Tag: Suvendu Adhikari

  • West Bengal polls 2021: CM Mamata Banerjee rejects ‘outsider’ tag in Nandigram

    By PTI
    NANDIGRAM: Coming down hard on those calling her an outsider in Nandigram, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday for them people “coming from Gujarat” are insiders.

    Addressing booth-level TMC workers a day ahead of filing her nomination for the seat, Banerjee said people who had “sold their souls to outsiders from Gujarat” are insulting the Nandigram movement by playing the communal card.

    Banerjee is pitted against her former confidante Suvendu Adhikari, who joined the BJP some time ago, in the high-profile seat.

    Without naming Adhikari even once, Banerjee said that she had made up her mind to contest either from the Singur or Nandigram–the two cradles of anti-land acquisition movement– that catapulted her to power in 2011.

    She said she decided to contest from Nandigram because of overwhelming response of the people. “I have heard some people are calling me an outsider in Nandigram. I am amazed. I was born and brought up in the neighbouring Birbhum district, and the person who is calling me an outsider was also not born here. Today I have become an outsider, and those coming from Gujarat have become insiders in Bengal,” she said.

    Adhikari has often called himself “bhoomiputra” (son of the soil) while seeking to get back at the TMC supremo who has been targeting the BJP with the “party of outsiders” barb. Accusing Adhikari of trying to incite communal passions, Banerjee said,”Those who have sold their souls to the outsiders are insulting the Nandigram land acquisition movement by playing the communal card.”

    “Some people are talking about 70:30 ratio (of Hindu- Muslim population). Those doing that are insulting the sacred Nandigram movement which people of both communities fought together. People of Nandigram will make BJP ‘April fool’ on April 1 when polling is held,” she asserted.

  • West Bengal polls: Mamata Banerjee to file nomination from Nandigram on March 10

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will file her nomination papers from the Nandigram seat on March 10, while her rival and BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari will do the same two days later, as the stage is set for the Battle Royale in the constituency.

    After the release of the party manifesto on Tuesday, the Trinamool Congress supremo would leave for Nandigram in the evening and file her nomination papers the next day, party sources said.

    She would then attend a workers’ meet and return to Kolkata on March 11.

    Adhikari, whose name was announced as the BJP candidate from the seat on Saturday, will file the nomination on March 12.

    “After filing nomination papers, he will address a rally there,” BJP leader Kanishka Panda said.

    Nandigram, the cradle of the anti-land acquisition movement that catapulted Banerjee to power in 2011, will witness her once protege Suvendu Adhikari taking on her on April 1, in the second of the eight phases of polling.

    For 50-year-old Adhikari, the contest in Nandigram will be a fight for his political survival as he had vowed to defeat Banerjee by over 50,000 votes in the seat or quit politics.

    Adhikari won the Nandigram seat in the 2016 assembly election, while another TMC candidate emerged victorious from the constituency in 2011.

    The former minister had quit the TMC and resigned from the assembly last year to join the BJP after having differences with the state’s ruling party. On the other hand, Banerjee will contest the Nandigram seat for the first time after relinquishing the Bhowanipore constituency in Kolkata, from where she had won twice.

    The TMC supremo has rented a house in Nandigram and will campaign from there.

    Elections in Bengal, poised to be a stiff contest between the TMC and the BJP, will be held in eight phases between March 27 and April 29.

    Votes will be counted on May 2.

  • Bengal Assembly Polls: Suvendu Adhikari to file his nomination on March 12

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari will file his nomination on March 12 for contesting West Bengal Assembly elections from Nandigram constituency, informed the party’s media cell on Monday.

    West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who has been representing Bhawanipur, had earlier announced that she will file her nomination from the same constituency on March 10.

    BJP on Saturday released its first list of 57 candidates for the polls and fielded Adhikari from Nandigram against Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee, setting the stage for a high-profile contest from the seat in the state Assembly elections.

    Adhikari, once a close aide of Banerjee has switched to BJP in December, last year.

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

    The TMC had on Friday released its list of candidates with Mamata Banerjee announcing that she will contest from Nandigram.

    West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.  

  • 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.

  • Amid reports of infighting ahead of Bengal polls, defectors to get BJP ticket

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  The BJP on Thursday is learnt to have finalised candidates for the first few phases of Assembly elections in Assam and West Bengal, with fresh faces in the former and turncoats in the latter getting preference.

