Trinamool Congress’s main rival by winning 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal 2019 general elections,only four less than TMC’s tally of 22.

    With the BJP’s strength increasing in the state in the last few years, its leaders are upbeat that the party will end Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s 10-year rule in the state polls.

    Elections for the West Bengal assembly will be held in eight phases beginning with polling for 30 seats on March 27.

    West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already drawn the battleline with declaration of TMC candidate list Friday.

    Banerjee, who heads Trinamool Congress, announced names of 291 candidates and left three seats for the ally Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) in Darjeeling.

    Congress-Left Front-Indian Secular Front of the Muslim cleric Abbas Siddiqui have joined hands to challenge the TMC as well as the BJP in the battle for Bengal.

  • ‘He is ungrateful’: TMC on former party MP Dinesh Trivedi joining BJP ahead of Bengal polls

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Slamming its former Rajya Sabha MP Dinesh Trivedi for switching over to the BJP, the Trinamool Congress on Saturday said he is “ungrateful” and has backstabbed the ruling party in West Bengal ahead of the assembly polls.

    Trivedi quit from the upper House of Parliament last month, saying he was feeling suffocated in the Trinamool Congress and was unable to bear various incidents that are happening in the state.

    Earlier in the day, he joined the BJP at its headquarters in New Delhi in the presence of saffron party president J P Nadda.

    Reacting to the development, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “For the last so many years, he (Trivedi) did not say anything. Now, just before the state assembly polls, he has made complaints about the party. He is ungrateful and has betrayed people of the state.”

    “He held several posts of the party and was entrusted with many responsibilities. At a time when he should repay the Trinamool Congress, he has backstabbed it,” Ghosh said.

    Trivedi was once a close confidant of West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee and was her choice for holding the important railway ministry portfolio in the Union Cabinet during the UPA government.

    Echoing Ghosh, Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP Sougata Roy said, “People like Trivedi enjoy power during their tenure and leave a party at the time of elections.”

    Several TMC leaders have quit the party in recent months to join the BJP as the saffron party mounts an aggressive all-out campaign to end Banerjee’s 10-year-old reign in the state.

    Apart from Trivedi, two former state ministers – Suvendu Adhikari and Rajib Banerjee – had quit the Trinamool Congress and switched over to the BJP recently.

    Since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, 19 TMC MLAs and a Lok Sabha MP of the party had joined the BJP.

    Elections to 294 assembly seats in West Bengal will be held in eight phases, beginning on March 27.

    Votes will be counted on May 2.

  • Union Minister Smriti Irani attacks Rahul Gandhi, accuses him of ‘insulting’ people of Amethi

    By PTI
    AMETHI: Union Minister Smriti Irani launched a scathing attack on former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday, accusing him of “insulting” the people of Amethi by comparing voters in the north with those in Kerala.

    The Amethi MP, who laid the foundation stone for a bus stand in Tiloi, said the people of the town gave Gandhi immense love for 15 years despite him “not doing anything for its development”.

    “It is wrong for Rahul Gandhi to say that there is a lack of understanding among the people of Amethi than those in Kerala. I believe that there is no dearth of understanding in the people of Amethi. Rather it is in Rahul Gandhi,” she said.

    Her remarks come after Gandhi at a public gathering in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram recently said, “For the first 15 years, I was an MP in the north, I had got used to a different type of politics. For me, coming to Kerala was very refreshing as suddenly I found that people are interested in issues, and not just superficially, but going into detail.”

    Attacking the Gandhi family, Irani said a political family of the country ruled Amethi for 30 years but never thought about its development.

    “Instead of developing Amethi and opening a medical college here, they continued to get their guest house constructed,” she claimed.

    Talking about farmers, Irani said in 2013, when Gandhi’s party was in power only 800 farmers got the benefit of minimum support price in Amethi while in 2020, as many as 23,800 farmers benefitted from MSP here.

    The Union minister said it is a matter of concern that there was not a single fertilizer rack centre in Amethi and claimed that the farmers had to face lathis for fertilizers.

    She said after the BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh, a fertilizer rack centre was formed in Gauriganj in Amethi and construction work for a bypass and over bridge started in the town.

    Irani said the benefits of development schemes are reaching the common man directly, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sammann Nidhi has given financial strength to the farmers and people have benefitted directly from Ayushman Bharat Yojana, Ujjwala Yojana and Saubhagya Yojana.

    Earlier in the day, she took part in a ground-breaking ceremony of the bus stand to be constructed in Tiloi.

  • Former TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi joins BJP

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Former Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi joined the BJP on Saturday, weeks after he announced quitting his Rajya Sabha membership on the floor of the House deploring “violence” in poll-bound West Bengal.

