News Analysis India

Tag: Trinamool

  • ‘One person, one post’: Old guards make way for fresh faces in massive organisational change in Trinamool

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Monday brought about a massive organisational change, inducting several fresh faces and axing old guards, with a special thrust on toning up the party in areas where it has yielded ground to the BJP.

    TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s imprint was visible in the reshuffle as his policy of ‘one person, one post’ led to several old guards losing their posts.

    At the same time, the ruling party in West Bengal formed several new district committees with a mix of experienced leaders and young turks.

    For the first time since its formation in 1998, the TMC divided the 23 administrative districts of the state into the party’s 35 organisational districts.

    State cabinet ministers Jyotipriyo Mullick, Arup Ray, Soumen Mahapatra and Swapan Debnath were relieved of their responsibilities as the TMC district presidents of North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Purba Medinipur and Purba Bardhaman respectively.

    Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra too was dropped as the party’s Nadia district chief.

    TMC Lok Sabha party leader Sudip Bandopadhyay was dropped as the North Kolkata district president and made chairman of the district committee.

    Baranagar MLA and former state minister Tapas Ray was appointed as the new district chief of North Kolkata.

    The party’s youth wing, the Trinamool Youth Congress, also underwent sweeping changes with all leaders above the age of 40 being axed from their posts and new chiefs being appointed in several district units.

    “We are pleased to announce the new organisational appointments at state & district level for West Bengal. We remain indebted to all outgoing members for their valuable contribution. Best wishes to all new appointees! #OnePersonOnePost,” the party’s official Twitter handle posted.

    The party presidents of several districts including Howrah, Coochbehar, Purulia, Hooghly, Paschim Medinipur, Nadia, Bankura, Jhargram, Malda, Murshidabad and North and South Dinajpur were removed, and fresh faces given charge of the new organisational districts.

    The change was imminent as the dual responsibilities of various TMC leaders were affecting the organisation at the grassroots level, a senior party leader said.

    “Several party leaders were holding dual portfolios such as district president and state minister. So as per the ‘one person, one post’ policy, it was expected that many would lose their post of district president or other organisational responsibilities,” he said.

    “The reshuffle has been done keeping in mind several factors like areas where the BJP has gained ground and places from where complaints of infighting have been received. The party tried to ensure a mix of old and new, and give disgruntled but effective leaders important roles,” another senior leader privy to the developments said.

    The change of guard in north Bengal and parts of south Bengal was necessary as the BJP has gained ground in several districts and the former TMC leadership had failed to put up a fight, he said.

    The BJP had made deep inroads in West Bengal during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by securing 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, pushing down the TMC’s tally to 22 from 34.

    However, riding on various populist measures and welfare schemes, the TMC made an astounding comeback in the 2021 assembly polls by winning 213 of the 294 assembly seats in the state.

  • Narada case: Calcutta High Court adjourns hearing till September 13

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Monday adjourned till September 13 hearing in the CBI’s prayer for transfer of the Narada sting tape case, in which two West Bengal ministers were arrested and later released on bail, on a plea by the investigating agency.

    CBI lawyers prayed for adjournment of the matter submitting that the Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta was appearing in other litigations before the Supreme Court.

    The five-judge bench adjourned the matter till September 13, when it will be taken up for hearing again.

    Seeking transfer of the matter, CBI had earlier claimed in its affidavit before the high court that it could not physically produce four leaders arrested by it in the Narada sting tape case before the designated court on May 17 owing to the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in its office and that of a large “unruly” crowd outside.

    The investigating agency, which has made a transfer application before the high court for shifting of the Narada case to itself from the Special CBI court on such grounds, also mentioned the presence of state Law Minister Moloy Ghatak in the ‘Bichar Bhavan’ premises, within which the CBI court is located, quoting media reports.

    CBI had arrested ministers Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra, and former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee on May 17 in connection with the case.

    The high court had later ordered their release on bail.

    The Narada sting operation was conducted by journalist Mathew Samuel of Narada News, a web portal, in 2014 wherein some people resembling TMC ministers, MPs, and MLAs, were seen receiving money from representatives of a fictitious company in lieu of favours.

