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WEST BENGAL: Communists in Limbo

This gives only a partial picture of the story, because the reasons behind the downfall of the Red empire is not only because of its failure to introspect or owning up the responsibility, but the crisis is much deeper…reports Saibal Gupta

With only few days to go before the 23rd party Congress at Kannur in Kerala, the West Bengal chapter of CPI(M) might have to go for a careful introspection to make it politically and electorally relevant for the forthcoming elections in the state, including the municipal elections this year and the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

The year 2021 was a year of embarrassment for the CPM. Since Independence, it was the first time that CPM failed to send a single representative to the state legislative Assembly. In the Assembly elections held last year, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front failed to win even a single seat.

LDF CPI-M workers celebrate party’s performance

The Left Front lost a deposit in 158 of 177 seats it contested. And it didn’t end here. In only four seats, the CPI(M) secured second position, the worst was seventh in the Darjeeling seat. A party, which uninterruptedly ruled Bengal for 34 years from 1977 to 2011 was reduced to zero in merely 10 years’ time.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the party’s vote share was a mere 6.28 per cent, and even then it failed to win a single seat. Two years later, the party’s vote share declined further to 4.7 per cent. How did this happen?

Though many leaders of the Left parties and political commentators have publicly said that the biggest issue with the CPI(M) leadership is that they continue to introspect but don’t do much-needed course correction. Even after their consistent electoral failures, not a single party leader took responsibility.

The party’s top leaders, CPI(M) state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra, Left Front chairman Biman Bose, and other politburo members from Bengal like Md Salim, Hannan Mollah and Nilotpal Basu, observers say, made no efforts to revive the party and strengthen the organisation in Bengal.

This gives only a partial picture of the story, because the reasons behind the downfall of the Red empire is not only because of its failure to introspect or owning up the responsibility, but the crisis is much deeper.

The Left Front started to lose its ground from 2008 when Trinamool Congress — riding on its success of Singur and Nandigram — won the all-important Zilla Parishads in East Midnapore and 24-Parganas (South), two districts having a large number of parliamentary and assembly constituencies.

Of the 18 districts of West Bengal, though the Left front has captured 13 Zilla Parishads and the Opposition, including the Congress and Trinamool Congress, have won five, but indications are strong that Left is fast losing its grounds in the rural belt, particularly among the peasants.

The Left’s vote share had plunged to 52 per cent from the earlier highs of close to 90 per cent in the polls. This defeat was followed by the Trinamool Congress, headed by Mamata Banerjee, winning 19 out of 42 seats in the Lok Sabha elections in 2009 (the most by a single party), before dismantling the Left in the Assembly elections of 2011.



Despite Left-Front’s campaign — ‘Krishi amader bhitti/Shilpa amader Bhobisyot’ (Agriculture is our base/Industry is our future) — the CPI(M)-led Left has lost its base among the peasantry; its alliance with the Congress was counterproductive; it lost Hindu votes to BJP and Muslim votes to Trinamool; and now, by allying with a Muslim cleric, it has lost its principled stand on religion and politics, reducing it to political minnows in a span of just 10 years.

Another major problem that CPI(M) is facing is the leadership crisis. After Harkishan Singh Surjeet’s exit from the post of general secretary, the CPI(M) was first led by Prakash Karat and now by Sitaram Yechury. And as it happened, when put to test, the party’s national leadership failed as far as the party’s electoral fortunes are concerned.

At the state level, after 2011, a political void has marked Bengal’s CPI(M) leadership. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s departure from active politics has not led to the emergence of fresh leaders. Bose, Salim or Mishra hardly has any political capital on the ground. The workers on the ground don’t have much faith in their leaders.

The party seems to have realised this. In the last Assembly polls, it had fielded young leaders. Students Federation of India (SFI) leader Pritha Tah (29) contested the Assembly polls from Bardhaman Dakshin. Srijan Bhattacharya (27) contested from the high-profile constituency of Singur. Democratic Youth Federation of India’s (DYFI) state president Minakshi Mukherjee (33) contested from another keenly-watched constituency, Nandigram.

