News Analysis India

Tag: Trinamool

  • INTERVIEW | Goans want Congress rule to return: Digambar Kamat ahead of 2022 polls

    Express News Service

    Former Goa CM and Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat tells Sudhir Suryawanshi in an exclusive interview over phone that people of the state will reject TMC and AAP as they are “outsiders” and “BJP’s B team”.

    Holding the BJP government responsible for the death of 3,500 people due to mishandling of the Covid pandemic and failure to ensure the supply of medical oxygen, the Congress leader said Goans will throw the party out of power in the upcoming election.

    Why should people vote Congress in the Assembly election due early next year?

    There is a strong undercurrent against the BJP in Goa. People are comparing my tenure as CM from 2007 to 2015 with the BJP’s 10-year rule. In the last 10 years, poverty in Goa has increased.

    People dependent on daily wages are suffering a lot with no help from the government.

    The people we are meeting tell us that things were better under the Congress. They are remembering the good days when the Congress was in power and want those days to return.

    They repent voting for the BJP and are ready to correct their mistake in the upcoming elections.

    Where has the BJP government failed?

    The BJP in Goa failed on all fronts. It mishandled the pandemic, which resulted in the merciless killing of 3,500 people.

    People were gasping for breath, but the BJP-led government failed to provide them oxygen. The High Court had to intervene to extend medical facilities to the people of Goa.

    A PIL was filed. When the court was hearing the case, people were dying in hospitals due to shortage of oxygen. This is one of the most careless governments the people of Goa have seen.

    The Covid positivity rate in Goa was 15%, which was the highest across India.

    The government failed to take care of the health of the people. Moreover, the BJP is turning the beautiful coastal state into a coal hub through three linear projects. The people oppose this vehemently. To turn Goa into a coal hub, 15,000 trees were felled.

    Goa has been made a transit hub. There is a big environmental issue here.

    When I was CM, the people had opposed the proposed 17 Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Our president Sonia Gandhi told me that we should be with the people of Goa.

    We listened to the people and scrapped these SEZ projects immediately. But now there is no one in the government to hear the people’s voice.

    Moreover, large-scale migration has been happening. Earlier, only uneducated people used to migrate in search of jobs, but now educated people are leaving for better opportunities outside.

    They are not seeing any future in Goa. Earlier, educated people used to come to Goa and stay here.

    This is a serious problem, but the government has no time to address the brain drain and migration issue.

    What difference can you see between Manohar Parrikar as CM and the incumbent CM Pramod Sawant?

    I will not comment on this.

    Is corruption an issue in Goa?

    The BJP-led government is full of vested interests. Its own MLAs are making serious allegations. Three BJP MLAs made allegations against the PWD minister that Rs 17 crore had been taken for recruitment of engineers in PWD.

    One candidate has paid Rs 25 lakh. There is no transparency and fair recruitment in Goa. Like Madhya Pradesh, there is another Vyapam scam in Goa.

    This is a big developing scam. The allegations are serious and needs a fair probe. There is no system in place in Goa.

    What impact will TMC and AAP have on the Goa elections?

    Both TMC and AAP will have zero impact. In the last elections too, AAP had come with a lot of fanfare, but what happened? They did not win even a single seat in the 40-member House.

    The same thing will happen with TMC. People of Goa are feeling humiliated by the way the people of Delhi and Kolkata are behaving. Goan people are not on sale.

    We have our self-pride and history of fighting against tyranny. No one can buy the Goan voters. They will reject these parties of outsiders.

    Goa should be ruled only by Goans, not by people sitting in Delhi and Kolkata. TMC wants to divide the anti-BJP votes, but the people of Goa are smart enough to understand the divide-and-rule tactics.

    TMC says it is anti-BJP, but it has poached Congress or NCP MLAs, not a single BJP MLA. Then how can it be called an anti-BJP party? It is like the BJP’s B team that seeks to damage anti-BJP parties and help the BJP.

    There will not be a division of votes. People want Congress rule to return and bring them prosperity. The Congress has made immense contribution in the development of Goa.

    It gave Goa the separate statehood status, as also its own identity by granting official status to Konkani language and culture. Congress is Goa and Goa is Congress.

    No one can separate them. TMC does not understand the Goan mentality. Many came and went back from here, but Goa has remained Goa.

