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Tag: Mamata Banerjee

  • Mamata Banerjee to skip PM Modi’s Haldia event today

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA:  Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is unlikely to share the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday in Haldia, where the latter would dedicate four projects worth `4,700 crore in oil, gas and infrastructure sectors. The projects are those of PSUs Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Gas Authority of India (GA IL) and the NHAI.

    Despite being invited, Mamata is likely to skip the event in the backdrop of the apolitical January 23 event organised by the Union Information Ministry at Victoria Memorial where a section of the audience raised Jai Shri Ram slogans when Mamata was about to speak, said a source in the Trinamool. Irked by the sloganeering, Mamata had skipped her speech in protest. “It appears that the CM has been invited for a re-run of the Victoria Memorial episode,” said a TMC leader.

    Elected TMC leaders too will not attend event Earlier, BJP’s Saumitra Khan tweeted TMC MP from Ghatal, Dipak Adhikary alias Dev, would share the stage with Modi. “When Mamata found it out, she called Dev asking him if he was planning to go even if she might not. He said he was certainly not going,” said a TMC leader

  • Mamata to skip PM’s Haldia event, TMC says CM invited for re-run of Victoria Memorial episode

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is unlikely to share the stage with Narendra Modi on Sunday in Haldia, East Midnapore, from where the Prime Minister will dedicate four projects worth Rs 4,700 crore in oil, gas, and infrastructure sectors.

    The projects will be executed by the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Gas Authority of India (GAIL), and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

    Despite being invited, the Bengal CM decided to skip the event in the backdrop of the apolitical January 23 event organised by the Union Information Ministry at the Victoria Memorial where she was “insulted” by a section of the audience who raised the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan in the presence of Modi, said a source in the Trinamool Congress. Irked by the slogan, Banerjee had refused to speak in protest.

    “It appears that the Chief Minister has been invited for the re-run of the Victoria Memorial episode,” said a TMC leader. Sources said the CM also expects other elected representatives of her party to give the Haldia event a miss.

    ALSO READ | Nobody should feel pain while chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’: Sanjay Raut

    Earlier, BJP’s youth wing chief Saumitra Khan tweeted saying that TMC MP from Ghatal Dipak Adhikary alias Dev would share the stage with Modi. “When she (Mamata) knew about this, she called Dev asking him if he was planning to go. He said he certainly was not attending the event and had already issued a statement on his Twitter handle clarifying that Khan was mistaken,” said the leader.             

    Modi will lay the foundation of the second catalytic dewaxing unit at the Haldia refinery of IOCL which will also serve as an important substitution project. BPCL’s new LPG terminal will be inaugurated by the PM to meet the growing demand of the eastern region.

    On that day, Modi will dedicate the 347-km long Dhobi-Durgapur pipeline, which is a part of the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga project, built at a cost of 2,400 crore. He will also dedicate NHAI’s 190 crore road over bridge-cum-flyover at Ranichak in Haldia for seamless traffic movement at Haldia port gate.

  • Mamata Banerjee presents vote-on-account for Rs 2.99 lakh crore in House, Opposition boycotts speech

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: With state elections round the corner, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday presented a vote-on-account for Rs 2.99 lakh crore in the Assembly, and made a slew of announcements, including a hike in the annual aid of farmers.

    The estimates for the first few months of the new fiscal, starting April, would be taken up for discussion over the next two days, before it is passed by the House.

    Banerjee, during the assembly session, said her government has worked tirelessly for the state’s overall development, despite not getting necessary help from the central government.

    “We have decided to build 20 lakh houses for the SC and ST communities and upgrade mud houses into pucca ones.

    We are allocating Rs 1,500 crore for the project. We have also decided to provide aid to government-recognized unaided madrasas, and Rs 50 crore has been allotted for the same.”

    The chief minister also said that the budget, under the government’s ‘Krishak Bandhu’ scheme, has been increased to Rs 6,000 crore from Rs 5,000 crore, keeping in mind the interest of farmers.

