News Analysis India

Tag: Trinamool

  • Trinamool worker hacked to death in poll-bound Bengal

    By PTI
    JALPAIGURI: A worker of the ruling Trinamool Congress was hacked to death in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district, the police said on Monday.

    Four persons were arrested in connection with the killing of Ranjit Adhikari.

    The TMC accused the BJP of being involved in the incident, while the saffron party claimed that it was the result of the infighting in the ruling party.

    The murder occurred months before the assembly election in the state.

    Police said that Adhikari was attacked at Saptibari area of Maynaguri block when he was returning home from a party programme on Sunday night.

    Adhikari was taken to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

    Sibsankar Majumdar, a local TMC leader, alleged that the BJP is behind the killing of Adhikari.

    Denying the charge, the saffron party’s Jalpaiguri district vice-president Dipen Pramanik claimed that the murder is the fallout of the infighting in the TMC.

    Jalpaiguri SP Pradip Kumar Yadav said that the police have launched an investigation and four persons were arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by the victim’s family.

    Adhikari’s body was handed over to the family after postmortem examination.

    It was cremated after TMC leaders paid their last respect to the party worker.

  • Bengal polls: Left, Congress to hammer seat-sharing deal by January-end

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Left Front (LF) and Congress, who have decided to contest the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal together, on Sunday held the first formal meeting to chalk out a seat-sharing formula.

    While the Congress wanted to field candidates in 130 out of 294 seats, the Left refused to agree to the demand.  

    LF chairman Biman Bose said two more meetings would be held and a seat-sharing deal would be finalised this month itself.

    “There is no misunderstanding between us. Even though we are yet to seal the deal, we will fight the election together to save the state from religious polarisation,” said Bose.

    Congress state president Adhir Chowdhury, who refused to respond to the TMC’s recent call to support it, said the LF has many partners and it needed time to discuss the issue with those parties.

    Recently, the TMC gave a call to non-BJP parties to support it to decimate the BJP in Bengal.

    “If the LF and Congress are seriously anti-BJP, they should support Mamata Banerjee in her fight. She is the real face of secular politics against the BJP,” TMC MP and spokesperson Saugata Roy had said.

    Chowdhury, who never misses an opportunity to blame the ruling party for BJP’s rise in Bengal, said, “We are not interested in supporting the TMC. The ruling party has been poaching our MLAs for last 10 years. If Mamata is serious in fighting the BJP, then she should join the Congress as it is the only national party to fight against communalism.”

    The LF and Congress wanted to strike a deal in 2019 Lok Sabha polls but their talks failed after the CPI(M) rejected the Congress demand for Raiganj seat.  

    The LF and Congress had contested Assembly polls in 2016 in alliance. While the Congress bagged 44 seats, the LF had to satisfy itself with just  26.

    “In many seats, our candidates were not supported by Congress voters. This was why we faced a debacle despite having a deal with the Congress,” said a CPI(M) leader. 

    Disenchanted Satabdi appointed to TMC committee

    Amid speculations about Trinamool leader Satabdi Roy’s defection to the BJP, the actor-turned-MP from Birbhum has been elevated as the vice-president of the ruling party’s state committee. Meanwhile, Satabdi said she hoped to resolve her issues with the party soon.

  • BJP to organise ‘Paribartan Yatras’ in Bengal ahead of assembly polls

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: With an eye on the forthcoming assembly elections in West Bengal in the next few months, the BJP is set to take out ‘Paribartan Yatras’ across the state, a senior party leader said on Sunday.

    BJP state president Dilip Ghosh told a press meet here that the yatras with a message of ‘paribartan’ (change) will be held in different zones to bolster the party’s connect with people before the polls.

    Elections to the 294-member state assembly are due in April-May.

    “We had wanted to bring out similar ‘Jan Sampark Abhijan’ across the state two and half years back but were not allowed by the administration. This time before the elections our ‘Paribartan Yatras’ will strengthen the ties of the BJP with people of Bengal, who are angry with the corrupt Trinamool Congress (TMC) regime,” Ghosh said.

