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Tag: Suvendu Adhikari

  • Suvendu Adhikari’s brother Soumendu not given BJP ticket in West Bengal municipal poll

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: BJP has not given ticket to Soumendu Adhikari, who had joined the saffron party following the footsteps of his elder brother and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, for the February 27 municipal poll in Kanthi raising eyebrows in political circles in West Bengal.

    With this Kanthi municipality in Purba Medinipur district will not have a contestant from the Adhikari family for the first time in three decades.

    Soumendu Adhikari was a former chairman of the municipality before he joined BJP in January 2021.

    He had been its administrator till 2020 after the civic body’s term had expired a year ago.

    Soumendu, who is the secretary of BJP’s Kanthi organisational committee, rubbished speculations in political circles about his not being fielded by the party.

    “We (BJP) don’t believe in the culture of vesting the responsibility of running a municipalty to the same family forever. For me that is dynastic politics and BJP does not believe in it,” he said.

    Taking a swipe at the ruling TMC, Soumendu said “We (BJP) are not a private limited company like some other party. We will win Kanthi if there is no intimidation or terror on election day”.

    During the campaign for the 2021 state poll BJP had often described TMC as a private limited company run by its supremo Mamata Banerjee and her nephew and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

    Soumendu’s father Sisir Adhikari, an MP, was the chairman of Kanthi municipality from 1990 to 2005 and Suvendu Adhikari occupied the post from 2006 to 2010.

    Soumendu had been at the helm of the civic body since then to 2020.

    Senior TMC leader Firhad Hakim when asked said, “Simply put he is scared of losing. Hence he does not want to contest”.

  • BJP alleges massive rigging in KMC elections, urges Bengal Governor for repolling

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Alleging large-scale rigging during the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections, opposition BJP on Sunday met West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and urged him to take steps to countermand the civic polls.

    Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari claimed that there were over 100 instances of irregularities during the polls, and not more than 20 per cent of the electorate could cast votes.

    “Most CCTVs were non-functional with papers and stickers pasted on the camera or their connection points pulled out. The chief minister is turning the state into a dictator-run republic,” he said.

    Sporadic incidents of violence including hurling of bombs at two booths and skirmishes between political workers marred an otherwise humdrum polling as 63.63 per cent of the nearly 40.5 lakh voters exercised their franchise till 5 pm on Sunday, when voting ended.

    High drama was witnessed outside a Salt Lake area house where Adhikari was holding a meeting with party MLAs, after the Bidhannagar city police cordoned-off the entire area and stopped him from leaving for Raj Bhawan, where he was scheduled to meet the Governor, citing a directive of the State Election Commission that non-residents cannot enter the city on polling day.

    In a video that surfaced on social media, BJP vice-president Jay Prakash Majumder was seen arguing with police officers, asking them on what grounds were they taking such action.

    A deputy commissioner rank officer was heard telling him: “We cannot allow you to proceed to Kolkata as polling is being held and you are not residents of the metropolis.”

    Adhikari also alleged he was manhandled by a junior police officer, and that the gates of the MLA hostel in Kolkata were locked till 5 pm, preventing eight BJP legislators from attending a legislature party meeting.

    Later, the governor, in a tweet, said: “BJP delegation led by LOP @SuvenduWB has urged the Governor to take steps to declare polls #KMC null and void in view of rampant violence, rigging and @KolkataPolice acting for ruling party. A thorough probe was sought in the locking of opposition MLAs in the hostel.”

    “Delegation also sought investigation into the virtual house arrest @bidhannagarpc of LOP @SuvenduWB and several MLAs, being reminiscent of emergency. According to them, ruling party Ministers and MLAs had free run with support @KolkataPolice.”

    A BJP delegation on Sunday evening submitted various footages and documents to the SEC, demanding repolling.

    Adhikari said the KMC elections is being monitored by the Calcutta High Court, and the party will also submit footages in support of its claims to the court on December 23.

    “I saw her (CM Mamata Banerjee) thanking police for having stopped outsiders. How long will she keep labelling residents of the state as outsiders?” the leader of opposition added.