    “We will build 100 new schools in tea garden areas. Additionally, 100 new English-medium schools would also come up in areas dominated by SC and ST communities.

    For this, we plan to recruit at least 300 para teachers,” she said.

    The feisty TMC boss further stated that her government has agreed to implement the centrally funded PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme in Bengal.

    Stressing the need to develop infrastructure, Banerjee said rural roads, spanning 46,000 km, would be built in the state in the next five years.

    “By next year, we plan to build 10,000 km of rural roads, all of which will be connected with state highways….We will also build four new flyovers in the city, including one stretching from E M Bypass to Newtown and the other from Paikpara to Sealdah station,” she said.

    She said her government plans to generate 1.5 crore new jobs in Bengal, and vacancies in government offices would be filled as part of the initiative.

    “We also propose to waive road tax from January 1 to June 30 this year,” Banerjee said.

    The CM, during the presentation, said the state government plans to build a state-level planning commission as a mark of tribute to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

    “We will build Jai Hind Bhawan in every district and Azad Hind Smaark at Newtown,” she said.

    She maintained that ‘Duare Sarkar’ camps, where people get to enrol their names to avail benefits of state-run schemes, would be set up twice every year.

    Finance Minister Amit Mitra, who is currently unwell, skipped Friday’s assembly session, which was marked by unruly scenes during the day.

    BJP legislators trooped into the Well of the Assembly, demanding that Mitra, and not Banerjee, should be reading out the vote-on-account. Later, they walked out of the House. Left Front and the Congress MLAs also boycotted the session.

  • Bengal polls: Mamata swings into action on Matuas’ citizenship issue

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Banking on the sign of Matuas’ restlessness over the delay in rolling out of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which the BJP is trying hard to assuage, the ruling Trinamool Congress has swung into action to earn electoral dividend.

    The TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday convened a meeting of 4,000 members of scheduled caste (SC), the community Matuas belong to, and scheduled tribe (ST) wings of the party. She asked the SC members to launch aggressive campaign against the BJP’s false promise of giving Matuas citizenship by implementing the contentious CAA.

    The SC and ST members have been asked to showcase the BJP as a ‘party of liars’ in regions where tribal electorates are deciding factors.

    Sources in the ruling party said the CM did not want to miss the opportunity to use BJP’s embarrassment triggered by the cancellation of Union Home minister Amit Shah’s much awaited Bengal visit last month.

    ALSO READ | Bengal polls 2021: How Trinamool is losing narrative to BJP

    “Shah was scheduled to visit the Matua religious sect’s headquarters at Bongaon in north 24-Parganas and address on the issue of citizenship for the refugees migrated from Bagladesh that the BJP had promised in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Since election is approaching, Matuas wanted Shah to announce a deadline. After Shah’s Bengal visit was cancelled, Matuas are unhappy and we are trying to use their discontent in favour of us,” said a TMC leader.

    Matuas are deciding factor in 36 Assembly constituencies and majority of the community voted for the BJP in last year’s general elections.   

    Mamata Banerjee recently dismantled the TMC’s single cell dedicated to SC/ST/Other Backward Class (OBC) and set up separate wings to give dedicated representation to each of the communities. She also set up a dedicated development board for Matuas and granted a fund of Rs 10 crore.

    State Food and Supplies Minister Jyotipriya Mullick, who has been camping in Matua belt since Shah’s visit was cancelled, said the BJP has nothing to say on Matuas’ citizenship issue as the people of the Hindu religious sect realised the promise before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections was a trick to hoodwink them.

    “While visiting the Matuas’ headquarters after Shah’s visit was cancelled, BJP leaders said the dais, which was set up for the Union Home minister, would not be dismantled as the central minister would visit the area soon. It was another lie. Leaving the area would not be possible for BJP leaders without facing Matuas’ agitation,” said Mullick.

  • Authorised CM to perform duties related to finacial statement presentation: Bengal Governor

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Thursday that he has authorised Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to perform all duties in the Assembly related to the presentation of the annual financial statement for 2021-22 and the motion for vote on account.

