Preview: With India’s longest ever election over, it’s a tight race between BJP and TMC in Bengal
For BJP, a victory in Bengal would bring it closer to its ‘one-party’ ambition. For Mamata Banerjee, this could be a chance to emerge as a national leader. 4 hours ago The BJP has made a serious bid for a victory, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah campaigning heavily, and engineering defections, to dislodge Mamata Banerjee and her party. | PTI/ AFP/Twitter
After over a month of voting – staggered across eight phases and held under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic – results for the West Bengal Assembly elections will be out on Sunday.
Battle for Bengal: Decoding Trinamool strategy post Mamata’s Nandigram injury
Mamata Banerjee s injury has become central to Bengal’s political discourse at the moment, outranking other allegations such as mistakes during her onstage “Chandipath” in Nandigram, Muslim appeasement, syndicate raj, corruption, and also those involving her nephew Abhishek Banerjee.
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UPDATED: March 11, 2021 20:18 IST
Bengal CM and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee was admitted to a hospital after getting injured during her visit to Nandigram on Wednesday | Image credit: PTI
Mamata Banerjee’s reported injury while campaigning in Nandigram has now become the talking point not only in poll-bound West Bengal but in the whole of India. And that’s precisely what the Trinamool Congress wants.
Bengal assembly polls: BJP fields actor Hiran Chatterjee from Kharagpur Sadar
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Last Updated: Mar 10, 2021, 05:24 PM IST
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Synopsis
The actor named as Hiranmoy Chatterjee in the official BJP list told , I will follow the party s decision. If the BJP asks me to campaign from today, I am ready. Our common objective is to build a Sonar Bangla.
The BJP had lost the Kharagpur Sadar seat during assembly by-poll in December, 2019.
The BJP on Wednesday named Bengali actor Hiran Chatterjee, who recently joined the party, as its candidate from Kharagpur Sadar assembly seat, ending speculations whether party s state party chief and MP Dilip Ghosh would be fielded from there. The party also fielded Supriti Chatterjee from Barjora seat, raising the number of women contestants to seven, for the 60 seats in the first two phases of the polls.
Politics has been largely been immune to the pandemic, says A L I Chougule
However, even as Hindutva took a pandemic pause, the opposition had the perfect opening to change the narrative in its favour but it failed to do so
The past year was devastating for India, as the Covid-19 pandemic impacted practically everything. In terms of economic activity, loss of jobs, incomes, hunger and impoverishment, the pandemicâs impact on lives and livelihoods has been quite disruptive. But its impact on Indian politics has not been as disruptive as it has been on the economy. Though it halted the Modi governmentâs Hindutva agenda, politically the Prime Minister seems to have navigated choppy waters, despite the governmentâs poor response to the spread of virus, the migrant workersâ crisis, inadequate health infrastructure at large and the poor state of the economy.
Why it’s Congress vs Congress in Bengal over alliance with Muslim cleric’s outfit
Ahead of five assembly polls including election in Bengal, the Congress stands as a divided house. Alliance with Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui s ISF has led to a public spat between Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Anand Sharma. But is it limited to Siddiqui only?
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UPDATED: March 2, 2021 18:16 IST
Congress leaders Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Anand Sharma were engaged in a spat over alliance with the ISF of cleric Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui in Bengal election. (Photos: PTI)
Can the Congress remain secular if it allies with a Muslim cleric’s outfit in the upcoming West Bengal election?