    In 2017, Congress was the single largest party, yet it failed to form the government. Will this mistake be corrected or repeated again?

    In 2017, the people of Goa gave us the highest numbers of seats — 17 in the 40-member House — while the BJP got only 13 seats.

    The mandate was in our favour. But some leaders did some miscalculation and mismanagement, and we failed to form the government.

    Our leader P Chidambaram has apologised for the 2017 blunder of not forming the government despite the people’s mandate.

    People are big-hearted enough to accept our mistakes. This time, we will ensure there will be no mistake when it comes to forming the government in Goa.

    This time, we will give a clean candidate who has a good image in society.

    Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut met Congress leader Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi. Is there any pre-poll alliance with Shiv Sena or the NCP in Goa?

    Decisions on alliance with smaller parties like Shiv Sena and NCP will be taken by our central leadership.

    The talks with Sena may be at the senior level, but there is no such thing at the local level.

    However, we will accept and implement whatever our leaders decide. We have already started our campaign at the local level and connecting with the people.

  • Desire to work for ‘roots’ directs shot at new ‘court’ of politics: Leander Paes

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: It was a case of game, set and match for tennis legend-turned-political debutante Leander Paes.

    The 48-year-old Olympic medalist who was born in Kolkata to a Goanese father, said he wanted to work for Goa where his roots lay, and knew TMC from his association with the City of Joy, and decided to give vent to his “passion” to work for people by joining the party ahead of elections to the tiny coastal state.

    “My profession took me away from my roots and now that I have returned after retiring (from tennis) I have got this opportunity from Goa,” Peas told PTI in a telephonic interview.

    “My aim now is to do good for brothers and sisters of my country, I am starting that from Goa and I believe politics is the best way for that,” said the winner of numerous grand slam titles in tennis.

    Paes said that though there have been offers from several parties, he chose to join Trinamool Congress.

    “The opportunity of joining politics has been coming to me for many years. But this time, it was the right opportunity, the correct time, I was in the right position of my life where I have finished with my tennis career and have the time, space, mind(frame) and the passion to give to this (new career in politics),” said the alumni of Kolkata’s prestigious La Martiniere School and St Xavier’s College.

    Paes, whose father Vece Paes, played mid-field for the award winning Indian field hockey team in the 1972 Munich Olympics, won the bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the first Indian to win an individual medal after 1952.

    His decision to switch to politics, a quarter of a century after Atlanta, took many by surprise.

    “The reason I joined TMC Goa is because of its ideology,” he averred.

    Several Congressmen who have also joined the TMC in Goa have spoken of the party’s secular credentials as the reason for their choosing to go with party which has entered the state recently.

    The Trinamool Congress announced its presence in the former Potugese enclave by inducting ex-Congress leader Luizenho Faleiro and several Congressmen into its fold in September and October this year.

    Congress which had emerged as the largest single party in Goa in 2017, has since been hit by desertions to the BJP and now to the TMC.

    “I have been given the opportunity by `Didi’ (TMC Supremo Mamata Banerjee). We have systematic plans to better the lives of the people of Goa. I feel with all the research we have done, Goa can really be a shining state of India,” the tennis star added.

    Paes said he chose Goa over Kolkata as he now lives in Goa, a place where his family has historical roots.

    “Now I live in Goa. My paternal roots are from Goa. My mother is from Bengal and she has Bengali heritage and my father from Goa and he has got Goanese heritage. Its lovely coming back to my roots,” he said, adding “at the end of the day, I play for saffron, white and green (Indian colours).”

    Showering accolades on Banerjee for working to develop the state, Peas said, “West Bengal is really well sorted. Some wonderful governance is going on in West Bengal which is the safest state in the country for women. Now, in Goa there are some great opportunities to do good things and I feel that there is a need for good, conscientious and clean governance.”

    Paes said he was confident “about TMC’s good show” in Goa and said among plans are to work for women’s safety, safe drinking water, electricity, roads and employment opportunities.

    “One out of four persons in Goa does not have a job, and this can be systematically taken care of by the government creating opportunities here,” he pointed out.

    “At TMC Goa we have prepared a systematic plan to better the lives of Goans. And good, systematic governance is not rocket science,” he claimed.

    TMC has among other things, promised that if voted to power it would roll out a guaranteed income support to women.

