Kolkata Apr 20 PTI West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar on Wednesday slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for politicising Bengal Global Business Summit and asked her to improve the law and order situation in the state before seeking investments He said Banerjees statements made at the inauguration programme of the business summit and aimed at the Centre was baseless Majumdars criticism followed Banerjees comment at a gathering of industry tycoons at the inaugural day of Bengal Global Business Summit where she urged Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar who was present at the occasion to ensure that industrialists are not disturbed by some agencies and to raise the issue at the next governors conference Though the chief minister did not name any central agency she made it obvious that her apparent dig was in response to recent income tax raids and Enforcement Directorate actions against a number of top firms Her comment had drawn applause from a section of the industrialists present at the business summit It is distresing to see our chief minister using the platform of the business summit to criticise the Centre and politicise the entire event It is not a platform to make such a statement and the one made by her was baseless Had the Centre harassed the industrialists they would not have invested in various parts of the country Majumdar said Hitting out at the TMC government he said Until and unless the law and order situation improves in the state investors will not feel safe to invest in Bengal The state government should create an atmosphere where everybody can invest without any fear of syndicates Taking a dig at several TMC leaders facing CBI and Enforcement Directorate probe in the state he said The chief minister is trying to find an excuse to justify the summoning of corrupt TMC leaders by the CBI Describing the situation in the state as lawless the senior BJP leader said the state government should first improve the law and order situation in Bengal Echoing Majumdar CPIM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said Banerjees comments were aimed at justifying the failures of her government in bringing in investments into the state Everybody is well aware of the lack of industries in the state The chief ministers comment is aimed at giving an excuse in case promises made at the business summit do not materialise Also was she trying to give an excuse about her party leaders being summoned by CBI in criminal cases he asked State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said such statements in front of business tycoons only reflected that the governor and the chief minister were not on the same page It was not a platform to make such statements he added The ruling TMC replied to the opposition criticism by saying Banerjee had dared to speak the truth There is a reign of fear across the country Even big industrialists are afraid to speak up Mamata Banerjee has dared to speak the truth There are instances where industrialists have said they are afraid to speak out on various occasions TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said PTI PNT KK KK KK

Kolkata Mar 23 PTI West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday fired fresh salvos at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the Birbhum killings as he shot off yet another letter to her claiming that the state governments actions in the matter smack of political overtones and an attempt to shield the guiltyEight people were charred to death as their houses were set on fire in Bogtui village near Rampurhat town of Birbhum district early on Tuesday The incident is suspected to be the fallout of ruling TMC panchayat officials murderDhankhar had on Tuesday described the death of eight people at Rampurhat as horrific and claimed that the state was in the grip of a culture of violence and lawlessness drawing a sharp reaction from Banerjee who said that his comments were uncalled forDhankhar in his three-page reply to Banerjee on Wednesday said the CM has adopted an accusatory stance at his restrained reaction to the incidentAs usual you have taken an accusatory stance at my restrained reaction to grisly carnage worst in the memory at RampurhatThe shocking carnage is being justifiably compared by many to the incidents in the state a few years ago while you were in the oppositionAdopting diversionary tactics you have labelled my reaction as a sweeping and uncalled for statement In the face of such enormity I cannot fiddle in Raj Bhavan and be a mute spectator he wroteCalling for introspection the governor also said nothing can be more farcical than the claim that the state had always been peaceful barring a few incidentsIntrospection would reveal that actions at your Banerjees end and not mind are dictated by political overtonesSpecial Investigation Team SIT is being taken as a cover-up operation to provide an escape route to rogue elements Politically caged investigation in the state inspires no confidence he added PTI PNT RMS RMS

