Tag: West Bengal Polls 2021

  • West Bengal polls: Will attend PM Modi’s public meeting if invited, says TMC MP Sisir Adhikari

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Senior Trinamool Congress MP Sisir Adhikari, who has been in a strained relationship with the party leadership, on Sunday said that he will attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public meeting in Kanthi on March 20 if he is invited.

    The MP is the father of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari who is pitted against his former mentor and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the Nandigram assembly seat.

    “I will attend his (Modis) meeting if invited and my sons allow me,” the Adhikari family patriarch said.

    The septuagenarian leader’s two sons, Suvendu and Soumendu, joined the BJP.

    His other son Dibyendu is a TMC MP.

    Sisir Adhikari, whose constituency Kanthi borders the shores of the Bay of Bengal in its southern perimeter, said that he will seek from the prime minister a deep sea port for the state.

    Alleging that the TMC leadership was attacking Suvendu, he said that as a father, he will do everything to protect his son.

    BJP MP Locket Chatterjee on Saturday visited the residence of Sisir Adhikari and had lunch.

    However, both said it was a “courtesy call”.

  • ‘BJP will bring back Sonar Bangla’: Amit Shah tells voters ahead of WB Assembly elections

    By PTI
    KHARAGPUR: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday promised that after coming to power, the BJP will be successful in ushering in “true change in West Bengal and turn the state into “Sonar Bangla” (Golden Bengal) again.

    The senior BJP leader a colourful roadshow at Kharagpur town in Paschim Medinipur district in support of BJP candidates contesting the West Bengal assembly election.

    Shah claimed that the huge turnout in the roadshow underscored that people want change in the state under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    “I promise that the BJP government will be successful in bringing ‘asli parivartan’ (true change) and ‘Sonar Bangla’ will be created again,” Shah said in a brief speech at the end of the roadshow.ALSO READ | Bengal will never bow down before outsiders: TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee attacks BJP

    The roadshow, held between the local BJP office ‘Premhari Bhavan’ and Malancha petrol pump, took over an hour to cover the less than one kilometre stretch, as the huge gathering made it almost impossible for the motorcade to move ahead.

    Shah was accompanied by BJP national general secretary in-charge of West Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya and the party’s state president Dilip Ghosh.

    Thousands of people took part in the roadshow, which began after sundown, while people also gathered on rooftops and balconies in buildings on both sides of the road to watch it.

    Shah waved at the spectators and threw rose petals at the participants of the roadshow, with BJP candidate for the Kharagpur Sadar constituency, Hiran Chatterjee, an actor, by his side.ALSO READ | West Bengal polls: Babul Supriyo, Locket Chatterjee among BJP’s new list of candidates

    Visibly pleased at the huge turnout, a smiling Shah showed the victory sign at the participants and spectators.

    The turnout proved that Chatterjee will surely be elected to the assembly, the Union minister said.

    As the wave of people moved forward slowly, the air reverberated with a newly coined slogan, “Ebar BJP” (BJP this time).

    The slogan was also written on the decorated truck on which Shah was standing, and in festoons and posters.

    Security personnel had a tough time managing the crowd as the number of people continued to rise while the cavalcade proceeded in a very slow pace.

  • Two days after ‘attack’, CM Mamata Banerjee discharged from Kolkata hospital

    By Online Desk
    Two days after Mamata Banerjee received injuries in Nandigram, the TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister was released from Kolkata’s SSKM Hospital on Friday evening.

    She was discharged from the hospital following improvement in health conditions. She was spotted coming out in a wheelchair. 

    Doctors took the decision after the 66-year-old TMC supremo repeatedly requested them to discharge her from the medical establishment.

    Banerjee greeted several party activists gathered outside the Woodburn Block of the hospital.

    She left the hospital in her vehicle for her Kalighat residence.

    Her nephew and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee, party colleagues and state minister Firhad Hakim were present at the medical establishment.

