BJP's Dilip Ghosh faces electoral test for political survival in Bardhaman-Durgapur

BJP's Dilip Ghosh faces electoral test for political survival in Bardhaman-Durgapur In the Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha constituency, a region known for altering political allegiance in every election, BJP candidate Dilip Ghosh faces a pivotal challenge to overturn this pattern and secure his political future. Since its establishment in 2009, Bardhaman-Durgapur has sent CPI(M), TMC and BJP representatives once each to the Lok Sabha in the three previous polls. In 2019, BJP's S S Ahluwalia clinched the seat from the TMC by a narrow margin of approximately 3,000 votes, marking it as a challenging battleground for the saffron party. With the odds stacked up, the BJP is placing its faith in Ghosh, widely regarded as one of its most successful state presidents, to retain its foothold in the region. Political analysts believe that Ghoshs relocation from his previous Medinipur constituency, coupled with his removal from the post of party's national vice-president, have turned the Bardhaman-Durgapur contest into a critical test of both prestige and political survival for Ghosh. ''Dilip Ghosh is now fighting a battle for his political survival. He is presently cornered in his own party. A victory would rejuvenate his political career, while a defeat could cast doubts over it,'' said Maidul Islam, a political scientist at the Centre for Studies in Social Science. During Ghosh's tenure as the state BJP president, the party won 18 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. Despite the challenging circumstances, the BJP leader remains optimistic about his prospects. ''I am a loyal party member, and I embrace any role assigned to me. This is a challenge I am prepared to overcome,'' Ghosh told PTI. Highlighting his track record of political firsts, he added, ''I became the state president within nine months of joining the party. I became an MLA in my first attempt, by defeating the 10-time MLA Gyan Singh Sohanpal. I also became an MP in my first attempt. Bardhaman-Durgapur presents another new challenge for me.'' Ghosh's opponents in this electoral race include TMC candidate and former India cricketer Kirti Azad, as well as the LeftCongress alliance candidate Sukriti Ghoshal. The TMC, eager to reclaim the seat, faces the hurdle of Azad being labelled an ''outsider'' by the BJP. However, Azad dismissed these concerns, stating, ''I am an Indian, and any Indian can contest from any part of the country. This election is about issues and policies, not individuals.'' In contrast, the BJP has launched a campaign emphasizing Azad's outsider status, echoing the ''insider-outsider'' narrative used by the TMC during the 2021 assembly polls. The ''insider-outsider'' debate in West Bengal gained traction ahead of the 2021 state elections, with the ruling TMC leveraging Bengali sub-nationalism to counter the BJP's Hindutva narrative. The constituency, created after the reorganisation of parliamentary constituencies in 2008, is a blend of industrial and farming regions, appealing to both rural and urban voters. It comprises seven assembly segments: Burdwan South, Burdwan North, Monteswar, Bhatar, Galsi, Durgapur East, and Durgapur West. In the 2021 assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) clinched victories in all segments except Durgapur West. The assembly seats in this constituency were once bastions of the Left parties. However, with changing political tides in Bengal since the defeat of the Left Front government in 2011, the TMC has been steadily gaining ground in the area. In 2009, the CPI(M)'s Saidul Haque won the Lok Sabha seat with over one lakh votes against Congress-supported TMC candidate, Nargis Begam. But in 2014, TMC's Mamtaz Sanghamitra wrested the seat from Haque. Five years later, the elections saw a close contest, with SS Ahluwalia of the BJP narrowly defeating the TMC by a margin of 0.1 per cent votes, with the two parties garnering 42.3 and 42.2 per cent of the votes respectively. The constituency has a Muslim population of nearly 20 per cent while the scheduled caste community comprises 27 per cent. With the Left-Congress alliance entering the fray, the upcoming election promises a three-cornered fight, a departure from the previous bipolar contests. ''This area has a rich history of trade unions and peasant movements led by the Left. The CPI(M) maintains its base here, evident from the 2016 assembly polls when the Left-Congress alliance won two assembly segments,'' said Islam. In 2019, the CPI(M) secured over 1.5 lakh votes, accounting for 11.5 per cent of the total votes polled, while the Congress garnered nearly 38,000 votes, representing 2.3 per cent of the votes. ''With the Left-Congress alliance, we are optimistic about winning the seat. The electorate is disenchanted with both the TMC and the BJP,'' Ghosal said. Islam highlighted that if the Left-Congress alliance secures over 15 per cent of the votes polled, the electoral battle could swing either way as far as the TMC and BJP are concerned. Sensing the imminent danger of Left-Congress, Ghosh has recently appealed to the Left voters to vote for the BJP in the fight against the ''corrupt TMC'', a plea which was rejected outright by the CPI(M). The Left-Congress alliance aims to resonate with the people on issues like unemployment and agrarian crisis, stemming from state and central policies, as their primary campaign themes in the constituency which goes to vote on May 13.