    At that time, the four arrested politicians who were subsequently released on bail were ministers in the Mamata Banerjee government.

    The sting operation was made public ahead of the 2016 assembly elections in West Bengal.

  • Mamata will be key architect of change in government at Centre in 2024: Trinamool

    The party also said on the occasion of the 75th Independence Day that the opposition across the country is trying to come together on one platform and float an alternative front.

  • ‘Insulted by elements in party’: Activist-turned-Trinamool MLA writes to Mamata

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Dalit activist-turned-Trinamool Congress MLA Manoranjan Byapari has kicked up a fresh storm by alleging in a Facebook post that he was being continuously insulted “by four-five elements” of the party and said that he wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seeking her intervention.

    While the TMC leadership said Byapari, also an exponent of Dalit literature, should not have gone public with his grievances, the BJP said he is welcome to join the saffron party.

    In another post around a month back, the first-time MLA had vented his frustration saying he might have made a mistake by joining active politics.

    “Don’t be angry with me for not getting Duare Bidhayak (MLA on your doorstep) service. Be infuriated with those – four/five elements – who are continuously spreading canards against your representative whom you have given a huge mandate amid a massive campaign by the BJP,” Byapari said in the new post addressing the people of his Balagarh constituency in Hooghly district.

    Efforts are on to derail the services people get in a planned manner, he claimed in the post uploaded on Tuesday.

    Asked what prompted him to make such comments, Byapari told reporters on Wednesday, “Some elements who did not allow many voters to cast votes in 2018 Panchayat polls using guns and muscle-power are still active in the party organisation in my constituency.”

    They don’t want that the state government’s social welfare projects “initiated by our leader Mamata Banerjee” to reach the needy, he claimed in the post.

    Byapari said he has sent a letter to Banerjee, also the TMC supremo, drawing her attention to the issue.

    “We must be careful in inducting people as some will do the TMC more harm than good,” he said without naming anyone.

    Reacting to Byapari’s post, TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said that he should have discussed the issue in the party’s forums without going public.

    “He is a writer, a creative person. He might have hurt for something. But he should have discussed his grievances within the district unit, within the state unit. He didn’t do that and instead, went public and wrote to the party supremo. This is not done,” Chatterjee added.

    BJP state general secretary Sayantan Basu said that if Byapari finds himself suffocated within the TMC, he will find breathing space in the saffron party.

    The MLA who had in the past worked as a rickshaw-puller and tea seller to make ends meet, said in a post on July four: “So many people out there are distressed and sad. They assume I have a magic wand. Alas, I don’t.”

  • Tripura Police registers FIR against Trinmaool MPs Abhishek Banerjee, Dola Sen for misbehaving with cops

    By ANI

    AGARTALA: Tripura Police registered FIR against Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs Abhishek Banerjee, Dola Sen and other party leaders for misbehaving with Additional Superintendent of Police (SP) and the sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Khowai and preventing them from discharging their duty.

    Apart from Banerjee, the case has also been registered against West Bengal minister Bratya Basu and party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.

    The FIR states that following the arrest of 14 TMC leaders and workers on Sunday morning, a group of party workers led by minister Bratya Basu and MP Dola Sen reached the Khowai police station. Soon, Abhishek Banerjee also reached the station.

    The police have stated that the group of TMC leaders misbehaved with the Additional SP and other police personnel and also shouted at them.

    Tripura Police have registered a complaint against the top TMC leaders for misbehaving with the Additional SP and SDPO of Khowai and obstructing police personnel from discharging duty.

    Last week, TMC alleged that its party workers were attacked by the BJP workers in Agartala. Abhishek Banerjee, MP from West Bengal and TMC member, accused BJP of choking democracy in Tripura.

    However, Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) West Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh on Monday termed it as ‘drama’ and said she has a habit of doing it.

  • ‘CM doesn’t have audacity’: Mamata accuses Amit Shah of plotting attacks on Abhishek, Trinamool activists in Tripura

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday alleged that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was responsible for the recent attacks on her nephew and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and other party workers, and asserted that she won’t be cowed down by such acts.

    Her allegation comes days after Abhishek Banerjee and TMC student activists were attacked in separate incidents in BJP-ruled Tripura, where the party hopes to expand its base ahead of the 2023 assembly elections.

