News Analysis India

Tag: Trinamool

  • ‘Mamata lacks credibility in fight against BJP’: Adhir’s slavo at Trinamool chief

    By PTI

    BAHARAMPUR: Days after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Congress of compromising with the BJP, state party president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday alleged that she lacked credibility in the fight against the saffron camp and claimed that it was the TMC which has helped the BJP gain ground in the state.

    Chowdhury also said the Congress does not need lessons on opposing “the communal forces” from the TMC which had aligned with the BJP earlier.

    Reacting to the accusations, the TMC said the party does not need to prove its credibility after the fight it had put up against the BJP during the assembly elections held earlier this year and emerged victorious.

    “For the past few days, we have seen how Mamata Banerjee and (TMC general secretary) Abhishek Banerjee attacked us alleging that the Congress had compromised with the BJP in West Bengal. They have also claimed that our leader Rahul Gandhi has not been successful in fighting the BJP. Let me make it clear we don’t need lessons on fighting against the communal forces from an opportunist political party like the TMC,” Chowdhury told reporters.

    The track record of the TMC speaks a lot about its lack of credibility in the fight against the BJP, the Leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha claimed.

    “Mamata Banerjee broke away from the Congress to form the TMC and allied with the BJP. She was a cabinet minister in the BJP government. Mamata Banerjee lacks credibility in the fight against the saffron camp,” he said.

    Showing old newspaper articles in which Banerjee reportedly praised the RSS, Chowdhury claimed the TMC’s continuous tirade against the Congress was aimed at helping the BJP.

    “We can very well understand that she (Banerjee) has an understanding with the BJP to protect her party leaders and relatives from the clutches of the CBI and ED in chit fund and coal scam cases.

    During her tenure, communal politics gained ground in West Bengal and the BJP grew from strength to strength,” he said.

    Chowdhury said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been the most consistent opposition face against the policies of the BJP and the RSS.

    His accusations against the TMC came in the backdrop of Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee hitting out at the Congress claiming that the grand old party has failed to put up a fight against the BJP.

    Reacting to Chowdhury’s comments, senior TMC MP Sougata Ray said the party doesn’t need a lesson from the state Congress chief on the fight against the BJP.

    “Mamata Banerjee and the TMC do not need to prove their credibility after the fight the party had put up against the saffron camp in the last assembly polls.

    But it is true that in many states, the Congress has failed to put up a fight against the BJP,” he said.

    The bonhomie between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress had recently hit choppy waters after the TMC, in its mouthpiece “Jago Bangla”, claimed that party supremo Mamata Banerjee, and not Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, has emerged as the face of the opposition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    The TMC mouthpiece ran a cover story with a headline: “Rahul Gandhi failed, Mamata is the alternate face”.

    The Congress had declined to attach much importance to the assertions of the TMC, saying it is too early to predict who will become an alternative face to Modi.

  • Trinamool in Goa looks like ‘Modi-Shah’ model and not ‘Mamata’ model: Congress

    Faleiro resigned as MLA of Navelim and as a primary member of Congress alleging that the state party unit is being run by a quot;coterie of leaders who prioritise self-interests quot;.

  • Poll campaigning comes to an end in Bengal amid scuffles between Trinamool, BJP

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Campaigning for Thursday’s high-voltage by-poll to the Bhabanipur assembly seat in south Kolkata where West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting as the Trinamool Congress candidate, and elections to two other constituencies in Murshidabad district ended on Monday.

    Scuffles between supporters of the TMC and the BJP and allegations of threats to saffron party leaders marked the last day of the campaign in Bhabanipur, while canvassing for the Samserganj and Jangipur constituencies passed off peacefully.

    Bypoll to Bhabanipur was necessitated following the resignation of Trinamool Congress MLA Sovandeb Chattopadhyay so that the party supremo can contest from the seat which Banerjee won in 2011 and 2016 elections.

    In the assembly election held earlier this year, Banerjee, a resident of the Bhabanipur constituency, contested from Nandigram, where the anti-farmland acquisition movement against the Left Front government had transformed her into a major political force in the state, to dare her former protege turned adversary Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP in his home turf.

    Though she powered the TMC to a resounding win for a third straight term in office, she lost to Adhikari by a narrow margin, and challenged the result in the Calcutta High Court.

