NEW DELHI:  Even as an internal assessment shows the party reaching the halfway mark in the 294-member Bengal Assembly, BJP strategists are acutely aware of the well-oiled cadre of the ruling Trinamool Congress. 

The BJP has taken an early start to the campaign for the Bengal election which is due in April-May. Former BJP chief Amit Shah and his successor J P Nadda are leading the saffron charge, with the former pushing the party leaders with the target to win over 200 seats.

“The assessment within the party currently is that reaching the halfway mark is within the reach in the prevailing situations. The exodus of TMC leaders is giving the BJP much attention in the state. But the real challenge lies when the electioneering in the real sense begins and the manner in which the TMC responds to the BJP’s campaign,” said a senior BJP strategist. 

The BJP strategists are monitoring on the alignment of the TMC cadre and the possible understanding with the Left-Congress combine on the ground.

“The principal challenge remains to build the campaign on the ground, particularly in rural areas. This may get a boost with the induction of the TMC veterans who are regional satraps. But the TMC has an edge because of the strength of its cadre and the appeal of Mamata,” added the BJP strategist.       

Within the BJP, the party leaders are counting on two scenarios on hypothetical joining of the forces from the ranks of TMC and the Left and the Congress. 

“Either the BJP may not be able to build the campaign on the ground, which may restrict the party to two digits, or the ideological contradictions in rival camps may give a groundswell to take it beyond 200 seats on the lines of Uttar Pradesh. The BJP will need to match up to the power of the Trinamool and the Left on the polling booth level,” said a senior BJP functionary.  

The BJP campaign is currently seen around Shah and Nadda, with major thrust on promises to implement Central schemes, including PM-Kisan Nidhi, Ayushman Bharat and others.

Left MPs marched near Parliament, demanding justice for farmers. BJP criticised the opposition for boycotting the presidential address, saying it was a ‘mattter of regret’.

NEW DELHI:  First day of the Parliament’s Budget Session saw the opposition protest in front of the Gandhi statue against the farm laws.

As many as 20 opposition parties boycotted the presidential address and held protests in the Parliament complex.

Left MPs marched near Parliament, demanding justice for farmers. BJP criticised the opposition for boycotting the presidential address, saying it was a ‘mattter of regret’.

There was drama inside the House too.

Rajasthan’s MP Hanuman Beniwal held out a placard and raised the slogan ‘repeal all three black laws’ during President’s address at the start of the Budget Session.

Beniwal is the chief of Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, which left the NDA recently in protest against the farm laws.

Also during the President’s address, Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu raised the slogan ‘jai jawan jai kisan’.

In the Lok Sabha during obituary references, Congress MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla said the house should pay respect to farmers who died during the agitation. The Speaker did not allow him to speak further.

While Congress’ leader in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and AAP MP Sanjay Singh also spoke in favour of raising slogans in support of the farmers, BJP slammed the opposition for boycotting Kovind’s address.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said it was a matter of regret.

BJP leaders added that when they were in the opposition during the UPA rule, they never resorted to boycotting the President’s address despite allegations of corruption and scams.

Prasad said “arrogance” of the Congress is the “real problem” as it believes that it is bound to rule the country despite not having the popular mandate.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the Congress for the past few years has been pushing a false narrative that the Modi government is against the institutions. 

“The hypocrisy of the Congress stands exposed after the boycott,” said Javadekar.

Mumbai: A 37-year-old scientific officer at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) allegedly hanged himself to death at his residence in suburban Trombay following an argument with wife over feeding their children, a police official said on Saturday.

The incident took place on Thursday and the deceased has been identified as Anuj Tripathi, he said.

“On Thursday morning, Tripathi had a heated argument with his wife at their residence in Anushaktinagar over the issue of feeding their children. He later went to the bedroom and hanged himself from the ceiling fan using a towel,” senior inspector Siddheshwar Gove of Trombay police station said.

His wife and some neighbors later rushed him to a hospital, where he was declared brought dead, he said. A case of accidental death has been registered at Trombay police station in this connection and investigation is on, Gove added.

New Delhi: A team of Delhi Police’s Special Cell on Saturday morning visited the spot near the Israeli Embassy where an IED blast took place, officials said.

The Special Cell is probing the blast that occurred on Friday evening in the heart of the national capital and collecting evidence as part of the investigation, they said.

The Delhi Police said that the improvised explosive device (IED) went off at 5.05 pm and no one was injured and there was no damage to any property.

An envelope addressed to the Israeli Embassy and containing a note was found at the site of the blast, sources had said on Friday.

They said the envelope was addressed to embassy officials, but did not divulge any further details including content of the note.

The blast took place when President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were present a few kilometres away at the Beating Retreat ceremony at the culmination of the Republic Day celebrations.

Hyderabad: BJP MLA Raja Singh was sentenced to one year imprisonment on Friday by a special sessions court trying cases pertaining to MPs/MLAs here on the charge of assualting a public servant and preventing him from discharging his duty in 2015.

Singh said in a release here that the court granted him bail and gave him one month to file an appeal before the High Court.

the MLA had been taken into preventive custody on December 10 2015 on the issue of a ‘beef ‘festival’ proposed to be organised in the Osmania University.

The case against him was that he assaulted a police offcier at Bollarum police station where he was taken later.

Chandannagar (WB): Chandannagar Police Commissioner Humayun Kabir resigned on Friday citing personal reasons, a senior official of the state government said.

Kabir is likely to join the Trinamool Congress next month and maybe fielded from a seat in the Hooghly district in the assembly elections, a party source said.

Kabir, a 2003-batch State Police Service (SPS) officer, was promoted to the rank of inspector-general of police (IGP) in December.

“I have some personal aspirations, which I need fulfil and that is why I took this decision

“I was not getting the release order, but since I finally got it today, I will concentrate on that,” he added.

Kabir, considered close to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said he will reveal his future plans on February 4 when asked whether he was joining politics.

“I will not say anything today, give me a couple of days. Nothing has taken any concrete form. I will talk about it on February 4,” he said.

Kabir has authored several books, including ‘Uttoron’, which was launched by the chief minister at the Kolkata International Book Fair last year.

He also directed a Bengali crime thriller — ‘Aleya’, which was released in the theatres in 2018.

Gaurav Sharma, who is currently the Kolkata Police’s Joint Commissioner (Establishment), has been named as the new police commissioner of Chandannagar, a city in the Hooghly district.

Sharma will take over the new post on February 1. 

The girl, with whose family the 35-year-old accused had a land dispute, was raped inside an empty classroom in a school in Panki police station area on Wednesday.

MEDININAGAR: A para-teacher has been arrested for allegedly raping and poisoning a 13- year-old girl to death in Jharkhand’s Palamu district, police said on Friday.

The girl, with whose family the 35-year-old accused had a land dispute, was raped inside an empty classroom in a school in Panki police station area on Wednesday and was then poisoned, Lesliganj Sub-divisional Police Officer Anup Kumar Baraik said.

She died while undergoing treatment at a hospital on Thursday, the officer said, adding that the accused has been arrested.

The post-mortem report of the girl has confirmed that she was raped and poisoned, the officer added.

The move is part of preventive vigilance to check corruption at locations where public dealing takes place, they added

NEW DELHI: The CBI conducted surprise checks at 20 Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns in Punjab and Haryana on Friday after getting a number of complaints regarding alleged irregularities, officials said.

The move is part of preventive vigilance to check corruption at locations where public dealing takes place, they added.

The action started jointly with vigilance teams of the FCI at about 20 locations in the two states, the officials said.