News Analysis India

Tag: West Bengal

  • West Bengal Advocate General Kishore Datta resigns citing ‘personal reasons’, successor appointed

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Advocate General Kishore Datta on Tuesday resigned from his post citing “personal reasons”, following which Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar appointed senior counsel Gopal Mukherjee in his place. Datta, who took charge in February 2017, is the fourth advocate general of West Bengal in a row to have resigned from the post during Mamata Banerjee’s 10-year rule in the state.

    Hours later, Mukherjee was named as the successor of Datta. “In terms of Article 165 (1) of the Constitution of India Governor West Bengal Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar has appointed Shri Gopal Mukherjee, Senior Advocate of High Court at Calcutta, as Advocate General of the State and will hold office ‘during the pleasure of the Governor’,” Dhankhar tweeted.

    In terms of Article 165 of the Constitution have accepted with immediate effect resignation submitted by Shri Kishore Datta, Senior Advocate, as Advocate General of State of West Bengal @MamataOfficial with immediate effect. pic.twitter.com/IKK0Iu4qeG
    — Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) September 14, 2021
    Earlier in the day, the governor said in a Twitter post he accepted the resignation of Dutta with immediate effect. Anindya Mitra, the first advocate general to have taken charge after the TMC government came to power in 2011, and his successors Bimal Chatterjee and Jayanta Mitra had also resigned from the post.

    “Kishore Dutta is a gentleman. But he could not save the state government from embarrassment in the high court in several cases in the past. So, perhaps, he was forced to resign,” BJP MP Arjun Singh said.

    Reacting to Singh’s comment, Trinamool Congress Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said, “We didn’t have the slightest idea that Arjun Singh is so knowledgeable about happenings in the judiciary.”

    He said that Dutta resigned on personal grounds and wondered why no question is asked when any top official in the union government resigns.

  • CBI, ED officers summoned by West Bengal Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay on September 22

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay on Monday said he has summoned senior CBI and Enforcement Directorate officers on September 22 to explain why no permission had been taken from the speaker’s office before submitting charge sheets against legislators of the state in recent times.

    Bandopadhyay said that the speaker’s office was not kept in the loop and no permission was taken from it while initiating action against the elected representatives.

    Several legislators of the ruling Trinamool Congress, including ministers, had been charge sheeted and have been summoned in recent times by the two central probe agencies for their alleged involvement in ponzi scam cases and the Narada sting footage case.

    Bandyopadhyay told PTI “I have sought an explanation from CBI and ED why the speaker’s office is not being informed while framing charge sheets against MLAs and summoning them. A letter has been sent to the city offices of the two central agencies.”

    “In the letter I have asked the ED and CBI officers to come to the assembly on September 22 and give an explanation as to why the speaker’s office was not provided any prior information and why action was taken without seeking any permission from me,” he said.

    TMC leaders like Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and Kunal Ghosh had maintained that the investigating agencies always inform the speaker of the Lok Sabha for any such action (charge sheet) against MPs but the practice is not followed concerning MLAs in Bengal.

    It is the norm to intimate the head of the house concerned before its member – MP, MLA or MLC is arrested, detained or convicted.

  • CBI interrogates West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee for two hours in I-Core ponzi scam case

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday questioned West Bengal Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee for nearly two hours in connection with his alleged involvement in the I-Core ponzi scam, sources in the probe agency said.

    A three-member CBI team questioned Chatterjee, also a senior Trinamool Congress leader, in his Camac Street office. “I told them whatever I had to say. I hope they are satisfied with the answers,” he told reporters after the questioning.

    Chatterjee was allegedly seen in some of the public functions organised by the now-defunct I-Core which was charged with duping investors by offering them abnormally high returns on investments. Like Saradha and Rose Valley chit fund companies, I-Core raised money from the public by several fraudulent schemes floated by it.

    The economic offences wing of the CBI had asked Chatterjee to appear before its officials on September 13 at the CGO Complex office of the central agency. The TMC secretary general, however, pleaded that he be interrogated at his office since he is busy with other preoccupations, CBI sources said.

    Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had also served a notice to the minister in the same ponzi scam. The CBI had taken over the investigation of Saradha and other ponzi scam cases on the orders of the Supreme Court on May 9, 2014.

