News Analysis India

Tag: West Bengal BJP

  • Several BJP members join TMC ahead of third phase assembly polls in West Bengal

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: In the midst of assembly election fever in West Bengal, several members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) joined the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday.

    The ex-BJP members were Priyansu Pandey, Rabi Singh, Surojit Biswas and Akash Mallah, who joined the TMC in the presence of state minister Purnendu Basu and MP Dola Sen at Trinamool Bhavan today.

    “Having observed the work Mamata Banerjee has done in the state, these members will hold the TMC flag today. We are happy to welcome them to our party. TMC is like an ocean. You can see that people from different areas have joined the TMC. There is no doubt that the TMC government will be formed again in the state,” said Basu at the press conference.

    Pandey was the state committee of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BYJM), while Singh was a member of the BJP District Committee in Barrackpore, according to an All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) bulletin.

    Biswas was the vice-president of BJP Barrackpore organisation District Committee SC Morcha and Mallah was the secretary of Barrackpore organisation District Committee of Bharatiya Janata Majdoor Trade Union Council.

    Speaking at the press conference, Pandey thanked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee for giving him the opportunity to join the party.

    “I, Priyansu Pandey, was the first to start the movement under the Nabanna Abhiyaan of BYJM, but today I feel ashamed that the BJP is not the same party of Bengal. Today, the Bengal BJP has become a party of traitors from TMC. The people who betrayed TMC are running the BJP faction in Bengal,” he said.

    The ex-BJP member also slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for going back on their promises to fight against dynastic politics and nepotism.

    “The people, who engaged in extortion, misgovernance, were the most corrupt and were involved in the Narada, Saradha scams, have now joined the BJP,” he added.

    He further remarked that Mamata Banerjee had done the maximum work for the people of the state and that he and other former BJP leaders will rally alongside her on the lines of ‘Bangla nijer meyeke chaaye’ (Bengal wants her daughter).

    The polls are witnessing a fierce contest between the ruling TMC, the BJP and the Sanjukta Morcha comprising Left parties, Congress and ISF.

    Phase three in the eight-phased elections in West Bengal is set to commence on Tuesday, which will cover 31 Assembly constituencies in three districts: eight in Hooghly, seven in Howrah and 16 in South 24 Parganas.

    There are 205 candidates in the fray in this round of polling, with Diamond Harbour having the maximum number of candidates at 11.

    Polling for the first two phases of the West Bengal elections were held on March 27 and April 1 respectively. The fourth phase of polling will take place on April 10. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. 

  • West Bengal polls: Dilip Ghosh rubbishes TMC’s poll rigging allegations

    By ANI
    JHARGRAM (West Bengal): West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Dilip Ghosh on Saturday rubbished the allegations of poll rigging made by Trinamool Congress (TMC) and said Mamata Banerjee’s party is losing and therefore it is making false charges.

    “Trinamool Congress (TMC) is losing, which is why they are coming up with false narratives. They can go to the Election Commission or the central forces for resolving such problems, but they choose to make accusations,” he said after he cast his vote in the first phase of Assembly polls.

    “The police, which runs on TMC’s whims, has become aware that ‘poriborton’ (change) is coming in the state, that is why they are targeting the central forces to build pressure,” he said.

    CLICK HERE FOR ASSAM, WEST BENGAL POLL UPDATES 

    Polling for the first of the eight-phase assembly polls in West Bengal began at 7 am on Saturday with voters deciding the fate of 191 candidates in 30 constituencies.

    All constituencies in Purulia, Jhargram and segments of Bankura, Purba Medinipur and Paschim Medinipur are going to decide the electoral fate of 191 candidates, including 21 women candidates in the fray. The polling will end at 6.30 pm.

    Both the ruling TMC and BJP are seeking to outdo each other in poll promises and campaign rhetoric. 

  • The loss of CPM brought BJP to the fore in West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee

    By ANI
    BISHANPUR: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday remarked that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is doing the same things which were done by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) years ago.

