News Analysis India

Tag: Trinamool

  • Suvendu Adhikari, other BJP MLAs meet Bengal Governor over Mukul Roy’s appointment as PAC chief

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar seeking his intervention in MLA Mukul Roy’s appointment as the chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC), maintaining that norms were not followed.

    Adhikari stated that Roy, who switched over to the ruling TMC after winning the assembly polls on a BJP ticket, should no longer be considered a member of the saffron camp, and his elevation as PAC chairman defies the well-established norm of appointing an opposition leader to the post.

    Claiming that the TMC wants to be its own judge, Adhikari alleged that the ruling party has ensured that its member gets chosen as the chief of PAC a panel that keeps a tab on government expenses to hide “questionable” pursuits.

    “We met the governor and sought his intervention as he is the custodian of the Constitution,” Adhikari, who led a delegation of BJP MLAs to Raj Bhavan, told reporters.

    Earlier in the day, eight BJP MLAs resigned as heads of Assembly panels in protest against Roy’s appointment.

    The leader of opposition further said that his party wishes to meet President Ram Nath Kovind and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and submit memoranda “describing how democracy is being throttled by the TMC in West Bengal with post-poll violence and unfair practices in the assembly”.

    He pointed out that Roy’s name did not figure in the list of six MLAs given by the BJP for the PAC chairman’s post.

    The BJP had been seeking disqualification of Roy as a legislator under the anti-defection law, arguing that he changes sides after his election to the assembly.

    Adhikari said that the hearing of the BJP’s application for Roy’s disqualification is scheduled to be held before the Speaker on July 16.

    Claiming that the by-polls should not be conducted in the state until the process of vaccination is over, the BJP leader said the TMC, however, is “worried” as Banerjee needs to get elected to the assembly to retain the CM’s chair.

    Adhikari defeated Banerjee in Nandigram by 1,956 votes, according to the Election Commission.

    Banerjee has moved a petition before the Calcutta High Court challenging Adhikari’s win.

  • Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha likely to join Trinamool, say sources

    By PTI
    PATNA/KOLKATA: Senior Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha is likely to crossover to Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress soon, sources close to him said on Sunday.

    Though through a tweet in Hindi with pro-Narendra Modi flavour recently, Sinha had triggered guesswork that he might stage a “Ghar Wapsi” to the BJP, the sources said he is more inclined towards the TMC, which recently humbled the saffron party and Banerjee emerged as a potent rival of Prime Minister Modi in 2024 general election.

    When asked by PTI about his chance of joining the TMC, Sinha refused to make a direct comment, but said, “Politics is an art of possibility.”

    Sources close to him, however, did not deny the chance.

    A section of the TMC leaders also said in Kolkata that talks are in an advanced stage in this regard.

    The TMC leaders said the actor-politician always had a good relation with Banerjee.

    Sources said there is a chance of Sinha switching over to the TMC on its July 21 Martyrs’ day celebration function.

    Sinha, popularly known as “Bihari Babu”, made lavish praise on Mamata Banerjee, calling her “real Royal Bengal tiger” and a “tried and tested leader who trounced propaganda and ‘dhanshakti’ (money power) in the just-concluded Bengal polls”.

    Sinha’s former colleague in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee ministry, Yashwant Sinha, is now national vice-president of the TMC.

    Sinha, the two-term BJP MP from Patna Sahib, had joined the Congress and entered into the fray from the same constituency in the 2019 polls but lost to former union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

    Though a big name in politics, Sinha, has not been given any big responsibility by the Congress.

    Mamata Banerjee who has emerged as a strong rival to Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls has already made it clear that her party will have a larger role outside West Bengal and in that scheme of things, people like Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha could be important for the party.

    Two Rajya Sabha seats are presently vacant from the TMC after former union minister Dinesh Trivedi quit and joined the BJP before the Bengal polls and Trinamool Congress MP Manas Bhuniaya contested the just-concluded state polls and is now a minister in Banerjee’s third successive ministry.

    Indications are that Shatrughan Sinha might be sent to the Upper House of Parliament from one of the two seats of the TMC.