    “Her condition has improved a lot and she repeatedly insisted to be discharged from the hospital. She will be able to move with restrictions but she needs to come back for another round of check-up within a week,” the doctor said.

    The Trinamool Congress chief had suffered injuries on her left leg and waist as she fell on the ground following an alleged attack during her campaign for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections.(With PTI inputs)

  • TMC trying to stir political crisis in Bengal by floating conspiracy theories on Nandigram incident: BJP

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The BJP on Friday accused the TMC of trying to stir a political crisis in West Bengal by floating conspiracy theories on the March 10 Nandigram incident, in which Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was injured, as the ruling party in the state “is losing ground from under its feet”.

    Asserting that the BJP has demanded a full-fledged inquiry into the incident and wished a speedy recovery of Banerjee so that she can participate in her electoral campaigning, party spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said even senior TMC leaders are “distorting the state administration’s version” of the incident to give credence to the conspiracy angle for political gains.

    “However hard the TMC leaders may try to float conspiracy theories, they are only dishing out false information on the Nandigram incident. They are trying to create a political crisis. Their insinuations of EC are akin to showing disrespect to the Constitution,” Bhattacharya told reporters.

    ALSO READ | ‘Attack on Mamata part of deep-rooted conspiracy’: TMC delegation meets EC, demands high-level probe

    He said it was in TMC’s bad taste to link the Nandigram incident with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s jibe at Banerjee during the BJP’s Brigade rally on March 7 over her failed attempt to ride an electric scooter solo.

    “The prime minister had never said that the CM will get injured in Nandigram. He had said that had Banerjee fallen from the scooter and suffered injuries, she would have blamed its manufacturer,” he said.

    Bhattacharya said that the prime minister had made a comparison between Banerjee’s failed attempt to ride a scooter with her electoral battle in Nandigram only to signify her impending defeat in the seat.

    “Every orator has his/her own style of speaking. It is in poor taste to link the PM’s comment made on March 7 with the injury suffered by Banerjee on March 10 in an accident,” he said.​

    ALSO READ | Attacks and injuries shaped Mamata’s four-decade-long political career​​Referring to the attack on BJP chief J P Nadda’s convoy in South 24 Parganas district in December last year, he said that the TMC had then made light of the incident unlike the BJP’s response to the Nandigram incident.

    “We want her (Banerjee) to take part in the electoral process,” he said.

    Response to the outreach programme of Suvendu Adhikari, the BJP candidate in Nandigram seat and former aide of Banerjee, over the last few days shows that the TMC will suffer poll reverses in the constituency.

    “The Centre never sought to topple an elected government. The TMC will be defeated by the people in the upcoming assembly elections,” he said.

    Elections to the 294-member assembly will be held from March 27 to April 19.

    Results will be declared on May 2.

  • BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari files nomination from Nandigram in high-stakes battle against Mamata Banerjee

    By PTI
    HALDIA: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari filed his nomination on Friday from the Nandigram seat where he will be fighting the upcoming assembly elections against Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.

    Adhikari filed his papers at the sub-divisional office in Haldia after leading a-km-long roadshow.

    Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Smriti Irani took part in the rally before Adhikari filed the nomination papers.

    WB: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari meets locals in Nandigram. He says, “My relationship with them is very old. Mamata Banerjee remembers them every 5 years when polls come. They will defeat her. I am also filing my nomination, I am a voter of Nandigram.” #WestBengalElections pic.twitter.com/9ckfZjfMNh
    — ANI (@ANI) March 12, 2021

    Adhikari, who switched over to the BJP in December, is up against the chief minister who decided to challenge him at his home ground.

    Adhikari won the Nandigram seat as a TMC candidate in 2016 by bagging over 67 per cent of the votes, defeating his nearest rival of the CPI by a margin of 81,230 votes.

    Banerjee had filed her nomination on Wednesday.