    Dhankhar tweeted that the authorisation was given following communication with state finance minister Amit Mitra and speaker of the Assembly, Biman Banerjee.

    “Governor of West Bengal has authorized Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee to perform in the Assembly all duties relating to presentation of Annual Financial Statement of the Government of West Bengal for the year 2021-2022 and Motion for Vote on Account & all related aspects,” he tweeted.

    A vote on account, which entails an incumbent government to seek a sanction for administrative expenditure, will be presented before the House on Friday as Assembly elections are due to be held in the state in April-May.

  • Bengal polls: Defectors are greedy, they left before being driven out, says Mamata

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday described the large-scale exodus from her party in the recent past as the defection of “greedy” functionaries which would make no difference in the upcoming Assembly elections.

    “None of our party’s grassroots workers are greedy. Those who are greedy and now scared of their previous acts are now going to the BJP to take refuge. Before we could drive them out, they left,” she said while addressing a rally in Cooch Behar.

    Hitting out at the saffron camp, Bengal CM said BJP is the party that lies. “They (BJP) flee away after elections. They promised to turn north Bengal into Sonar Bangla. What did they do? We don’t’ want Sonar Bangla. We want basic needs of life food like food and roof over our head,” she said.

    The CM said that those who worked for the people would be fielded to contest in the upcoming elections. “Our party doesn’t issue tickets in exchange for money,” she said. “We know who is with the party and the party will fund them out before issuing candidature,” she said.

  • Centre didn’t help migrant workers, but turncoats were given chartered plane to fly to Delhi: Mamata Banerjee

    The TMC supremo, training her guns at all deserters, said the turncoats would be defeated in the assembly polls.

  • Bengal polls: Rath yatras will be held no matter what, says Amit Shah

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Union Home Minister Amit Shah has asked BJP’s Bengal functionaries to carry out the ‘Parivartan rath yatras’ even if the state administration denies permission.

    BJP’s state president Dilip Ghosh said the party might move to the court if the state government denies permission.

    Shah’s instruction came during the meeting with senior BJP leaders from Bengal in New Delhi on Tuesday. Sources in the saffron camp said Shah himself will be present in one of the yatras which will start from Cooch Behar in North Bengal on February 11.

    “Our high-command had planned the ‘Parivartan Yatra’ as part of the party’s state-wide campaign urging electorates to support the BJP for the change of guard in West Bengal in 2021. So the national leadership decided to take an aggressive stance to carry out the event,” said a senior BJP leader.

    The high-level meeting was conducted at the Delhi residence of BJP’s state president Dilip Ghosh where newly-inducted former Trinamool Congress minister Rajib Banerjee, party’s national vice president Mukul Roy, and national general secretary and Bengal observer Kailash Vijayvargiya were present.

    ALSO READ | CAA not a major factor in Bengal polls anymore as Centre gets six more months to prepare rules

    “The first Yatra from Nabadwip in Nadia district will be inaugurated by our national president JP Nadda on February 6. Amitji will be present in Cooch Behar on February 11,” said Vijayvargiya.

    Sources in the BJP said the decision on Shah’s presence in the Cooch Behar yatra was taken eyeing the upcoming Assembly elections. “We showed aggressive onslaught in north Bengal in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by bagging seven seats out of eight. Cooch Behar district has nine Assembly constituencies and we secured the lead in eight of them. Among the electorates in the nine constituencies, more than 30% belong to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities which supported us. We want to retain the vote-share and this is why we wanted Shah to be present in the region,” said a senior BJP leader.

    With the rath yatras, the Bengal BJP has planned to launch the party’s aggressive poll-campaign. The Yatras from five points will travel across all 23 districts in the state and the party workers have been directed to carry out campaigns in all 294 Assembly constituencies.

    Responding to BJP’s application seeking a nod for the yatras, the state home secretary’s office said it was not under the state secretariat’s authority and therefore, the party should apply to the local administrations where they wanted to carry out the event.

