News Analysis India

Tag: West Bengal BJP

  • Bengal BJP issues show-cause notice to 14 members over clash, vandalism at party office

    By PTI
    BARDDHAMAN: The BJP on Sunday issued a show-cause notice to 14 members over clash and vandalism at a party office in West Bengal’s Purba Barddhaman district.

    The letter, issued by the party’s state vice president Pratap Bandyopadhyay, warned the members of expulsion if they failed to give a satisfactory reply within a week.

    Two BJP factions clashed, hurling stones at each other, at the district party office during a meeting on January 21.

    One group had stormed out of a meeting and ransacked furniture and set parked vehicles on fire.

    “The conduct of these members goes against the party ethics and discipline and the BJP will take serious action even to the extent of expulsion if they cannot explain their conduct,” a senior party leader said.

    BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya had said that no act of indiscipline will be tolerated.

  • Abhishek Banerjee exposes letter accusing Suvendu Adhikari of extorting Rs 6 cr from chit fund agency

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Retaliating BJP’s relentless attack calling him “Tolabaj Bhaipo” (extortionist nephew), TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday exposed a letter written by Sudipta Sen, the Saradha group promoter presently in jail, in a public rally in South 24 Parganas. Abhishek accused former Trinamool Congress strongman Suvendu Adhikari, who joined the BJP, of extorting Rs 6 crore from the chit fund agency.

    Brandishing the two-page letter, the Diamond Harbour MP threw a challenge to Suvendu asking him to prove his allegation false. “You (Suvendu) do not have guts to utter my name. You talk in the passive voice. I am uttering your name and saying you are an extortionist. You not only took Rs 6 crore from Sudipta Sen, but also blackmailed him. In the letter, is clearly written then the day before he (Sen) went at large, you visited his office and took money from him,’’ alleged Abhishek.

    ALSO READ | Will quit if Centre brings law allowing only one member of family in politics: Mamata’s nephew

    Bengal BJP had inducted Mamata’s once-trusted lieutenant Suvendu in the party last month eyeing 39 Assembly seats in Junglemahal. Since then, the saffron camp has been organising regular rallies and roadshows projecting Suvendu as a key tool to sharpen attack on the ruling party on “extortionist nephew” issue.

    Suvendu’s speech in all the rallies since his defection is aimed to portray Abhishek’s image as an extortionist nephew. He also raised a slogan—Tolabaj Bhaipo Hatao, Bengla Bachao (reject extortionist nephew, save Bengal).  

    BJP’s high-command, including Union Home minister Amit Shah and national president JP Nadda, never missed opportunity to raise the issue whenever they visited Bengal and addressed rallies in the recent past.

    Abhishek’s disclosure of Sen’s letter on Sunday is said to be an effort to blunt the attack lashed out buy Suvendu and other BJP functionaries. “You were also seen (in Narada sting operation) receiving money from a person using a towel as a shield and promised him to fix up an appointment with me. I should file a defamation case against you,’’ Abhishek hit out at the turncoat.

    Sen, presently in Presidency jail in connection with the multi-crore scam, wrote the letter addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mamata on December 1 naming Suvendu and others.

  • Amit Shah meets Bengal team to sharpen victory focus

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  Union Minister for Home Affairs and the former BJP chief Amit Shah on Friday held a review meeting the core group of the party from West Bengal to take stock of the preparations for the Assembly elections. With the BJP eying high profile exodus from the ranks of the ruling TMC, Shah will be undertaking a tour of the state later this month to boost the morale of party workers.

    The West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, state in-charge and the party’s national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, the party vice president Mukul Roy were among the senior functionaries who attended the review meeting with Shah. Shah, who’s closely monitoring the BJP’s poll preparations in West Bengal, has been taking a monthly review meeting to streamline the party’s campaign in the state.

    Sources said that the thrust of the meeting was to take stock of the ground feedback and sharpen the target to win 200 Assembly seats in the state. A senior BJP functionary said that the party’s bid to challenge the ruling TMC in the rural parts of the state was on the agenda of the review meeting as the saffron outfit has set out to hold 40,000 meetings in the rural habitations of the state.

    Shah is also learnt to be making a clear attempt to ensure that the ranks of the saffron outfit remains united in the state amid inflow the leaders and their followers from the ranks of the other parties. BJP chief J P Nadda had visited the state after recovering from the Covid-19 to kick off the rural outreach and ek mutthi chawal campaign to connect with the electorate in the villages.