    The case is pending.

    Banerjee now must win the by-poll to ensure an unbroken stint as the chief minister.

    According to the constitutional provision, a person has to get elected to the legislature within six months of taking oath of office as a chief minister or a minister.

    She took oath as the CM on May 5.

    Besides Banerjee, the BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal and the CPI(M)’s Srijib Biswas are contesting from Bhabanipur.

    The Congress has decided not to field a candidate there.

    Elections to Samserganj and Jangipur were countermanded earlier due to deaths of candidates.

    While Rezaul Haque, the Congress candidate from Samserganj, died on April 15, the RSP candidate from Jangipur Pradip Nandi, passed away a day later.

    In Samserganj, the candidates for the September 30 election are Amirul Islam (TMC), Zaidur Rahman (Congress), Milan Ghosh (BJP).

    The candidates for Jangipur are Jakir Hossain (TMC), Sujit Das (BJP) and Alam Mian (RSP).

    Votes of the three constituencies will be counted on October 3.

    Altogether 52 companies of central forces were deployed for the polls in the three assembly seats, an official at the CEO here said.

    Of them, 19 companies have been deployed in Bhabanipur.

    The central forces were personnel from the CRPF, BSF, SSB CISF and the ITBP, the official said.

    A BJP delegation met the West Bengal chief electoral officer on Monday and demanded deployment of central paramilitary forces at every polling booth and promulgation of Section 144 Cr PC in Bhabanipur constituency in the city during the by-poll on September 30 in view of the alleged attack on party leaders during the day and earlier.

    The BJP delegation also demanded that the CEO Aarif Aftab disallow Kolkata Police from having direct control to maintain law and order in the constituency on the polling day to ensure free and fair poll.

    Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta, who led the delegation, told reporters the BJP delegation informed the CEO how the party’s Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh was heckled near Hanuman Mandir in Bhabanipur during the day and had to return without campaigning.

    “In a second incident, our former state president Dilip Ghosh was attacked by the same people who enjoyed the patronage of a family in the area. We have reported it to the CEO,” he said.

    Campaigning for the by-poll, in which Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is a candidate, came to an end on Monday and was marked by rising of political temperatures.

    The BJP MP said it was seen whenever there is a possibility of high voter turnout, the TMC resorts to such terror tactics.

    “We therefore urged the CEO to ensure that central forces are deployed in each booth and section 144 CRPC is enforced in the entire constituency”.

    Asked about Ghosh’s demand for countermanding the by-poll in Bhabanipur, Dasgupta said “We want free and fair polls.

    What Dilip Ghosh said about countermanding Bhabanipur by-poll till the situation in the constituency returns to normal is based on his apprehension and real perception about the scope of holding free and fair polls.

    “We want the Election Commission to take steps to instill confidence among people about holding elections without fear.

    We asked the chief electoral officer to see that the Kolkata Police is not in direct charge of holding polls,” he said.

    BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh was on Monday pushed and heckled by alleged TMC supporters, prompting his security officer to whip out a pistol in Bhabanipur assembly constituency.

    The EC sought a report on the incident from the state.

    Party MP Arjun Singh faced ‘go-back’ slogans from the ruling TMC workers while soliciting votes for party candidate Pryanka Tibrewal.

    The incident involving Ghosh occurred when he inside a vaccination camp in Jodubabur Bazaar area in the constituency.

    TMC supporters present at the spot shouted slogans demanding that he leave, alleging that he was campaigning at a state-run vaccination programme which was not permitted.

    Ghosh was whisked away by his security guards.

    He later alleged TMC supporters “attacked” him without provocation and injured a BJP activist.

    Dasgupta said the CEO’s office was asked to ensure live streaming through weblink of the entire constituency for immediate action by central forces.

  • Sushmita Dev elected to Rajya Sabha from Bengal unopposed

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Sushmita Dev, who joined Trinamool Congress a little over a month ago, was on Monday declared elected unopposed in the Rajya Sabha by-poll in West Bengal.

    Dev collected the certificate of her election from the Speaker and returning officer during the day, an official in the speaker’s office said.

    The BJP did not field any candidate against her in the by-poll which was necessitated as TMC’s Manas Bhunia quit the Rajya Sabha after winning the assembly election from Sabang in Paschim Medinipur.