Didi: I Dont Interfere in Departmental Hiring; TMC Govt Moves SC Against HC Order

Kolkata: As the Trinamul Congress government on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court's judgment canceling the jobs of 25,753 West Bengal school education department employees over corruption in their recruitment, chief minister Mamata Banerjee tried to distance herself the monumental scam under her rule. During the day, the School Service Commission (SSC), which recruited the candidates including teaching and non-teaching staff in 2016, filed a special leave petition at the SC against the order of the HC division bench. SSC chairman Siddhartha Majumdar said, There have been allegations against 5000 candidates of illegally getting jobs. But why would nearly 26,000 candidates lose jobs for that? The CM later raised the issue at a Lok Sabha Election campaign rally in Burdwan East in support of Bolpur TMC candidate Asit Mal. She claimed, It is the lookout of a concerned department how it recruits employees. I do not interfere in it. But nearly 26000 employees were terminated from their jobs. They were asked to return their salaries with interest. I felt bad about it. Ms Banerjee alleged, I'm asking those BJP leaders, who are snatching jobs like this, whether they would be able to return the salaries of their entire government service if they were told similarly. Where will these 26000 people go? Will the schools in Bengal go for closure? Won't teachers' recruitment happen further? She added, I still have 10 lakh government jobs to offer. But the court is stalling them if any appeal is filed. It is a big pilgrimage for the BJP. If BJP files a PIL, it gets what it asks for. But if others pray for justice, door is closed for them. Meanwhile the National Commission for Women has condemned a controversial remark by TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee against Malda South BJP candidate Sreerupa Mitra Choudhury and sought a report from state DGP within four days.

Ram Navami: Peaceful Celebrations in West Bengal Amid Tight Security

Kolkata: Ram Navami celebration remained peaceful by and large in West Bengal this time unlike last year. Leaders of both the sides, ruling Trinamul Congress and opposition BJP, attended the rallies of the Hindu festival with participants shouting Jai Shree Ram slogan on Wednesday under tight security arrangements by the police in the city and districts. In the morning, TMC supremo and chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who earlier expressed her apprehensions of a riot, posted her festive greetings on X-handle and appealed for peace. Greetings to all on the auspicious occasion of Ram Navami. I appeal to maintain peace, prosperity and development for all. In Howrah, TMC MP and Lok Sabha Election candidate Prasun Banerjee and state minister Arup Roy were seen leading a procession on the occasion. The district along with another, Hooghly, witnessed violence over Ram Navami rallies in 2023. At Ghatal in West Midnapore, TMC MP and candidate Dev led a rally also. On the other hand, Nandigram BJP MLA and leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari marched in a religious procession at New Town in Kolkata. At Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas, outgoing MP and BJP candidate Arjun Singh took out a similar procession with his followers. BJP MP and Burdwan-Durgapur candidate Dilip Ghosh also led a similar rally. In the evening, state BJP however posted a video apparently of stone pelting on X-handle alleging, Mamata Banerjee's incompetence in safeguarding Ramanavami Shobha Yatras in West Bengal is appalling. Hindus targeted in Rejinagar, Murshidabad, a minority in the area.