Sitting JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh (26) contested from Jamuria constituency in Paschim Bardhaman. Former JNUSU leader Dipsita Dhar (28) contested from Howrah’s Bally constituency. Apart from these, there are other young candidates like DYFI state secretary Sayandeep Mitra who contested from Kamarhati, SFI state president Pratikur Rehman who was the candidate from Diamond Harbour and Saptarshi Deb from Rajarhat Newtown.

Although all of them lost the elections, a majority of these young leaders performed better than their seniors and polled more votes. Political commentators believe the need of the hour is to bring in some radical changes in the CPI(M).

The result was imminent. In the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections, the Left finished ahead of the BJP by securing 11.87 per cent votes as against the saffron party’s 9.19 per cent. The BJP’s comparative vote share was 6 per cent below 2015, and 20 per cent less than the Assembly polls. The Left received 13 per cent fewer votes compared to the 2015 civic polls but 7 per cent more than what it managed in the Assembly elections.

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Bengal guv consents to administer oath to Mamata on Oct 7

The oath taking ceremony of the chief minister triggered controversy when Dhankhar wrote a letter to the Speaker of the Assembly Biman Banerjee…reports Asian Lite News

After much controversy West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has consented to conduct the oath taking ceremony of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and two other MLAs who have recently won in the by-election, at the state legislative assembly on October 7.

“Governor WB Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar would administer oath/affirmation to the elected members to the WBLA, viz, MAMATA BANERJEE, JAKIR HOSSIAN and AMIRUL ISLAM at the premises of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on 7 October, 2021 at 2 pm,” Dhankhar tweeted.

“Earlier it was decided that the oath taking ceremony will take place at 11.45 a.m. but later it was decided that it would be deferred and the ceremony will take place at 2 p.m. Accordingly, the governor was informed and he consented to that,” a senior Trinamool Congress minister said.

The oath taking ceremony of the chief minister triggered controversy when Dhankhar wrote a letter to the Speaker of the Assembly Biman Banerjee saying that the practice and proceedings at the level of the assembly and the government have apparently emanated from misconception of law, leaving it to speculation whether the governor would go to the assembly for the oath taking ceremony as requested by the state government.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her desire to take the oath in the assembly on October 7. On October 1, the Speaker wrote to the Governor asking him to come to the assembly for the oath taking ceremony of the newly elected members. Speaker who generally conducts the oath taking of the members of the assembly had to write to the governor because Dhankhar had withdrawn assembly speaker Biman Banerjee’s power to administer the oath of office to the members of the state legislature in the middle of September.

The power has been granted to the Speaker by the Governor to administer the oath of office to the new MLAs under Article 188 of the Constitution. Officials said that this is the first time a Governor had withdrawn the delegated power to the Speaker thus escalating tension. However, the Speaker refused to comment on the issue.

Mamata

Parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee said, “We have requested the Governor to come down to the Vidhan Sabha on October 7 before noon for the swearing-in of the CM and two other MLAs. We wanted the swearing-in to be held at Vidhan Sabha, so we had sent the request to the Governor. Hope the Governor will come to the assembly.”

Dhankhar in reply to the Speaker wrote: “A note had been sent on October 1 where I had been requested to make the Speaker of state assembly be appointed by the Governor under Article 188 of the Constitution to administer Oath/Affirmation on October 4, to the newly-elected MLAs”.

“The practice and proceedings at the level of the assembly and the government have apparently emanated from misconception of law. Once in terms of the legal regime applicable, the result of the by-elections is gazetted, the matter would through appropriate channels be brought to my notice where a call as deemed appropriate under Article 188 of the Constitution would be taken,” he added.