    Sinha, who had walked out of the BJP after launching a tirade against Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, saying the saffron party has become “one man party and two men army”, had recently posted a tweet saying apart from three variants of COVID, there is a fourth variant of people being “dukhi” (unhappy) with Modi without any reason.

    This was seen in the political circles as his efforts to reach out to his parent party to make a homecoming.

    But, Sinha had himself described the issue as “Sunday humour” for entertainment.

    A popular Bollywood hero of yesteryears, Sinha had joined the BJP in the early ’80s when it was a party of two MPs and served as its star campaigner for a long time during the Atal-Advani era.

    He, however, fell out with the present saffron party leadership of Modi-Shah and finally left it and joined the Congress before the last general election.

    Sinha had joined Banerjee’s mega anti-BJP conclave at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata before the 2019 Parliamentary polls when he was still an MP from the BJP.

  • Trinamool protests over fuel price hike, supporters served food cooked on firewood oven

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress members protested across West Bengal on Sunday against the spiralling fuel prices that are causing hardships for the common people amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Petrol is retailing at over Rs 101 per litre and diesel at more than Rs 92 in West Bengal, while domestic LPG touched Rs 861 per cylinder.

    The protests, which continued for the second consecutive day, were held at important junctions in Kolkata, including Paikpara, Baguiati, Chetla and Behala.

    Demonstrations were also held in Belgharia, Bolpur, Katwa, Ratiganj and Siliguri, besides other parts of the state.

    TMC MLA Atin Ghosh, who led the protests at Paikpara in north Kolkata, said the unabated rise in prices of petrol, diesel and LPG has burdened the common people.

    However, the BJP-led government at the Centre is not bothered about the people as they are solely concerned about revenues and serving the interests of big oil companies, he alleged.

    At the Baguiati protest site, TMC members cooked on a firewood oven and served the food to those who were attending.

    “This is a symbolic protest. The fuel price hike is pushing us backward and we are going back to the age of such ovens and bullock carts,” TMC MLA Aditi Munshi said.

  • Mukul Roy gets elected as Bengal Public Accounts Committee member

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Senior TMC leader Mukul Roy was elected unopposed as a member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the West Bengal Assembly on Friday despite opposition by the BJP over his nomination as he was elected as an MLA on a saffron party ticket.

    Roy was among the 20 MLAs who had filed nominations for the memberships of the PAC on Wednesday.

    The PAC has the strength of 20 members.

    Nominations of all 20 candidates were found valid and they were declared elected unopposed.

    The 294-member Bengal assembly has 41 committees and the PAC works as the audit watchdog of the House.

    Speculations are rife that Roy may be appointed PAC chairman.

    The TMC had submitted 14 names, and the BJP had put forward six names.

    Roy figured in the list of 20.

    Roy, officially a BJP MLA from Krishnanagar Uttar, switched over to the TMC last week but did not resign from the assembly or was disqualified under the anti-defection law.

    On Friday, the West Bengal Assembly Secretary made the list public, which has name of Mukul Roy in it.

    Noted economist and BJP MLA Ashok Lahiri and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari also featured in the list.

    The BJP and the TMC had got involved in a tussle after Roy, who left the saffron party to return to the ruling party on June 11, filed his nomination for induction in the PAC of the state assembly.

    The BJP had submitted a petition to state assembly speaker Biman Banerjee demanding disqualification of Roy, a legislator from Kishnanagar North constituency, under the anti-defection law since he did not resign from the party before switching sides.

  • 150 BJP workers undergo ‘sanitisation’ before joining Trinamool in Bengal

    By PTI
    SURI: Nearly 150 BJP workers crossed over to the TMC on Thursday in Bengal’s Birbhum district after local leaders of the ruling party sprayed sanitisers on them.

    A dais was erected in Ilambazar area, where the saffron camp workers were “sanitised”, following which local leaders handed them the TMC flag, said Dulal Roy, a block- level member of the Mamata Banerjee-led party.

    “Those working for the BJP were virus-infected. Before taking them back, we had to ensure they were sanitised as we aim to get rid of the virus,” he added.

    District BJP president Dhruba Saha, however, claimed workers of his party were “coerced” into joining the TMC.

    “No one has willingly switched over to the TMC from the BJP,” he maintained.