Yusuf Pathan and Kirti Azad: Two cricketers from TMC seemingly on sticky wicket

KOLKATA: Two cricketers, who are contesting in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Trinamool Congress are seemingly on a sticky wicket . While Yusuf Pathan, the TMC candidate from Behrampore, takes on seven time MP from Congress Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Kirti Azad takes on BJP strongman Dilip Ghosh from Burdwan East. These two former cricketers are now in an alien wicket as they are outsiders. When it comes to advantages, both Pathan and Azad have nothing to lose because Pathan is new in politics, but Azad has got some dabbling in politics. He was previously associated with Congress for a brief stint. They are new in politics and so if they lose it does not matter to them. But on the down side, both Adhir Chowdhury and Dilip Ghosh are Goliaths. Adhir is a seven-time MP. Dilip Ghosh is also an MP and former state president and tough contender. They are also ready to bet their political career on this election as well. On Tuesday, Chowdhury said, If I lose Behrampore , I will quite politics altogether. The internal conflicts within the Party also playing bad for the cricketers. TMC is riddled with factional fights in Burdwan Eastso much so that a few days back, during a rally,two groups of TMC clashed with each other in front of the candidate and Azad had to stop the rally and seek refuge in the temple. Few days back BJP alleged that Yousuf Pathan used the picture of Sachin Tendulkar to woo the voters. Outsiders The BJP on Sunday picked up the Lok Sabha candidates list of the Trinamool Congress to counter the ruling partys charge that the BJP was anti-Bengal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was an outsider to the state. Speaking on the sidelines of the BJPs rally in Sandeshkhali, BJP state chief Sukanta Majumdar tore into Trinamuls choice of outsider candidates, including former Indian cricketers Yusuf Pathan and Kirti Azad. West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar pointed out that TMC candidates Kirti Azad and Yusuf Pathan arent from the state. Just half an hour before TMCs list was announced, Abhishek Banerjee was making statements like the BJP is anti-Bengal. Now, when the candidates are announced, its clear that TMC is bringing people from outside. I dont know if Kirti Azad and Yusuf Pathan are Bengali, Yusuf Pathan is from Gujarat, and so is PM Modi, but for them, PM Modi is an outsider, he said. According to BJP, INDIA alliance is nothing but a ship without a captain. Its CM Mamata Banerjees strategy and also she is in fear that she wants no other leader to get more importance and become a bigger leader than Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, hence they give tickets to actresses so that her nephew continues to be a politician, he added. Yusuf Pathan hits campaign trail in Baharampur; Adhir says, 'politics and cricket are not same' Pathan played 57 ODIs and 22 T20Is for India from 2007 to 2012 during which time he scored 810 runs with 2 hundreds and 3 fifties in 50-overs cricket while in the shortest format he amassed 236 runs. The 41-year-old broke into the limelight thanks to the Indian Premier League (IPL) where he was a key part of the Shane Warne-led Rajasthan Royals team which won the inaugural title in 2008. He achieved major success during his 8-year stint with Kolkata Knight Riders where he won the IPL title two more times in 2012 and 2014 under Gautam Gambhir's captaincy. In another notable move, former Indian cricketer and 1983 World Cup winner Kirti Azad has received a TMC party ticket to run for the Durgapur Lok Sabha seat. It's worth mentioning that Kirti Azad previously won the Lok Sabha elections from Darbhanga in 2014 under the BJP ticket. However, in 2018, he departed from BJP and joined the Congress, later shifting allegiance to the TMC in 2021. Northeast BJP CMs slam TMC leader Kirti Azad for tweet over PMs attire

