Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi did say social media cannot be left unregulated, but added no attempt should be made to control it through non-statutory rules.
Tag: BJP
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BJP looking to achieve ‘Mission East’ in Bengal, make inroads in South
By PTI
NEW DELHI: The upcoming assembly polls assume great significance for the BJP as it looks for an ideological victory in West Bengal by achieving “Mission East” and expand its footprint in the south beyond Karnataka.BJP leaders feel that a better performance in these polls will be a big boost for the party in pushing its reform agenda set in the recently presented Union Budget.
West Bengal is a high-stakes battle for the BJP and its master strategist and Union Home Minister Amit Shah is himself handling the affairs and has set a target of more than 200 seats out of the total 294 assembly constituencies.
Talking about BJP’s prospects in Bengal, where it is running a high-octane campaign, its co-incharge Sunil Menon said the party registered victory in almost 125 assembly segments in the 2019 general elections when it won 18 Lok Sabha seats out of the total 42 and lost narrowly in two.
“The BJP got 41 per cent votes in the 2019 general elections and with every passing day it is improving its position in the state and will emerge victorious in the assembly polls,” he said, adding that it will not only be an electoral success but an ideological victory for the party.
The BJP has its own government or of its allies in all seven northeastern states and is confident of again coming to power in Assam as the Congress will hugely miss the services of Tarun Gogoi who ruled the state for 15 years.
Post the massive victory in 2019 general elections when the BJP swept north-western parts of the country, the party eyes on eastern and southern states to emerge as a force to reckon with and in this context, these elections are of much important to the saffron party.
With the Congress decimated in Puducherry, the BJP with the help of its ally All India NR Congress and AIADMK is confident of opening another front in the south after Karnataka.
“People of Puducherry are fed up with the corruption and misgovernance of the Congress. They want good governance of the Modi government and therefore will want to give BJP a chance this time to serve them,” senior party leader and Union minister Arjun Meghwal said.
He is BJP’s poll-incharge for Puducherry.
Barring Assam and West Bengal, the BJP has nothing much to lose especially in Tamil Nadu and Kerala where it is looking to make inroads and its presence felt.
BJP’s incharge for Kerala and Union minister Pralhad Joshi said the party will definitely improve its performance in Kerala and emerge as a third front in the state.
Kerala has been choosing between Congress-led UDF and the CPI(M)-led LDF.
The Election Commission on Friday announced poll dates in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.
The elections will begin on March 27, with West Bengal witnessing the maximum of eight phases of polling continuing till April 29.
Counting of votes for the four states and Puducherry will be taken up on May 2.
West Bengal polls will be held in eight phases and Assam three while polling for Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assemblies will take place in a single phase.
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RSS-affiliate labour union to stage stir for months against disinvestment of PSEs
By PTI
NEW DELHI: Annoyed over the BJP-led Centre’s proposed disinvestment of State-run firms, RSS-affiliated labour union BMS on Saturday said it will launch a phased agitation across the country spanning over eight months against the privatisation of public sector enterprises.The decision was taken at a two-day meeting of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh’s (BMS) Public Sector Undertakings Coordination Committee that was held in Hyderabad on February 25-26.
“The meeting reviewed the present scenario industry wise and a consensus has emerged that the BMS should strongly oppose the policies of the central government vis-a-vis disinvestment, privatisation and monetisation. It has been decided to conduct an agitational programme in phases,” the union said in a statement.
The BMS has unanimously resolved to oppose the disinvestment proposal of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) in the name of strategic and non-strategic entities as also the government policy with regard to monetisation of the assets of the CPSEs, it said.
The BMS has planned an eight-month-long agitation starting from March 15 and concluding on November 23, which will include holding demonstrations from the corporate offices of the CPSEs to their respective units across the states.
The BMS criticised the “aggressive disinvestment programmes” announced by the Centre in the Union Budget such as divesting two public sector banks and a general insurance company, and asking the Niti Aayog to list out new companies for disinvestment.
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‘My spine is not for sale’, says Abhishek at Suvendu Adhikari’s backyard
By PTI
GHATAL: Senior Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday held a roadshow at Ghatal in Purba Medinipur district, considered a stronghold of turncoat Suvendu Adhikari, and said that his spine is not for sale like “some other people”.Adhikari, once considered a close aide of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, joined the BJP in December last year.
Without naming Adhikari, Abhishek Banerjee described him as a betrayer who “brought disgrace” to Medinipur, the birthplace of freedom fighters like Khudiram Bose and Matangini Hazra.
“You cannot scare me by using the CBI and the ED. I will continue to speak out against injustice and the hate politics of the BJP. My spine is not for sale like some other people who had crossed over to save skin, to stop raids,” the Diamond Harbour MP said.