    Paes, who has already started campaigning door to door, meeting people from different walks of the society, said candidature issues will be “clear in a few days’ time.”

    Asked how difficult it is for him to adjust to his new `passion’, Paes said, “though politics is very different from tennis,” there are “certain points I can relate to”.

    These, he said, include “similar discipline, team game(smanship).”

    “It’s just the way I had played for the country in the Davis Cup, there are similar traits needed,” said the tennis star, better known for his drop shots and volleying, than for his mastery on the clay court of politics.

  • Video of people from Bengal arriving in Goa for poll work fake, says Trinamool

    By PTI

    PANAJI: A video being circulated on social media of people from West Bengal arriving by train in Goa to vote for the Trinamool Congress in the 2022 Assembly polls here was fake, the Mamata Banerjee-led party said on Tuesday.

    Addressing a press conference, TMC leader Trajano D’Mello said the BJP government in Goa should take action if they believe the video is true.

    He also said by making such claims, the BJP and its IT Cell which was forwarding it across social media platforms, were discrediting the Election Commission.

    “The video is fake and BJP workers and leaders are forwarding it along with their purchasing partner the Congress. Such fake videos are emerging because the ruling BJP is shivering with fear after the TMC announced an alliance with MGP for the Goa polls,” he claimed.

    Incidentally, addressing a public gathering in Ponda during the day, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had spoken about the video, and had claimed 500 people were arriving from West Bengal daily for a sum of Rs 500 per month to convince people to vote for a particular party.

    In the video, some youth can be heard saying they have been brought here by a poll consultancy firm to vote in the upcoming Goa elections.

    In a veiled reference to the alleged post-poll violence in TMC-ruled West Bengal, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday appealed to local people not to visit Kolkata “even by mistake”.

    Without taking any names, he also slammed supporters of TMC and others for comparing the party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to goddess Shantadurga.

    Sawant was addressing a gathering at Ponda town after inducting former Congress MLA Ravi Naik in the BJP.

    Former Maharashtra chief minister and BJP’s Goa in-charge for polls Devendra Fadanavis was present along with Goa BJP chief Sadanand Shet Tanavade.

    “Someone comes from Delhi (referring to AAP), TMC comes and MGP ties up with them (for upcoming Goa polls),” Sawant said.

    The chief minister accused both the parties (TMC and AAP) of telling “blatant lies” in the run-up to the Goa polls, due in February next year.

    “Our people don’t go to Delhi. And don’t go to Kolkata, even by mistake. I am telling you the truth. Don’t dare to go there (Kolkata). Do you know what happened there post the recent elections (in West Bengal)? Do you want that kind of violence in Goa?” he asked.

    Without taking the name of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Sawant said that some leaders are calling her bigger than goddess Shantadurga.

    “Have they turned insane? They are comparing her (Mamata) to the goddess. We have to tell them that she cannot be compared with our goddess Shantadurga,” he commented.

    Sawant said Goa is a cultured state where Goans treat Muslims, Hindus, and Christians as brothers and sisters.

    “Here no one kills anyone or commits atrocities on anyone,” he said.

    The chief minister alleged that 500 people arrive from Kolkata in Goa by train every day.

    “You have seen a video. They (people from Kolkata) come here and are paid Rs 500 per day,” he said insinuating that the TMC lacked local support for campaigning.

  • Cultures of MGP, Trinamool do not match: Goa BJP on their pre-poll alliance

    By PTI

    PANAJI: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has said cultures of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and the Trinamool Congress, which have forged a pre-poll alliance, do not match.

    The MGP, Goa’s oldest regional party, on Monday announced it would contest the forthcoming state Assembly elections in an alliance with the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) as the combine pitched for good governance as its main poll plank to take on the ruling BJP.

    Reacting to the political development, CM Sawant said the two parties have no match when it comes to their cultural identities.

    “Where is the MGP’s culture and where is the TMC’s West Bengal culture? We wonder how do they match,” he told reporters on Monday evening after attending a meeting of the BJP’s election management committee chaired by former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadanavis.

    Referring to Goa’s first CM Dayanand Bandodkar, who had founded the MGP, Sawant said, “Late Bhausaheb (Dayanand) Bandodkar will not have peace wherever he is.”