Election 2024: CPM bets on young and fresh faces in West Bengal

NEW DELHI: The highlight of the first set of Lok Sabha candidates for West Bengal announced by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) is that the party has reposed confidence in its youth leadership to take political heavyweights in the state. The party has so far announced names for 17 seats and at least 12 of them are young and fresh faces. Youngest of the lot is Dipsita Dhar (30); joint secretary of Student Federation of India (SFI). She has been fielded from Sreerampur against the three-time MP of Trinamool Congress Kalyan Banerjee.The student leader is the granddaughter of noted CPM leader Padma Nidhi Dhar. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated Kabir Shankar Bose, a Supreme Court lawyer, from the seat. Dipsita has been at the forefront of various student-led protests and has been vocal on issues related to gender, sexual harassment and Indian higher education. She was also actively involved in the Justice for Rohit Vemula movement and the anti-CAA protests. Srijan Bhattacharya (31)--former secretary of Students Federation of India (SFI) of the statehas been pitted against actor Saayoni Ghosh of TMC in the prestigious Jadavpur parliamentary constituency. Bhattacharyas parents were also leftist student activists and his grandfather Achintya Bhattacharyya was a communist leader of Assam. A scholar-turned-politician Anirban Ganguly isthe BJPs candidate from the seat. Saira Shah Halim (46), CPMs nominee from Kolkata Dakshi also comes from an illustrious family of Left party leaders of West Bengal. His husband Dr Fuad Halim is the son of the veteran Leftist leader Hasim Abdul Halim, who served as the speaker of the Bengal assembly for almost three decades. Saira is the daughter of retired Lieutenant General Zameer Uddin Shah and niece of actor Naseeruddin Shah. Lok Sabha polls 2024: Left, Congress talks on in West Bengal to keep BJP, TMC at bay She actively participated in the campaign against the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship Amendment Act in Bengal and Delhi. She has been speaking on the rights of religious minorities and LGBTQ+ community. On her candidature from the seat, Saira said, People here are looking for an alternative which is not corrupt and communalist. So I hope the public will like my candidature and give me their blessings. The party has nominated two young lawyers; Sayan Banerjee (31) from Tamluk and Sabyasachi Chatterjee (39) from Howrah constituency. Banerjee, a fresher in politics but quite popular in the civil society because of his arguments at the Calcutta High Court in the school-job case is challenging former judge of Calcutta High Court Abhijit Gangopadhyay. The TMC has named its youth leader Debangshu Bhattacharya from the constituency. Basically the thought behind the entire plan of nominating the young candidates is to attract the youth; younger generation because the majority of the electoratebelong to the 18-40 years age group. The party has nominated young candidates; it is a hope for the new generation and we believe that if young educated youth dont come forward then the entire political vacuum will be taken over by hooligans and corrupt, he said. Chatterjee, also a practicing lawyer in the Calcutta High Court, has been given ticket to face incumbent MP of TMC Prasun Banerjee, a former professional footballer, and Arjuna Awardee and BJPs Rathin Chakraborty . Nearly half of Bengal's new voters reluctant to vote in2024 Lok Sabhaelecions Chatterjee said that his priority would be redevelopment and revival of industry in Howrah and rein in illegal construction. Howrah is a mix of rural and urban areas. Congestion and unauthorized construction are two big issues in the constituency. If I am elected, my priority will be to make proper planning for restoration and rival industry; to find out possibilities and work on thembasically planning for the unplanned city, he said. The other new faces of CPM in these elections are Debraj Burman (Jalpaiguri), Nilanjan Dasgupta (Bankura), Shital Kaibarta (Bishnupur), Monodip Ghosh (Hooghly) and Nirab Khan (Burdwan Purba).

Four Bengal DMs removed by ECI replaced with IAS-cadre officers

Kolkata, March 22 (IANS) The four District Magistrates in West Bengal, who were removed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday, were replaced by the state government with four Indian Administrative Service (IAS)-rank officers on Friday. On Thursday, the ECI ordered the removal of the DMs of East Midnapore, East Burdwan, Jhargram, and []

BJP Bengal chief Sukanta, central ministers Nisith and Shantanu among LS nominees in 1st list