    Speaking at a public rally in Bishnupur, Mamata said: ” CPI(M) is responsible for this (BJP’s entry in Bengal). The loss of CPI (M) has brought BJP to the fore. BJP is doing the same things the CPI (M) used to do.”

    Attacking the BJP on lifting Provident Fund (PF) and gratuity payments, Mamata said that it had promised to make 10,000 teachers permanent before the elections, yet kicked them out after polls.

    She also referred to BJP as a ‘party of liars, thieves and dacoits’.

    “We do not spew lies like Prime Minister Modi. We introduced Rupashree, to provide Rs 25,000 to a poor girl’s family, We have provided free cycles. We have provided Rs 10,000 to class XII students. We will provide Rs 10,000 more if our government remains,” she said.

    “From May, guardians and women of every family would receive Rs 500, and Rs 1,000 for scheduled castes and tribes. Widows will receive Rs 1,000. Class XII students will receive Rs 10,000 for smartphones. and also credit cards with a limit of upto Rs 10 lakh will be provided for them,” she said further on.

    Speaking on the alleged attack on her earlier this month, the Chief Minister said: “A lot of people asked me how are you doing this on one leg, this was due to my willpower. Doctors advised me to remain in the hospital for 15 days. I said that I had a belief in Maa, and I will accomplish this on one leg.”

    Mamata also alleged that she was attacked with an iron rod, causing her to get 46 stitches on her head.

    The BJP and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) are at loggerheads in poll-bound West Bengal. with both sides holding public meetings and roadshows across the state in recent months.

    Elections to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. 

  • West Bengal polls: BJP learns its lessons, fields fewer turncoats after protests

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA:  Taking a lesson from the unexpected intra-party rebellion caused by the selection of Trinamool Congress turncoats, the BJP high command, in its latest list of 157 candidates for the West Bengal polls, decided against including faces who recently came over from the ruling party.

    While the previous list included more than 70 TMC turncoats out of 123, Thursday’s list had only 13, including 10 MLAs. “Demonstrations in front of the party’s election headquarters in Kolkata and other parts of South 24 Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly districts were triggered by the party’s decision to field TMC turncoats who joined our party very recently. The party high-command was not happy with the intra-party rebellion and decided to give the party’s old workers priority,’’ said a senior BJP leader in Kolkata.

    Irked by the party’ internal feud that surfaced publicly, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held an unscheduled meeting with the Bengal functionaries and national leaders camping in the state. Before leaving for Delhi,  Shah asked the Bengal functionaries to attend an emergency meeting in the national capital with a list of candidates for the next phases.  

    Although Thursday’s list did not feature too many recent turncoats, incidents of ransacking and protests took place in at least three places after the announcement. Roadblocks were put up at Jagaddal in protest against TMC defector Arindam Bhattacharya’s candidature from North 24 Parganas. Agitations were staged in Durgapur after BJP announced TMC MLA Jitendra Tiwari’s candidature in Pandeveshwar.

    Senior BJP functionaries, including Union minister Babul Supriyo had opposed Tiwari’s inclusion in the BJP. In Jalpaiguri, BJP supporters ransacked the party office as they were not happy with the candidates. “It was a rift between the party’s old workers. Many aspirants who wanted to contest elections were denied tickets,’’ said a BJP leader.

    ISF names 10 non-MuslimsThe ISF, led by cleric Abbas Siddiqui, has named 21 candidates. Ten of them are Hindu or from Adivasi communities. Rest are Muslims. ISF has formed an alliance with Left and Congress.

  • Not contesting from Chowringhee, name announced by BJP without my consent: Sikha Mitra

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Shortly after her she was nominated as the BJP candidate from the Chowringhee assembly seat in the city, Sikha Mitra, wife of late Congress leader Somen Mitra, on Thursday said her name was announced without consent and she will not enter the poll fray.

    Mitra also downplayed speculations of her joining the BJP, which were doing the rounds following her meeting with saffron party leader and family friend Suvendu Adhikari.

    “No, I am not contesting from anywhere. My name has been announced without my consent. Also, I am not joining the BJP,” she told reporters.