  • TMC defectors will be defeated in polls, anomalies in forest dept recruitment to be probed: Mamata Banerjee

    By PTI
    ALIPURDUAR: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday, without naming former minister Rajib Banerjee — who recently quit the TMC and join the BJP — alleged that irregularities have been detected in recruitment of forest department personnel during his tenure.

    The TMC supremo, training her guns at all deserters, said they would be defeated in the upcoming assembly polls and “their shops will be closed after the elections”.

    “A person who was responsible for the recruitment of ‘Bana Sahayaks’ in the forest department indulged in corrupt methods. We will investigate it. Everything will be investigated. The person after indulging in corruption has now joined the BJP. He is now lecturing others,” she said.

    Rajib Banerjee, who was a forest minister in the state cabinet, switched over to the BJP last week.

    Slamming turncoats, who left the TMC to cross over to the BJP, Banerjee claimed that only the “greedy ones” are joining the saffron party.

    “Those who want to leave the party should do so. The doors are open. But if you are in the party you have to work like a disciplined soldier. Let me tell you, those who have switched political allegiance will be defeated in the assembly polls, their shops will be closed after the polls,” she said.

    The BJP can buy some corrupt leaders but it can never buy a dedicated member or cadre of the TMC, she asserted, while addressing a party meeting here.

    The chief minister, raking up the “insider versus outsider” debate, also said that people of Bengal state will rule this state, and not those coming from Gujarat.

    Taking a dig at the BJP for sending a chartered plane to fly TMC turncoats to Delhi for induction in the saffron camp, Banerjee said they don’t have funds to bear the travel expenditure of migrant workers, but would not mind shelling out money to transport corrupt leaders.

  • Trinamool Congress spreading fire of regionalism for political gains in Bengal: BJP’s Rajib Banerjee

    By PTI
    BARUIPUR: Former West Bengal minister Rajib Banerjee, who recently joined the BJP from the Trinamool Congress, on Tuesday accused his former party of indulging in regionalism for narrow political gains which affected the interests of the people of the state.

    He alleged that TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been fighting the central government for political compulsions. “A strange fire of regionalism is being spread (by the TMC). It is more dangerous than communalism. Bengal’s boys and girls are also in other states for education and work,” Rajib Banerjee said addressing a public meeting here in South 24 Parganas district.

    The TMC often targets the BJP, claiming that it is a “party of outsiders”. Rajib claimed that on one hand, TMC leaders quote Rabindranath Tagore, and on the other, they indulge in violence and intimidation of opposition party workers.

    BJP leaders Rajib Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari were shown black flags on their way to the public meeting here. The saffron party claimed that TMC workers were behind this. While Adhikari switched sides from the TMC to the BJP in December last year, Rajib did the same last week.

    Speaking at the meeting, Adhikari maintained that people of all faiths have got ration and cooking gas given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and they will support the BJP in the assembly elections in the state due in April-May.

    “After (cyclone) Amphan, Prime Minister Modi had come to visit the affected areas immediately and had given Rs 1,000 crore for relief, but the funds were misappropriated,” he said. Adhikari charged the TMC government with changing the names of central schemes like Swachh Bharat Mission and claiming these to be their own.

    Rajib claimed that by denying the central share of funding in schemes such as Ayushman Bharat and introducing a health insurance programme of the state government Swasthya Sathi, the chief minister has emptied the state exchequer. “She deliberately did not allow farmers of the state to get the benefits of PM Kishan Samman Nidhi,” he alleged.

    Under the PM-Kisan scheme, an income support of Rs 6,000 per year in three equal installments is provided to small and marginal farmer families. The BJP leader said Union Home Minister Amit Shah had assured him that Bengal would get a special economic package for its development after the elections.

    Rajib added that the chief minister boasts of West Bengal’s top position in the country in the 100-days’ work programme, but it only shows the bad job situation in the state that so many people have to get work through that scheme.