BJP Bengal chief Sukanta, central ministers Nisith and Shantanu among LS nominees in 1st list Sitting MPs, West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, union ministers Nisith Pramanik and Shantanu Thakur are among the 195 candidates who featured in the first list of nominees announced by the BJP for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. While there are 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, candidates of 20 were announced. Following are the key BJP candidates from the state. *Cooch Behar Lok Sabha Seat - Nisith Pramanik* Once a Trinamool Congress youth leader from the North Bengal district of Cooch Behar, 38-year-old Nisith Pramanik jumped ship to the BJP in March 2019 and trumped his former party's well-entrenched leader Paresh Adhikary with over 54,000 votes in the general elections from the Cooch Behar (SC) seat which took place two months later. In July 2021, Pramanik became the junior home minister in the dual Union ministries of Home Affairs as well as Youth Affairs and Sports following a cabinet reshuffle during the term of the second Modi government. At the time of his assuming charge of his ministries, Pramanik earned the distinction of being the youngest minister in the Union cabinet. Pramanik's nationality, however, created a dust-up almost immediately after Congress' Rajya Sabha MP Ripun Bora accused Pramanik of being a Bangladeshi national and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to investigate his nationality. *Alipurduars Lok Sabha Seat - Manoj Tigga* A BJP MLA from the Madarihat (ST) constituency of West Bengal's Alipurduar district in two back-to-back state polls of 2016 and 2021, Manoj Tigga currently serves as the party's chief whip in the Bengal Assembly. In 2016, Tigga managed to swing the Madarihat seat from the known fortress of the Left Front partner RSP which held the constituency for an unbroken 42 years. Tigga replaced BJP's sitting MP John Barla in the North Bengal seat of Alipurduar in his candidacy for the upcoming general elections. Barla, the sitting Union minister of state for minority affairs, was incidentally among the first BJP leaders in Bengal to demand a separate state carved out of North Bengal alleging underdevelopment and indifference of the Mamata Banerjee government towards the region. *Balurghat Lok Sabha seat - Sukanta Majumdar* Sukanta Majumdar, the current president of the West Bengal BJP and a first-time MP, secured victory in the Balurghat Lok Sabha seat in 2019. He won by about 33,000 votes, clinching 45 per cent of the total votes cast. Before his foray into politics, Majumdar served as a professor of Botany at the University of Gour Banga in West Bengal. Majumdar, who holds a PhD in Botany, has been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since his teenage years. He was assigned to the Bengal BJP in 2014, marking his transition into active political involvement. He was appointed as the state unit president of the BJP in September 2021. *Bongaon (SC) Lok Sabha seat - Shantanu Thakur.* Shantanu Thakur, a prominent leader of the Matua community, entered politics just before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He secured victory in the Bongaon (SC) Lok Sabha seat, which has a significant Matua population, by an impressive margin of 1,11,594 votes, capturing around 48 per cent of the total votes cast. Known for his vocal support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Thakur was appointed as the Union Minister of State for the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways in a cabinet reshuffle in July 2019. He is a key figure in the All India Matua Mahasangha and comes from a political family; his father, Manjul Krishna Thakur, is a former TMC minister, and his brother, Subrata Thakur, serves as a BJP MLA in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. *Kanthi Lok Sabha seat- Soumendu Adhikari* Soumendu Adhikari, a two-time TMC MP representing Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency, has distanced himself from the party since his brother, Suvendu Adhikari, joined the BJP just before the 2021 assembly elections. His father, Sisir Adhikari, was a three-time TMC MP from the Kanthi Lok Sabha seat. However, he too has kept his distance from the party following his son Suvendu's defection. Coming from a family with a strong political background, Soumendu previously served as the chairman of the Kanthi Municipality and as a TMC MLA in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. He became an MP through a by-election for the Tamluk parliamentary seat after Suvendu resigned to join the West Bengal cabinet under the TMC government. Kanthi is one of the 22 Lok Sabha seats, which the BJP lost in 2019. *Hooghly Lok Sabha Seat - Locket Chatterjee* A sitting MP from the Hooghly Lok Sabha seat, actor-turned-politician Locket Chatterjee snatched the constituency from Trinamool Congress's Dr Ratna De (Nag) in 2019 and positioned her party as a formidable force in that district against the state's ruling dispensation. Chatterjee, known for her outspoken and fiery public demeanour, had previously served as the president of the Mahila Morcha of her party's West Bengal unit and is currently functioning as the party's state general secretary. Chatterjee forayed into politics by holding hands of the Trinamool Congress but switched to the BJP in 2015. She contested the state Assembly polls twice, first from Mayureshwar in 2016 and then from Chinsurah in 2021, but lost on both occasions to the TMC. *Asansol Lok Sabha seat Pawan Singh* Bhojpuri actor and singer Pawan Singh seems to be a surprise nomination for the largely Hindi-speaking voters of the coal mine belt of Asansol in West Burdwan district. For the past few years, though, the seat has been represented by celebrities from non-political domains. Former BJP leader and crooner Babul Supriyo won the seat twice in 2014 and in 2019. Following Supriyo's defection to the TMC, the seat is currently represented by actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha of the Trinamool.