    “The BJP is running an anarchic government in Tripura, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and wherever they are in power. We condemn the attacks on Abhishek and our party activists in Tripura,” she said after meeting injured TMC workers at state-run SSKM hospital here.

    “Such attacks would not have been possible without the Union home minister’s active support. He is behind these attacks which were carried out in front of Tripura Police as it remained mute spectators. The Tripura chief minister doesn’t have the audacity to order such attacks,” she added.

    At least 14 leaders and workers of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), including those injured in an alleged attack by BJP workers the previous day, were arrested in Tripura’s Khowai district on Sunday for “violating Covid norms”, police said.

    The TMC activists were produced before the CJM court in Khowai, which granted them bail, the party’s Tripura unit spokesperson, Ashish Lal Singh, said.

    TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who is West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and the de facto number two in the party, along with other party leaders visited Khowai amid tight security arrangements.

    Police said the 14 TMC members were arrested for violating Covid restrictions by travelling after 7 pm when a night curfew comes into effect.

    Singh said that party leaders including himself, Debangshu Bhattacharya, Tania Poddar, Sudip Raha and Jaya Dutta were among those arrested.

    Raha and Dutta had sustained injuries when their vehicle was allegedly attacked by BJP workers at Ambassa in Dhalai district on Saturday.

    “After the attack, we were returning to Agartala via National Highway 8 when the police stopped our vehicles at Khowai and took us into custody stating that there could be more attacks on us by ‘miscreants’.

    “Indeed, BJP activists had gathered at several places on NH 8 to attack us,” Singh said.

    However, early in the morning, police said the TMC members were arrested for violating Covid restrictions.

    Apart from Banerjee, West Bengal TMC general secretary Kunal Ghosh, the eastern state’s Education Minister Bratya Basu, and Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen also visited Khowai.

    Banerjee had earlier visited Tripura on August 2, when his convoy was also allegedly attacked by BJP workers.

    After securing bail for the 14 TMC workers, Banerjee returned to Kolkata while the other senior leaders stayed back in Agartala, Singh said.

    Injured party cadre, including Debangshu Bhattacharya, Jaya Dutta and Sudip Raha, were also brought back to the city late on Sunday night for treatment at a state-run city hospital, TMC said in a statement.

    Debangshu Bhattacharya said he will again return to Tripura soon.

    The West Bengal BJP welcomed the police action against the TMC activists, saying the Biplab Deb government is taking appropriate steps against “trouble-mongers”.

    Senior BJP leader and former Tripura governor Tathagata Roy claimed the TMC has no moral right to speak on law and order in the northeastern state as over 140 BJP workers have been killed in West Bengal in the last three years.

    “Does the TMC want to export West Bengal’s political violence to Tripura and fish in troubled waters? Their game plan will never succeed,” Roy told reporters.

    West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh echoed him, saying, “No one gives any importance to TMC in Tripura.”

    “They don’t have any organisation in the northeastern state. The TMC leadership is itself staging incidents to provoke the police but these will not give them any dividend.”

    However, senior TMC leader Firhad Hakim accused the BJP of “shedding crocodile tears” for democratic values in West Bengal and “carrying out barbaric attacks in Tripura”.

    Strongly criticising Saturday’s attack, TMC leaders had alleged that the incident proved there was “goonda raj” (lawlessness) in Tripura and the BJP has sensed its defeat in the 2023 assembly elections.

    Denying the involvement of its activists in the attack, the BJP claimed that the TMC is a non-factor in Tripura, and the West Bengal’s ruling party is spreading the “virus of political violence” in the northeastern state, where “outsiders” are fomenting trouble.

    Shortly after the incident, BJP and TMC supporters had faced off and staged road blockades 500 m apart on NH 8, forcing Chief Minister Biplab Deb to take a detour to return to Agartala after attending some programmes in Dharmanagar.

    TMC workers led by Subal Bhowmik, a former vice-president of Tripura BJP who recently switched sides, were protesting the alleged ransacking of a TMC party office by saffron party workers in the Batarasi area of Dharmanagar on Friday night.

    The West Bengal CPI(M) has also criticised the attack but also took a dig at the TMC alleging that it had kept mum when Left workers were earlier attacked in BJP-ruled Tripura.