    The saffron party leader Suvendu Adhikari had said that BJP would not field any canidate against her but concentrate in its fight to defeat Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the Bhabanipur assembly by-poll slated to be held on September 30.

    Dev, daughter of former Congress heavyweight and union minister for several terms Santosh Mohan Dev, had quit the grand old party and joined TMC on August 16.

    She later told reporters “I will intensify the battle against BJP, fight it in Rajya Sabha and voice the atrocities committed by the party’s governments in Tripura and Assam and accused the Narendra Modi government at the Centre of not allowing the opposition to air its views on important issues in Parliament.

    Dev, a former Lok Sabha MP from Silchr in Assam, criticised the state Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for the firing on protestors during an eviction drive in Darrang district last week that claimed two lives.

    She had lost to BJP in Silchar in the Assam assembly polls held earlier this year.

    She was the All India Mahila Congress president before she resigned from that party.

  • Goa Congress unit a cruel parody of what the party stands for: Luizinho Faleiro

    By PTI

    PANAJI: Congress veteran from Goa, Luizinho Faleiro, on Monday said he was quitting as MLA and primary member of the party and slammed the state Congress unit which he described as “a cruel parody of what the Congress stands for”.

    Faleiro, however, didn’t divulge his plans amid speculations that he might join the Trinamool Congress even as he hailed the leadership of TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

    Addressing his resignation letter to All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi, Faleiro, who represented Navelim seat, has alleged that the Goa unit of the party is led by a “coterie” of leaders whose priority is personal gains.

    “(The Goa Congress unit is) led by a coterie of leaders who prioritize personal gains over the responsibility we owe to our people. We have utterly failed to even be an effective opposition,” he wrote.

    The two-page resignation letter also mentions that “the Congress party in Goa is not the same party for which we had sacrificed and fought.”

    “It is functioning contrary to every ideal and principle of its founding fathers upheld by Indiraji, Rajivji and you (Sonia Gandhi),” it said.

    “Shri Rahul Gandhiji too has been uncompromising in his fight against the forces that seek to destroy the fabric of our nation. However, the Goa unit of the party has become a cruel parody of what the Congress stands for,” he added.

    Faleiro, who tendered his resignation as an MLA to Goa Assembly speaker, said, “till now, none is being held accountable for the loss of our 13 MLAs while sidelining of true Congress workers continues.”

    “I see absolutely no hope or even the will to prevent the collapse of the party and the change for the better,” he said.

    Faleiro was referring to the 13 MLAs crossing over to the BJP over the last five years, reducing Congress to a single-digit entity in the 40-member House.

    In his resignation letter, Faleiro has also accused former AICC Goa Desk in-charge Digvijaya Singh, without naming him, of stopping him to stake claim to form the government in 2017 despite the Congress having the required number of MLAs on its side.

    “I was prevented from going to the governor by the AICC desk in-charge and was asked to wait till we had 24 MLAs, a decision that eventually cost us the government and allowed the BJP to steal the mandate through manipulations and inducements,” he alleged.

    He repeated the allegation in the press conference also without taking any name.

    Praising Mamata Benerjee and calling for the unification of the fragmented Congress, Faleiro told reporters that he wanted to bring a new dawn to Goa.

    “Goa needs a credible alternative and my resignation is a call for unification,” he added.

  • ‘Absolutely no hope or will to prevent collapse of party’: Ex-Goa CM Luizinho Faleiro quits Congress

    Express News Service

    Former Goa chief minister and MLA Luizinho Faleiro resigned from the Congress party on Monday and is likely to join the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC).

    Faleiro, who tendered his resignation as an MLA to Goa Assembly speaker, said, “till now, no one is being held accountable for the loss of our 13 MLAs while sidelining of true Congress workers continues.”

    “I see absolutely no hope or even the will to prevent the collapse of the party and the change for the better,” he said.

    Faleiro was referring to the 13 MLAs crossing over to the BJP over the last five years, reducing Congress to a single-digit entity in the 40-member House.

    In his letter to Interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Faleiro said “It (the party) is functioning contrary to every ideal and principle of its founding fathers upheld by Indiraji, Rajivji and you (Sonia Gandhi)”.