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West Bengal govt to sell off DPL land to clear debts

According to sources, DPL has its power plant and coke oven plant on around 650 acres….reports Asian Lite News

Though West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been vocal against the disinvestment policy of the central government and has often alleged that the Modi government is selling off major public sector units including in banking, insurance and steel but the state government has decided to go the same way by selling off or leasing out a portion of unused land of Durgapur Projects Limited (DPL), a loss-making power utility that was under a restructuring plan, to clear the firm’s debts.

A few days before in a high-level meeting at ‘Nabanna’ attended by state power minister Aroop Biswas, state law minister Malay Ghatak and chief secretary H.K. Diwedi it was decided that the state government would either sell off or lease out a portion of DPL to meet the debts of the company.

“Though it is not yet clear which portion of the land would be sold or leased off, the process could start with 154 acres spread in three parcels in Durgapur. Two officers of the power department went to Durgapur on Wednesday and visited all three land parcels which could be put up for monetisation in the first phase,” said a senior official of the state finance department.

According to sources, DPL has its power plant and coke oven plant on around 650 acres. Moreover, it has administrative buildings, township and various offices on around 900 acres. About 50 per cent of its 3,559 acres are lying unused these days.

ALSO READ: Mamata links Guv Dhankhar to 1996 hawala case

According to a restructuring plan taken up by the power department in 2019, the DPL was divided into three parts. The transmission was taken over by the West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Company, the distribution was handed over to the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company and the West Bengal Power Development Corporation was given the charge of the electricity generation.

“But these were yet to be notified duly and no other restructuring process like staff being laid off was initiated. The DPL has been facing a loss of Rs 200 crore every fiscal for the past one decade. A bold step is needed to clear the burden of at least Rs 2,000 crore at the DPL,” said a source.

Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari had been vocal on this issue. Responding to media queries at the Assembly premises he said that the state government is doing the same thing for which they had been critical of the Central government. “They are trying to sell DPL’s land to a private promoter. They are disinvesting state government’s stake in Haldia Petrochemicals Limited. Earlier, the state government sold off Metro Dairy to a private entity. And this same state government and the ruling party are accusing the Centre of its disinvestment policies. This is a complete dichotomy,” Adhikari said.

The Left Front government had also planned to utilise the unused plots of the DPL by setting up townships in a joint venture. But the plan could not materialise because of stiff resistance from the CITU.

This time also, the CITU said it would resist if the state wanted to sell off the plots or gave them on long-term lease. “We will put up stiff resistance if the government takes any step like promoting on the DPL land,” a senior district committee member of CITU said.

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Mamata links Guv Dhankhar to 1996 hawala case

Strongly refuting the charges, Dhankhar said that he did not expect the Chief Minister to engage in “sensation premised on misrepresentation and untruth”….reports Asian Lite News

The war of words between West Bengal CHief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar reached a flash-point on Monday after the CM alleged that the Governor was named in the 1996 Hawala Jain case.

Strongly refuting the charges, Dhankhar said that he did not expect the Chief Minister to engage in “sensation premised on misrepresentation and untruth”.

“This Governor’s name figured in the Jain Hawala case. But they have gone to court and cleared it. There is a PIL which is pending. The Governor is a totally corrupt person. He was named in the Jain Hawala charge-sheet. He had moved the court and got his name removed. But one writ petition is still pending which has his name,” Banerjee said on Monday, adding that she has written three letters to the President seeking the removal of the Governor.

Banerjee was speaking in the backdrop of the Governor’s recent demand for a special audit in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration on charges of corruption. He made the demand on the day a BJP delegation met him in Darjeeling and demanded an audit of the GTA’s expenses.

Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar@jdhankhar1

“I am shocked to hear something from a leader of her stature. This is an effort to create sensation and spread misinformation and misrepresentation. The entire world knows that no one has been convicted in the Hawala Jain case. It is in the public domain who are the people who have been charge-sheeted,” Dhankhar said.