    The central election committee (CEC) of the BJP met on Thursday to approve the list of candidates, screened by the respective poll-bound state units of the party. The final lists are likely to be released in the next few days. 

    Apparently to ward off faction fighting, the BJP is not likely to field any of the Lok Sabha MPs, as also West Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh, in the Assembly elections.

    The party is also struggling to keep its house in order, as old-timers and new entrants engage in feud over multiple issues, including ticket distribution.

    The saffron party, which had witnessed unprecedented growth in terms of vote share and mass base over the last few years, left its doors wide open for leaders from other parties, as part of its poll strategy, but that did not go down well with many senior leaders, who had once locked horns with the newbies from rival camps, sources in the BJP said.

    The possibility of naming a chief ministerial candidate for West bengal, too, is remote.  But the BJP CEC is learnt to have given the go-ahead to the party’s bid to reward the defectors from the ranks of the ruling Trinamool Congress, which includes the likes of Suvendu Adhikari, Rajeeb Banerjee, Dipak Kumar Haldar. 

    According to a senior BJP leader, the strategy had initially reaped dividends for the saffron camp, which labelled the TMC as a “sinking ship”, but it eventually led to infighting within the organisation and diluted the party’s “fight against corruption”, as several new entrants were found to have graft charges against them.

    The party recently did a course correction, and stopped the mass induction, but the damage by then was done, with the leadership now having to face the “herculean task” of identifying suitable candidates from 8,000 aspirants for the state’s 294 constituencies, the senior leader said.

    “We never thought that induction of leaders from other parties could lead to such a situation. Every day we hear reports of infighting between the old-timers and newcomers. We apprehend that post announcement of names (of contenders), discontentment within the camp will grow further,” the BJP leader noted.

    State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, however, insisted that expanding the party’s base was necessary at this juncture.

    “The BJP is a big family. When your family grows, such incidents do take place. If we don’t take people from other outfits, how will we grow? That said, everyone has to abide by the rules and regulations of the party. No one is above the party,” Ghosh said.

    Elections in Bengal, poised to be a stiff contest between the TMC and the BJP, will be held in eight phases, beginning with polling for 30 seats on March 27.

    Votes will be counted on May 2.

    According to the saffron camp sources, many state leaders and the RSS — the BJP’s ideological parent – have aired their displeasure over induction of certain leaders from other parties.

    Thousands of activists from rival parties joined the saffron camp in the last few months during the ‘jogdan mela’ (joining programme) in various districts of the state.

    As many as 28 MLAs, including 19 from the TMC, and a sitting MP of the ruling camp have switched over to the BJP over the past few months.

    Prominent among them are heavyweight politicians and former TMC leaders Suvendu Adhikari and Rajib Banerjee, Sovan Chatterjee and Jitendra Tiwari.

    Discontentment in the saffron camp, which had been brewing for a while, first surfaced in September last year, when veteran leader Rahul Sinha was replaced by Anupam Hazra, a former TMC MP, as national secretary.

    Sinha openly spoke about the “injustice meted out to him to make space for leaders from the TMC”.

    Union Minister Babul Supriyo and other BJP leaders, including state general secretary Sayantan Basu and state Mahila Morcha chief Agnimitra Paul, had in December opposed Tiwari’s induction into the party.

    The state BJP leadership had then issued show-cause notices to Basu and Paul for speaking on the issue in public.

    Tiwari was taken into the saffron fold earlier this week.

    Several BJP old-timers across the state had objected to the induction of former state minister Syamaprasad Mukherjee, ex-TMC MP Dasharath Tirkey, and rival camp leaders Sukra Munda and Mihir Goswami.

    In certain pockets, BJP supporters have also come up with posters, which stated that local leaders would prefer backing an Independent candidate to supporting “parachuted leaders from the TMC”.

    “Old-timers are worried that new entrants from the TMC would hog all the limelight and the efforts put in by them to strengthen the party would go in vain.

    They are apprehensive that they might not get due recognition, and tickets could slip out of hand,” another senior state BJP leader said.

    “In East Midnapore, there are 16 seats. Adhikari might pitch for his loyalists who have followed in his footsteps and joined the BJP. The same could happen in Howrah, where Rajib Banerjee wields considerable influence.”