    In his resignation letter, Faleiro has also accused former AICC Goa Desk in-charge Digvijaya Singh, without naming him, of stopping him to stake claim to form the government in 2017 despite the Congress having the required number of MLAs on its side.

    “I was prevented from going to the governor by the AICC desk in-charge and was asked to wait till we had 24 MLAs, a decision that eventually cost us the government and allowed the BJP to steal the mandate through manipulations and inducements,” he alleged.

    Seventy-one-year-old Faleiro served as chief minister of the state in 1998-99. A Congress veteran, Faleiro has also served as AICC general secretary in charge of Northeast states.

    After his resignation, Luizinho Faleiro called West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee as a “street-fighter”. He added, “Goa is going through difficult times and it needs such fighters, which are also in the the same wavelength, same party ideology, policies, principles and programs. I am a Congressman and I would like in the larger picture for all the Congress parties to come together and fight the next Parliament elections.”

    TMC has an eye in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections so it has decided to expand the wing of the party in other states as well. In Goa as well, TMC is aiming to contest all 40 seats in the state. Senior TMC leaders Derek O’Brien and Prasun Banerjee arrived in the state last week and have been holding discussions with politicians and civil society members.

    AAP has been also trying to strengthen expand its base in Goa. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other senior leaders of APP have been frequently visiting Goa to encourage the party cadre and people to join the AAP ahead of Goa state polls.

  • Luizinho Faleiro to join Trinamool ahead of polls? Former Goa CM reefuses to clarify

    By PTI

    PANAJI: Former Goa chief minister and incumbent Congress MLA Luizinho Faleiro is likely to join the Trinamool Congress on Monday, sources claimed on Sunday.

    The TMC has already announced its plans to contest the next year’s Goa Assembly elections.

    Amid rumours of him joining the Mamata Banerjee-led party, Faleiro has called a press conference on Monday where he would make an “important announcement.”

    When contacted, Faleiro refused to clarify whether he is joining the TMC on Monday.

    “I am in deep meditation. I am reading everything. One thing I will tell you (that) people of Goa are suffering, somebody has to stand up,” he said on Sunday.

    “I will offer comments at an appropriate time,” the former chief minister added.

    TMC leader Derek O’Brien told PTI on Saturday in Goa that the party will be contesting the upcoming Assembly polls and they were in touch with several local leaders.

    He had said that the TMC will announce its chief ministerial candidate soon.

    Reacting to the TMC’s announcement to contest the polls, the Congress on Sunday issued a statement saying Goans have full faith in the Congress “which has respected the sentiments and emotions of the people”.

    “Goans will never fall prey for political gambles and gimmicks and will never compromise on Goa’s identity,” said the statement signed by Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Girish Chodankar and Congress Legislative Party president Digambar Kamat.

    Faleiro was credited with devising strategies and stitching alliances that led to the formation of governments in Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

    In 2013, he was chairman of the Karnataka Pradesh Assembly Elections Screening Committee.

    In the 2017 Assembly elections in Goa, Congress won the highest 17 seats in the 40-member House restricting the BJP to 13.

    However, surprising the Congress, the saffron party allied with regional parties and formed government under the leadership of senior leader Manohar Parrikar.

    The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has already thrown its hat in the ring ahead of the polls, with the party’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announcing free power up to 300 units per month and 80% jobs for locals if his party is voted to power during his recent visit to Panaji.

  • Luizinho Faleiro to join Trinamool ahead of polls? Former Goa CM refuses to clarify

    By PTI

    PANAJI: Former Goa chief minister and incumbent Congress MLA Luizinho Faleiro is likely to join the Trinamool Congress on Monday, sources claimed on Sunday.

    The TMC has already announced its plans to contest the next year’s Goa Assembly elections.

    Amid rumours of him joining the Mamata Banerjee-led party, Faleiro has called a press conference on Monday where he would make an “important announcement.”

    When contacted, Faleiro refused to clarify whether he is joining the TMC on Monday.

    “I am in deep meditation. I am reading everything. One thing I will tell you (that) people of Goa are suffering, somebody has to stand up,” he said on Sunday.

    “I will offer comments at an appropriate time,” the former chief minister added.

    TMC leader Derek O’Brien told PTI on Saturday in Goa that the party will be contesting the upcoming Assembly polls and they were in touch with several local leaders.

    He had said that the TMC will announce its chief ministerial candidate soon.