    The BJP on Thursday announced the names of 148 candidates for the upcoming assembly polls in West Bengal, including Sikha Mitra, the party’s vice-president Mukul Roy and its former state unit head Rahul Sinha.

  • West Bengal polls: TMC faces fresh spate of defections; 5 sitting MLAs, other leaders join BJP 

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Monday lost five more sitting MLAs and the control of the Malda Zilla Parishad to the BJP as defections continued to rock West Bengal’s ruling party ahead of the assembly polls.

    Four-time MLAs Sonali Guha, a close associate of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee for decades, and 80-year-old Rabindranath Bhattacharya, a prominent face of the Singur movement, joined the saffron party after they were denied the poll ticket.

    Another four-time legislator, 85-year-old Jatu Lahiri, and former footballer Dipendu Biswas, a first-time MLA, also switched sides after their names did not feature in the TMC’s candidate list released on March 5.

    They were handed over party flags by BJP state president Dilip Ghosh in presence of other leaders such as Suvendu Adhikari and Mukul Roy.

    One more TMC MLA, Sital Sardar.

    also joined the saffron party later.

    Hours after being replaced due to “ill health”, Sarala Murmu, the TMC candidate of the Habibpur constituency in Malda district, too switched sides.

    There was speculation earlier that she might join the BJP as she did not get the seat she had desired.

    The party replaced her with Pradeep Baskey in the morning.

    A number of sitting TMC MLAs, including ministers, have joined the saffron camp in recent months.

    The BJP also took control of the 38-member Malda Zilla Parishad after its 22 members changed sides.

    Bengali actress Tanusree Chakraborty also joined the BJP. Assembly elections in the state will be held in eight phases between March 27 and April 29.

    Votes will be counted on May 2.

  • West Bengal BJP follows Trinamool Congress strategy, ropes in bunch of actors before Assembly polls

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Taking a cue from the trend in West Bengal’s electoral practice set by Trinamool Congress a decade ago, BJP has also stated strengthening its team of silver-screen figures. On Wednesday, the party inducted seven Bengali film and serial actors, claiming that they are making inroads into Bengal’s culture and entertainment circle.

    BJP sources said that the move is aimed at countering TMC’s strategy, which proved successful in previous elections. TMC started this at the 2011 Assembly elections, when popular actress Debasree Roy defeated CPI(M) heavyweight Kanti Ganguly.

    In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, as many five actors – Moon Moon Sen, Dipak Adhikari (Dev), Sandhya Roy, Shatabdi Roy, Tapas Pal – emerged winners. In the 2019 general elections, TMC found MPs in Mimi Chakrabarty and Nusrat Jahan.

    BJP had also roped in figures like Locket Chatterjee in the past before getting Rudranil Sengupta recently. As a continuation of that, the party welcomed Yash Dasgupta and six others on Wednesday. Dasgupta is known to be a close friend of TMC MP Nusrat.

    “We will pay TMC back in their own coin in the upcoming election. In some of the seats, TMC was also surprised after actors defeated heavyweight contestants. We are also going to field actors in the upcoming elections,” said a BJP leader, unwilling to be identified.

    Front’s demand leaves Left-Congress alliance in a fix

    The seat sharing deal between the Left-Congress alliance and Indian Secular Front appeared to be in deep water as the Front, launched by Islamic cleric Abbas Siddiqui, demanded 45 seats. The  alliance agreed to giving them 25. A Left leader described the Front’s demand as unrealistic.

  • Trinamool Congress spreading fire of regionalism for political gains in Bengal: BJP’s Rajib Banerjee

    By PTI
    BARUIPUR: Former West Bengal minister Rajib Banerjee, who recently joined the BJP from the Trinamool Congress, on Tuesday accused his former party of indulging in regionalism for narrow political gains which affected the interests of the people of the state.

    He alleged that TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been fighting the central government for political compulsions. “A strange fire of regionalism is being spread (by the TMC). It is more dangerous than communalism. Bengal’s boys and girls are also in other states for education and work,” Rajib Banerjee said addressing a public meeting here in South 24 Parganas district.

