News Analysis India

Tag: Mamata Banerjee

  • Posters with Mamata Banerjee’s pics defaced ahead of her Goa visit; TMC condemns act, blames BJP

    By PTI

    PANAJI: Several hoardings carrying pictures of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee were defaced in Goa ahead of her visit to the coastal state, following which the Trinamool Congress on Wednesday condemned the act and claimed it reflects the BJP’s “intolerance”.

    Banerjee is scheduled to visit Goa on Friday, ahead of the state Assembly polls due next year.

    The TMC has already announced its decision to contest the state Assembly elections.

    The BJP on Sunday claimed the Goa unit of the Trinamool Congress posted a cartoon on Twitter that showed party supremo Mamata Banerjee trying to crush Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant under her foot.

    A statement by Goa CM Pramod Sawant’s office claimed the tweet by the Banerjee-led party was deleted immediately.

    The CMO had circulated the screenshot of the purported tweet.

    Later, a number of posters and hoardings, put up by the TMC, carrying pictures of Banerjee were vandalised in the coastal state.

    Speaking to media persons here on Wednesday, TMC’s Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien said, “The only woman chief minister (in the country at present) has been insulted. We all know this is not the culture of Goa.”

    He claimed the BJP was damaging local businesses, as contractors will have to pay from their own pocket for all the vandalised hoardings.

    The TMC leader said if the BJP wants to fight against his party, then it should do it politically.

    “Why don’t you respond to the charge sheet placed before the public,” he said referring to the 10-point charge sheet released by the TMC earlier this week against the present BJP government in Goa as well as earlier dispensations.

    TMC’s Goa unit leader Yatish Naik claimed the act (of vandalising hoardings) reflects the “BJP’s intolerant behaviour”.

    “They have no track record of good governance. The BJP-appointed governor, Satya Pal Malik, also said the party government in Goa indulged in corruption in everything,” he added.

    Former Goa governor Malik recently accused the state government of corruption during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “There was corruption in everything the Goa government did (during the COVID-19 pandemic). I was removed for my allegation of corruption against the Goa government,” Malik, now the governor of Meghalaya, had alleged in a TV interview.

  • People to face torture with extension of BSF jurisdiction: Mamata

    Banerjee said that she respects the border guarding force for the job it undertakes, but condemns the “intention” behind extending its jurisdiction.

  • Didi’s dole for women drains Bengal’s coffers, affects infrastructure projects 

    Express News Service

    KOLKATA:  The Mamata Banerjee government’s monthly dole for women has resulted in a cash crunch that is set to hit infrastructure projects in West Bengal.

    Many projects, which have been submitted or are to be submitted for administrative approval, are likely to face a roadblock as the state government’s coffers are stretched, apparently because of Lakshmir Bhandar scheme for homemakers.

    The scheme, which will be implemented from October-end, requires Rs 18,000 crore annually.

    It is one of Mamata’s pre-poll promises and is believed to have paid her huge dividends in the assembly election earlier this year. In Bengal, women constitute 49 per cent of total voters.

    The Trinamool Congress returned to power for a third term riding on massive support of women.    

    Sources in the state administration said projects worth about Rs 8,000 crore were already pending for administrative approval and more were supposed to be sent for the government’s nod.

    However, the government has asked the public works department (PWD) to assess the necessity of all such projects.

    “All the PWD engineers have been asked to submit reports mentioning why the projects are a necessity. The proposed projects include replacement of 45-50 bridges and construction of roads,” said a government official.

    “A detour of a few km because of a broken road/bridge creates a negative impression against the administration, but the government has realised that it is far less than the positive impact of monthly amount that will be credited to homemakers’ bank accounts,” said the official.   

     A PWD official said the decision was linked to the finance department’s austerity drive.

  • Two Uttar Pradesh Congress leaders join TMC in presence of Mamata Banerjee

    By PTI

    SILIGURI: Two senior Congress leaders of Uttar Pradesh on Monday joined the Trinamool Congress in presence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Siliguri in north Bengal.

    The two leaders, Rajeshpati Tripathi and Lalitpati Tripathi, said they would carry on the fight to oust the BJP from power in UP and the Centre under the leadership of Banerjee, the TMC supremo.

    Rajeshpati Tripathi is an ex-MLC while Laliteshpati Tripathi is former UP Congress vice-president and an ex-MLA.

    Rajeshpati and Laliteshpati are the grandson and the great-grandson of former UP chief minister Kamalapati Tripathi respectively, TMC sources said.

    “The faith of people in the TMC is increasing. The joining of the two leaders testifies that we are now an all-India party which can give real fight to the BJP,” Banerjee said.

    Alleging that the BJP is preventing the TMC from organising political programmes in Goa, Banerjee said she will be going to the western state in a few days.

  • Extension of BSF’s jurisdiction attempt to interfere into federal structure: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

    By PTI

    SILIGURI: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday criticised the Centre’s move to extend the jurisdiction of the Border Security Force, alleging that it is an attempt to interfere into the federal structure of the country.

    The BJP-led central government had amended the BSF Act to authorise the force to undertake search, seizure and arrest within a larger 50 km stretch, instead of 15 km, from the international border in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam.