    Saha further said that local TMC leaders, in a bid to avoid allegations of post-poll violence, were organising such events and “forcing” BJP activists to join their party.

    “Thousands of workers are still with us, resisting TMC’s torture,” the BJP leader said.

    Two days ago, in Hooghly district, another set of 200 BJP men, who made a beeline to join the TMC, had to shave their heads to “atone their sin” of having switched over to the saffron party ahead of the assembly polls.

  • Bengal: BJP workers return to Trinamool, some after shaving heads in ‘repentance’

    By PTI
    KHANAKUL: A large number of BJP activists from Hooghly district on Tuesday returned “home” to Trinamool Congress here on Tuesday after shaving their heads “in penance for their sins”.

    A total of 500 BJP activists rejoined Trinamool in the presence of local MP Aparupa Poddar at Balpai locality in Khanakul area and said they were fed up with the communal, hatred-filled policies of the saffron party and wanted to return to TMC, Poddar told reporters after the programme.

    Eight of those 500 activists shaved heads at the function claiming they were repentant for their conduct in the assembly polls and hence were doing penance.

    The Trinamool Congress activists had left the party for BJP before the assembly polls but returned on Tuesday after party supremo Mamata Banerjee recently said the TMC would consider the appeal of those wishing to return to the party-fold, if they were not harshly critical of Trinamool during the assembly poll campaign.

    BJP MLA from Khanaku, Sushanta Ghosh however described it as a drama staged by Trinamool.

    “It is nothing but a drama. None of our workers have left the party. Those present at the TMC programme today have no links with our party,” he said.

    BJP state President Dilip Ghosh however said if any BJP activist has left the party for Trinamool anywhere in state, they are being forced to do so by the ruling party which has been threatening BJP workers.

  • Trinamool attacks PM Modi over Alapan episode, claims petulance now a state policy

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday hit out at the BJP-led central government accusing it of trying to disturb the functioning of the West Bengal government by initiating disciplinary proceedings against Alapan Bandyopadhyay, former chief secretary of the state.

    The TMC also claimed that petulance has become part of state policy of the Narendra Modi government and the action against Bandyopadhyay, now working as an advisor to the chief minister, amounted to opening of a provocative chapter in federal conflicts.

    The BJP however, denied the charges as “baseless” and accused the Mamata Banerjee-led party of politicising the bureaucracy.

    “The BJP has resorted to disturb the functional affairs of the government of West Bengal to further its political agenda its humiliating defeat in the election.

    “It is the prime minister who sits at the helm of the DoPT, and there’s no point in guessing that this is nothing but personal rage, which is desperately finding a venting point to roar,” senior TMC MP and party spokesperson Sougata Ray said.

    The comments by the TMC came a day after the Centre initiated “major penalty proceedings” against Bandyopadhyay, amid a tug-of-war between the Union government and the Mamata Banerjee dispensation over him, which may deprive him of post-retirement benefits, partially or fully.

    The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has sent Bandyopadhyay, who retired on May 31 and is now the chief advisor to the CM, a “memorandum” mentioning the charges giving him 30 days to reply.

    Referring to the death of Bandyopadhyay’s mother a few days back, Ray claimed that the Central government is also heartless.

    “They (the Centre) simply want to deprive Alapan of the benefits that he was entitled to post-retirement. After losing (the poll in) Bengal, the BJP is trying to create unnecessary tussle in the functioning of the state government. By making petulance part of state policy, Modi has opened a provocative chapter in federal conflicts,” he said.

    The action initiated against Bandyopadhyay is inhuman, Ray claimed.

    “The TMC condemns it. People of West Bengal also are seeing how the central government is harassing an honest officer. People of Bengal will not tolerate such humiliation,” he said.

    The West Bengal BJP denied the charges and claimed that it is the state’s ruling party which has politicised bureaucracy.

    “We have nothing personal against Alapan Bandyopadhyay or anyone else. He was an all-India cadre officer, and the matter is between him and the union government. It is the TMC which has politicised the police and bureaucracy and have been using them to serve its political interests,” state BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said.