“Ajit Panja was charge-sheeted in the Hawala case and he was acquitted. Your Governor was not even charge-sheeted. There is no such document. This is far from the truth. This is plain and simple untruth. This is misinformation. I did not expect this from a seasoned politician,” he added.

Taking a dig at the media, Dhankhar said, “I was surprised to see the media in a shyness mode. Why no questions have been asked about the people who have been charge-sheeted. I have come to know about the pathetic state of affairs of the media,” Dhankhar said.

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The Governor went on to say that this allegation has been levelled only because he had objected to some portions of the speech that had been sent to him to be read in the Budget Session.

“I will tell you why this has happened. I came back from North Bengal and found the speech I was supposed to deliver on the first day of the Budget Session. I found some portions which no one will believe. I wrote a letter to the Chief Minister asking her to give some time ‘tomorrow’ so that we can have a deliberation on the speech,” Dhankhar said.

“She called me immediately after that and said that the speech has been approved by the cabinet. It was just 10 minutes before the press conference. I told her as the Governor of the state, it was my duty to have discussion with the state government so that there is no confusion. I asked her for a deliberation. She told me that she would get back to me,” Dhankhar added, hinting that it was only because of this reason that the Chief Minister has made this kind of ‘wild’ allegation.

Banerjee also termed the Governor’s visit to North Bengal as a political stunt, claiming that he had only met MLAs and MPs of the BJP.

“Why did he suddenly tour North Bengal? I can sense a conspiracy to divide North Bengal,” she said, apparently referring to the BJP leaders’ demands for separate statehood for North Bengal and Jangalmahal.

“Why should the Governor dictate a government that won a huge mandate,” Banerjee asked.

As per the Constitution, I will continue to meet him, talk to him and follow all the courtesies… But the Union government should act based on my letters,” she said.

“There was no election after 2017. Democracy has been stiffened; it has been decimated in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA). GTA was reduced to a government department. It was the den of nepotism, den of corruption, den of inefficiency. Everyone asked why there was no audit? Thousands of cores of rupees have come, but why is there no audit? I sought for a report but there was no report,” Dhankhar alleged.

“There shall be an audit by the CAG because it has been proposed by the legislature,” he added.

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WB Chief Secy retires, made Mamata’s Chief Advisor

Bandyopadhyay’s decision to opt for normal retirement came after the Centre sent a second letter to him and the state government, asking the senior officer to report to North Block on Tuesday…reports Asian lite News

 In a surprise development on Monday, West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, who was given an extension of three months, opted for his normal superannuation scheduled on May 31, apparently putting an end to the Centre-state tussle over his Central deputation.

Alleging that the decision for Central deputation was a fallout of the Centre’s vendetta politics, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has appointed Bandyopadhyay as the Chief Political Advisor to the CM.

Bandyopadhyay’s decision to opt for normal retirement came after the Centre sent a second letter to him and the state government, asking the senior officer to report to North Block on Tuesday, clearly indicating that the Centre will not withdraw from its stance.

The communication from the Centre came as a response to a letter shot off by Banerjee, in which she urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw the “letter of recall” and allow Bandyopadhyay to continue working as the Chief Secretary of West Bengal for the next three months.

Earlier on May 28, the Centre had written to Bandyopadhyay, asking him to report to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) at 10 am on May 31. It also asked the state government to give him the necessary clearance for this purpose.

Unwilling to release the Chief Secretary, Banerjee wrote to the Prime Minister on Monday, saying, “I humbly request you to withdraw, recall, reconsider your decision and rescind the latest so-called order in larger public interest.

The government of West Bengal cannot release, and is not releasing, the Chief Secretary at this critical hour, on the basis of our understanding that the earlier order of extension, issued after lawful consultation in accordance with applicable laws, remains operational and valid.”

Speaking to the media, the Chief Minister said, “I am sorry to say that the purpose of service of the extension was in public interest and they (the central government) agreed to give extension. They have recalled him, but the state government doesn’t even know the reason. Naturally, the state government didn’t agree because the purpose behind giving him extension still persists.