  • Bengal BJP set for organisational rejig after 2021 electoral debacle

    Express News Service

    KOLKATA:  A major organisational rejig in BJP’s West Bengal unit is likely to take place following the party’s poor show in the assembly elections and the recent by-elections for four assembly seats, in which the party failed to retain its two constituencies.

    The changes will be decided at a high-level meeting soon in Delhi in the presence of the party’s national president JP Nadda.

    Several new faces are expected to be inducted in the state committee and existing district committees are also likely to witness major changes.

    “The reshuffle will mainly be focused on three factors — addressing the assembly election debacle, defection of party workers and handling intra-party rift. Some district presidents may get elevated in the state committee. Six-seven district presidents, including those of Kolkata North, Malda and Burdwan, are among those who may be changed,’’ said a BJP leader in Bengal.

    Sukanta Majumdar, the newly appointed state BJP president, said the upcoming rejig will take place before the civic polls in Kolkata and Howrah.

    “The ruling Trinamool Congress wants to get the civic polls conducted before the winter festivity that will start from December 25. The municipal election will have no impact on our possibly organisational rejig,” he said.       

    Majumdar has taken charge of the party at a time when the Bengal BJP is faced with a reverse flow to the TMC. 

    Since its unimpressive performance in the assembly elections, the party has seen the defection of five MLAs to the TMC and a few other prominent faces who had joined before the polls. 

    Sources said in the meeting to rejig BJP’s Bengal unit, Majumdar and the leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari will also be present.

    “Majumdar’s recommendation will play a major role in the rejig. He has to deliver if he wants to arrest the erosion at the grassroots which also witnessed a largescale defection after the Assembly polls,” said another BJP leader.

    Will be BJP’s conscience-keeper: Roy

    BJP leader Tathagata Roy on Sunday asserted that he has no plan to quit the party and will continue to play the role of “conscience-keeper”, a day after Dilip Ghosh said he was free to leave the party if he was “upset over its style of functioning.

  • Suvendu Adhikari alleges EVMs changed before counting in Bengal by-polls; TMC trashes claim

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday claimed that electronic voting machines (EVMs) were changed before counting in four assembly constituencies where by-elections were held on October 30, and TMC candidates won by huge victory margins.

    Alleging that in certain booths, the number of votes secured by the BJP was less than that of the voters in the families of saffron party leaders and workers, Adhikari wondered how this had happened.

    The ruling TMC rejected the allegations as baseless, saying the by-polls were held under the Election Commission and counting took place under tight security by central force personnel.

    “EVMs in four assembly segments were altered before counting. Otherwise, how can Subrata Mondal in Gosaba and Udayan Guha in Dinhata win by such a huge margin? I have information that the EVM used in Behala Purba constituency (during the assembly elections) earlier this year was counted in Gosaba,” Adhikari said at a function in Kolkata.

    Guha won the Dinhata bypoll by a record margin of 1.64 lakh while Mondal emerged victorious by 1.43 lakh votes from Gosaba.

    The TMC’s Braja Kishore Goswami defeated his nearest BJP rival by 64,675 votes in Santipur, while in the Khardah assembly segment, state minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay beat the BJP nominee by a margin of 93,832 votes.

    While BJP leader Nisith Pramanik, who became Union minister later, won the assembly election by a wafer-thin margin of just 57 votes defeating Guha from the Dinhata seat earlier this year, another BJP MP Jagannath Sarkar won by a comfortable margin of 15,878 votes from Santipur.

    The two, however, resigned as MLAs to keep their memberships in the Lok Sabha after the TMC secured a landslide victory, necessitating the by-polls.

    “In the Santipur College booth, the TMC bagged 478 votes and the BJP 8.There are 20 BJP workers in that booth and the total number of voters in their families is 92. At a booth in Gosaba, one leader has eight voters in his family but the BJP got only one vote. How are these possible?” Adhikari said, indicating malpractices during the bt-elections.

    The allegations do not make any sense, TMC state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.