    Bandopadhyay was set to retire on May 31, but the state had recently sought and received permission for extension of his tenure by three months as he played a crucial role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

    He was, however, handed over a transfer directive by the DoPT, shortly after a row broke out over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s post-cyclone review meeting, which the CM and the state chief secretary did not attend.

    The bureaucrat, instead of reporting to Delhi, chose to retire amid the Centre-state tussle.

    He was subsequently appointed as the CM’s chief adviser.

    The DoPT had sent him a reminder after he failed to report in response to its May 28 order.

    The Union Home Ministry has also slapped a show-cause notice on Bandyopadhyay under a stringent provision of the Disaster Management Act that entails imprisonment for up to two years for abstaining from the meeting presided over by the PM.

    The notice said Bandyopadhyay “acted in a manner tantamount to refusing to comply with lawful directions of the central government”.

    Bandyopadhyay had responded to the Home Ministry’s notice.

  • Mamata Banerjee moves SC against HC order on filing of affidavits in Narada sting case

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court’s denial for filing of affidavits by her and state Law Minister Moloy Ghatak on their role on the day of arrest of four Trinamool Congress leaders on May 17 by the CBI in connection with the Narada sting tape case.

    A bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Aniruddha Bose will be hearing the separate appeals filed by the chief minister, Ghatak and West Bengal Government on Tuesday.

    Earlier, the top court had said that it would hear on June 22 the appeal filed by Ghatak.

    The top court On June 18 had requested the high court to hear the case a day after the apex court considers the appeals of the state government and Ghatak against the order.

    On June 9, a five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court, hearing CBI’s application for transfer of the Narada sting tape case from the special CBI court to the high court, had said it will decide later on considering the affidavits by the Banerjee and Ghatak on their respective roles on the day of the arrest of four leaders in connection with the case.

    Senior advocates Rakesh Dwivedi and Vikas Singh, appearing for Ghatak and the state government, had said it was necessary to bring on record of the high court the affidavits as they deal with the roles of the persons concerned on May 17.

    The law minister was attending the cabinet meeting and was not in the court premises at the time of hearing, Dwivedi had said, adding that even the CBI officials were not there on the spot as the lawyer for the agency addressed the court virtually.

    It has been alleged that the state ruling party leaders played key role in stopping CBI from performing its legal duty after the agency arrested four leaders on May 17 in the case.

    Singh had contended that under the rules there is a right to file affidavits and, moreover, CBI filed as many as three affidavits and did not take the permission of the court.

    The high court, which on June 9 decided to consider later the affidavits of Banerjee and Ghatak, was urged by the Solicitor General that the affidavits cannot be accepted on the ground of delay as they were filed after the completion of his arguments.

    The CBI, which has filed an application seeking transfer of the Narada sting tape case from the special CBI court to the high court, has made the chief minister and the law minister parties in its plea there.

    It had claimed that while the Chief Minister had sat on a dharna at the CBI office in Kolkata soon after the arrest of the four accused, Ghatak had been present at the Banshall Court premises during the virtual hearing of the case before the special CBI court there on May 17.

    Ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra and former mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee were arrested by the CBI which is investigating the Narada sting tape case on a 2017 order of the high court.

    The five-judge bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and justices I P Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Arijit Banerjee, had adjourned the hearing in the matter.

    The bench had granted interim bail on May 28 to the four accused.

    The special CBI court had granted them bail on May 17 itself, but the order was stayed by the high court, which remanded them to judicial custody.

    They had been placed under house arrest on May 21 by the high court, modifying its earlier order of stay on the 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 were ministers in the Mamata Banerjee government.

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

  • ‘Beginning of saffron party’s end’: BJP leader from north Bengal, seven others join Trinamool

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: In yet another jolt to the BJP, the party’s Alipurduar district president, Ganga Prasad Sharma, joined the TMC on Monday, as senior leader of the state’s ruling party Mukul Roy, who also switched sides two weeks ago, claimed that this was the “beginning of the saffron party’s end” in the state.

    Seven other BJP leaders from the region, too, followed in Sharma’s footsteps and joined the Mamata Banerjee camp.

    Roy, addressing a press meet here, said the BJP’s rise in the state began with the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when it managed to bag several seats in north Bengal, and its downfall, too, will start from the region.