    Reacting to the TMC’s announcement to contest the polls, the Congress on Sunday issued a statement saying Goans have full faith in the Congress “which has respected the sentiments and emotions of the people”.

    “Goans will never fall prey for political gambles and gimmicks and will never compromise on Goa’s identity,” said the statement signed by Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Girish Chodankar and Congress Legislative Party president Digambar Kamat.

    Faleiro was credited with devising strategies and stitching alliances that led to the formation of governments in Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

    In 2013, he was chairman of the Karnataka Pradesh Assembly Elections Screening Committee.

    In the 2017 Assembly elections in Goa, Congress won the highest 17 seats in the 40-member House restricting the BJP to 13.

    However, surprising the Congress, the saffron party allied with regional parties and formed government under the leadership of senior leader Manohar Parrikar.

    The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has already thrown its hat in the ring ahead of the polls, with the party’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announcing free power up to 300 units per month and 80% jobs for locals if his party is voted to power during his recent visit to Panaji.

  • 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.

  • BJP is ‘jumla party’, will defeat it across India: Mamata ahead of bypolls

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday termed the BJP as a “jumla (rhetoric) party” and asserted that she would defeat the saffron camp across the country in the days to come.

    Addressing a public meeting, Banerjee, who is the Trinamool Congress candidate for the September 30 Bhabanipur by-poll, criticised the Centre for not allowing her to attend a global peace meet in Rome and claimed that such attempts by the BJP will not succeed in stopping her.

    Echoing her, the TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said the party will no longer be limited to Bengal and is politically ready to take on the BJP at the pan-India level.

    “The BJP is the biggest jumla party in the country. It has only lies and hatred to offer. If you speak against them, they will unleash central agencies against you. They (BJP) are the party of a dancing dragon, who will remove your name from the list of citizenship in the name of CAA, NRC and NPR,” she said.

    The TMC supremo also accused the saffron camp of bringing in outsiders to create disturbances during the by-poll.

    “The BJP thinks it can do whatever it wants just because it is in power. It doesn’t follow human rights and democratic rights in the states where it is in power — Uttar Pradesh, Assam, or Tripura. So many people died due to Covid in Uttar Pradesh. They did not allow cremation of those bodies and threw them in the Ganga. Human rights are violated in these states regularly, but Human Rights Commission won’t visit these states,” she said.

    “In the days to come, we would take on the BJP at the national level and defeat them,” Banerjee said.

    Abhishek Banerjee also said the party would never compromise in its fight against the saffron camp.

    “You are not merely voting for Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur. In future, we would fight to oust the BJP at the Centre,” the TMC national general secretary said.

    Speaking on the Trinamool Congress’ plan to foray into BJP-ruled states, he said, “We have started working in Tripura recently. We are expanding our presence in Assam and other states. In the coming days, the TMC is going to Goa too. Be ready (BJP). We are ready to take our political battles outside Bengal.”

    Hitting out at the Congress months after the bonhomie between the two parties at the national level, Banerjee alleged that “the Congress, the CPI (M) too have an understanding with the BJP.”

    The TMC boss also claimed that the Congress, the BJP and the CPI (M) had joined hands to defeat her in the Bhabanipur by-election.

    “The Congress compromised with the CPI(M) during the Left Front regime. I had left the party because of this and formed the TMC. Now, they have compromised with the BJP in Bengal,” she said.

    The feisty TMC boss slammed the Centre again for not allowing her to participate in the global peace meet in Rome, where she was the “only invitee” from the country.

    “They (BJP) lost, yet they have no shame. They are indulging in hooliganism here and in Tripura. They are now jealous of us. As I was the only invitee to the global peace meet, they did not allow me to go. But I will say whatever I have to say. I will send my message,” she said.

    “Many states do not take permission for these things, but I do as I maintain discipline and courtesy. I try my best to keep good relations with External Affairs ministry and have always supported our nation on external issues. I was not allowed to participate in programmes in Chicago, China, Cambridge and St.Stephens. How many times will you prevent me to participate in these programmes,” Banerjee asked.

    Besides Banerjee, the BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal and the CPI (M) ‘s Srijib Biswas are contesting from Bhabanipur in south Kolkata.

    The Congress has decided not to field a candidate there.

    The votes will be counted on October 3.