News Analysis India

Tag: Trinamool Congress

  • TMC releases first list for 8-phase Bengal polls, Mamata to contest only from Nandigram

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday released the list of  291 Trinamool Congress candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls and confirmed that she will only fight from the Nandigram constituency.

    The incumbent Trinamool Congress (TMC) has left three seats for its ally Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM).

    Addressing a press conference here, Banerjee said she will contest from Nandigram and not from the Bhowanipore constituency, from where she has been the sitting MLA since 2011.

    “We are the first political party to announce the candidate list. Today, we are releasing a list of 291 candidates, which includes 50 women, 79 SCs, 17 STs and 42 Muslim candidates. On three seats of north Bengal, we are not putting up our candidates. In three seats — Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong — Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) will contest the elections and whoever wins will support us,” she informed.

    “I will contest from Nandigram as I stick to my words. From Bhowanipore constituency, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay will be contesting in the upcoming Assembly elections,” she added.

    The TMC chief said the party was not able to provide seats to many because they have to bring new candidates forward.

    Suvendu Adhikari is the current MLA from Nandigram. Adhikari, once a close aide of Banerjee and TMC leader has now switched to BJP in December, last year.

    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 in the state will take place on May 2.  

  • TMC holds meet with ward presidents ahead of assembly elections

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Ahead of the West Bengal assembly election, Trinamool Congress leaders held a meeting with ward presidents and coordinators in Kolkata on Thursday.

    Party leaders Abhishek Banerjee, Partha Chatterjee among those present in the meeting at TMC Bhawan in Kolkata.

    The agenda of the meeting was to make the wards stronger. The party decided to put more flags and hoardings in the areas.

    The Central Election Committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is also scheduled to meet today and is likely to finalise its first list of candidates for Assembly polls in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.

    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.

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

  • Bengali actor Sayantika Banerjee joins TMC ahead of West Bengal Assembly polls

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: Bengali actor Sayantika Banerjee on Wednesday joined the ruling (TMC), ahead of Assembly elections in West Bengal.

    She joined the TMC in presence of party leader and West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee and other leaders.

    Sayantika Banerjee said, “I was with Didi for the past 10 years but today I officially joined TMC. I request the people of Bengal to be with us and Didi. We know Bangla wants Bengali.”

    Earlier on Tuesday, Bengali actor Srabanti Chatterjee joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kolkata. Bengali actor Yash Dasgupta has also joined BJP along with several other Tollywood actors including Papiya Adhikari and Mallika Banerjee.

    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.

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

  • BJP’s double-engine analogy will be non-starter in West Bengal: Trinamool Congress

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Taking a dig at the BJP for pitching that governments formed by the same party both at the Centra and the state will accelerate development in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress on Friday said the double-engine analogy by the saffron party will be a non-starter in the state.

    Senior party leader and minister Bratya Basu told reporters at a press meet here here that while campaigning for the upcoming assembly polls in the state, BJP leaders are highlighting the need for same party’s government both at the Centre and the state.

    “This double-engine train will not have bogies for the common man to ride. These engines must be driven at a very slow pace on chord lines, if you take into account the number of killings, attacks on dalits and women in BJP-ruled states,” he said.

    “….they are not saying how their government(BJP) is working on the agenda to hand over railways to private parties. The saffron party wants to do something similar for Bengal. They only work to fulfill the interest of big corporate,” the minister said.

    ALSO READ| Bengal needs vaccine against cutmoney, ‘tolabaji’; BJP will arrange for it: Nadda

    Castigating he BJP for allegedly making false promise to Matua community members while doing little to stop discrimination among lower castes, Basu said that in BJP-ruled states like UP and Madhya Pradesh, the backward castes are not given equal treatment vis-a-vis upper castes. “They(backward caste members) are discriminated while being served food, which is never practiced in Bengal,” he said.

    During a recent meeting at Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas district of the state, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had assured members of the Matua community about providing citizenship to them.

    “While the Matuas are already citizens in the country, BJP leaders are making promises to enforce Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) before the Matuas at meetings after vaccination for COVID-19 gets over. This is akin to total eradication of influenza, pneumonia and other virus-borne diseases in the world which will never happen,” he said.

    Matuas, originally from East Pakistan, are weaker section of Hindus who migrated to India during the Partition and after the creation of Bangladesh. Many of them have been accorded Indian citizenship but a sizeable section of the population has not got it.

    The Matua community, with an estimated population of three million in the state, can tilt the scales in favour of a political party. It once stood behind the TMC but had supported the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

    Asked about the slated announcement of assembly poll dates by the Election Commission, Basu said, “We are ready. We have no problems with the number of phases to be declared by the poll panel. We have been with the people for 365 days in past 10 years. We have been working for them. The first boy in the class is never afraid of exams as he has studied throughout the year. Those who had never been on the side of people are afraid of exams.”