    State BJP president Sadanand Shet Tanavade said “I have seen cartoons on various WhatsApp groups. It is shown there that when a lion does not get anything to eat, it eats grass.”

    Notably, lion is the MGP’s election symbol.

    After the 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP, despite winning only 13 seats in the 40-member House compared to 17 bagged by the Congress, quickly stitched an alliance with the MGP and another regional outfit, Goa Forward Party (GFP), to form its government.

    The MGP and the GFP later split with the saffron outfit.

    The MGP, which had won three seats in the 2017 polls, is currently left with only one MLA after two of its legislators joined the ruling BJP.

    Tanavade said when the MGP aligned with the BJP for the first time in 1994, it was a different party altogether.

    “If it is the same party, it would not have tied-up with a political outfit like the TMC,” he said.

    “Now, the MGP has been turned into a private limited company of Dhavalikar brothers,” Tanavade claimed.

    The MGP is headed by Deepak Dhavalikar and his brother Sudin Dhavalikar represents the party in the state Assembly.

    Deepak Dhavalikar on Monday said details of the MGP’s alliance with the TMC would be announced at a later stage and added the two parties will be sharing seats for polls to the 40-member Assembly.

    He claimed there was a “wave” against the BJP in Goa and the two parties would seek to capitalise on it in the polls, likely in early 2022.

    TMC Member of Parliament and Goa desk in-charge Mahua Moitra had said the details of the alliance would be made public before Mamata Banerjee’s scheduled visit to the coastal state on December 13.

  • No Opposition alliance sans Congress possible at national level: Baghel hits back at Mamata

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Days after Mamata Banerjee’s “no UPA” jibe, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday attacked the TMC chief, saying she must clarify whether she wants to make TMC the main Opposition party by fighting those in power or by taking on fellow Opposition parties.

    He also said no Opposition alliance is possible at the national level without the Congress which has to be the main pillar of the bloc taking on the BJP.

    In an interview with PTI, Baghel said a decision on who would be the face of the Opposition that would take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2024 general election would be taken collectively by the constituents of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) that is headed by Sonia Gandhi.

    His remarks come days after West Bengal Chief Minister Banerjee took swipes at the Congress leadership and said there is “no UPA”, after meeting NCP supremo Sharad Pawar in Mumbai.

    On Banerjee’s remarks, Baghel said, “I would like to say to Mamata Banerjee that you want to become the main opposition party, it is a very good thing. If you want to move forward with a plan, harbouring a dream, it will be welcomed, but the question is whether you want to become the main Opposition party by fighting those in power or by taking on fellow Opposition parties.”

    Asked if he believes that there is collusion between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP, Baghel said Banerjee should clarify as after meeting Pawar, she said “there is no UPA” but following her meeting with Prime Minister Modi, nothing came out as to what transpired and she later attacked the Congress.

    “Why has it not come out in the open as to what she discussed with the PM,” he asked.

    On the TMC entering the poll fray suddenly in some poll-bound states such as Goa, Baghel said it seems that they want to help the BJP in those states.

    “They don’t have anything in Goa but want to fight. So they want to divide the opposition vote,” he alleged.

    Baghel also hit out at poll strategist Prashant Kishor for his remarks that the space represented by the Congress was vital but its leadership is not the “divine right of an individual”, an apparent swipe at Rahul Gandhi.

    “Prashant Kishor works for money, be it for the BJP, Congress, TMC or JD(U), for poll campaigns. He is a professional person, so he should say who he is working for now,” Baghel said.

    The Chhattisgarh CM said Kishor is not associated with any political party that he will make comments like the ones he did, so he should clarify whether he is working for the BJP or for Mamata Banerjee.

    “(Narendra) Modi ji, (Amit) Shah ji, talked about Congress-mukt Bharat, they could not do it. Now, has that job been taken over by Prashant Kishor,” he asked.

    On whether any alliance sans Congress is possible at the national level to take on the BJP, Baghel said as of today it does not seem possible.

    On whether the Congress would be the main pillar of the Opposition alliance at the national level, the Chattisgarh CM said, “Congress will be (the main pillar), it is a straightforward thing.”

    “It is the Congress that has a presence from Kashmir to Kerala. Other Opposition parties don’t have that kind of presence,” he said.