  • BJP’s Bengal unit shaken up by large-scale migration of foot soldiers to TMC

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: The foundation of the BJP’s Bengal unit seems to have been shaken up by large-scale migration of foot soldiers to the ruling Trinamool Congress following the party’s poor show in the recent Assembly elections. The party had a presence in 50,000 booths out of nearly 79,000 before the high-decibel Assembly elections but now it has been reduced to around 40,000 after the projection of bagging victory in 200-plus seats out of 294 received a jolt.

    Sources in the saffron camp said 20 to 25 per cent of the present booth workers have become defunct and stopped attending meetings for the past two months and the leadership fears they are about to join the TMC. The higher rung of the BJP also received a setback after four of its elected MLAs defected to the TMC reducing the party’s legislative count to 71.

    The internal grassroot-level assessment of the BJP came to light after the party’s national leader Shiv Prakash, during a three-day meet with the Bengal functionaries last month, sought a report about the saffron camp’s present ground-level strength in the state.

    ALSO READ: Bombs hurled outside BJP MP Arjun Singh’s residence; Bengal Governor condemns incident

    “Other than defection of the four elected legislators, including former national vice-president Mukul Roy, a large section of our party workers snapped all communication with us. The report submitted by the mandal committees has revealed 20 to 25 per cent of our booth workers have become defunct and their political allegiance is now leaning towards the ruling TMC,” said a senior BJP leader.

    After making deep inroads in Bengal in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections taking the tally to 18 from two in the lower house of Parliament, the BJP included more than 85 lakh members in its lower rung.

    “We received a massive response during a membership collection drive in 2019. The count of new members was calculated on the basis of the missed calls received by a particular number that was floated as part of the drive. Unlike other political parties, we don’t have any mechanism to know how many of our members are still with us on record. The real picture emerged after Shiv Prakash’s instruction to assess the party’s ground-level strength. There was massive defection from the TMC to the BJP ahead of the recent Assembly polls and now it is reverse migration,” said the leader.

    In south Bengal districts, TMC turncoats who joined the saffron camp were seen queuing up in front of the local offices of the ruling party seeking apology. “In some of the places, they even staged a hunger strike and pleaded to allow them to return to the fold of the ruling party. We failed to restrict this outflow and as a result, our ground-level strength, which is crucial to participate in elections, has been shaken up,” said another BJP leader.

  • Scant regard for Maa Durga stands exposed, says TMC slamming BJP

    By ANI

    KOLKATA: A day after the BJP wrote to the Election Commission urging to take action against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for violating the Model Code of Conduct by announcing cash rewards for Durga Puja clubs despite the declaration of by-poll dates, the TMC hit back at the BJP alleging “their scant regard for Maa Durga and the traditions of Bengal stands exposed”.

    Terming the BJP “self-proclaimed custodians of Hindu culture and values”, the TMC accused it of disrespecting Hindu festivals and not understanding Hinduism.

    The official Twitter handle of TMC today alleged, “The self-proclaimed custodians of Hindu culture and values clearly DO NOT understand Hinduism, forget about respecting Hindu festivals! Now, their scant regard for Maa Durga and the traditions of Bengal stands exposed! This is an act of utter shame @BJP4Bengal”

    On Tuesday, a West Bengal BJP delegation including state vice president Pratap Banerjee, party leader Shishir Bajoria and Balurghat MP Sukanta Majumdar visited the EC office in Kolkata. “We urge EC to take action against Bhabanipur candidate Mamata Banerjee including restraining her from participating in ensuing by-polls for violating Model Code of Conduct by announcing cash rewards for Durga Puja clubs despite the declaration of by-polls date,” the BJP delegation said.

    The BJP delegation also handed over a letter to Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal in this regard.

    “We draw your attention to the program organised by the West Bengal Government in the Netaji Indoor Stadium addressed by the unelected Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Chief Secretary. In this program, the Durga Puja organising clubs were invited wherein cash donation and other facilities by the state government were announced for 36,000 clubs in the State including 2,500 clubs in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area,” read the BJP’s letter to EC. 

  • EC takes stock of situation in states where LS, assembly bypolls are due

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Top officials of the Election Commission on Wednesday took stock of the situation in various states, including West Bengal, where Lok Sabha and assembly by-polls are due, as part of an exercise to allow the poll panel to take an informed decision on holding the democratic exercise.