“Perhaps the Central government is not aware that when I received the letter, Bandyopadhyay has been superannuated from his service on the afternoon of May 31, as his normal date of retirement is May 31. Hence his services are no longer available to join the Central government tomorrow, as mentioned in today’s order.”

Banerjee then announced that Bandyopadhyay has been appointed as the Chief Advisor to the Chief Minister and he will start working from Tuesday onwards with a salary commensurate with his age, seniority and designation.

“This will be sanctioned by the finance department,” she said.

Meanwhile, Hare Krishna Diwedi, presently working as the Home Secretary, will handle the responsibilities of the Chief Secretary, while B. Gopalika, who is presently working as the Additional Chief Secretary, will become the new Home Secretary of the state.

Terming the incident to be a one-off case in the country’s 74 years of cooperative federalism, the Chief Minister alleged that the BJP government is destroying the federal structure of the state.

“I have not seen such a heartless and unkind Prime Minister and Home Minister in all my life. You cannot recall the top man in the state bureaucracy in this manner. This is not only shameful, but it also shows their vindictive attitude. They will destroy the morale of the bureaucrats in the country.

“I appeal to all the non-BJP Chief Ministers and bureaucrats of the country to come forward and protest against this unjust move,” she said.

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Mamata terrorising over TMC leaders’ arrest: CBI tells SC

The top court is likely to hear on Tuesday CBI’s appeal against the Calcutta High Court order sending four Trinamool leaders to house arrest after cancelling their judicial custody…reports Asian Lite News

The CBI has moved the Supreme Court challenging a Calcutta High Court order allowing the house arrest of four Trinamool Congress heavyweights in the Narada sting operation case.

The investigating agency has also claimed that the Calcutta High Court ignored the disturbing pattern wherein Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee �terrorised’ it by remaining present at the CBI office along with a well-engineered crowd of �thousands of miscreants’ outside the probe agency’s office in Kolkata.

The top court is likely to hear on Tuesday CBI’s appeal against the Calcutta High Court order sending four Trinamool leaders to house arrest after cancelling their judicial custody.

Kolkata witnessed high drama last Monday after CBI sleuths arrested two Trinamool Congress ministers — Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee — along with present MLA Madan Mitra and former Kolkata Municipal Corporation Mayor Sovon Chattopadhyay — in connection with the 2016 Narada sting tapes case, in which several politicians and a high-ranked police officer were allegedly found accepting cash for providing unofficial favours to a fictitious company.

While a lower court granted bail to the four Trinamool leaders on Monday evening, the order was stayed by the Calcutta High Court late on the same night.

The CBI said in its plea in the top court that the West Bengal Chief Minister had rushed to its office on May 17 and passed several derogatory and defamatory comments about the probe agency, and even threatened to register cases against the officers under the Disaster Management Act and the Epidemic Diseases Act, among others.

She shouted “you also arrest me”, and demanded unconditional release of the arrested accused, said the petition.

The CBI has named Banerjee, Bengal Law Minister Moloy Ghatak and Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee as parties in the petition.

The CBI said that thousands of followers of Trinamool Congress had laid siege on the CBI building at Nizam Palace in Kolkata last Monday, constantly trying to disrupt the process of law by engaging in stone pelting.

The CBI contended that the Chief Minister did not bat an eye and stood in support of it all till the end.

The petition said: “The terror was created by and at the behest of the respondent persons, including the Chief Minister who herself who remained present at the CBI office [in the very room where the arrested accused persons were kept] along with a well-engineered crowd of thousands of miscreants and after ensuring media presence.”

The CBI added that it is most relevant to note that it did not pray for police custody of the accused on May 17 before the competent court due to the terror unleashed by the Trinamool workers and leaders, including the Chief Minister of the state.

The agency claimed that the accused involved in economic offence of grave nature are influential members of the society. Therefore, putting them under house arrest is subject to a constant risk of them tampering with the witnesses or the administration of justice, the CBI said.

