Kolkata Dec 26 PTI Trinamool Congress MLA Partha Bhowmik on Sunday cautioned party workers against using strong-arm tactics in the upcoming municipal polls in North 24 Parganas district asserting that police will not treat them with kid gloves if unfair means were adoptedBhowmik at a party workers meeting in Ichhapore said they should not repeat muscle-flexing exercise if that was pursued in any local body polls in the pastPolice wont treat you with kid gloves if you do anything wrong just because you belong to our party he saidBJP MP from Barrackpore Arjun Singh however said Bhowmiks statement was meant to play to the gallery PTI SUS RBT RBT

Kolkata Dec 19 PTI The Trinamool Congress on Sunday appointed former Janata Dal United MP Pawan Varma as its national vice-presidentVarma was an adviser to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar but parted ways with the JDU in 2020 and later joined the TMCHe was also a former Indian Foreign Service officerHonble Chairperson Smt MamataOfficial takes great pride in appointing Shri PavanKVarma as the Vice President of All India Trinamool Congress with immediate effect the party said in a tweet PTI SUS RBT RBT

Kolkata Sep 18 PTI Visva-Bharati University Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty courted controversy Saturday when a video circulated on social media purportedly showed him blaming a section of teachers for not doing enough to prevent incidents of theft in different departments of the varsityIn the video of a virtual meeting between the V-C and faculty members held on Friday a voice resembling that of Chakraborty can be heard telling them of not doing their bit to prevent recent thefts and trying to pass the buck on security guards who are reluctant to lodge any FIR fearing the henchmen of a bahubali strongman of Birbhum districtBecause of him bahubali Visva-Bharati cannot take any foolproof step to boost security Why have you left it to the VC to flag such issues said Chakraborty in the video clipPTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the videoThere was no official response from the Visva-Bharati administration till the time of writing this report Meanwhile reacting to the development Trinamool Congress Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal said If he has the courage Chakraborty should clarify whom he meant as bahubali The central university was in the news recently after three students were rusticated for disorderly conduct a decision which led to massive protests and a sit-in outside the residence of the V-CThe Calcutta High Court on September 8 allowed the three students to rejoin classes paving the way for return of normalcy at the institution PTI SUS RBT RBT

Kolkata Aug 22 PTI Forum for Durgotsab a platform of 550 community Durga Pujas in the city and its neighbourhood on Sunday urged member committees to urge revellers to visit pandals throughout the day and not only during the evening hours in view of the COVID-19 pandemic situationThe forum which had issued the first set of guidelines in July said people should be encouraged to set out pandal hopping from the morning in order to avoid overcrowding in the eveningWhat we want is to space out the crowd evenly The objective is to strike a balance between Durga puja celebrations and maintaining pandemic protocols a member of Samajsebi Sangha one of the prominent member committees of the forum told PTIHe said another important precondition will be to fully vaccinate all members and others who assume important roles in the festival like electricians drummers decorators and priestsOther guidelines include making idols clearly visible from outside by erecting aesthetic but simple marquees and maintaining social distancing during the ritualsDurga puja festivities begin from October 12The West Bengal government has not yet come out with any directive on the states biggest festivalChief Minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly warned of a possible third wave of COVID-19 in September and underscored the need to vaccinate people PTI SUS RBT RBT