    Sources aware of the meeting said the idea was to know about the issues and challenges being faced by various states due to the coronavirus pandemic, floods and other issues.

    They were also asked about local festivals, holidays as well as the law and order situation.

    In some states, panchayat polls are in progress, the sources pointed out adding that details of events that result in large gatherings were also sought.

    Seven assembly seats are due to go to polls in West Bengal.

    These include two seats where polls were deferred during the assembly elections in the state following the death of candidates.

    Five other bypolls are due in the state due to the death or resignation of sitting MLAs.

    The ruling Trinamool Congress is keen on an early bypoll schedule.

    Chief Minister and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee lost from Nandigram in the assembly elections and needs to get elected as a member of the state legislative assembly by November 5.

    Besides West Bengal, bypolls are due in at least three Lok Sabha and eight assembly seats in other states and UTs.

    According to an EC statement of May 5, there were notified three vacancies in parliamentary constituencies of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Khandwa (Madhya Pradesh) and Mandi (Himachal Pradesh).

    Also, there were eight vacancies in assembly constituencies of Kalka and Ellenabad in Haryana, Vallabhnagar in Rajasthan, Sindgi in Karnataka, Rajabala and Mawryngkneng in Meghalaya, Fatehpur in Himachal Pradesh and Badvel in Andhra Pradesh.

    On May 5, the poll panel had decided to defer bypolls in these three Lok Sabha and eight assembly seats due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Banks to operate full time in West Bengal from Thursday: CM Mamata Banerjee

    Banking hours were revised several times in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases in Bengal during the course of the second wave.

  • COVID-19: Schools to remain shut in Bengal, Kerala

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  With Delhi joining states cautiously reopening schools despite the Covid-19 pandemic, there are a few states where educational institutes will remain shut in September. The states and UTs where the local administration is yet to decide on this iclude Kerala, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Goa and Puducherry. Other than Kerala, where the Covid situation is the worst in the country, it is more or less stable in other states.

    In other states, students have either been called or are being called back to classrooms from the first week of next month, although attendance in places where schools started in July and August have remained low. In most states, a cap of 50% attendance has been imposed and schools have also been instructed to offer a choice of online or offline mode.

    While a majority of the states have decided to open only secondary and senior secondary schools, Andhra Pradesh has allowed opening of schools at all levels including nursery. Experts have opined that young kids are particularly less susceptible to serious disease. The Centre, while stressing on vaccination of school teachers and other support staff, has promised a supply of two crore vaccine doses for them.

    The announcement by the Delhi government, meanwhile, comes a day after NK Arora, chief of Centre’s working group on Covid-19, insisted that the time has come for schools to resume classes in a phased manner. He also suggested that teachers, non-teaching staff as well as drivers associated with schools should be vaccinated to create a protective ring around the students, reiterating that “children don’t get very sick with Covid-19”.

    On Friday, over 50 doctors, public health experts, academicians and scientists also issued an open letter saying that school closure is “no longer tenable, especially for our younger children who are at the least risk from Covid-19 and face the highest cost due to school closure”.

  • Bengal’s wrong policies hurting farmers, says BJP leader Dilip Ghosh

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh Friday alleged that wrong policies followed by the state government are hurting farmers who are not getting the benefit of minimum support price (MSP).

    He said the central government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has increased the MSP of some crops by almost 1.

    5 times but it is not benefitting the state’s farmers due to the wrong policies of the Trinamool Congress government and they are being forced to resort to distress sale of their produce, he said at a meeting of the Bharatiya Kisan Morcha here The agricultural policy of West Bengal has been framed keeping in mind the interest of the party workers of the TMC.

    In the process, it is not the farmers but the intermediaries who are reaping the benefits, Ghosh claimed.

    He said the Centre has reduced the price of fertilizers with the aim to facilitate farmers in getting the right price.

    Modi has also been trying to make the farmers self-sufficient and double their income, he added.

  • CBI registers nine cases related to post-poll violence in West Bengal

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The CBI has registered nine cases related to post-poll violence in West Bengal, sources said on Thursday.

    All the four special units of the investigating agency tasked to probe the cases of violence have moved their units from Kolkata to crime scenes across the state, they said.

    More cases are under the process of registration with some of them being handed over by the state government, sources said.

    A five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court has entrusted the CBI with the investigation into alleged rapes and murders after the assembly polls in West Bengal earlier this year.