BJP-JMM firm up alliance for WB Assembly polls

The BJP and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha have struck an electoral alliance in West Bengal to face the coming Assembly polls.

The State’s BJP president, Rahul Sinha, on Thursday said it was yet to be decided how many seats the JMM would be given to contest. “A decision will be taken shortly,” he said.

The BJP, which decided to contest all 294 Assembly seats in alliance with ‘smaller parties’, mostly in north Bengal, was continuing talks with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, Progressive People’s Party and Adivasi Vikas Parishad.

JMM state president Paresh Marandi and general secretary Bittu Murmu were present when Mr. Sinha announced the BJP’s poll alliance with JMM in Kolkata on Wednesday.

Sources in the state JD(U), another NDA ally of BJP, said that the party would favour alliance with Trinamool Congress and not BJP in West Bengal.

The Hindu

Poll panel receives complaints against Pranab's son, Mamata by BJP

Kolkata, March 14 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday lodged a complaint with West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sunil Gupta accusing union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's son of taking undue advantage from the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) by taking voluntary retirement instead of resigning his post to join the Congress.

'The BJP's West Bengal vice president Rajesh Kumar Singh complained that Abhijeet Mukherjee has taken undue advantage from SAIL by taking voluntary retirement although it was not offered by the company,' said Additional CEO N.K. Sahana.

Abhijeet Mukherjee quit the Steel Authority of India as general manager a few days back. He is likely to be the Congress party's candidate from Birbhum in the West Bengal assembly elections.

Sahana said another complaint has been received at the CEO's office against Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee that she had violated the model code of conduct by announcing several schemes in the Rajya Sabha.

'We have forwarded both the complaints to the Election Commission's office in Delhi,' Sahana said.

'An all-party meeting has been convened by the CEO with the representatives of all political parties and the officials of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB),' he said.

'In the meeting, the political parties will be briefed about the green guidelines prepared by the WBPCB and they will be urged to follow it,' he added.

Sahana also confirmed that the full bench of the Election Commission will arrive in the state March 22 night.

'The full bench would meet representatives of political parties, district magistrates and police superintendents, besides state Home Secretary G.D. Gautama and Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh to review poll preparedness on March 23,' said Sahana.

As demanded by various political parties, the EC may allow the candidates to appoint expenditure agents to access their bank account.

The six-phase assembly polls will be held in West Bengal from April 18 to May 10.

Sify News

BJP questions Trinamool's ability to govern West Bengal

Ridiculing the Trinamool Congress' slogan for change in the forthcoming West Bengal assembly polls, BJP today questioned the ability of its former ally to govern the state if voted to power.

"The so-called alternative to the CPI(M) is hardly likely to govern well ... Their track record in running the party or the ministry (at the Centre) does not inspire the confidence that they can govern," BJP leader Arun Jaitley said at the party's mandal presidents' conference here.

Stating that the Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance "would not last", he said, "While the Trinamool Congress is dependent on one leader, the Congress is dependent on one family. Conflict has already begun between the two parties."

Jaitley said the 2011 assembly elections would be a turning point in the state's politics as also at the national level. "After this election, the Left will not have a hold on any major state government. With their defeat, the Marxists will not be a position to build a third front at the Centre."

Observing that the upcoming assembly polls have brought about a "new political churning" in the state, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said that people were wary about both the CPI(M)-led Left Front and the Congress-Trinamool alliance.

"This new churning is an opportunity for us. People are now asking what is the alternative? The BJP will be the third alternative in the state on the basis of patriotism and good governance," he said.

The BJP will contest all the 294 seats in the state, Jaitley added.

DNA India

Kirti Azad accuses Mamata of double standards

Kolkata, March 5 (IANS) Accusing Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee of double standards, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirti Azad Saturday snubbed her for not quitting the 'scam-tainted' United Progressive Alliance government.

'Mamata Banerjee follows double standards. She quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2001 on the flimsy issue of Tehelka. But the present UPA regime is totally scam-tainted and she has no problems continuing in the alliance,' Azad, former cricketer and BJP MP from Bihar, told reporters here.

'She has to answer why she is with corrupt people. She talks a lot on price rise in West Bengal. But she does not say anything in Delhi, though her party is the second largest UPA component,' he said.

Banerjee, who was railway minister in the NDA government, quit the alliance in 2001 after the weekly magazine Tehelka carried a sting operation on defence ministry deals that led to the resignation of then defence minister George Fernandes and then BJP president Bangaru Laxman.

The UPA has been receiving flak from all quarters over the scams relating to 2G spectrum allocation, the Commonwealth Games and the S-band allocation.

Azad alleged that neither the state's ruling Left Front nor the main opposition Trinamool Congress were taking up the cause of the refugees from Bangladesh.

'The Trinamool and the Left parties have never taken up their causes. The BJP has been the only exception. We will continues to highlight the plight of these refugees,' he said.

Azad said the BJP will contest all the 294 seats in the coming state assembly polls.

The six-phase assembly polls in West Bengal will be held between April 8 and May 10.

Sify News

Budget 'status-quoist' exercise: Sushma Swaraj

Dubbing the Union budget as a "status-quoist" exercise, BJP today said the proposals made in it lacked vision and has failed to boost the confidence of the people.

"We had hoped that it would be a brave budget. A budget with big thoughts. But it is a status quoist budget... it is inflationary," leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said in Delhi.

Addressing a gathering of industry captains organised by FICCI in the capital, Swaraj said the proposals made by Finance Pranab Mukherjee in his Budget speech lacked vision, were partial in approach, had no "actual" solution to tackle corruption and had nothing concrete on infrastructure development.

"According to the budget speech, railways, NHAI and HUDCO will raised bonds worth Rs35 thousand crore. When infrastructure needs lots more money, government will depend on loans for the sector...we should be talking of at least 2 lakh crore for infrastructure," she said.

She alleged that Mukherjee made special allocations for West Bengal and Kerala with an eye on assembly elections.

"IIT Kharakpur and IIM Kolkata were given allocations because you come from West Bengal and the state is going for polls... partisan approach hurts balanced development... the railway minister comes from West Bengal so that state will get all the new trains," she said.

Swaraj claimed a similar allocation was made for Kerala as that state too was poll-bound.

The BJP leader said an example of government's lack of vision was the decision to provide fertiliser subsidy to people living below poverty line.

"A person in BPL category will not have a land to cultivate. What will he do with the fertiliser... will he eat it," Swaraj quipped.

On the issue of corruption, she said the only solution suggested by Mukherjee to deal with the menace was the formation of a group of ministers (GoM).

"I demand that there be a GoM to look into the decisions taken by all the GOMs formed so far," she said.

She said as a woman, she found nothing for the gender in the budget. "A woman feels empowered when the kitchen expenses are under control... there is nothing to help the women. The budget has disappointed us," she said.

DNA India