  • Will support Modi government, says Congress as Opposition huddles before tabling of Constitution Amendment Bill

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Leaders of 15 Opposition parties met at the Parliament complex on Monday to formulate a common strategy on issues like the Pegasus snooping controversy and farmers’ concerns as the Monsoon session of Parliament entered its final week.

    Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was among those who attended the meeting held at the chamber of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.

    After the meeting, Kharge said that the Opposition will support The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Bill 2021, which will be introduced in Parliament later today.

    Besides the Congress, leaders of the DMK, TMC, NCP, Shiv Sena, SP, CPM, RJD, AAP, CPI, NC, IUML, LJD, RSP and the KC(M) were present.

    Opposition parties have united in seeking a discussion on the Pegasus snooping issue and the farmers’ problems, and is exerting pressure on the government.

    Parliament has failed to transact any significant business since it met on July 19 for the Monsoon session.

    Some bills, however, have been passed amid the din.

  • Akhil Gogoi to join Opposition ranks? Activist gets call to merge party with Trinamool as Raijor Dal seals deal with Congress in Assam

    By Express News Service

    GUWAHATI:  Activist and Assam MLA Akhil Gogoi on Sunday said an effort was being made to form a confederation of regional parties led by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to try and oust Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP from power in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

    “Our interest is that all regional political parties in the country should unite, form a confederation, project Mamata Banerjee as its leader, unseat the fascist and communal Narendra Modi and elect a new PM in 2024,” Gogoi, who recently visited Kolkata, told journalists in Guwahati.

    “We hope the confederation of regional parties will be formed as early as possible,” he said.

    The Raijor Dal MLA said the formation of a confederation of regional parties will also help federalism. 

    “The people of Assam have been fighting for federalism and a federal structure from before independence,” Gogoi said.

    He disclosed that West Bengal CM had made an offer to him to join the TMC and merge Raijor Dal with it.

    “Mamata didi had invited me for a discussion. Their proposal was that Raijor Dal and I join the TMC at the earliest and become the TMC’s Assam unit president,” the activist said. He said his party would discuss the proposal and take a call.

    “We thank Mamata didi that she invited us three times. Our leaders already had discussions with TMC leaders,” he added.

    “We aim to form a confederation of regional forces and project Mamata Banerjee as its leader to remove the Narendra Modi government from power in 2024,” he told reporters.

    Gogoi claimed that Banerjee has assured him of the TMC Assam unit president’s post if Raijor Dal is merged with the ruling party in West Bengal.

    He said that three rounds of talks between the TMC and Raijor Dal over the issue have already taken place, with the legislator visiting Kolkata for discussions.

    Assam TMC president Gopinath Das said that the talks were held in the West Bengal capital.

    “There were no talks with Raijor Dal in Assam. Madam (Mamata Banerjee) is pursuing it,” he said.

    The TMC does not have any MLA in the Assam assembly at present.

    Gogoi said that Raijor Dal’s efforts to form a confederation of regional parties is in keeping with its belief in the federal structure and the need to strengthen it.

    The Sibsagar MLA scripted history this year by becoming the first person in Assam to win an assembly election from behind the bars.

    Jailed since December 2019 for his alleged role in violent anti-CAA stir in the Assam, Gogoi walked out free on July 1 this year after a special NIA court cleared him of all charges.

    Meanwhile, Raijor Dal on Sunday held a meeting with Congress on forming an alliance to contest the upcoming Assembly by-polls and decided to jointly protest against “anti-people” policies of the BJP-led Assam government.

    Congress working presidents Rana Goswami and Jakir Hussain Sikdar visited the Raijor Dal’s headquarter in Guwahati to meet Gogoi and other senior leaders.

    “We decided to fight together from a single platform against all anti-people policies of the BJP. We will work together on any social problem,” Goswami told PTI after the meeting held on Sunday evening.

    The Congress wants to have a long-lasting relationship with the Raijor Dal, at least till the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the 2026 Assam Assembly elections, he added.

    “We also spoke about forming an alliance for the upcoming Assembly byelections. This is just a preliminary meeting and several more rounds will take place. The final decision of an alliance will be taken by the top state and central leaders,” Goswami said.

