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Indian Express
an hour ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Today in Politics: PM Modi on a whirlwind tour of Bengal, Bihar among four states
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is embarking on a two-day visit to four states starting Thursday to launch a slew of development projects and address rallies. The PM will be on a tour of Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in what will be his first visit to these states since May 7 Operation Sindoor undertaken by the Indian Armed Forces against terror bases in Pakistan following the horrific terrorist attack on tourists in Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22. Modi will kick off his tour by attending the golden jubilee celebrations of Sikkim's statehood at Paljor Stadium in Gangtok on Thursday morning. 'The PM will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of several projects, including a 500-bed district hospital worth over Rs 750 crore in Namchi, passenger ropeway at Sangachoeling in Pelling in Gyalshing district, statue of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Atal Amrit Udyan in Gangtok, among others,' an official release said. Modi will then leave for West Bengal to lay the foundation of a gas distribution project and address a rally in Alipurduar. He will lay the foundation stone for a Rs 1,010 crore City Gas Distribution (CGD) project in Alipurduar and Cooch Behar districts in north Bengal. The PM's Bengal visit comes amid heightened political activity in the state, which is going to the Assembly polls early next year. Gearing up to take on the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the polls, state BJP leaders hoped Modi's Alipurduar rally would galvanise their party cadre. The TMC however took a jibe at Modi's visit, referring to him as a 'migratory bird', even as it attacked the BJP-led Centre for allegedly withholding central funds for various state programmes. In Alipurduar, the BJP has been facing discontent after former party MP from the constituency, John Barla, switched to the TMC recently. In the evening, Modi will reach the poll-bound Bihar to launch several development projects and hold a roadshow and a rally. In the Patna airport, the PM will inaugurate a Rs 1,200 crore new terminal. He will later visit the BJP office, according to state BJP chief Dilip Jaiswal. 'This will be the PM's first Bihar visit after Operation Sindoor's success. People of Bihar feel strongly about that military operation since it was on the soil of the state (in Madhubani) that Modi had vowed to punish the culprits of the Pahalgam attack,' Jaiswal said. On Friday, the PM will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of development projects worth over Rs 48,520 crore in Karakat in Bihar, which is due for the Assembly polls in October-November this year. Later in the day, Modi will arrive in UP's Kanpur where he will lay the foundation stone and inaugurate development projects worth about Rs 20,900 crore besides addressing a public meeting. The PM has recently visited states like Rajasthan and Gujarat, where in his speeches he made a development pitch while sending a tough message of Operation Sindoor to Pakistan. These visits have come days before June 9, which will mark the first anniversary of the Modi government 3.0. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be on a two-day tour of Jammu beginning Thursday to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir. This will be his first visit to the Union Territory in the wake of Operation Sindoor. During his two-day visit to the Jammu region, Shah will also visit Poonch district which registered the highest number of 14 civilian deaths among the total 28 lives lost in the indiscriminate Pakistani shelling and drone attacks during the military conflict between May 7 and 10, officials said. Shah will chair a high-level security review meeting at Raj Bhawan on Thursday evening, which will be attended by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and senior officials from the army, police and paramilitary forces. The Union Home Minister will interact with shelling-hit families during his visit to Poonch on Friday, official said. He will also visit the damaged Singh Sabha Gurdwara and hold a meeting with officers to assess the damage in the district. Shah will also visit a BSF camp in Poonch and interact with the jawans before returning to Delhi, officials added. The ruling National Conference's provincial president Rattan Lal Gupta urged Shah to announce a comprehensive financial package for the people affected by the Pakistani shelling. J&K Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra questioned Shah's 'delayed visit' to the region. The government will carry out a civil defence exercise Thursday in the districts of several states and Union territories adjoining the western border on how to face air raids from enemy aircraft, drones, missile attacks, among others. In a communication, the Directorate General of Fire Service and Home Guards, which comes under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, stated that the civil defence exercise 'Operation Shield' will be undertaken in J&K, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and Chandigarh. On May 7, the government had conducted the first civil defence exercise across the country. The civil defence authorities urged the states and UTs to plan and organise the exercise at 1700 hours onwards on Thursday by involving all local administration and stakeholders. The Punjab government however wrote to the Centre, proposing June 3 as the date for carrying out the civil defence exercise in the state, citing that their civil defence staff were undergoing a training being conducted by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). A senior Punjab police officer said the Centre has accepted the state government's request. The mock drill was also deferred in Rajasthan districts due to 'administrative reasons', said an official statement issued on Wednesday night. – With PTI inputs
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
No apology, Delhi HC asks TMC MP why he should not be detained
Photo/Agencies NEW DELHI: Delhi high court issued a notice to TMC MP Saket Gokhale, asking him to explain why he should not be put into civil detention for "wilful non-compliance" with its order to publish an apology for defaming former diplomat Lakshmi Puri. Taking a strong view of Gokhale's failure to publish the apology even after the timeline fixed by the court had elapsed, a single bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora observed that he was mocking the court and its process, and issued a notice under Code of Civil Procedure. "According to me, he has to go to jail," the judge observed. HC granted one week to the Rajya Sabha member to respond to the notice. The matter will be heard on Sept 3.