  • CBI at Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek’s residence to examine his wife in coal pilferage case

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: A CBI team visited the residence of Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday to examine his wife Rujira in the coal pilferage case, officials said.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited the residence of her nephew Abhishek in south Kolkata’s Harish Mukherjee Road minutes before the CBI team landed there.

    The CBI’s visit to Abhishek’s residence comes after Rujira told the central agency that she will be available for examination between 11 am and 3 pm on February 23, replying to a notice that the sleuths had hand-delivered her on Sunday.

    The agency sought the examination of Rujira Banerjee to ascertain the details of her bank transactions, suspecting a connection to the proceeds of the illegal coal excavation money, sources said.

    On Monday, the CBI examined Rujira’s sister Menaka Gambhir in connection with the same case. Two woman officers of the CBI visited Gambhir’s residence off EM Bypass and had examined her for nearly three hours.

    The developments come months ahead of the assembly elections in the state with Trinamool Congress alleging it to be a political vendetta.

    The CBI on November 28 last year carried out a massive search operation in a number of locations across four states — West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh — after registering a case against one Anup Majhi alias Lala.

    It is alleged that Lala, the alleged kingpin of the scam, is involved in illegal mining and theft of coal from leasehold mines of ECL in Kunustoria and Kajora areas, sources said.

  • Families of Trinamool brass under CBI and ED scrutiny

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: With less than two months to go for Assembly polls in West Bengal, two central agencies swung into action in the state on Monday. A team of eight CBI officers went to the south Kolkata apartment of Abhishek Banerjee’s sister-in-law to interrogate her in connection with a coal pilferage case. Abhishek is the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and a constant target of BJP in the election campaign.

    Almost simultaneously, the Enforcement Directorate issued a notice to Priyadarshini, daughter of Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, in connection with ‘suspicious’ transfer of funds overseas. Priyadarshini refuted the allegation, saying that she was being targeted for being a TMC leader’s daughter.

    The CBI had on Sunday issued a notice to Abhishek’s wife Rujira in the coal case. Responding to it, she said she would be available for questioning at her residence from 11 am to 3 pm on Tuesday.In a related development, eight CBI officers went to Rujira’s sister Maneka Gambhir’s house. They had to wait for over 20 minutes, as the private security guards did not allow their vehicles to enter the housing complex. Eventually, officers of the investigating agency had to walk in.

    “We interrogated her for three hours and recorded her statement. She co-operated with us,’’ said a CBI officer, adding the agency might interrogate her again.The CBI had registered an FIR in November, 2020, against Anup Kumar Majhi alias Lala, two general managers of Eastern Coalfield Ltd and a few security officers. It is alleged that Majhi is involved in illegal mining and theft of coal from the mines of ECL.

    Ever since that FIR was lodged, without naming Abhishek, the BJP has been alleging the involvement of several Trinamool Congress leaders and the ‘nephew’, who they claimed was instrumental in directing the money earned from the smuggling of coal to the coffers of the ruling party. In recent election campaigns, BJP’s national leadership has seldom missed an opportunity to hit out at the chief minister or her nephew.

  • West Bengal BJP follows Trinamool Congress strategy, ropes in bunch of actors before Assembly polls

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Taking a cue from the trend in West Bengal’s electoral practice set by Trinamool Congress a decade ago, BJP has also stated strengthening its team of silver-screen figures. On Wednesday, the party inducted seven Bengali film and serial actors, claiming that they are making inroads into Bengal’s culture and entertainment circle.

    BJP sources said that the move is aimed at countering TMC’s strategy, which proved successful in previous elections. TMC started this at the 2011 Assembly elections, when popular actress Debasree Roy defeated CPI(M) heavyweight Kanti Ganguly.

    In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, as many five actors – Moon Moon Sen, Dipak Adhikari (Dev), Sandhya Roy, Shatabdi Roy, Tapas Pal – emerged winners. In the 2019 general elections, TMC found MPs in Mimi Chakrabarty and Nusrat Jahan.

    BJP had also roped in figures like Locket Chatterjee in the past before getting Rudranil Sengupta recently. As a continuation of that, the party welcomed Yash Dasgupta and six others on Wednesday. Dasgupta is known to be a close friend of TMC MP Nusrat.

    “We will pay TMC back in their own coin in the upcoming election. In some of the seats, TMC was also surprised after actors defeated heavyweight contestants. We are also going to field actors in the upcoming elections,” said a BJP leader, unwilling to be identified.

    Front’s demand leaves Left-Congress alliance in a fix

    The seat sharing deal between the Left-Congress alliance and Indian Secular Front appeared to be in deep water as the Front, launched by Islamic cleric Abbas Siddiqui, demanded 45 seats. The  alliance agreed to giving them 25. A Left leader described the Front’s demand as unrealistic.

  • TMC’s Mahua Moitra writes to Delhi Police chief, seeks withdrawal of BSF personnel from her home

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Saturday wrote to the Delhi Police after three armed security personnel were deputed outside her official residence in New Delhi, wondering whether she was under “Some sort of surveillance”.