    By-elections are required in five Assembly seats due to deaths and resignations of legislators.

    Before the Assembly polls held earlier this year, both the parties had called for a united platform of all opposition parties to defeat the BJP, but Raijor Dal expressed its reservation in joining the Grand Alliance due to the presence of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) in it.

    Commenting on Sunday’s meeting, Gogoi said that the Raijor Dal is ready to join the Grand Alliance provided the AIUDF exits the grouping.

    “Like the BJP, the AIUDF is also a communal force. Our stand is clear that we will not be in a platform where AIUDF is present,” he told reporters.

    Gogoi, the MLA of Sivasagar constituency, said that the Congress and the Raijor Dal must be united in order to defeat the BJP in the byelections.

    The Congress, which was in power for 15 years in Assam since 2001, formed a ‘Grand Alliance’ with AIUDF, BPF, CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML), Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM), RJD, Adivasi National Party (ANP) and the Jimochayan (Deori) Peoples Party (JPP) to fight the BJP-led NDA in the Assembly election this year.

    In the 126-member Assam Assembly, the BJP bagged 60 seats, while its allies AGP won nine and UPPL six.

    In the opposition camp, the Congress won 29, AIUDF 16, BPF four and CPI(M) got one seat.

    The Raijor Dal secured one seat, Sivasagar, as Gogoi won as an Independent.

    One MLA each of United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) has died, while two Congress legislators have resigned to join the BJP.

    Former chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who joined the Union Cabinet as a minister, is yet to submit his resignation paper in the Assembly, but is likely to do so in the coming days.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Congress to woo Mamata? Party prefers for more ‘dosti’, less ‘kusti’ with Trinamool

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Congress vice-president Diptiman Ghosh on Friday hinted that the party is open for an alliance with the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress both at the national and the state level.

    The development took place at a time when Banerjee apparently seeks to take up a larger role in national politics and is scheduled to visit Delhi next week.

    “We will try more for dosti (friendship) and less for kusti (wrestling),” Ghosh said on the possibility of an alliance between the two parties in West Bengal, as the leadership of the two entities are reaching out to each other at the national level to jointly fight the BJP, along with some other opposition parties.

    He said that the Congress, being a Gandhian party, will extend its hand again if it is rebuffed once.

    He, however, hastened to add: “But how many times?” Ghosh said that the Congress will continue to criticise the TMC government if it finds any lapse on its part.

    Reacting to the comment of Ghosh, senior TMC leader Tapas Roy said that any decision on an alliance will depend on party chief Mamata Banerjee and the Congress’ Sonia Gandhi.

    “It is neither for him (Ghosh) nor me to comment on the issue,” Roy said.

    The Congress fought the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections in alliance with the CPI(M)-led Left Front and the newly-formed ISF.

    The Congress, for the first time in the electoral history of the state, could not win a single seat in the assembly elections and could garner only 2.94 per cent of vote share.

  • Pegasus row: Opposition demands debate; Rahul raises the heat on snoopgate

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  With the Pegasus snoopgate pushing the government to the back foot, the Opposition raised the heat further as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home minister Amit Shah of committing ‘treason’ by deploying the military grade cyber weapon against citizens and institutions.

    In the Rajya Sabha, Trinamool member Santanu Sen was suspended for rest of the session as he snatched and tore up a copy of a statement on Pegasus from Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw the previous day. V Muraleedharan (BJP) moved a motion for suspension of Sen, which was accepted by voice vote. 

    Sen’s refusal to leave the House resulted in one of the day’s multiple adjournments. Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge told the chair that he has given notice for suspension of business to discuss the surveillance. But, the Centre said the minister had already made a statement on it. “The Trinamool wants the Parliament to function. But we want discussion on Pegasus and scrapping of three farm laws immediately,” said Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien.

    No substantial business could be transacted in the Lok Sabha, as ruckus continued over various issues, including Pegasus. 

    Outside Parliament, Rahul Gandhi demanded a Supreme Court monitored probe on snooping and the resignation of Shah. But, BJP’s Rajyavardhan Rathore rebutted the charges, saying no one’s phone had been illegally tapped, adding Rahul should submit his cell phone to a probe agency for a thorough probe.

