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Time of India
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Nawsad kin TMC gen secy, Sabyasachi Barasat dist chair
1 2 Kolkata: Furfura Sharif Pirzada Kasem Siddiqui, cousin of ISF MLA Nawsad, was made TMC general secretary on Monday in a reshuffle. Furfura Sharif, a Sufi shrine and its Pirzadas wield significant influence over Bengali-speaking Muslim voters in Bengal. Kasem warming up to TMC was apparent when CM Mamata Banerjee went to Furfura Sharif earlier this year for iftar. The other notable change was Bidhannagar civic body chairman Sabyasachi Dutta being made the party's Barasat organisational district chairperson on Monday. Dutta, who defected to BJP ahead of the 2021 assembly poll, returned to TMC later. He was made BMC chairman but did not find a place in the party organisation. Dutta did not respond to calls by TOI but later posted his gratitude to CM Mamata Banerjee and party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on social media. MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, however, will continue to lead the party as district president in Barasat. Former Congress MLA Sankar Malakar, who recently defected to TMC, has been rewarded with a post of vice-president in the party. Kasem and Malakar will also be part of the party core committee, which is chaired by the CM and is the highest decision-making body. Kolkata: Furfura Sharif Pirzada Kasem Siddiqui, cousin of ISF MLA Nawsad, was made TMC general secretary on Monday in a reshuffle. Furfura Sharif, a Sufi shrine and its Pirzadas wield significant influence over Bengali-speaking Muslim voters in Bengal. Kasem warming up to TMC was apparent when CM Mamata Banerjee went to Furfura Sharif earlier this year for iftar. The other notable change was Bidhannagar civic body chairman Sabyasachi Dutta being made the party's Barasat organisational district chairperson on Monday. Dutta, who defected to BJP ahead of the 2021 assembly poll, returned to TMC later. He was made BMC chairman but did not find a place in the party organisation. Dutta did not respond to calls by TOI but later posted his gratitude to CM Mamata Banerjee and party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on social media. MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, however, will continue to lead the party as district president in Barasat. Former Congress MLA Sankar Malakar, who recently defected to TMC, has been rewarded with a post of vice-president in the party. Kasem and Malakar will also be part of the party core committee, which is chaired by the CM and is the highest decision-making body.
Indian Express
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
‘Cong should pick ‘lungi' as party symbol': Assam CM Himanta Sarma; Cong says BJP ought to make Godse's gun as its symbol
Ahead of the panchayat elections in Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday took a dig at the Congress party over its distribution of 'dhotis' to people when it was in power and said the party can pick 'lungi', an attire worn mostly by Bengali-speaking Muslim men in the North East, as its party symbol instead of hand. However, in a tongue-in-cheek response, state Congress president Bhupen Bora said that the BJP could pick Nathuram Godse's revolver as its party symbol, indicating Godse's revolver was used to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. Many groups of Bengali Muslims of Assam have been at the receiving end of allegations by the BJP of being 'illegal immigrants' from Bangladesh. While addressing a poll rally at Dhemaji district on Monday, CM Sarma said: 'Ask Congress if they had free admission in colleges at their time. No. Was a fee needed for 10th standard admission forms? Yes. Was free rice given? Had the Dhemaji Medical and Engineering Colleges been built then? The answer is 'no'. There were only lungi and dhoti (during the Congress regime). That's why I ask the Congress people, they ought to change the (party) symbol from hand to 'lungi'. Congress doesn't understand anything else,' he said. Soon after, Congress chief Bora said his party considers all dresses equal, whether it is a lungi, dhoti, pajama, or trousers. 'Our perspective at Congress is inclusive. If the BJP assumes they can dictate our choice of symbol, why don't they answer why their own symbol is a lotus? They ought to replace their symbol with Nathuram Godse's gun used to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi,' he said. The panchayat elections in Assam are scheduled to be held in two phases — on May 2 and May 7 — and the results will be declared on May 11. Assam has 21,920 seats in gram panchayats, 2,192 seats in Anchalik Parishads, and 397 in zilla parishads. The panchayat polls were scheduled to be held in 27 out of 34 districts of the state, as the other seven are governed by autonomous councils. As per the State Election Commission, 1.80 crore people will exercise their franchise in the panchayat polls this year. CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had said on Friday that 348 candidates were elected unopposed in the three-tier panchayat polls and 325 of them were from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). As per reports, the NDA has already secured 37 zilla parishad (35 BJP and 2 AGP) and 288 Anchalik Panchayat (259 BJP and 29 AGP) seats unopposed, Sarma had said in an X post.