“The visit of the CM to the CBI office where the four accused were kept broke all rules and norms and violated the very rule of law which the Chief Minister took the oath to abide by,” argued the CBI.

The probe agency said that the Kolkata Police have even registered a case against CBI officials, who were discharging their lawful duties.

The CBI contended that after the high court order, the accused chose to stay back in the hospital where they continuously met guests and other political workers.

The acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court had on Friday constituted a five-member bench to hear the interim bail plea of the four Trinamool heavyweights.

The matter was referred to the five-judge bench after the two judges of the high court division bench differed with each other.

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Saffron party set to give tough time to TMC in Assembly

The BJP legislative party has already nominated TMC turncoat, who defeated Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram battle — Suvendu Adhikari as the Leader of the Opposition…reports Asian Lite News

BJP boycotted the Speaker election in the West Bengal Assembly protesting against post-poll violence in the state and that is indicative enough that the saffron party will not leave grounds to the Trinamool Congress though the ruling party captured over two-third majority in the recently concluded assembly polls.

“We are going to play the role of a constructive opposition. We are with the ruling party so far as any development program or any initiative that will benefit the people but we will protest strongly if we see that Trinamool Congress is trying to cause hindrance to the people.

“We have already played the role of a cooperative opposition so far as the state’s effort to control coronavirus and vaccination is concerned but we cannot accept hooliganism of the ruling party after the announcement of the election results,” a senior BJP leader told IANS on the condition of anonymity.

Though the BJP legislative party is yet to develop a comprehensive plan of action for the upcoming Assembly Sessions, its state high command has already instructed the 75 MLAs to go back to their constituencies and reach out to the people.

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When asked how they would like to fare in the coming sessions in the assembly, another senior BJP leader said, “It is very difficult to say right now. We will decide once and when things occur. This is for the first time we are playing the role of the main opposition and we don’t want to send a wrong signal to the people”.

BJP is primarily worried on two accounts — the erosion of votes particularly among the upper and lower caste Hindus and the absence of an acceptable face who will be able to counter Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

State BJP President Dilip Ghosh has already told the national leaders present in the state to go back and assured that the state BJP unit is capable of handling the ground situation better making it clear that the national BJP leaders did not have an acceptance among the voters.

The BJP legislative party has already nominated TMC turncoat, who defeated Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram battle — Suvendu Adhikari as the Leader of the Opposition.

It goes without saying that an avid speaker Adhikari will put a stiff resistance both to Mamata Banerjee and the party in general inside the assembly. BJP will definitely try to reap the benefits of it.

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Didi’s agenda for first 100 days

Party insiders indicate that the Mamata Banerjee government is likely to re-introduce and establish a Second Chamber in the State Legislature or the Legislative Council…Reports Asian Lite News

After securing a thumping majority in the recently concluded elections Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had made it clear that vaccination and controlling the spread of Coronavirus will be her government’s priority and she has already initiated some formidable steps to restrict the unchecked spread of the pandemic.

Besides controlling the disease — as party insiders indicate — the chief minister is likely to carry forward the promises made in the manifesto in three different stages — short-term, middle-term and long-term plans.

Covid vaccination and controlling the spread of SARS-COV2 virus will be the priority of the state government –this was already announced on the day of her oath taking ceremony on May 5.

“She has already taken some steps like suspending the movement of the local trains, closure of bars, restaurants, gyms, cinema halls and shopping malls and restricting the number of people to 50 in any kind of religious and entertainment functions.

“The state government is also thinking of completing the vaccination of all the people of the state in the next six months,” a senior government official said.

“However, to complete the mass vaccination drive the state government needs active cooperation of the central government and she has written to the Prime Minister in this regard,” the official added.

Party insiders indicate that the Mamata Banerjee government is likely to re-introduce and establish a Second Chamber in the State Legislature or the Legislative Council, which will comprise eminent persons, who will play an active role in shaping the State’s functions.