Kolkata Jan 19 PTI BJPs leader of the opposition in the Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari launched a sharp attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees ambitions of being projected as a national leader by contending her planned campaign in Uttar Pradesh on behalf the Samajwadi Dal would boomerang Adhikari reacting to an announcement that Banerjee would campaign for Akhilesh Yadav as part of a show of opposition unity in the countrys most populous state which is going to the polls in February-March claimed on Wednesday that the Sanatan Hindu community would reject the chief minister given her appeasement politics for one community in Bengal Her campaign in UP will do more harm than good for SP the former aide to Banerjee claimed Adhikari had on several instances in the past too played what analysts see as Hindu card while accused the chief minister of appeasing minorities Reacting to Adhikaris statement TMC state spokesman Kunal Ghosh said Whatever Suvendu has become today in his political career and as a former minister he owes to Mamata Banerjee However he doesnt have any sense of gratitude Ghosh pointed out Banerjees popularity and acceptability across the country had risen after TMCs landslide victory in last years Bengal Assembly poll BJPs star campaigner Yogi Adityanath had on the other hand addressed several sparsely attended meetings during the Bengal polls as he had no standing among its people he said Adhikari had been one of Banerjees lieutenants in the Nandigram movement against the setting up of a chemical hub by the then Left Front government by displacing farmers He rose rapidly through the TMC ranks and was considered close to the chief minister However he defected to BJP months before the West Bengal assembly polls and managed to defend the Adhikari familys pocket borough in Nandigram by a slender margin in a controversial election against the TMC supremo The Nandigram legislator said Her presence will be counterproductive as brutality in post-poll violence in Bengal against political opponents has shaken the conscience of the nation and made the common man antagonistic to Trinamool Congress TMC does not intend to contest in Uttar Pradesh and will support Samajwadi Party in the fight against the BJP senior SP leader Kiranmoy Nanda had said on Tuesday after meeting Banerjee at her residence Describing Banerjee as one of the most prominent anti-BJP faces in the country Nanda said the TMC supremo will visit Varanasi in February but the date is yet to be fixed To a question about the hearing of the case relating to Mukul Roys continuation as PAC chairman Adhikari said We are waiting for the Supreme Court verdict in the case BJP had moved the speakers office in July 2021 contending that Roy who had joined TMC after winning on BJP ticket from Krishnanagar Dakshin assembly seat cannot occupy the PAC chairmans post as it is traditionally given to a senior opposition MLA in the house Responding to the BJP leaders comments Ghosh said Adhikari should first explain why his father Sisir Adhikari is not stepping down as MP despite being elected on a TMC ticket in 2019 He should not continue as TMC MP after pledging his support to Amit Shah in 2021 January in a public rally Why is Suvendu silent on this he asked PTI SUS KK JRC JRC

Kolkata Nov 27 PTI BJP leader Raju Banerjee courted controversy on Saturday by saying that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may campaign for the coming civic poll in the state in a stretcher faking injury after failing to counter in a fair manner the saffron camps spirited challenge during the canvassing The senior BJP leader alleged in a public meeting in the city that the Trinamool Congress supremo had resorted to unfair means by campaigning from a wheelchair in the last assembly poll faking an injury to her leg when she was unable to counter the the saffron party politically You Banerjee confined yourself in a wheelchair when you failed to fight the BJP politically You resorted to falsehood to counter BJP in the canvassing for the state assembly poll You will face an equally combative BJP who believes in fighting against you in a fierce democratic and peaceful manner during the coming civic polls and you will again resort to falsehood But even if you move around lying on a stretcher to earn voters sympathy this time rest assured you wont get votes for your candidates on the ground of sympathy any more said Banerjee who had unsuccessfully contested against TMC senior leaer Madan Mitra in the April-May assembly poll in Kamarhati said Strongly reacting to Banerjees comments TMC leader Baiswanor Chatterjee told reporters This is nothing but a threat by the irresponsible BJP leader Such comments reveal the undemocratic violent mindset of BJP Everyone knows how Mamata Banerjee was physically targeted during the first leg of the assembly poll campaign in Nandigram and suffered serious leg injury She was forced to continue campaigning in a wheel chair in the later phases risking her health Chatterjee said The TMC supremo had claimed that she was hurt in the leg in March while canvassing in Nandigram where she had taken on her former protege Suvendu Adhikari and lost by a slender margin She later won the by-poll in her home constituency Bhabanipur in Kolkata within the stipulated six-month period to retain her chief ministership PTI SUS KK KK KK

Kolkata Sep 24 PTI The BJP on Friday demanded the suspension of Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police South Akash Magharia in a complaint to the Election Commission EC alleging that he assaulted its Bhabanipur bypoll candidate Priyanka Tibrewal and state president Sukanta Majumdar during a protest at Kalighat near Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees residenceAlleging that apart from Majumdar who is also a Lok Sabha MP two other parliamentarians -- Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato and Arjun Singh -- were physically assaulted on Thursday evening during the funeral procession with the body of a BJP leader it demanded the removal of Magharia from election dutyThe BJP in the representation to the EC alleged that the police officer molested and inappropriately manhandled Priyanka TibrewalMagharia denied the allegation of assault on Tibrewal who is pitted against Banerjee the TMC candidate in the Bhabanipur by-electionIt is in the public domain This is a baseless allegation You can see the video footage I have not even touched her I was standing quite at a distance the police officer told PTIDuring the funeral procession of BJPs Magrahat Paschim candidate Manas Saha the party leaders stopped on Kalighat bridge a few hundred metres from Banerjees residence and Majumdar and Mahato sat on the road in front of the hearseThe BJP alleged that Saha had succumbed to injuries sustained in post-poll atrocity committed by TMCThe representation signed by Purulia MP Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh and party leader Shishir Bajoria claimed that the police action was unprovokedThey alleged that the police action on the funeral procession was led by Magharia at the behest of the party in powerHence we demand that the DCP South Akash Magharia and Kolkata Police officers present be identified and immdiately sic removed from election duty appropriate proceedings including suspension be initiated the BJP said in its complaint to the EC PTI AMR PNT SOM SOM