Indian Express
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
CPIM to field own candidate, looks to Congress for support
CPI(M) West Bengal secretary Md. Selim on Wednesday announced the party's plan to field a candidate in the Kaliganj bypoll, to be held in June, with the support of the Congress party, citing their strong performance in the Lok Sabha elections 2024. However, the Congress has yet to confirm whether they will support the CPIM candidate. The Election Commission on Sunday announced June 19 as the date for the by-election to the Kaliganj Assembly seat in Nadia district of West Bengal. 'We have fought in the Panchayat and the Lok Sabha election there and did well. In the 2016 Assembly election, the Congress won the seat, but their MLA joined TMC. So, we think if we can file a candidate there and fight unitedly, we can defeat the BJP as well as the TMC there,' Selim said. 'We had a state committee meeting and Left Front meeting on Wednesday. There also we spoke on this and will approach the Congress,' he added. 'In the Lok Sabha election in 2024, our candidate for Krishnanagar Lok Sabha seat, S M Sadi secured the highest votes in Kaliganj, which is more than 18% of total votes. So, we are assuming we will do well in Kaliganj bypoll and definitely we will file a candidate there,' a senior CPIM leader said. Congress leader Soumya Aich Roy said, 'Traditionally, Kaligunj is our seat. I think everything can be resolved through talks. But, an alliance is necessary to fight against the BJP and TMC.' Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), a Left Front ally, also has extended support to CPIM, stating they will back the party's candidate in the Kaligunj bypoll if CPIM decides to field one. Kaligunj has traditionally been a Congress stronghold, with the party winning the seat in 2016 as part of a Left Front alliance. Notably, the Left ally RSP had previously won the seat four times during the Left regime. However, the Congress candidate later defected to the Trinamool Congress. TMC's Nasiruddin Ahmed won from Kaliganj in 2011 but lost in 2016. He again regained the seat in 2021. After his demise the seat fell vacant. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has named Alifa Ahmed, daughter of late Nasiruddin Ahmed, as its candidate for the Kaligunj bypoll. Alifa, 38, is a graduate and works at a prominent IT company. In the 2011 Assembly election, Mamata Banerjee-led TMC formed a government with Congress as alliance partners. However, the alliance broke down within a year, and Congress has since maintained distance from TMC at both state and national levels. In the 2016 Assembly election, the CPIM-led Left Front and Congress formed their first-ever official alliance. The election results saw Congress winning 44 seats, the Left Front securing 30 seats, BJP getting 3 seats, and the TMC sweeping 211 seats out of 294 seats of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. However, the alliance was short-lived and did not hold for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. In the Lok Sabha polls, Congress won 2 seats, BJP secured 18 seats, and TMC bagged 22 seats out of 42, while the Left Front failed to win any seat. In the 2021 Assembly election, the Left Front, Congress, and Indian Secular Front (ISF) formed an alliance. However, the Left Front and Congress failed to win any seats, while ISF managed just one seat. TMC secured 213 seats, and BJP won 77 seats. During the 2024 Lok Sabha election, despite TMC's national alliance with Congress and Left parties in the INDIA bloc, there was no alliance between them in West Bengal. Congress, however, formed an alliance with the CPIM-led Left Front in the state. The results saw Congress win one seat, while other Left parties failed to secure any. This contrasted with the 2023 Panchayat election and the 2024 Lok Sabha election, where the Left Front-Congress alliance performed well. After the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the alliance between the Congress and the Left Front broke and they fought bypoll separately. Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal. Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur. He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More
Indian Express
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Ahead of PM visit, TMC lashes out at Centre over ‘stepmotherly attitude' towards state