    Banerjee, however, said the state has no problems in the border areas.

    “About the BSF matter, we have sent a letter protesting the move. Earlier, they had jurisdiction of 15 km, there were incidents of firing in Balurghat or Cooch Behar. Now, they extended it to 50 km. This is an attempt to interfere into the federal structure of the country,” Banerjee said at an administrative review meeting here.

    “We do not have problems in the border areas and share very cordial relations (with neighbouring countries). There is no need to create this confusion. Law and order is a state subject. BSF must look after what they are responsible for and we will have total support for that,” she said.

    West Bengal shares an international border with Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

    Banerjee had on Sunday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately withdraw the Union Home Ministry’s notification that extended the jurisdiction of BSF.

  • Schools, colleges in Bengal to reopen from November 15, says CM Mamata Banerjee

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said schools and colleges would reopen from November 15, and directed the chief secretary to take necessary measures to facilitate the process.

    Banerjee, after attending an administrative review meeting at Uttar Kanya in Siliguri, asked Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi to ensure proper cleaning and sanitisation of educational institutions before they reopen.

    Schools and colleges in the state have been closed since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March last year.

  • Trinamool will do very well in Goa Assembly polls: Babul Supriyo

    By PTI

    PANAJI: Trinamool Congress leader Babul Supriyo on Monday expressed confidence that his party will do “very well” in the Goa Assembly elections due early next year.

    Several TMC leaders, including Supriyo and party MPs Mahua Moitra and Saugata Roy, have arrived in Goa ahead of West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC head Mamata Banerjee’s visit to the state scheduled on October 28.

    The TMC has already announced its decision to contest the Assembly elections in Goa.

    The forthcoming Goa Assembly poll is an important election and the “TMC will do very well in it,” Supriyo told reporters.

    “This (Goa) is one place in India which should see a lot of development to make it more tourist-friendly,” said Supriyo, who joined the TMC last month after quitting the BJP.

    He said Goa is known for its culture, tradition, music and wonderful beaches.

    “A lot more can be done here,” he added.

    Last month, former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro joined the TMC, while state Independent MLA Prasad Gaonkar has also extended support to the Mamata Banerjee-led party.

    The TMC last week appointed Faleiro as its vice president.

    The party has been inducting several local leaders in its fold ever since it announced its intention to contest the Goa Assembly polls.

    Elections to the 40-member House in the state are due in February 2022.

  • Cartoon showed Mamata crushing PM and Shah: claims BJP, slams Trinamool

    A statement by Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's office claimed the tweet by the AITC (All India Trinamool Congress) was deleted immediately.

  • BJP attacks opponents seeking to take out rallies in Tripura; TMC woman MP not spared: Mamata Banerjee

    By PTI

    SILIGURI (WB): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday accused the BJP of beating up political opponents if they dare to take out rallies in Tripura, and claimed that even a woman MP is not spared.

    She was referring to the attack on Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev allegedly by BJP workers in Tripura during a public outreach programme near Agartala on Friday.

    The TMC seeks to dislodge the saffron party from power in the North-eastern state in the 2023 assembly election.

    Denying the BJP’s claims of violence on its workers in West Bengal, the TMC supremo said, “There is peace in West Bengal and it is not the peace of the graveyard.”

    “In contrast look at the happenings in your state (Tripura). Whoever dares to take out rallies opposing the BJP is hit with sticks. They don’t even allow the injured TMC workers to be treated at a hospital. A young party worker was thrashed and he had to be rushed to the SSKM Hospital (in Kolkata),” Banerjee said at a rally in Siliguri.

  • Mamata to visit poll-bound Goa next week, more leaders expected to join Trinamool

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA:  Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has set her eyes on poll-bound Goa for expanding her party’s footprint especially in the BJP-ruled states. Mamata is set to reach the coastal state on October 28 as part of her two-day visit amid a strong buzz that the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) might join the TMC.

    The Bengal chief minister is scheduled to attend a series of political events as her party is expecting more defections from other political parties following the move of former Goa chief minister Luizinho Falerio last month. Apart from  Falerio, prominent Goan sports personalities — footballer Denzil Franco and boxer Lenny D’Gama — had also joined the TMC.

     Ahead of Mamata’s Goa visit, the TMC launched a slogan in the coastal state— ‘Goanchi Navi Shokaal’ (New morning in Goa). Elections to the 40-member Goa assembly will be held early next year.  “Her visit will be focused on the TMC’s stance in the coastal state’s politics. During Mamata’s visit, a few more prominent faces in Goa politics is likely to come to join our party. She will also hold meeting with some of the prominent faces who are known their anti-BJP views,’’ said a Trinamool leader.

    The TMC has already decided to contest in all the 40 seats of Goa in the upcoming Assembly elections. Mamata has engaged MPs Derek O’Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and Prasun Banerjee and cabinet minister Manoj Tiwari to camp in Goa for spreading the party’s agenda in the coastal state. 

    Other than the coastal state, the TMC is also eyeing to expand its base in Tripura with the target of the 2023 Assembly elections. “Before the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha elections, we will hoist our party flags in these two states by derailing the BJP-led government in Tripura and introducing the TMC-led government in Goa,’’ said a leader of the Bengal’s ruling party.