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The State Legislative Council, or Vidhan Parishad, is the Upper House and the Lower House being the State Legislative Assembly or the Vidhan Sabha.

The state is likely to pass a resolution in the State Assembly after which it will be the constitutional mandate and obligation of the Parliament to complete the formality by passing a law to that effect.

Seven states, including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh and Telengana have state legislative council.

It is not a secret now that the Trinamool Congress came to power riding on the successful execution of the government delivery systems like ‘Duare Sarkar’ – government at your doorstep and “Parai Parai Samadhan’ – solution in your neighbourhood.

If the former is a mechanism to deliver the benefits of the government projects at the doorstep, then the latter is a process to mitigate public grievance through offering a solution at the local level.

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Though it was a brainchild of the poll strategist Prashant Kishore hired by the Trinamool, Mamata Banerjee wants to continue with the projects so that it doesn’t seem to be a poll stunt.

The Trinamool Congress government is likely to bring back the projects with government camps twice a year likely to be conducted August-September and December-January.

Chief Minister Banerjee is well aware that a huge support of the women voters have enabled her to come to power and so the state government is likely to strengthen the social security net keeping the women in mind.

“The State’s monthly average Consumption Expenditure of a household is Rs 5,249. Providing a monthly income support of Rs 500 (yearly Rs 6,000) to General Category households and Rs 1,000 (yearly Rs 12,000) to SC/ST Category households, would account for 10 per cent and 20 per cent of their monthly expenditure, respectively.

This amount would be directly deposited into bank accounts of 1.6 crore matriarchs of each family in West Bengal. It would include every household from the SC/ST community. For General Category, this income support would be provided to all households except those having at least one tax-paying member (42.30 lakh people) and those owning land more than 2 hectare (2.8 lakh people).

The budget outlay for the scheme would be approximately Rs 12,900 crore every year,” a senior party leader said.

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Deposits of 7 BJP candidates forfeited in WB polls

The seven saffron party nominees who suffered humiliating defeats were from Bhaganbangola, Lalgola, Raghunathganj, Canning East, Bhangar, Hariharpara and Sujapur….reports Asian Lite News

Of the 292 candidates who contested in the recently concluded Assembly elections in West Bengal, the deposits of seven BJP candidates have been forfeited.

The seven saffron party nominees who suffered humiliating defeats were from Bhaganbangola, Lalgola, Raghunathganj, Canning East, Bhangar, Hariharpara and Sujapur.

Election deposit is an amount deposited by the candidate while submitting his or her nomination. According to Election Commission rules, for state Assembly polls, the amount is Rs 10,000 while it is Rs 5,000 for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates.

As it is a caution money, the EC returns the amount to the candidates, but as per Section 34, 1 (a) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, if a candidate fails to get 1/6th (16.5 per cent) of the total valid votes franchised in that constituency, then the amount deposited by him/her is seized by the poll panel.

he BJP candidate from the Bhagawangola Assembly constituency in Murshidabad district, Mehebub Alam, suffered a huge defeat as he went down to his nearest rival of Trinamool Congress by a margin of 137,088 votes. Trinamool’s Idris Ali got 153,795 votes against Alam’s 16,707, which is 7.2 per cent of the total votes cast.

West Bengal polls (Twitter)

The BJP candidate from Sujapur Assembly constituency in Malda district, S.K. Ziauddin, also suffered a huge defeat against Trinamool’s Md Abdul Ghani. Ghani got 152,445 votes against Ziauddin’s 14,789, which is just 7.1 per cent of the total votes polled.

The Trinamool candidate from Canning East in South 24 Parganas district, Soakat Molla, defeated his nearest rival Kalipada Naskar of the BJP by a margin of 87,059 votes. While Molla got 121,562 votes, Naskar could manage 34,503 votes, which is 14.5 per cent of the total votes cast.