    “The by-polls were held under the Election Commission’s supervision. The counting took place under tight security by central force personnel. Adhikari is cooking up such absurd stories hide BJP leaders’ failure to stop the quick erosion of support base after tall claims made before the assembly elections,” he said.

    After the by-polls, the tally of the TMC in the state assembly rose to 217, while that of the BJP came down to 75.

  • ‘Acche Din’ promise nothing but load of hot air, BJP only cares about winning polls: Mamata Banerjee

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday renewed her attack on the Narendra Modi government for its alleged anti-people policies and claimed that the promises of “achhe din” and “sachhe din” are nothing but a load of hot air.

    Banerjee said the saffron camp, which is only bothered about winning elections, has maintained a studied silence on the issue of fuel price rise.

    “Forget the promise of Achhe Din; forget about Sachhe din; they have all gone for a toss. While diesel, petrol and LPG prices have skyrocketed, they are also plotting to sell the stakes of SAIL. Several PSUs, which are our national assets, are up for sale. Can they run a country this way?” she stated, after inaugurating a Kali puja pandal in the city.

    Alleging that none of the functionaries of the BJP-led central government are bothered about replying to the letters sent on these issues, the CM said the party is “only concerned about winning elections”.

    “During elections, they come to the state in hundreds, spend thousands of crores. When the people of Bengal reject them, they forget to address their economic issues,” she said.

    Asserting that the population in Bengal has always disapproved politics of religion and hatred, Banerjee said, “People don’t want to hear your anything about divisive agenda; they want to know when the hike in fuel prices will be rolled back. The rise in fuel rates has a direct bearing on prices of essentials.”

    Reacting to Banerjee’s allegations, Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, said her government should first waive the tax it charges on fuel.

    “She should first withdraw the taxes her government has imposed on oil. Only then she has the right to speak anything against the Centre,” Adhikari added.

  • BJP opposes use of shoes to ‘decorate’ Durga puja pandal, seeks Mamata government’s intervention

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The BJP on Saturday objected to the use of shoes for “decorating” a Durga puja pandal here, alleging that it would hurt religious sentiments of people.

    Organisers of the puja pandal in Dumdum, however, rejected the assertion and said that the shoe installation on the sidewalk leading to the marquee depicts farmers’ movement in the country, and the Durga idol, set up at a considerable distance from it, is surrounded by paddy stacks.

    Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said in a tweet on Saturday that the organisers have committed a “heinous act” by adorning the pandal wall with shoes, and urged the chief secretary and home secretary to look into the matter.

    “A Durga Puja pandal in Dumdum Park has been decorated with shoes. This heinous act of insulting Maa Durga in the name of ‘Artistic liberty’ won’t be tolerated. I urge the Chief & Home Secretary @egiye_bangla to intervene and compel the organizers to remove the shoes before Shashti,” he added.

    Echoing him, former Meghalaya governor and veteran BJP leader Tathagata Roy told reporters that “everything cannot be tolerated in the name of artistic freedom. This is a grave insult to goddess Durga and hurts our religious sentiment”.

    An office-bearer of Dumdum Park Bharat Chakra puja committee, on his part, clarified that the shoe installation was at a distance from the pandal.

    “Our theme, this year, is farmers’ agitation. As part of the theme, the path leading to the pandal has shoe installations to symbolise a scene after a police lathicharge on agitating farmers, which forced them to run helter skelter. Such scenes were witnessed recently.”

    “Inside the marquee, Devi Durga and her progeny are surrounded by paddy stacks,” he added.

  • Calcutta HC stays proceedings against Suvendu Adhikari, brother in tarpaulin scam case

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Monday ordered a stay on all further proceedings in a case of alleged tarpaulin theft against Leader of Opposition in West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari and his brother Soumendu.

    Passing the interim order, Justice Kausik Chanda observed that the political overtones of this criminal case cannot be brushed aside.

    The court ordered that there will be a stay on all further proceedings pending before the additional chief judicial magistrate, Contai, Purba Medinipur district, till six weeks after the ensuing Puja vacation.