A day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled public meeting and rally at Alipurduar in North West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday lashed out at the Centre over its 'step-motherly attitude' towards the state. They also alleged that the BJP has no intention to develop North Bengal. Dubbing the PM's scheduled visit as the 'first pre-election migratory trip' before the 2026 Assembly polls, the TMC fired the opening salvo, demanding answers on the state's longstanding grievance: 'Where is Bengal's money?' Taking to their social media handle on X, the TMC posted, 'Since the migratory birds are making their seasonal visit to Bengal, why not answer one simple question: Why is the Centre still withholding Bengal's rightful dues amounting to ₹1.7 lakh crore? #AayeHoTohBataKeJao'. 'Interestingly, the Bengal BJP unit recently received a major jolt from Alipurduar after former BJP MP John Barla joined AITC, accusing BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari of stalling development in the region,' it further wrote. With the hashtag #AayeHoTohBataKeJao, the TMC has set the tone for a pointed campaign, demanding answers from the Centre on issues affecting Bengal, as the political slugfest heats up ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls. Earlier in the day, the TMC also shared details of development initiatives undertaken in Alipurduar under the Government of West Bengal led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. 'Alipurduar is witnessing a new era of growth and progress under the dynamic leadership of Smt. @MamataOfficial. Driven by her unwavering commitment to people-first governance and inclusive development, Didi continues to reshape the region's future,' the party posted on X, while sharing visuals of the CM's recent visit to North Bengal. The prime minister on Thursday, will lay the foundation stone for an Rs 1,010-crore City Gas Distribution (CGD) project in Alipurduar and Cooch Behar districts in the state and later address a public rally in Alipurduar, BJP leaders said on Wednesday. 'I will be addressing a BJP West Bengal public meeting in Alipurduar tomorrow afternoon. Over the last decade, the various schemes of the NDA government have been greatly appreciated by the people of West Bengal. At the same time, they are tired of the corruption and poor administration of the TMC. @BJP4Bengal,' PM Modi posted on X. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday visited the Bhowanipore Shitala Temple in Kolkata. 'Your religion belongs to you, but festivals are for everyone. Bengal stands as a symbol of harmony, where temples, mosques, and gurudwaras walk the path of unity. Each region has its own spirit, but together we celebrate as one,' CM Banerjee said. Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal. Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur. He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More
Time of India
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
TMC fires ‘pol tourism' salvo, asks where's Bengal's money
1 2 Kolkata: Saying that PM Narendra Modi 's "political statements" were "undesirable", TMC on Wednesday added: "On terrorism we are with Centre, but we will respond to political canards strongly." "These are frog-in-the-well type of political statements which is completely out of sync with TMC's resolute stand against terrorism which is being carried beyond borders by party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee," party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said. "Has PM Modi been to Pahalgam, or those bordering villages (in Poonch, Uri and Rajouri) where people have been killed? TMC netas went there. Forget J&K, has the PM ever been to Manipur? North Bengal is flooded with tourists now... it's that time of the year. Another tourist... a political one... will be there tomorrow. And we strongly believe he will come empty-handed," Ghosh said. He went on to say: "TMC, led by CM Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, has repeatedly expressed its complete support to Centre on the issue of terrorism. We did not rake up other issues at this critical juncture. But that doesn't mean that we cannot. A BJP minister's son in Gujarat has been caught with fake 100-day-work job cards. In Alipurduar, where the PM is to speak, Centre has denied MGNREGA and Awas dues to people. " The party also ticked off north Bengal development minister Udayan Guha's statement demanding an end to the "sindoor business". Guha had earlier in the day said without naming anyone, "Some people earlier were in the tea business. Now some of them are in the sindoor business. Earlier they used to sell hot tea, now hot sindoor is flowing in their veins. They are running to north Bengal's Alipurduar to sell this sindoor. But I want to say this... do not poison people's minds like this. They are trying to poison people... and divide people." Ghosh said, "The party does not endorse such statements. On the issue of fight against terrorism, we are with Centre." In Delhi, Trinamool's Rajya Sabha deputy speaker Sagarika Ghose attacked BJP for trying to politicise Operation Sindoor . "The political effort by BJP to politicise Operation Sindoor is deplorable. It is the bravery of our armed forces which we are saluting. For BJP to try to politicise this is highly unacceptable. It is the politics of spectacle, it is the politics of drama, and it is the politics of histrionics," she said. "We do not believe that the sacrifice and bravery of our armed forces should be politicised in this way. Even the PM is engaging in the most theatrical type of politics over Operation Sindoor," she added. In a separate statement, TMC dubbed PM Modi's visit as "the first pre-election migratory trip before the 2026 assembly polls" and sought answers to its long-standing query — 'where is Bengal's money?'