A CBI team on February 23 visited the residence of the TMC youth wing president and examined his wife Rujira in connection with a coal pilferage case.
The agency also examined Rujira’s sister Menaka Gambhir on the previous day on the same matter.
“Shouldn’t people reject those who consider Medinipur (district) and its different areas as their fiefdom? Shouldn’t people teach those who have brought disgrace to the holy land of Matangini Hazra and Khudiram Bose and other luminaries by their act of betrayal a lesson?” he asked.
While Khudiram Bose was hanged in 1908 at the age of 18, 72-year-old Hazra was shot dead by the police at Tamluk in undivided Medinipur district in 1942.
Banerjee said, “Medinipur is not someone’s ancestral property. Medinipur belongs to its people. Haldia, Ghatal, Nandigram, Khejuri and all the places in Purba and Paschim Medinipur districts belong to the people of the areas, not some individuals.”
Suvendu Adhikari was known as the face of the anti- land acquisition movement in Nandigram during the Left Front rule.
The Adhikari family holds sway in a number of assembly seats in several south Bengal districts including two Medinipurs.
Outsiders visiting the district and the state to seek votes will be driven away by voters, the chief minister’s nephew said.
“They are holding elections in two phases in both Paschim Medinipur and Purba Medinipur. Is it to benefit someone? You are thinking polling will be conducted by outsiders and central forces. Rest assured that all your candidates will forfeit their deposits even if voting takes place in 31 phases for 31 seats,” he said.
There are 15 assembly seats in Purba Medinipur district and 16 in Paschim Medinipur.
Elections to the West Bengal assembly will be held in eight phases.
The first and last phase of polling will be held on March 27 and April 29 respectively.
Votes will be counted on May 2.
Wondering how the BJP brands leaders of the ruling party of West Bengal as pro-Bangladesh for chanting “Jai Bangla (hail Bengal)”, Banerjee said, “Even if you cut my throat I will keep chanting Jai Hind, Jai Bangla. I love my country, my state. You cannot muzzle my voice.”
“Jai Bangla” was a popular slogan during the Bangladesh liberation war.
Those opposing such slogans have no connection with the roots, with the ethos of Bengal, the TMC leader said at the end of the roadshow.
Standing atop a blue truck with ‘Didir Doot’ (Emissary of Didi) written on it, Banerjee held the roadshow from Daspur to Ghatal town, covering a distance of over 4 km.
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Congress again on brink of split, will start from J&K this time around: BJP
He was apparently referring to the gathering of senior Congress leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Raj Babbar and Anand Sharma.
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Pune woman’s death: BJP demands minister’s resignation, accuses Uddhav government of revenge politics
By PTI
MUMBAI: The BJP on Saturday said it would not give up its demand for the ouster of Maharashtra Forest Minister Sanjay Rathod over the death of a woman in Pune, and slammed the state government for filing a case of corruption against the husband of its leader Chitra Wagh.Chitra Wagh, vice president of state BJP, was vocal on the issue of Rathod’s alleged link to the woman’s death, and therefore her husband was targeted, the party claimed.
The opposition party had earlier warned that it would not allow the Budget session of the state legislature, which will start from March 1, to proceed smoothly if the minister did not resign.
“We are not going to accept anything other than Rathod’s resignation. We have intensified our agitation and various cells of the party will continue protesting until we get his resignation,” state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil told reporters.
He also questioned the probe by Wanwadi police in Pune in the woman’s death.
“The police should make the post-mortem report public. What is there to hide?” he asked.
Patil also sought to know why NCP chief Sharad Pawar, whose party is part of the Shiv Sena-led coalition government in Maharashtra, was silent on the issue.
The 23-year-old woman died after falling from a building on February 8, and Pune Police had said they were probing the suicide angle.
Some audio clips purportedly having bearing on the case had gone viral after her death.
Rathod, a Shiv Sena leader from Yavatmal, has denied that he had anything to do with the death.
Commenting on the police filing a fresh case against Chitra Wagh’s husband Kishor, Patil said, “Let the government try and scare us. We will not backtrack on our demand.”
An ACB official said that enquiry against Kishor Wagh, who worked as records librarian at a hospital in Mumbai, found that 90.24 per cent of his assets were disproportionate.
The case had been registered in 2016, he said.
“When I raised voice against minister Rathod, a case was filed against my husband. But I will not keep mum till the woman gets justice,” Chitra Wagh told reporters in Nashik.
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Pravin Darekar alleged that this was politics of revenge as Chitra Wagh was vocal against Rathod.
Countering him, state Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant pointed out that the case against Kishor Wagh was filed by the then BJP government in 2016.