    A senior party leader said, the rallies will be taken out in five zones, each to be led by a central leader of the saffron party.

    Talking to reporters after day-long deliberatons among state party leaders about the future strategy to fight the polls, Ghosh said, booth committees will be formed everywhere by January 31.

    “Our aim is to strengthen booth-level organisations,” he said.

    Among others BJP Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya, leaders Babul Supriyo, Kolkata observer Sovan Chatterjee attended the organisational meeting.

    State BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu said, party workers will reach out to every household to campaign for ‘Aar Noy Annyay’ (Misdeeds won’t be accepted any more) before the polls.

    Asked about the appointment of TMC MP Satabdi Roy as vice-president of the state unit of the ruling Trinamool Congress shortly after she voiced her grievances over the state of affairs in the party, Ghosh said, “with leaders deserting the party, the TMC is frantically trying to please the dissenters by offering them posts.”

    Faced with disintegration and “civil war within itself”, the TMC is “desperately” bringing the names of icons such as Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda to attack the BJP now and again and harping on the issue of Bengali heritage, Ghosh said.

    On seat-sharing talks between the Left Front and the Congress, the BJP leader said “everyone knows what happened to the seat sharing alliance between them in 2016 assembly polls.

    How many seats had they won? Even in 2019 Lok Sabha polls the Left and the Congress could not make much dent. The two parties have been reduced to virtual non-entities here.”

    During the 2016 assembly elections, the two parties had stitched an alliance and bagged 76 seats.

    However, during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the two parties had fought separately and while the Congress won two seats, the Left Front, which ruled the state from 1977-2011, drew a blank.

    Leaders of the TMC have called upon the Congress and the Left to join the battle against the BJP as “they are scared to face us alone. By such antics they are only exposing themselves before the people of the state”, he said.

    Asked about comments by TMC strongman in Birbhum Anubrata Mondal to “beat up the BJP and throw them away beyond boundaries (thengiye pagarpar),” Ghosh said, “the people of Birbhum will give a befitting reply to Mondal”.

    BJP leaders claimed that around 200 TMC workers from South 24 Parganas district joined the saffron party on Sunday.

  • Speculation about Mamata’s close Shatabdi Roy going to BJP intensified

    As the assembly elections in West Bengal are approaching, the political mercury has been rising in the state. Now the speculation of TMC MP Shatabdi Roy, close to Trinamool Congress President and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and joining BJP, has intensified. These speculations are being made from the Facebook posts of the supporters of the century. Shatabdi Roy has been an MP from Birbhum since 2009. The post reads, “I don’t get many news of the program. How can I go if I don’t know? I also have mental pain with this. In the last ten years I have spent more time representing you or you from my home, trying my best to do things, even the enemies accept it, so I am trying to make a decision in this new year so that I can fully I can be with you.

    As the assembly elections in West Bengal are approaching, the political mercury has been rising in the state. Now the speculation of TMC MP Shatabdi Roy, close to Trinamool Congress President and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and joining BJP, has intensified. These speculations are being made from the Facebook posts of the supporters of the century. Shatabdi Roy has been an MP from Birbhum since 2009. The post reads, “I don’t get many news of the program. How can I go if I don’t know? I also have mental pain with this. In the last ten years I have spent more time representing you or you from my home, trying my best to do things, even the enemies accept it, so I am trying to make a decision in this new year so that I can fully I can be with you.

  • Development vs Hindutva: Didi to follow Kejriwal-style poll campaign to counter BJP

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: In lessons drawn from the campaign style of Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP in the Delhi Assembly polls, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has asked her party workers to initiate work for the 2021 manifesto highlighting development projects implemented by her government.

    The CM has sought suggestions from her party workers, MPs and MLAs to focus on specific issues to be showcased in the manifesto ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls.

    “We will follow the AAP model as it proved effective against BJP’s aggressive campaign in Delhi. In the manifesto, the CM wants to highlight a slew of government schemes implemented in the last 10 years. She also wants the party document to mention TMC’s promises made in the 2016 polls and how these were fulfilled on the ground,” said a senior TMC leader.