    Justice Chanda directed that the opposite party may file affidavits-in-opposition within two weeks after the Puja vacation.

    The court said the petitioners may file affidavits in reply within another week after that.

    The petition of Suvendu and Soumendu, a former chairman of Contai Municipality, praying for quashing of proceedings against them in connection with the case in Contai police station will be taken up for hearing again four weeks after Puja vacation, the court directed.

    P S Patwalia, senior advocate appearing for Suvendu Adhikari submitted that the petitioners had been implicated in this case since they had changed their political affiliation from the ruling Trinamool Congress to the opposition BJP.

    Senior advocate Kishore Datta, representing the state, submitted that since the complaint discloses cognizable offences, it is mandatory for the police to lodge an FIR.

    Observing that political overtones of this present criminal case cannot be brushed aside with both the petitioners having left the ruling party and joined the opposition party, the court said that the present criminal proceeding is one of the contemporaneous criminal cases launched against Suvendu Adhikari soon after the change of his political affiliation.

    Justice Chanda also took note of an earlier order of another bench of the high court wherein it had said “Prima facie there appears to be an attempt at implicating and victimising him (Suvendu Adhikari) in criminal cases and mala fides, malice and collateral purpose in registering the FIRs against the petitioner and his associates.”

    It was claimed by Suvendu Adhikari’s lawyers that at least six criminal cases have been lodged against him at various police stations in the state since he changed his political affiliation.

  • Mamata failed to stop post-poll violence, has no right to attend peace meet in Rome: Suvendu

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that the Centre had disallowed her attendance at a global peace meet in Rome, Leader of Opposition in the assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, on Saturday said she did not have a right to participate in such event as she “failed” to contain violence against BJP activists in the state.

    Adhikari also accused his former mentor and the TMC supremo of not taking steps to arrest those who were involved in post-poll violence in Khejuri, Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district and other places of the state.

    During a campaign for BJP nominee Priyanka Tibrewal for the by-poll to the Bhabanipur assembly seat where Banerjee is also contesting, Adhikari said, “You don’t deserve to attend a peace meeting. You abetted those who attacked our activists and supported violent acts by TMC cadres.”

    He also said, “Despite our repeated pleas, your administration was silent.

    How can you then think of representing the country in a peace meeting?” Adhikari’s remark came after Banerjee had alleged that the “jealous” BJP did not allow her to attend the event.

    The CM had also claimed that she was invited to Rome in the first week of October to participate in the global peace meet in which the Pope, other religious heads, dignitaries from various countries are slated to attend, where she would have been the only Indian and the “only Hindu lady”.

    Describing Banerjee as a dictator, Adhikari said, “Remember, you had ordered that there would not be any Durga idol immersion on Bijoya Dashami sometimes back in 2017 and the court had to intervene. Is it the true role for a Hindu?” He also accused the “administration led by the CM” of trying to stop a Durga puja in Contai in Purba Medinipur.

    “Your administration tried to stop a Durga puja as I am associated with it for 22 years. The puja will finally take place by the intervention of the court. Had you been a true Hindu, you could not have resorted to such an action using the administration,” said the BJP MLA from Nandigram.

    Adhikari wondered why the TMC supremo is “spending so much time and energy” in Bhabanipur if she is “sure of a big win in the September 30 by-poll”.

    Banerjee, who lost to Adhikari in Nandigram during the April-May assembly polls, is contesting the by-election from the Bhabanipur segment to retain her chief minister’s chair.

    A resident of Bhabanipur, Banerjee had won the seat twice in 2011 and 2016 but shifted to Nandigram, where the anti-farmland acquisition movement against the Left Front government had transformed her into a major political force in the volatile state, to dare Adhikari, her former protege, on his home turf.

    The CM had claimed that a conspiracy was hatched to hurt her and defeat her in Nandigram.

    Though she powered the TMC to a resounding win for a third straight term in office, the TMC boss failed to register victory in Nandigram.