Chitra Wagh quit the NCP ahead of Assembly polls in 2019 and joined the BJP.
Meanwhile, the women’s wing of the state BJP staged demonstrations seeking Rathod’s resignation in Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Aurangabad and other cities.
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Bengal drugs haul: A few ‘very influential people’ involved, says police
By PTI
KOLKATA: The Kolkata Police have zeroed in on a few “very influential people” who were probably involved in the drug seizure case in which two BJP leaders, Rakesh Singh and Pamela Goswami, have been arrested, an officer said on Saturday.The sleuths of the Kolkata Police’s narcotics section are also searching for a close associate of Singh, a member of the BJPs state committee, whom Goswami has accused of putting cocaine in her car, he said.
Goswami, the state secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), and two others were arrested after the seizure of 90 gm of cocaine from her car in south Kolkatas New Alipore area on February 19.
“We have come across the names of a few very influential people who are probably involved in this case. They are known to both Singh and Goswami. We are also looking for one person in particular who has been very active in smuggling,” he said.
The police got evidence of this person visiting Singhs Orphangunge Road residence in Kolkata’s port area, he said.
So far, over 20 people — 12 from Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand and around 11 from West Bengal — have been questioned in connection with the investigation, the police officer said.
In the last few days, police teams visited these three states.
The officer said that a few voice messages stored in Goswamis mobile phone may also help the police in the probe into the matter.
The police seized her mobile phone after her arrest.
Singh was arrested from Galsi in Purba Bardhaman district on February 23 when he was allegedly trying to flee.
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Himachal Speaker lodges complaint against Congress MLAs for ‘manhandling’ Governor
By PTI
SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh Speaker Vipin Parmar has lodged an FIR against the five Congress MLAs suspended from the state assembly for the entire Budget session after they allegedly manhandled Governor Bandaru Dattatraya.The Speaker told PTI that the FIR was lodged at 3 pm on Friday.
The Speaker said he will give details about the case after reaching Shimla on Monday.
Earlier on Saturday, Assembly Secretary Yash Paul Sharma had told PTI that the Speaker has submitted a formal complaint to DGP Sanjay Kundu for registering an FIR against the Congress legislators.
Meanwhile, police did not give any details about the case with the DGP saying as the Assembly session in progress, they can inform about it only to the Speaker.
The alleged incident had taken place outside the Speaker’s office on Friday when the Governor was leaving for the Raj Bhavan after he cut short his address in the House following a ruckus created by the Congress on the opening day of the Budget session.
After the incident, the Speaker suspended Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri and four other Congress MLAs Harsh Vardhan Chauhan, Satpal Raizada, Sunder Singh and Vinay Kuma for the entire Budget session till March 20 on a motion moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Bhardwaj.
Speaker Vipin Parmar had said the Opposition members hit on the Governor’s back with copies of his address.
They also hit the bonnet of the Governor’s car, the Speaker had said.
Commenting over the issue, suspended Congress MLA Harsh Vardhan Chauhan had told PTI on Friday that they were waiting outside the Speaker’s office and just wanted to ask the Governor why he cut short his address but they were not allowed to do so.
He alleged that it was Deputy Speaker Hans Raj who manhandled the MLAs, a charge denied by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Bhardwaj, who said the Congress legislators had planned to create a scene.
Chauhan also said they did not have any intention of manhandling the governor.
“If any FIR is registered against us, we will not go to the court for bail, rather we will prefer to be arrested,” he had said.
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Police officers adopting unfair means to prevent free and fair Bengal assembly polls: BJP
The Election Commission of India had on Friday announced an eight-phase poll in West Bengal, which will commence on March 27 and conclude on April 29.
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Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan predicts ‘spectacular’ win for BJP in West Bengal polls
By PTI
BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday expressed confidence that the BJP would clinch a “spectacular” victory in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls and come to power in that state as people there have now risen against the “misgovernance” of the Mamata Banerjee-led dispensation.He also said that he will take part in the Parivartan Yatra in West Bengal on Sunday.
Talking to reporters here, Chouhan said, “I will reach Kolkata tonight to take part in the Parivartan rally tomorrow. I will address three public meetings there as part of it.”
The Election Commission on Friday announced eight-phased polling in West Bengal from March 27 to April 29.
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“The assembly poll bugle has been sounded in West Bengal. A BJP wave is prevailing there. Mamata didi is frightened and furious too,” he said.
“That is why Parivartan rallies are being attacked and BJP workers have been killed. But their sacrifice won’t go in vain. West Bengal has risen against Mamata didi’s misgovernance, and also against goodaism, corruption and loot,” Chouhan said.
The BJP is going to get spectacular success in West Bengal and form a government there, he said.