    The TMC often targets the BJP, claiming that it is a “party of outsiders”. Rajib claimed that on one hand, TMC leaders quote Rabindranath Tagore, and on the other, they indulge in violence and intimidation of opposition party workers.

    BJP leaders Rajib Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari were shown black flags on their way to the public meeting here. The saffron party claimed that TMC workers were behind this. While Adhikari switched sides from the TMC to the BJP in December last year, Rajib did the same last week.

    Speaking at the meeting, Adhikari maintained that people of all faiths have got ration and cooking gas given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and they will support the BJP in the assembly elections in the state due in April-May.

    “After (cyclone) Amphan, Prime Minister Modi had come to visit the affected areas immediately and had given Rs 1,000 crore for relief, but the funds were misappropriated,” he said. Adhikari charged the TMC government with changing the names of central schemes like Swachh Bharat Mission and claiming these to be their own.

    Rajib claimed that by denying the central share of funding in schemes such as Ayushman Bharat and introducing a health insurance programme of the state government Swasthya Sathi, the chief minister has emptied the state exchequer. “She deliberately did not allow farmers of the state to get the benefits of PM Kishan Samman Nidhi,” he alleged.

    Under the PM-Kisan scheme, an income support of Rs 6,000 per year in three equal installments is provided to small and marginal farmer families. The BJP leader said Union Home Minister Amit Shah had assured him that Bengal would get a special economic package for its development after the elections.

    Rajib added that the chief minister boasts of West Bengal’s top position in the country in the 100-days’ work programme, but it only shows the bad job situation in the state that so many people have to get work through that scheme.

  • Shame that BJP leaders sung national anthem ‘incorrectly’: Trinamool Congress

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Trinamool Youth Congress president Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday claimed that BJP leaders have sung the national anthem incorrectly at a public rally in Howrah, a charge denied by the saffron party.

    Taking to Twitter, the TMC MP said that “those preaching patriotism and nationalism cannot even sing the national anthem correctly”. “This is the party which claims to uphold India’s honour and pride! SHAMEFUL! Will @narendramodi @AmitShah @BJP4India apologise for this ‘Anti-National’ Act?” he wrote.

    Those preaching about Patriotism & Nationalism can’t even sing our National Anthem correctly.This is the party which claims to uphold India’s honour and pride! SHAMEFUL!Will @narendramodi @AmitShah @BJP4India apologise for this “Anti-National” Act?#BJPInsultsNationalAnthem pic.twitter.com/fgdCEMPisk
    — Abhishek Banerjee (@abhishekaitc) January 31, 2021

    TMC secretary general and West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee also stated in a tweet that the BJP has disrespected the national anthem. “The whole country is astonished at this shameful act,” he posted on the microblogging site.

    The Left Front also slammed the saffron camp over the incident. CPM politburo member Md Salim said it is an irony that those who cannot sing the national anthem properly give sermons on nationalism.

    However, BJP leader Shamik Bhattacharya rubbished the allegations and said that the TMC was “indulging in politics over the national anthem, just like it did over Lord Ram and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose”. He said that it isn’t possible that so many senior leaders of the saffron party, including ministers, would together sing the national anthem wrong. “People will reject such politics,” he added.

  • TMC attacks BJP after Dilip Ghosh unfurls Tricolour upside down 

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: In a goof-up, West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh unfurled the Tricolour upside down at a party office in Birbhum district during a Republic Day programme on Tuesday.

    Immediately after unfurling the national flag at the party’s Rampurhat office, Ghosh realised that the Tricolour was upside down with green on top and rectified the mistake by bringing it down and hoisting it properly.

    The TMC, however, did not miss the opportunity to sting the saffron party, saying those who can’t hoist the national flag properly are unfit to run the country or a state.

    “It was an embarrassing moment and it happened due to an inadvertent mistake. Nobody had the intention to dishonour the national flag. However, I have asked party members to be careful in the future,” Ghosh told reporters.

    Reacting to the incident, district TMC chief Anubrata Mondal said, “Those who cannot ensure proper unfurling of the national flag are not fit to run the country or a state.”