    “This is just a glimpse of what lies ahead. The BJP’s fall in the state is imminent,” Roy, who was the saffron partys national vice president until recently, underlined.

    Asked what he might have to say about BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari’s insistence that he quit as an MLA, having won the Krishnanagar Uttar assembly seat on a saffron camp ticket, Roy said, “He should first find out what his father (Sisir Adhikari) was up to.”

    Roy was referring to the TMC’s demand for disqualification of Kanthi MP Sisir Adhikari, who crossed over to the BJP, much like his son, ahead of the polls.

    Sharma, on his part, alleged that the BJP has ignored the sentiments of grassroots workers while choosing candidates for the assembly polls, “inducting people at its own will and flying them to Delhi”.

    “We felt neglected but still gave our best to the organisation and ensured that five saffron camp candidates from Alipurduar district get to win the assembly elections. Now, however, I intend to work for people under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee,” he stated.

    Rejecting Suvendu Adhikari’s assertion that Sharma changed sides as he was denied a saffron party ticket in the assembly polls, Sharma said, “Let me ask him why he chose to join the BJP ahead of the polls? Also, I wish to know why he was made the leader of opposition in the Assembly and not Manoj Tigga, who is a senior and loyal member of the camp.”

    Coming down heavily on local MP John Barla, who has recently sought a separate union territory comprising north Bengal districts, the BJP turncoat pointed out that the parliamentarian, instead of doing something constructive for the region, is “fanning the flames of division”.

    TMC deputy leader in the Upper House, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, who was also present at the press conference, said the people of the state will distance themselves from the BJP even further due its demands of “separatism”.

    Echoing him, education minister and senior TMC leader Bratya Basu noted that the saffron camp, on one hand, is observing ‘Poschimbongo divas’ (West Bengal Day), and on the other, its MP is seeking a bifurcation of the state, with no regard for its integrity.

    Talking about Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s visit to north Bengal, the TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP said, “He is free to go anywhere he wishes to. but he should have taken the state government in confidence.”

    Dhankhar has embarked on a week-long visit to north Bengal earlier in the day amid the controversy that has erupted in the region in the wake of Barla’s demand.

    Slamming state BJP president Dilip Ghosh over his claim that Bengal is becoming a “safe haven of terrorist outfits due to inaction of the state government”, the TMC MP said, “There are central agencies to keep a check on terrorist activities. If we were to believe him, the obvious question would be what are these agencies doing.”

    “Are the agencies only there to harass and arrest student activists and the ones who raise their voice against the policies of the BJP government?” the MP added.

  • BJP leader Rajib Banerjee meets Trinamool ranks over possible return to parent party

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Less than 24 hours after Mukul Roy returned to the TMC, the saffron camp received another jolt on Saturday evening as BJP leader Rajib Banerjee, a former minister in Mamata’s cabinet, met TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh. The organizational foundation of the Bengal BJP, which largely rested on the shoulders of the turncoats from the Trinamool Congress, has been shaken to the core with many of them expressing a desire to return to their old party and a few even snapping all contacts with the saffron camp. 

    Some of the former TMC MLAs who joined the BJP have tendered their apologies to the Mamata Banerjee-led party.  According to sources, many of them have started skipping organizational meetings called by state BJP president Dilip Ghosh.  Rajib was among the state BJP members who criticized the demand from some in the party for the imposition of the president’s rule in West Bengal.

    After meeting Ghosh, Rajib said, “I oppose the demand for imposing presidential rule in Bengal. Because the ruling party has come to power with massive support. At the same time, I do not support the party’s Hindutva rhetoric.’’ 

    The crack in the saffron camp started widening rapidly after the party’s poor show in the recent Assembly elections. The BJP bagged 77 seats out of 292, far less than the 200 predicted by the big guns in the party.Soon after the election, former TMC MLAs Dipendu Biswas and Sonali Guha resigned from the BJP and said they wanted to return to the TMC. 

    With Roy’s returning to the TMC, the ruling party is expecting an exodus from the BJP When Roy was in Trinamool Bhavan on Friday, BJP’s state president Dilip Ghosh convened an organisation meeting in Bongaon, North 24 Parganas, which was skipped by three local MLAs and a local MP.