    “If you accommodate them, old-timers will get angry; if you don’t, the loyalists will get infuriated. It’s a precarious situation,” the BJP leader said.

    Political analysts feel that a lack of strong leadership and over-dependence on central leadership might put the saffron party at a disadvantage.

    “Once the candidate list is out, it will lead to massive infighting. If the BJP fails to control this situation, it will be Achilles heels for the saffron camp,” political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty asserted Echoing him, another political pundit, Suman Bhattacharya, said induction of “tainted leaders” from the TMC has diluted the BJP’s main poll plank – ‘fight against corruption’.

    “The BJP, which had been levelling corruption allegations against TMC leaders, ended up welcoming some of them into the party. This has put a question mark on the BJP’s credibility as an alternative to the TMC,” he added.

    The TMC leadership — at the receiving end of the exodus — contended that only “rotten elements” have left the party to join the BJP.

    “The saffron camp has turned into a dustbin of the TMC. It is good riddance for us,” TMC secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said.

    The opposition CPI(M) claimed that the switchovers only go on to prove that the BJP and the TMC are “two sides of the same coin”.

    Making light of the claims, BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said the BJP is the largest party in the country, and knows well how to tackle such “minor issues”.

    “People of Bengal have made up their mind to oust the TMC. These instances (of infighting) are minor hiccups, and we know how to tackle it. It won’t be an issue in the long run,” he said.

    The BJP will also be fielding actors and actresses in the state, sources said, adding that since it had won just three Assembly seats in the 2016 polls, there’s ample scope to strike a fine balance between the new entrants from other parties and their own cadre. 

    ALSO READ | Bengal polls: BJP receives 10,000 applications for tickets

    In Assam, the BJP is particularly looking to draft in fresh blood to beat anti-incumbency against the Sarbanada Sonowal-led NDA government, with special thrust on educational qualifications and “innovative leadership” skill sets. 

    The BJP’s central election committee meeting convened by party chief J P Nadda, was attended by Modi and senior Union ministers like Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Narendra Singh Tomar.

    Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, and leaders from the West Bengal party’s unit were among those who attended the meeting.

    “Special focus in the choice of candidates is on the educational qualifications and innovative leadership skills to execute the vision of the prime minister to connect the initiatives of the government with the people,” said a senior BJP functionary.

    Also, potential candidates who have the ability to take the party forward in the next decade, too, will get picked, the functionary added,

    The West Bengal unit has recommended Trinamool defector Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

    ALSO READ | Bengal polls 2021: Aditi Munshi, Subhadra Mukherjee, Dheeraj Pandit join TMC ahead of  elections

    For Tamil Nadu, the party is likely to wait for the formal announcement of seat adjustments with allies before it releases its list of candidates.

    Party to field professionals in Kerala, TN

    “In Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the BJP will give ample scope to professionals with credible public achievements besides the committed cadre in the candidate selection, while the turncoats from the Congress will get the ticket in Puducherry,” sources stated.  

    With the former “Metro Man” E Sreedharan in the saddle, the BJP is likely to experiment in candidate selection to gain popular attention in Kerala to further its aim to emerge as the third force in the state.

    (With PTI Inputs) 

  • None from Trinamool keeps relation with me, says Suvendu Adhikari’s father

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Senior Trinamool Congress MP Sisir Adhikari, whose sons Suvendu and Soumendu have joined the BJP, on Wednesday said that no one from his party maintains any relation with him, while the ruling party in West Bengal climed that it is evident where his soul is.

    The Adhikari family patriarch claimed that the TMC has also issued veiled threats that anyone from the party keeping relations with him or his sons will be thrown out.

    “No one from the party contacts me,” he said.

    Reacting to Adhikari’s comments, TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said, “Sisir-da is a veteran person. Everybody understands where his soul is and where he physically is. Let him first decide on that.”

    Without naming any party, Chatterjee also said that it is now clear which direction Adhikari is headed to.

    Adhikari alleged that functionaries of the TMC have made deplorable comments on him publicly, which even leaders of the Congress or the CPI(M) have never indulged in.