    He joined the BJP in the presence of its president J P Nadda, and Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan besides other leaders.

    Lauding Trivedi as a principled politician, Nadda said he was earlier a right person in the wrong party and was now in the right party.

    Trivedi said he had been waiting for this “golden moment” and added that family is supreme in some parties but it is people who are supreme in the BJP.

    He also praised the Modi government for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the issues involving neighbouring countries.

    A number of TMC leaders have quit the party in recent months to join the BJP as the saffron party mounts an aggressive all-out campaign to end Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s 10-year-old reign in the state.

    Trivedi (70) was once a close confidant of TMC president Banerjee and was her choice for holding the important railway ministry portfolio in the Union Cabinet during the UPA government.

    Though his ties with her strained resulting in him being removed from the cabinet, they later patched up.

    After losing the Lok Sabha election in 2019, he was sent to the Rajya Sabha by the party.

    With the BJP being successful in wooing over a number of TMC leaders to its fold, the saffron party has said that this underscores an increasing unease in its rival camp and is a pointer to its “decisive” victory in the assembly polls to be held in eight phases between March 27 and April 29.

  • Bengal elections 2021: Well-known personality likely to join BJP’s rally with JP Nadda

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: A well-known personality from West Bengal is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of the party’s national president JP Nadda on Saturday, sources said.

    On reports of actor Mithun Chakraborty sharing the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his rally at Brigade Parade ground in Kolkata on March 7, BJP National General Secy Kailash Vijayvargiya said, “There will be only public and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is the biggest celebrity. We’ll welcome those coming in, If Mithun Chakraborty comes, we will welcome him.”

    “I believe this will be the biggest rally in the history of Bengal. Mamata is now afraid of losing. Last time, she gave 57 tickets to minorities, but this time she gave 42 tickets to them,” he said.

    Speaking to ANI, West Bengal BJP vice president Arjun Singh said, “If Mithun Chakraborty comes, it will be good, both for Bengal as well as our party. If he comes on a stage where there is Prime Minister, the people of Bengal will be happier.”

    Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is going the extra mile to ensure that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally at the Brigade Parade ground in Kolkata on March 7 witnesses a historical crowd. It is going to be the first rally of the Prime Minister after the announcement of Assembly poll schedules in West Bengal.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold the first rally in West Bengal on March 7 after the announcement of the assembly poll schedule. The rally will be held at the Brigade Parade ground in Kolkata.

    According to party sources, many folk artists have been invited to perform at the event.

    The elections for the 294 Assembly seats in West Bengal will begin on March 27. The state is going to witness eight-phase Assembly polls this year.

    West Bengal is likely to witness a triangular contest this time with TMC, Congress-Left alliance and the BJP in the fray.

  • Karnataka minister Aravind Limbavali off to West Bengal to ramp up poll campaign

    By Express News Service
    BENGALURU: Bengaluru to Bengal. Forests, Kannada and Culture Minister and Mahadevapura MLA Aravind Limbavali will soon be taking a flight out to the East Coast, where a bitter battle is brewing for the land of Rabindra. There, he will be part of the election campaign team for the BJP, which has raised the stakes and is making an aggressive bid to win power.    Limbavali’s claim to any influence over the traditionally leftist voters of West Bengal is that his constituency is home to around 20,000 Bengalis, including 5,600 registered voters. Mahadevapura is one of the major IT pockets of Silicon City. 

    Sources in Limbavali’s office said the minister has already completed two meetings with the Bengali population in his constituency, and appealed to them to vote for the BJP and also put in a word to their relatives and friends back home.Limbavali, known to be a sharp election strategist, will be attending a party meeting called by BJP National President JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Saturday. 

    On Friday, Limbavali, who was in Kalaburagi on an official tour, was told to attend a meeting in Delhi. One leader from each state will be part of the campaign team for West Bengal. He and a few others will be given two or three assembly seats to work on.With the Karnataka budget session going on, Limbavali is expected to make frequent visits to Bengal in the middle of the session, especially during weekends. Many ministers and leaders from Karnataka, including National General Secretary CT Ravi, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, Deputy CM Ashwath Narayan, and Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrashekar are associated with South Indian states and territories. 