    It will also mention the time taken to complete the government projects which were announced before the 2016 polls.

    Party sources said results of a survey conducted by election strategist Prashant Kishor and his team would also find a place in the manifesto, which will be designed considering the BJP as the main rival.

    “The saffron camp’s divisive agenda will also be mentioned,” said another TMC leader.

    The TMC chief ’s focus on young foot-soldiers is due to the fact that the number of young voters aged between 18 and 25 is sizable in all the 294 Assembly constituencies.

    The sources said after filtering the opinion from cadres and elected representatives, a draft manifesto would be prepared.

    “The CM on several occasions has hit out at the BJP for bringing into Bengal leaders from outside. We’ll take it up ahead of the polls,” said a TMC leader.

  • Big turncoat influx from Trinamool comes with its share of worries for BJP

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Why is the rank and file of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) making a beeline for BJP, was a question the party’s national president J P Nadda sought answer to when he met the core committee at Burdwan on Saturday.

    The question arose in the wake of reports of clashes among the old and new hands, especially the turncoats.

    “During the Saturday’s conversation, Naddaji realised that many TMC leaders were joining the BJP with the hopes of getting tickets. Their followers, aspiring for party berths, are following them. The leadership has instructed us to welcome the TMC defectors, and the state unit has no role in the induction process,” said a senior BJP leader in Kolkata.

    Sources in the BJP said the exodus from TMC is attributable to BJP’s bright chances of toppling the TMC. 

    While Nadda did not pursue the matter, he made it clear that he knew the turncoats were power-hungry and shifting side eyeing berths in the party.

    A section of BJP leaders in Bengal has already opposed the decision of welcoming TMC turncoats, claiming it might trigger intra-party feud. 

    Several clashes between the old BJP hands and newcomers have already taken place in the recent past.

    Two BJP functionaries were issued show-cause notices after they opposed the induction of TMC MLA Jitendra Tiwari.

    The exodus from the TMC might strain the saffron camp’s intra-party fabric ahead of the Assembly elections, said another BJP leader. 

    “BJP has made inroads, riding on the shift in CPM supporters’ political alignment. The CPM workers had been considering the BJP as a platform to combat TMC.

    The migration from the TMC workers to BJP has created bad blood between CPM-turned BJP worker, as they now are finding their rival faces sitting across the same bench,”  the leader said.

    The discontent came to a head two days ago in front of BJP’s state president Dilip Ghosh and Bengal observer Kailash Vijayvargiya in a rally in Nandigram. 

    The saffron camp announced a mega induction session and when the TMC turncoats arrived, BJP workers attacked them with plastic chairs and bricks.

    Ghosh had to stop his speech and ask the workers to stay disciplined.

    Former TMC strongman Suvendu Adhikari, who joined the BJP last month, could not address the rally.

    The induction session had to be called off after the clash.

  • JP Nadda To BJP Workers At Organisational Meet In Bengal ‘: Expose All Corruption In TMC

    BJP national president JP Nadda on Monday directed the party workers to expose all the corruption in the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal. In an emergency organizational meeting held with BJP workers in Siliguri, Nadda directed them to inform people about the tyranny of the ruling party and the culture of cut-money in the state.

    After the meeting, West Bengal BJP General Secretary Sayantan Basu told reporters that detailed discussion was held on the preparations for each Assembly constituency in light of the upcoming elections. Nadda laid emphasized on enhancing the performance and efficiency of the party at the booth level.

    Basu said the BJP national President expressed dissatisfaction with the TMC’s terror in the state. BJP workers in Bengal are facing fierce struggle every day and he also expressed concern over the killing of more than a hundred party workers. Besides, the State Government’s negligence in dealing with Coronavirus pandemic was also discussed in the meeting, he added. 

    During his day-long visit to North Bengal, JP Nadda paid tributes to Tagore Panchanan Burman at a ceremony at Nauka Ghat and later visited the Anandamoyi Kalibari Temple.