    While Suvendu and Soumendu have joined the BJP, another son Dibyendu, who is also a TMC Lok Sabha MP, and Sisir Adhikari have not been attending any meeting or programme of the Mamata Banerjee-led party for several months.

    Adhikari, who has been a TMC MP from Kanthi since 2009, has been in politics for several decades.

  • BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari likely to step down as Chairperson of Jute Corporation of India

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari is likely to step down as Chairperson of Jute Corporation of India.

    Speaking to ANI over a phone call on Tuesday, the BJP leader said, “I have to contest in West Bengal elections. To prioritise this position, I might resign as Chairperson of Jute Corporation of India. Also, I cannot work having two government positions at a time.”

    Adhikari, former West Bengal Minister, had joined the BJP in December 2020. Later, in January 2021, he was appointed as the Chairperson of the Jute Corporation of India.

    The Jute Corporation of India Limited (JCI) was set up in 1971 as an official agency by the Government of India with the aim to provide minimum support price (MSP) to the jute cultivators and also work as a helping hand in the raw jute sector.

    ALSO READ: BJP will stop ‘Love Jihad’, cow smuggling in Bengal if voted to power, says Yogi at Malda rally

    At present, he is actively campaigning in West Bengal for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

    A total of 824 Assembly constituencies shall be going for polls in four states — Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam — and the Union Territory of Puducherry, said Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora on Friday.

    The polling in these states will start from March 27 and end on April 29.

    West Bengal will witness eight-phased Assembly polls beginning March 27.

    The tenure of the 16th Legislative Assembly of West Bengal will end on May 30 this year. A total of 7,34,07,832 voters will choose their representative for the 17th Legislative Assembly of West Bengal.

    On January 20, Adhikari said although he does not know who from his party would contest from the Nandigram seat, he would make sure that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee loses the poll there by 50,000 votes.

  • ‘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.

  • Abhishek Banerjee exposes letter accusing Suvendu Adhikari of extorting Rs 6 cr from chit fund agency

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Retaliating BJP’s relentless attack calling him “Tolabaj Bhaipo” (extortionist nephew), TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday exposed a letter written by Sudipta Sen, the Saradha group promoter presently in jail, in a public rally in South 24 Parganas. Abhishek accused former Trinamool Congress strongman Suvendu Adhikari, who joined the BJP, of extorting Rs 6 crore from the chit fund agency.

    Brandishing the two-page letter, the Diamond Harbour MP threw a challenge to Suvendu asking him to prove his allegation false. “You (Suvendu) do not have guts to utter my name. You talk in the passive voice. I am uttering your name and saying you are an extortionist. You not only took Rs 6 crore from Sudipta Sen, but also blackmailed him. In the letter, is clearly written then the day before he (Sen) went at large, you visited his office and took money from him,’’ alleged Abhishek.

    ALSO READ | Will quit if Centre brings law allowing only one member of family in politics: Mamata’s nephew

    Bengal BJP had inducted Mamata’s once-trusted lieutenant Suvendu in the party last month eyeing 39 Assembly seats in Junglemahal. Since then, the saffron camp has been organising regular rallies and roadshows projecting Suvendu as a key tool to sharpen attack on the ruling party on “extortionist nephew” issue.

    Suvendu’s speech in all the rallies since his defection is aimed to portray Abhishek’s image as an extortionist nephew. He also raised a slogan—Tolabaj Bhaipo Hatao, Bengla Bachao (reject extortionist nephew, save Bengal).  

    BJP’s high-command, including Union Home minister Amit Shah and national president JP Nadda, never missed opportunity to raise the issue whenever they visited Bengal and addressed rallies in the recent past.

    Abhishek’s disclosure of Sen’s letter on Sunday is said to be an effort to blunt the attack lashed out buy Suvendu and other BJP functionaries. “You were also seen (in Narada sting operation) receiving money from a person using a towel as a shield and promised him to fix up an appointment with me. I should file a defamation case against you,’’ Abhishek hit out at the turncoat.

    Sen, presently in Presidency jail in connection with the multi-crore scam, wrote the letter addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mamata on December 1 naming Suvendu and others.

  • Whoever fights as BJP candidate from Nandigram, Mamata will be defeated: Suvendu

    Adhikari apologized to the people of the district for the movement against farmland acquisition in Singur, which forced Tata Motors to scrap the plan of an automobile hub.