    The Left-led grand alliance has fielded CPI(M)’s youth leader Minakshi Mukherjee from the seat.

  • ‘Don’t waste your votes’: BJP’s Suvendu attacks TMC for betraying trust of people after coming to power

    By PTI
    HALDIA: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, who is pitted against his former protege and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee from the high-profile Nandigram assembly seat, on Friday urged people not to vote for “outsiders”, as he flayed the ruling party for betraying the trust of people.

    Adhikari, who recently became a voter in Nandigram from Kanthi in East Midnapore district, filed his nomination from the seat a short while ago.

    “I would appeal to all of you to not waste your votes in favour of outsiders, who have betrayed your trust and aspirations after coming to power in 2011,” Adhikari said, without naming Banerjee.

    He claimed that the Trinamool Congress has turned into a private limited company, where other leaders “neither have a say in policy-making of the party nor in the state government”.

    “Everybody else, apart from the aunt and nephew (Mamata and TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee), are lamp posts in the party,” Adhikari said.

    The Nandigram assembly constituency is set for a high-octane battle with Banerjee deciding to contest from the seat against Adhikari, who recently switched over to the saffron camp from the TMC.

  • Kailash Vijayvargiya accuses TMC of politicising ‘attack’ on Mamata Banerjee

    By ANI
    INDORE: BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya on Thursday accused the Trinamool Congress of politicising alleged attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

    “They (TMC) are politicizing the issue. However, we believe such incidents should not be politicized. I hope Election Commission will send enough central forces to West Bengal to control the political violence,” Vijayvargiya told ANI.

    Several other leaders, including BJP West Bengal Vice President Arjun Singh and Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, have also hit out at Banerjee for ‘doing nautanki’ (theatrics) to gain sympathy.

    ALSO READ: Police register case; protests break out across Bengal

    Meanwhile, TMC MLA Paresh Pal on Thursday informed that the Chief Minister’s leg is in serious condition.

    A delegation of the TMC on Thursday filed a complaint at the Election Commission office in Kolkata over the attack and have called the incident a “deep-rooted conspiracy to take her life”.

    The Chief Minister, who was on a two-day visit to Nandigram from where she filed her nomination earlier on Wednesday, alleged that she was pushed by a few unidentified people during her election campaigning.She was brought to Kolkata’s SSKM Hospital by road from Nandigram.

    Banerjee sustained “severe bony injuries” on her left foot and ankle as well as bruises and injuries on her shoulder, forearm and neck, according to the report of her initial medical examination.

    West Bengal is likely to witness a triangular contest this time with TMC, Congress-Left alliance and the BJP in the fray.

    Elections to 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.

  • Claims that police were not with Mamata when attack took place were laughable: Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Thursday continued to condemn West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the alleged attack where she suffered a leg injury, saying that her claims that police personnel were not with her at the time of the incident were ‘laughable’.

    He further responded to the Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) claims that it was a conspiracy, saying that if it were so, central investigation agencies should be called.

    “She is trying to gain sympathy from people by making excuses of attack, conspiracy, an attempt of murder etc. It is laughable that she claims there was no police with her. It is an attempt to win the election with excuses,” the Congress leader said.

    ALSO READ | Police register case; protests break out across Bengal

    “If there is a conspiracy, call Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Investigation Agency (NIA), Crime Investigation Department (CID) or form a Special Investigation Team (SIT). Why don’t you (Mamata Banerjee) do it? Where were the police, CCTV? Take out CCTV footage and the truth will come out,” he said.

    The Congress leader further said Banerjee was making the excuse of a conspiracy for public sympathy.

    Earlier on Wednesday, hours after Chief Minister’s claim that she was injured after being attacked by a few men, Chowdhury had accused her of resorting to ‘siyasi pakhand’ (hypocrisy) and theatrics to gain public sympathy ahead of Assembly polls in the state.

    The incident happened at Birulia when Banerjee after her scheduled campaigning programme in Nandigram was returning to Reyapara.