Similarly, the BJP candidate from the Raghunathganj Assembly constituency in Murshidabad district managed to get only 14.9 per cent of the total votes polled. While BJP’s Golam Mudassuer got 28,251 votes, Trinamool candidate Akruzzaman was far ahead of him with 126,834 votes.

Abdul Kahelque Mollah, the Trinamool candidate from the Metiabruz Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district, defeated his nearest rival Ramjit Prasad of the BJP by a margin of 84,282 votes. Mollah got 102,660 votes against Prasad’s tally of 31,357, which is 16 per cent of the total votes cast.

Similarly, the BJP candidate from Lalgola in Murshidabad district lost to his Trinamool rival by a margin of 78,363 votes, managing only 15.4 per cent of the vote share. While Trinamool’s Ali Mohammad got 107,703 votes, BJP’s Kalpana Ghosh’s tally stopped at 46,891.

In the Bhangar Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district, BJP candidate Soumi Hati went down to the third position, getting only 38,726 votes against the winning ISF candidate Naushad Siddiqui’s tally of 109,063 votes.

Also read:Mamata accuses BJP of instigating violence

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Mamata accuses BJP of instigating violence

Banerjee also said that the BJP leadership should control itself and accept the mandate of the people….reports Asian Lite News

Hours after Union minister and senior BJP leader V. Muraleedharan alleged that his convoy was attacked by Trinamool Congress supporters in West Midnapore district, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused the saffron party of instigating violence in Bengal to put undue pressure on the state government on the issue of law and order.

Speaking at a press conference at state secretariat Nabanna, Banerjee said, “One minister is trying to provoke people. Some sporadic incidents happen after elections and that is natural, but the BJP-led Central government is trying to exaggerate the whole thing. They are instigating violence.”

Banerjee also said that the BJP leadership should control itself and accept the mandate of the people.

Announcing a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the people who died in post-poll violence in the state, the Chief Minister said, “Altogether 16 people have died. Half of them are from the BJP, one from the ISF and rest from our party. So people from all the parties have died and I am really sorry for them. But what the BJP is doing is not acceptable.”

Mamata

Accusing the Centre of putting pressure on the state government, Banerjee said, “I took oath at 11 am on Wednesday and in the evening, they sent a strong letter and the next day they sent a Central team. Why are they in such a hurry? I don’t see this kind of prompt reaction when it comes to supply of oxygen, vaccines, emergency medicines or saline. They don’t send their teams then. They can’t accept their defeat.”

The Chief Minister also made it clear that controlling the Covid situation is her priority and she would work to keep the people of the state safe.

Also read:Mamata sworn in as CM for 3rd time

“I don’t have the time to fight with the BJP now. The elections are over. I want to make one thing clear that whoever comes to the state needs to get an RT PCR test done. I shall not allow anyone into the state without that,” Banerjee said.

“Even a Central minister or a businessman coming by a chartered flight will have to come with a fit medical certificate and I shall not allow anybody without that. If the person tests positive, he or she will have to stay in quarantine for 14 days at his own cost. I shall do everything for the poor people but not for those who have money,” she added.

New Delhi: MoS External Affairs V. Muraleedharan participated in the 27th Regional Forum Ministerial via video conferencing in New Delhi on Sep 12, 2020. (Photo: IANS/MEA)

When asked about people fleeing from Bengal and taking shelter in Assam, the Chief Minister said, “They are teaching the chief ministers to speak against me. When there was a problem in Assam, people came to Bengal. It happens in the bordering districts. I can see this more in Cooch Behar where the BJP has done well.”

Speaking on the Covid situation, Banerjee cautioned everybody to stay safe for the next 14 days.

“The state government has decided to develop oxygen plants in all the 105 state-run hospitals and it has already been prepared in Diamond Harbour and Cooch Behar. We have also asked the intern doctors and the post-graduate doctors to come forward and join our war against Covid. This will give an additional strength of 2,000 doctors,” she said.

Also read:Cong leaders praise Mamata, ignoring defeat