Congress’ Manikchak candidate Mottakin Alam was targeted and his vehicle badly damaged in an attack on Sunday.
KOLKATA: Clashes, attacks and recovery of arms and ammunition on Sunday marked West Bengal’s run-up to the fifth phase of polls scheduled for Saturday (April 17).
Most clashes were reported between Trinamool Congress and main opposition party BJP. The trend was broken in Malda, a traditional Congress turf, where a clash broke out between Congress and Trinamool supporters. Congress veteran Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury (Dalu), brother of late Gani Khan Choudhury, was attacked by “Trinamool goons” on the way back from a political meeting at Fulbaria in Manikchak assembly constituency.
Representative image.
KOLKATA: The Covid-19 vaccination drive has hit a roadblock in West Bengal owing to shortage of doses at various medical establishments, a senior official of the state s health department said on Sunday. He said the central government has been apprised of the situation and more vaccines are on their way. Several hospitals in West Bengal have either stopped the inoculation drive or are using the limited stock they have at the moment, the official told . We have sent requisitions to the Centre. We expect to receive about four lakh doses on Monday, he added.
A top official of CMRI Hospital said the state government has asked the medical facility to slow down the vaccination process to deal with the current scarcity.
Zulfiqar Ali whispering his selfie wish to Narendra Modi at Sonarpur
KOLKATA: A photograph of a man in a skull cap whispering something into Narendra Modi’s ears recently went viral, triggering a flurry of memes on social media over the past week and even prompting AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi to mock the PM at a public meeting.
Who was this mystery man and what had he said? TOI tracked down 38-year-old BJP worker Zulfiqar Ali, a Garden Reach resident, busy with “booth duties” at Metiabruz on Saturday.
“I had only asked for Modiji’s permission for a selfie with him. He had gladly agreed. He rested his arm around my shoulder and asked a photographer accompanying him to click. I will cherish those 40 seconds spent with him forever,” said Ali, visibly basking in the glory the viral photograph had offered him.
Kolkata: Two heavyweight candidates one a central and the other a state minister from the Tollygunge constituency presented a picture in contrast on the polling day on Saturday. While BJP’s Babul Supriyo chose to hit the turf challenging “fake women voters” and even “punishing’ one of them by asking her to apologize in front of a dozen cameras Trinamool’s Aroop Biswas mostly stayed put with his close aides, rarely answering to calls and appearing in public, choosing to marshal his troops from his residence at New Alipore and his office.
Babul, who set out early in the morning from The Tollygunge Club in his SUV, chose to stay close to Golf Green and Bijoygarh before moving towards Garia. It was a call from a polling agent at the Niva Ananda Vidyalaya close to Battala Bazar in Bansdroni that made him rush there around 10.15am. “I was told that an elderly woman was trying to cast a fake vote. When my agent objected, Trinamool polling agents and supporters brough