    Meanwhile, a delegation of the TMC filed a complaint at the Election Commission office in Kolkata over the attack and have called the incident a “deep-rooted conspiracy to take her life”.

    This comes amid anticipation for the upcoming elections for the 294-member West Bengal Assembly that will be held in eight phases starting from March 27. The final round of voting taking place on April 29 and counting of votes will take place on May 2.  

  • Bengal Assembly Polls: Dilip Ghosh holds roadshow ahead of filing nomination

    By ANI
    KHARAGPUR: West Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh, along with BJP candidate Tapan Bhuiya, on Tuesday held a roadshow here ahead of filing nomination for the Assembly polls.

    Last week, Ghosh had said that Bharatiya Janata Party will definitely win 200 of the total 294 Assembly seats.

    জনতার বিপুল সমর্থন নিয়ে আজ খড়গপুর এসডিও অফিসে আজ আসন্ন বিধানসভা নির্বাচনে মনোনয়নপত্র জমা দিতে যাওয়ার মুহূর্ত |#LokkhoSonarBangla pic.twitter.com/JOl1WnjxaT

    — Dilip Ghosh (@DilipGhoshBJP) March 9, 2021

    West Bengal Assembly elections 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.

    The state is likely to witness a triangular contest this time with TMC, Congress-Left alliance and the BJP in the fray.

    After winning 3 seats in the 2016 Assembly election in West Bengal, the BJP made deep inroads in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections winning 18 seats and reducing TMC’s tally to 22. Out of the total 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal, Congress won two seats, the Left drew a blank. 

  • Bengal polls: It’s official! BJP’s Suvendu to take on Mamata in Nandigram

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA/NEW DELHI:  With the BJP unveiling its first list of 57 candidates for the eight phase West Bengal Assembly elections on Saturday, the Nandigram constituency is set for a battle of titans after the saffron outfit pitched former state minister Suvendu Adhikari against chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Both the BJP and the ruling Trinamool Congress have fielded heavyweights, hoping to pin down each other in the constituency.

    BJP national general secretary Arun Singh announced the names of the candidates on Saturday at the party headquarters in Delhi even while the full might of the outfit was busy preparing for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Brigade Ground election rally on Sunday. The BJP also sought to create another buzz by fielding former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh against another former senior police official, Humayun Kabir, from the Debra Assembly seat.

    Ghosh had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls but lost. Kabir joined the TMC last month.  In line with the open arms welcome to sitting legislators from other parties, the BJP fielded former CPM leader Tapashi Mondal from Haldia and Sudip Mukherjee, ex-TMC, from Purulia. The two had won from the same seats in 2016. The BJP also fielded former Indian cricket player Ashok Dinda from East Midnapore. Singh said the first list of the candidates have 19 Dalits and seven tribals. 

    While the chief minister is banking on her political war cry of “Ma, Mati, Manush,” the BJP is seeking to set the electoral narrative with Adhikari against her. The BJP is hoping that the politically influential Adhikaris  can upset the CM. “Since his joining the BJP, Adhikari has been saying that he will defeat the chief minister by over 50,000 votes. The party has given him the opportunity to fulfill his goal,” said a senior BJP leader. 

    Mamata’s decision to not contest from Bhawanipur  and selecting Nandigram instead was said to be her master-stroke to blunt Adhikari’s attempt to harm the party in other parts of south Bengal.  “Her goal was to confine Adhikari in a small pocket. The CM’s victory is sure. But her move forcing the BJP to field Adhikari against her will keep the BJP’s key player confined to Nandigram,” said a TMC leader. 

    I am Bhumiputra, Didi is an outsider: SuvenduPitted against his former boss, BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari yet again exuded confidence about trouncing Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee. “I am Nandigram’s ‘Bhumiputra’…Mamata is an outsider here (in the region),” he said after his candidature was announced.