    Asked if Rahul Gandhi should be the face of the Opposition bloc to take on PM Modi in 2024, Baghel said he is “too small a person” to decide on such matters and is not authorised by the party to comment on all such issues.

    However, he said, “Several parties comprise the UPA whose chairperson is Sonia Gandhi, and all parties will decide on the issue together.”

    Baghel added that in the whole country, there is only one leader that is taking on the central government and BJP, and that is Rahul Gandhi.

    He said the BJP is “rattled” by Rahul Gandhi so it is possible that they “may be targeting him through these people (TMC, Kishor and other critics)”.

    The TMC and the Congress have been growing distant of late, with the Mamata Banerjee-led party poaching the latter’s leaders in several states in the recent past.

    The two parties have further distanced themselves with the TMC not attending the opposition meetings convened by the Congress over opposition unity in Parliament.

    Baghel, who is the Congress’ senior observer for Uttar Pradesh polls, also said UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is on his way out as “everyone is angry with him and he has no achievements”.

    On whether the Congress will be the main challenger to the BSP in Uttar Pradesh, Baghel slammed both the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party to claim that the Congress would do well.

    “BSP is nowhere. Mayawati ji has not come out. Akhilesh ji has come out now near the polls and was nowhere to be seen in the last four-and-a-half years. Congress is gaining. We are aiming to perform well and get a good result,” he asserted.

  • Trinamool leader Yashwant Sinha admitted to hospital with severe back pain

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Former Union minister and Trinamool Congress leader Yashwant Sinha was admitted at the state-run SSKM hospital here after he complained of severe back pain, hospital sources said on Wednesday.

    The octogenarian politician was taken to the SSKM hospital on Tuesday where he is undergoing treatment at the Woodburn Block, they said.

    A team of four doctors is supervising the treatment of 84-year-old Sinha who is “at the moment a bit better”, they said.

    “He is better now. We are keeping a constant watch on him,” a senior doctor of the SSKM Hospital said.

  • Trinamool veteran’s son voices frustration, asserts his loyality to party in second tweet

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Sayandeb Chatterjee, Trinamool Congress youth wing office-bearer and son of veteran party leader and minister Sovandeb Chatterjee, gave vent to his frustration in the social media on Saturday hours after his name failed to figure in the party’s candidate list for the December 19 Kolkata Municipal Corporation election.

    He, however, re-tweeted a few hours later offering his best wishes to all party contestants and predicting that the party will win a resounding victory.

    Sayandeb tweeted on the microblogging site “They needed his sacrifice, they assured, when the sacrifice was made, they said”- Its not yet time”, an apparent reference to the stepping down of his father from the Bhabanipur seat after winning it to pave the way for Mamata Banerjee to contest from there months later.

    “Moral of the Story – until its your time, keep clapping for others,” he added.

    As the tweet triggered a storm in political circles, Sayandeb tweeted again, “Speculation is on about my earlier tweet with a lot of corners (sic) trying to spice it up.”

    “Politically – I convey my bestest wishes to all AITC nominated candidates in the upcoming KMC elections. We will win. Didi will win. Sobuj Abir Khela Hobe (We will play again with green gulal),” he added.

    TMC leaders when contacted did not comment on his tweets.

  • Mamata may campaign for civic poll in a stretcher: BJP leader creates row

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: BJP leader Raju Banerjee courted controversy on Saturday by saying that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may campaign for the coming civic poll in the state in a stretcher faking injury after failing to counter in a fair manner the saffron camp’s spirited challenge during the canvassing.

    The senior BJP leader alleged in a public meeting in the city that the Trinamool Congress supremo had resorted to “unfair means” by campaigning from a wheelchair in the last assembly poll faking an injury to her leg when she was unable to counter the the saffron party politically.

    “You (Banerjee) confined yourself in a wheelchair when you failed to fight the BJP politically. You resorted to falsehood to counter BJP in the canvassing for the state assembly poll. You will face an equally combative BJP who believes in fighting against you in a fierce, democratic and peaceful manner during the coming civic polls and you will again resort to falsehood.

    “But even if you move around lying on a stretcher to earn voters’ sympathy this time, rest assured you won’t get votes for your candidates on the ground of sympathy any more,” said Banerjee, who had unsuccessfully contested against TMC senior leaer Madan Mitra in the April-May assembly poll in Kamarhati, said.