    Shortly after the poll results were announced in May, state cabinet minister and TMC MLA from Bhabanipur Sovandeb Chattopadhyay vacated the seat to facilitate her return to the assembly from there.

    Adhikari also accused Banerjee of “having little knowledge of history as she often makes wrong statements about historical events in public meetings”.

    Reacting to Adhikari’s comments on Banerjee, a Trinamool Congress leader said, “He has proved how he has adapted to the BJP’s vindictive and intolerant attitude in less than a year after joining the saffron camp.”

    “Mamata Banerjee is very much conscious of the heritage and our history. We don’t have to learn history from Adhikari,” the TMC leader said.

    He also denied the allegations that BJP workers in Nandigram and Khejuri were attacked by the ruling party, and said Adhikari’s henchmen unleashed violence on TMC activists.

  • Suvendu Adhikari urges health ministry to send expert team to Bengal amid rising cases of fever among kids

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday urged Union health ministry to rush a team of experts to the state amid reports that a large number of children in the its northern districts are down with flu-like symptoms.

    In a jibe at the administration, the BJP MLA from Nandigram also said that officials seemed occupied with the by-election in Bhabanipur, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is a contestant.

    “WB administration seems to be occupied with Bhabanipur by election, as it’s their priority.

    So I’d urge Hon’ble Union Health Minister @mansukhmandviya ji to immediately despatch a Central team of experts to WB, to assist & aid the WB Health Dept in order to save our children (sic),” he tweeted.

    The former state minister, who joined the BJP last December, also urged the health secretary to take note of the disturbing news arriving from the northern districts, where hundreds of children have been admitted to hospitals with fever dysentery.

    “I urge WB Health Secretary to kindly take note of the distressing news coming from North Bengal, where more than 750 children have been admitted in hospitals for high fever & undetected flu like symptoms.

    Please initiate measures at the earliest as 6 infants have died already,” he wrote on the microblogging site.

    Reacting to Adhikari’s assertions, TMC spokesman Kunal Ghosh claimed that the BJP leader was trying to politicise the matter.

    “He is trying to pass the blame on the state health department, which is fully aware of the situation and doing the needful,” Ghosh alleged.

  • Suvendu Adhikari writes to Bengal speaker, seeks disqualification of two MLAs

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Monday wrote to Speaker Biman Banerjee demanding disqualification of two MLAs who recently crossed over to the TMC after having won state elections on BJP tickets.

    In two separate petitions, which also had documents pertaining to the switchover attached with it, Adhikari sought the disqualification of legislators Biswajit Das and Tanmoy Ghosh at the earliest.

    “Both of them are free to join any party but they have to resign as BJP MLAs. Let’s see what measures the speaker takes. We will then decide on our next course of action,” Adhikari stated.

    The TMC leadership, however, hit back, asking the leader of opposition to urge his father, Lok Sabha MP Sisir Adhikari, to show the way.

    Sisir Adhikari, who won the general election from Kanthi in 2019 on a TMC ticket, joined the BJP ahead of this year’s assembly polls “Suvendu Adhikari should first ask his father Sisir Adhikari to resign as TMC MP as he joined the BJP ahead of the assembly polls.

    Only then he should lecture others,” Tapas Roy, a legislator of the state’s ruling party, said.

    Since the declaration of assembly poll results on May 2, four BJP MLAs have switched over to the TMC.

    None of them, however, resigned as MLAs.

    Das and Ghosh joined the TMC in August.

    Another BJP MLA from Kaliaganj in North Bengal, Soumen Roy, followed suit on September 4.

    In June, BJP MLA and party’s national vice-president Mukul Roy returned to the TMC, four years after he had quit the Mamata Banerjee-led party to join the saffron camp.

    The BJP won 77 of the 292 Assembly seats that were up for polls.

    The Trinamool Congress won 213 seats, while ISF and GJM bagged one seat each.

    Bypolls are due in five seats, and fresh polls will be held in two seats, where elections were countermanded due to death of candidates.

    The BJP had earlier filed a similar petition seeking disqualification of Mukul Roy as MLA.