    Villages in focusA senior functionary said that the party’s bid to challenge the ruling TMC in the rural parts of the state was on the agenda of the review meeting as the saffron outfit has set out to hold 40,000 meetings in the rural habitations of the state

  • Suvendu Adhikari’s office in Nandigram vandalised by TMC, alleges BJP

    By ANI
    EAST MIDNAPORE (West Bengal): Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers have vandalised BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s office (Sahayak Kendra) in Nandigram area on Saturday night, the BJP has alleged.

    The BJP has demanded the arrest of persons behind the incident.

    “We protest against an incident caused by TMC Harmad cadres at Nandigram. We want to say them what they are doing these things by using muscle power. Today’s administration is with you that’s why you are doing so,” BJP leader Kaniska Panda said.

    “We told the administration if they won’t take action and won’t arrest accused persons then the administration will be responsible for the incidents which will happen future. I am giving the challenge that our fight against this fight will be continued,” he added.

    However, TMC East Midnapore district vice president SK Sufian said that the “old” BJP workers are responsible for the incident.

    “They (BJP) always lie and they make habit of lying, they tore TMC flag and Mamata Banerjee’s picture was burnt. Suvendu Adhikari’s Sahayak Kendra vandalised by old BJP workers who were present in the meeting and made allegations against TMC. They should control their own house rather than blaming TMC,” he said.

    Adhikari, a former minister in the TMC government was among several leaders who joined BJP last year ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls.

  • JP Nadda to kick off BJP’s rural outreach in West Bengal

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  BJP chief J P Nadda will kick off his party’s rural outreach in the poll bound West Bengal by addressing the first of the planned 40,000 meetings on Saturday in the state ahead of the Assembly elections.    

    “The BJP chief will reach Jagdanandpur village at Katwa in East Bardhaman on Saturday where he will address Krishok Surokkha Gram Sabha which will mark the beginning of 40,000 such meetings to be held by the party across West Bengal before the Assembly elections,” said Anil Baluni, the BJP’s media head in a statement. He stated that Nadda will kick-start door to door rice collection Ek Mutthi Chawal Sangrah campaign from Jagdanandpur also.

    The Ek Mutthi Chawal Sangrah campaign of the BJP is to reassert the party and its government’s commitment and conviction towards the growth, progress and prosperity of farmers, he added. Baluni also stated that the BJP ahead of the Assembly elections will reach out to the homes of all the 73 lakh villagers across the state. Nadda will also take lunch at a farmer’s house in the Jagdanandpur village. Nadda will also hold a core committee meeting of the party in Burdwan on Saturday.

    Meanwhile, BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Friday said that the saffron party, if voted to power in West Bengal, will ensure that each farmer of the state gets `18,000 in arrears under the PM Kisan scheme.

    The assertion of Vijayvargiya, the BJP’s West Bengal in-charge, came days after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee indicated that she was agreeable to implement the central scheme in the state, under which farmers get Rs 6,000 a year in three equal instalments. The move of the Trinamool Congress supremo, made months before the assembly election, is being seen as an attempt to blunt the BJP’s accusation that her party is preventing farmers of the state from getting benefits of the scheme.

    “Farmers of Bengal will get their due after the Mamata Banerjee government goes and the BJP government comes to power,” Vijayvargiya said, while addressing a party rally at Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district. The mafia controls coal and sand mining in the state and indulges in cattle smuggling, he alleged, asserting that those involved in such rackets will be driven out by the BJP. Describing the TMC as a virus, the BJP’s West Bengal president Dilip Ghosh said that his party is its vaccine which will make the TMC leave the state.

  • BJP leader Krishnendu Mukherjee’s car shot at in Bengal’s Asansol allegedly by ‘TMC goons’

    By PTI
    ASANSOL: BJP’s West Bengal state committee member Krishnendu Mukherjee on Monday alleged that “TMC goons” have opened fire on his car in Asansol in Paschim Barddhaman district but he was saved by a whisker as the assailants failed to open the vehicle’s doors.

    The ruling party in the state, however, dismissed his allegation and said the incident might be a fallout of Mukherjee’s old rivalries.

    “As I was returning home in Asansol’s Hirapur from Kolkata on Sunday night, three unidentified persons, whom I suspect to be TMC goons, stopped my car near my house and tried to open the doors, failing which they opened indiscriminate fire on the vehicle.

    “The driver shouted for help and I repeatedly honked the horn to grab the locals’ attention, following which the assailants fled the spot,” Mukherjee said.

    He alleged that the TMC was behind the incident and he has informed senior BJP leaders about the incident.

    A complaint has been received from Mukherjee and CCTV footages in the area are being scrutinised, an officer at Hirapur police station said.

    Dismissing the charges, TMC’s Asansol Dakshin MLA Tapas Banerjee alleged that Mukherjee is accused in several extortion, smuggling and even murder cases and was absconding for a long time and the incident might be a fallout of his old rivalries.