    Besides Gandhi, a host of senior Congress MPs like Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, party’s leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, K C Venugopal and Shashi Tharoor, DMK’s Kanimozhi and Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, were present during the protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue inside Parliament complex.

    Carrying a banner which read “#PegasusSnoopGate We demand Supreme Court Monitored Judicial Probe”, the MPs raised slogans like “ye jasoosi bandh karo (stop this spying)”.

    Opposition parties have stalled proceedings in Parliament alleging the union government’s involvement in the alleged snooping following reports that nearly 300 mobile phone numbers including of journalists, activists, opposition leaders from India and even of union ministers figured in a list of potential snooping targets by Israel’s NSO group which sells its Pegasus spyware only to “vetted” governments and government agencies.

    The government and the ruling BJP have dismissed the Pegasus Project reports as concocted and evidence-less.

    The media reports have been published by The Wire in collaboration with 16 other international publications including the Washington Post, The Guardian and Le Monde, as media partners to an investigation conducted by Paris-based media non-profit organisation Forbidden Stories and rights group Amnesty International.

    Congress Friday claimed the grant allocation to the National Security Council secretariat went up to Rs 333 crore in 2017-18 from Rs 33 crore the year before, and asked if this hike was related to “purchasing” the Israeli spyware.

    Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said the UPA government in 2011-12 had allocated Rs 17.

    43 crore to the National Security Council Secretariat in terms of grants.

    This amount was marginally increased to Rs 20.

    33 crore in 2012-13 and further to 26.

    06 crore in 2013-14, he said, noting that National Security Council Secretariat is largely concerned with administration and co-ordination.

    In the year 2014-15, when the Modi government came to power, the amount of grant to the National Security Council Secretariat increased to Rs.44.46 crore, further it came down to Rs 33 crore in 2016-17, Khera said.

    “But what raises serious red flags and concerns is that in the year 2017-18, a new sub-head was added to the National Security Council Secretariat called the Cyber Security Research and Development.

    Interestingly, that year, the grant allocation to the National Security Council Secretariat shot up from Rs 33 crores in the preceding year to Rs.333 crores in 2017-18, and the chronology here reflects that the Pegasus snooping allegedly began in the same year,” the Congress spokesperson alleged at a press conference.

    What explains the huge rise in the allotment of grants to the National Security Council Secretariat with 300 of the 333 crore being spent on Cyber Security Research and Development itself, Khera said.

    This trend has continued ever since with Rs.228.72 crores being allocated in 2021-22, he said, adding that allegations of snooping using Pegasus are from 2017.

    Referring to the media reports that eight phones of the then CBI director Alok Verma and his family members were put in the list of devices allegedly targeted for snooping using the Pegasus spyware by an unknown Indian agency soon after he was divested of the coveted charge on October 23, 2018, Khera said the expose reveals that prominent names from the corporate world and serving bureaucrats of the time, no less than those in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) were also snooped upon.

    “Along with Mr Alok Verma, two other senior CBI Officers Mr. Rakesh Asthana and his colleague Mr A K Sharma’s phones were also snooped upon. This also seems to show a direct connection with the raging controversy on the Rafale deal because in October, Alok Verma, the then CBI Director had met with Prashant Bhushan and Arun Shourie who had personally handed over the complaint pertaining to Rafale,” he said.

    Posing questions to the government, Khera asked whether the government of India or any of its agencies buy Pegasus software or not.

    Pointing out that the government has not yet directly denied using Pegasus, Khera said if the government did not buy this software, which was the other government, from which country snooping on Indian citizens.

    Was this budgetary grant increased for the National Security Council Secretariat to purchase Pegasus, he asked.

    Mamata chosen Parliamentary party leader

    West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee was unanimously chosen chairperson of the Trinamool Parliamentary Party, possibly to build her national profile before her high voltage Delhi trip. A seven-term MP, she is not a member of Parliament at present.

    Trinamool raps suspension

    “We consider Sen’s suspension as malicious and arbitrary. We condemn it. The order was without any justification and has no provision in law,” Trinamool chief whip Sukhendu Shekhar Ray said.

    (With PTI Inputs)