    Strongly reacting to Banerjee’s comments, TMC leader Baiswanor Chatterjee told reporters “This is nothing but a threat by the irresponsible BJP leader. Such comments reveal the undemocratic, violent mindset of BJP.”

    Everyone knows how Mamata Banerjee was “physically targeted” during the first leg of the assembly poll campaign in Nandigram and suffered serious leg injury.

    She was forced to continue campaigning in a wheel chair in the later phases risking her health, Chatterjee said.

    The TMC supremo had claimed that she was hurt in the leg in March while canvassing in Nandigram, where she had taken on her former protege Suvendu Adhikari and lost by a slender margin.

    She later won the by-poll in her home constituency Bhabanipur in Kolkata within the stipulated six-month period to retain her chief ministership.

  • Three-tier security in place for civic poll counting in Tripura on Sunday

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: Three tier security is in place for the counting of votes for over 200 seats in the Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) and other civic bodies in Tripura, where it was held on Thursday amid court cases, arrests and allegations of attacks by political parties, a senior police official said on Saturday.

    The counting will be held on Sunday and apart from the scheduled security deployment, Tripura State Rifles and central armed polie force have been deployed for the maintenance of law and order in areas adjoining the counting centers, he said.

    A statement issued by the Assistant Inspector General of Police (law and order) Subrata Chakrabarty also appealed to the people to be wary of any kind of rumours.

    “The counting of votes in connection with General Election to the Municipal and Nagar Panchayat, 2021 for 6 Nagar Panchayats, 7 Municipal Council and the Agartala Municipal Corporation will be conducted in 13 counting centers all over the state. In this regard adequate police arrangement has been made for each counting centre. For maintenance of law & order during counting of votes, three-tier security arrangement has been made for each counting centre by deploying CAPF as well as State Police and Tripura State Rifles”, a statement issued by Chakraborty said.

    Altogether there are 334 seats in the urban local bodies, including Agartala Municipal Corporation (51 wards), 13 municipal councils and six nagar panchayats in the state.

    The ruling BJP has fielded candidates in all seats in the Tripura civic elections and has already won 112 out of the total 334 seats uncontested in the Agartala Municipal Corporation and 19 urban bodies.

    In the remaining 222 seats, as many as 785 contestants are in the fray after 36 candidates withdrew their nominations.

    The elections were fought mainly between the three parties – the BJP, the TMC and CPI(M).

    TMC has demanded total countermanding of the election alleging that it was “heavily rigged and reduced to a farce” by the ruling BJP.

    Opposition CPI-M has demanded countermanding of elections in five wards of AMC.

    Both the parties alleged that police and the state election commission had remained silent spectators despite complaints of rigging by “goons sheltered by BJP”.

    Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya in a statement said the party’s leaders held detailed discussions on the role of party karyakartas in connection with the counting and the situation after it.

    “Party karyakartas were asked to maintain discipline and to act as per the directions of the state leaders and should follow the organisational tradition after announcement of the results”, Bhattacharya said in a statement.

  • Late RSP leader’s daughter fielded as Trinamool candidate in Kolkata civic poll

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Basundhara Goswami, the daughter of late RSP heavyweight and former West Bengal minister Kshiti Goswami, who created a flutter by being nominated a TMC candidate in the coming Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) poll, on Saturday said she firmly believed that Mamata Banerjee’s party is capable of thwarting BJP’s communal politics.

    She said that this was the reason why she accepted the offer to contest the KMC poll, which will be held on December 19.

    Goswami, a left student activist since her college days, had been nominated by TMC candidate from ward number 96 in south Kolkata on Friday.

    “I am contesting the civic poll as a Trinamool Congress candidate as I firmly believe that Mamata Banerjee can repulse the BJP and throw challenge to it,” she told reporters on Saturday.

    Goswami had earlier flayed the CPI-M decision to take disciplinary action against Ajanta Biswas, daughter of the party’s late leader Anil Biswas, for writing in Trinamool Congress mouthpiece ‘Jago Bangla’ and called it “unfair”.

    Kshiti Goswami, who was also the RSP national general secretary from 2018–2019, was the state’s PWD minister for over two decades during the Left Front rule in the state but had never shied away from criticising the ruling dispensation on various issues ranging from Singur to Nandigram.

    He had passed away on November 24, 2019.