    3 BSF men w/ assault rifles outside my home. Say they are from Barakhamba Road police station for my “protection”. Still outside my home.Am a free citizen of India – people will protect me.Request Honb’le HM @AmitShah Ji & @HMOIndia to remove immediately pic.twitter.com/7nQLy323Xv
    — Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) February 13, 2021

    In the letter to Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava, she said the station house officer of Barakhamba Road police station had come to meet her at her residence on February 12 and shortly “Thereafter, around three BSF personnel armed with assault rifles had been deputed outside her house”.  

    “The conduct of these armed officers indicate that they are making notes of movements to and from my residence, it appears to me that I am under some sort of surveillance. I wish to remind you that Right to Privacy is a Fundamental Right guaranteed to me, as a citizen of this country, under the Constitution of India, 1950,” she stated.

    Our brave young men sign up for the BSF to guard India’s borders – using them for durwan duty outside my home is a bit silly, isn’t it, @CPDelhi , @MHAIndia pic.twitter.com/LViFEu2HOt
    — Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) February 13, 2021

    “Upon making inquiries, I was informed that the armed officers had been deputed from Police Station Barakhamba Road for my protection. However, I being an ordinary citizen of this country, did neither ask nor want any such protection. Therefore, you are requested to withdraw these officers,” she said in her letter. 

    Sharing pictures of the security personnel deputed outside her residence on Twitter, Moitra wrote: “Our brave young men sign up for the BSF to guard India’s borders – using them for durwan duty outside my home is a bit silly, isn’t it, @CPDelhi, @MHAIndia.”

  • ‘Didi’s messenger’ hits road to counter BJP blitzkrieg ahead of West Bengal Assembly polls

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: After  more than one lakh persons downloaded and accessed Trinamool Congress’ app called Didir Doot (Didi’s messenger) in the last one week, the ruling party flagged off a vehicle under the same banner on Saturday.

    It is said to be CM Mamata Banerjee’s initiative to blunt the impact of BJP’s ‘rath yatra’ held recently under the banner of Parivartan Yatra across the state. The vehicle will travel to all districts in the state and district-level functionaries will play the role of Didi’s messengers.

    “Didir Doot application, which was launched on February 4, has been installed by more than a lakh users in just eight days. It’s a first-of-its-kind mobile application designed for the people of West Bengal to directly connect them to Didi (Mamata Banerjee) and contribute in achieving her mission and vision for the state,” TMC said in a statement.

    ALSO READ| TMC MP Mahua Moitra writes to Delhi Police chief, asks him to withdraw security personnel from her home

    A ruling party leader said users can directly connect with the CM via streaming and video conferencing. “People can stay updated with the CM’s initiatives and recent events. Users can be updated with latest developments through news feeds, photos, videos and infographics,” he said.

    This is not only meant to be an outreach drive but also an initiative to showcase the development work carried out by the regime of Mamata. Slugfest in the cyber world is becoming intense everyday ahead of the upcoming elections.

    Union Home minister Amit Shah, during his visit to the state on February 11, instructed party workers to circulate at least 50 lakh content per hour on the party’s social media platforms.

  • TMC MP Mahua Moitra writes to Delhi Police chief, asks him to withdraw security personnel from her home

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Saturday took strong exception to the stationing of three armed security personnel at her home in the national capital, wondering whether she was under “some sort of surveillance” and asked the Delhi Police chief to withdraw them.

    The police, however, said it was a routine deployment and as per request received, the deployed armed security personnel have been withdrawn.

    In the letter to Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava, Moitra said the station house officer (SHO) of Barakhamba Road police station had come to meet her at her residence on February 12 and shortly “thereafter, around three Border Security Force personnel armed with assault rifles had been deputed outside her house.”

    3 BSF men w/ assault rifles outside my home. Say they are from Barakhamba Road police station for my “protection”. Still outside my home.Am a free citizen of India – people will protect me.Request Honb’le HM @AmitShah Ji & @HMOIndia to remove immediately pic.twitter.com/7nQLy323Xv
    — Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) February 13, 2021

    “The conduct of these armed officers indicate that they are making notes of movements to and from my residence. It appears to me that I am under some sort of surveillance.

    “I wish to remind you that Right to Privacy is a Fundamental Right guaranteed to me, as a citizen of this country, under the Constitution of India, 1950,” she stated.

    Our brave young men sign up for the BSF to guard India’s borders – using them for durwan duty outside my home is a bit silly, isn’t it, @CPDelhi , @MHAIndia pic.twitter.com/LViFEu2HOt
    — Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) February 13, 2021

    She said, “Upon making inquiries, I was informed that the armed officers had been deputed from Police Station Barakhamba Road for my protection. However, I being an ordinary citizen of this country, did neither ask nor want any such protection. Therefore, you are requested to kindly withdraw these officers.

    A senior police officer said that usually, whenever there is threat perception, force is deployed for protection.

    “But it was a routine deployment. However, as per the request received, we have taken back our force,” the officer said.