  • BJP denies tickets to 11 sitting MLAs in Assam

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: Eleven sitting MLAs, including a minister, were denied tickets in Assam by the BJP which fielded two Congress defectors who served as Cabinet ministers in the Tarun Gogoi government.The party on Friday announced the names of 70 candidates for the first and second phases of Assam elections.The sitting MLAs to miss the bus are Hills Area Development Minister Sum Ronghang, Rituparna Barua (Lahowal seat), Amar Chand Jain (Katigorah), Ashok Sarma (Nalbari), Joyram Engleng (Howraghat), Mansing Rongpi (Baithalangsu), BB Hagzer (Haflong), Dilip Paul (Silchar), Kishore Nath (Borkhola), Debananda Hazarika (Bihpuria) and Nabanita Handique (Sonari).In Ronghang’s place, BJP fielded Bidya Sing Engleng. He is a former MLA and former chief of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC). He had lost the last election, which he contested as a Congress candidate, to Ronghang.In the Lahowal seat in Dibrugarh district, BJP fielded Binod Hazarika, the sitting Chabua MLA. His house was torched by the protestors of Citizenship (Amendment) Act during the height of the agitation in December 2019.The BJP fielded Jayanta Malla Barua, a former Congress MLA, in the Nalbari seat. He is a confidante of BJP leader and Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the chairman of Assam Tourism Development Corporation. In 2016, he was new in the BJP and the party had fielded Ashok Sarma from Nalbari. He has a background in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).In Joyram Engleng’s Howraghat seat, BJP fielded Dorsingh Ronghang. He has a background in the Left. He joined BJP a few years ago.In the Baithalangsu seat, represented by Mansing Rongpi, the BJP fielded Roop Sing Teran. He is the chairman of KAAC.BB Hagzer represented Haflong. The BJP fielded Nandita Garlosa in the seat. Nandita is the sister of Dima Hasao Autonomous Council chief Debolal Garlosa.Dilip Paul is a former Assembly Deputy Speaker who represented Silchar. The BJP fielded Dwipayan Chakraborty, who is a businessman, in the seat. Similarly, Amalendu Das, who has a background in the RSS, has been fielded in place of Kishore Nath in the Borkhola seat.In Bihpuria and Sonari seats, the party fielded Amiyo Bhuyan and Dharmeswar Konwar replacing Debananda Hazarika and Nabanita Handique respectively. Handique had got elected to the Assembly in 2019 by winning a by-election.The two former Congress Ministers who made the cut are Ajanta Neog and Gautam Roy. Neog will contest from her constituency Golaghat and Roy, who earned the “King of Barak Valley” moniker from Katigorah in place of Jain. Neog has been representing the Golaghat seat since 2001.BJP sources said the party assessed the performances of the sitting MLAs prior to deciding on the candidates. It had earlier asserted that the non-performing Ministers and MLAs would not be fielded.Assam BJP chief Ranjit Kumar Dass, a sitting MLA, will contest from Patacharkuchi instead of his Sorbhog constituency. There is a perceived wave against him in Sorbhog.BJP leader and Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told journalists in Delhi, “We have decided that Ranjit Kumar Dass will contest from Patacharkuchi as wished by our party workers.”The BJP will contest the polls in alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) which is headed by the chief of autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council.Sarma said the AGP would contest from 26 seats. In 2016, it had contested from 28 seats, including four where it had friendly contest with BJP.Incidentally, Sarma, fielded from the Jalukbari seat, had earlier announced that he would not contest the polls. On Friday, he said he is contesting as was decided by the party.A confident Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who will contest from Majuli, said: “There is peace and progress in Assam. We could ensure peace. BJP will retain power.”Meanwhile, mixed scenes were observed after the names of the candidates were announced. The supporters of MLAs who were snubbed erupted in protests. For the supporters of others, who will be contesting, there was early celebration of Rongali Bihu. 

  • Assam polls 2021: BJP releases list of 70 candidates

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The BJP on Friday released its first list of 70 candidates for the Assam assembly polls and announced that allies Asom Gana Parishad and United People’s Party Liberal will contest on 26 and eight seats respectively.

    Party general secretary Arun Singh told a press conference that Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal will contest from Majuli and minister Himanta Biswa Sarma from Jalukbari, constituencies these two top BJP state leaders currently represent in the 126-member assembly.

    Besides Sonowal and Sarma, leaders of the Asom Gana Parishad and the United People’s Party Liberal were also present at the press conference.

    The BJP in the first list has replaced 11 sitting MLAs with new faces, Singh said.

    The three-phase Assam assembly polls will be held on March 27, April 1 and April 6.

    In the first phase, 47 constituencies will go to polls, in the second phase, polling will be held in 39 constituencies and in the third phase, polling will be held in 40 constituencies.

    The BJP central election committee had met here on Thursday to finalise these names.

    The saffron party is pulling out all the stops to retain power in the state where it had formed government for the first time in 2016.