Grand alliance releases partial list of candidates for Bengal polls

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Grand alliance releases partial list of candidates for Bengal polls

Hours after Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee announced her party’s candidates’ list for the Assembly elections in West Bengal, the grand alliance comprising Left Front, Congress, and the Indian Secular Front (ISF) on Friday announced its first list of candidates for the first two phases of West Bengal Assembly elections, to be held on March 27 and April 1.

Left Front chairman Biman Bose said that the alliance has arrived upon a seat-sharing agreement to counter both the state’s incumbent Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the forthcoming state Assembly polls.

Bose, however, did not disclose the candidates’ names for three seats, including the high-profile constituency in East Midnapore’s Nandigram, along with Egra and Pingla in West Midnapore, saying the names have not been finalized yet for these three seats.

“The names of Congress candidates in the alliance will be announced by the party high command in Delhi,” said senior Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya.

The ISF is also expected to release its candidate list in the next two-three days.

Earlier in the day, Trinamool Congress had released its full list of 291 candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections.

West Bengal will go to the polls in eight phases between March 27 and April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

Naidu prays for universal well-being at Tirupati temple

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Naidu prays for universal well-being at Tirupati temple

Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu and his family visited Lord Venkateshwara Swamy temple at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh on Friday and offered prayers for peace and universal well-being.

“Naidu prayed for the peace, prosperity, and well-being of the people in India and the world,” said a statement released from his office.

He offered prayers with folded hands at the golden ‘Dwaja Stambham’ (sacred column) donning a traditional lungi.

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Executive Officer, Jawahar Reddy, and senior temple priest, Dollar Seshadri, were present with the Vice-President during his visit.

Naidu’s family was taken around the temple by the officials and explained the significance of some ancient carvings on a wall inside the temple complex.

Later, Reddy and Seshadri presented Naidu and his family with a picture of the deity.

Naidu was accompanied by his wife Usha Naidu and other family members, who all posed for a group photograph later.

After completing his temple visit, he left for Surat in Gujarat.

Karti urges TN Cong to field Priyanka from Kanyakumari LS seat

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Karti urges TN Cong to field Priyanka from Kanyakumari LS seat

Karti Chidambaram, a Lok Sabha Congress Member of Parliament from Sivaganga, has requested the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee to field Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat, which would be going to the polls along with the state Assembly elections on April 6.

In a letter addressed to Tamil Nadu state Congress Chief KS Alagiri, Karti said Priyanka will be a good choice for the Kanyakumari constituency and her candidature would increase the winnability of the party candidates throughout south Tamil Nadu.

The by-election to the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat was necessitated following the death of H. Vasanthakumar owing to Covid-related illness. Vasanthakumar had trounced Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan by a margin of 3 lakh votes during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Karti in his letter said Priyanka’s candidature from Kanyakumari would not affect her performance as the Congress General Secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh and instead her presence in the Lok Sabha from Tamil Nadu would increase the stature of the party in the Lower House.

AICC General Secretary (Organisation), K.C. Venugopal, while speaking to IANS said, “I have yet to check this request. It is for the party-state unit to communicate to the national leadership as Priyanka Vadra is an AICC General Secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh. Once I have seen the request, we will discuss this at the highest level and then make a decision.”

Karti is the son of former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and a leader of the Congress from Tamil Nadu.

No such group as G-23, all united under Sonia: Cong leaders

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No such group as G-23, all united under Sonia: Cong leaders

Senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily has rejected any group called G-23, saying the party is united under Sonia Gandhi’s leadership.

“The Congress is one,” he said when asked about the G-23, a group of dissenters in the party who had sought a complete revamp of Congress in a letter to interim party president Sonia Gandhi in August last year.

Incidentally, former Karnataka Chief Minister Moily was one of the signatories of the letter written to Sonia Gandhi.

Speaking to reporters, Moily said, “There is no such thing called G-23. The Congress is united under Sonia Gandhi who always listens to people’s grievances.”

The Congress is facing a difficult time as the party seems to be divided after some prominent leaders wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi demanding sweeping reforms in the party.

Another Congress leader, Sandeep Dikshit, said, “There is no group in the party and I am not in touch with the leaders who had assembled in Jammu recently.”

Many Congress leaders have said that their only motive is to strengthen the party in the country.

The Congress, which is gearing up to face elections in five states/UT, has advised these leaders to join hands to defeat the BJP, and now all eyes are on the soon-to-be-announced list of star campaigners of the party.

Many of the Congress leaders who had signed the letter in August last year have either been adjusted in the party or have been assigned some important task, such as Prithviraj Chavan getting appointed as screening committee chairman for Assam or Moily getting appointed as election management in-charge for Tamil Nadu.

However, the situation is still far from normal in the party despite Congress holding many rounds of meetings since August last year. The disgruntled leaders say that they want elections from the block to the CWC level.

Mamata releases list of Trinamool candidates, will contest from Nandigram

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Mamata releases list of Trinamool candidates, will contest from Nandigram

Setting the stage for a high-octane political battle, West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Friday released the candidate’s list for 291 assembly seats in the state. The remaining three seats in Darjeeling will be contested by Trinamool allies. The party will not be putting up candidates there, she said.

“Only Trinamool Congress can take Bengal to new heights,” Banerjee said.

Adding star power to the list, the Trinamool chief accommodated a slew of Bengali film and television industry representatives in the party candidates list for the upcoming state assembly polls.

The Trinamool chief also announced that she will be contesting from East Midnapore’s Nandigram seat. “I will contest from Nandigram. I keep my promises,” she said while releasing the list here at her Kalighat residence, urging people to have faith in her.

The list of 291 TMC candidates included 50 women, 42 Muslim candidates and a slew of Bengal’s Tollywood celebrities who had joined the Trinamool bandwagon recently.

Banerjee said that she will contest from East Midnapore’s Nandigram this time. “I am going to Nandigram on 9th March. On 10th March, I will file the nomination at Haldia,” she said.

State power minister and Trinamool Congress veteran Sovandeb Chatterjee will contest from the Bhawanipore seat as Mamata chose to contest from Nandigram. Ex-Trinamool councilor Debashis Kumar will contest from Rashbihari seat, in place of Chatterjee.

The Trinamool supremo also fielded actor Kanchan Mallick, who had joined the Trinamool Congress a few days back, from Hooghly’s Uttarpara, actor Chiranjeet Chakraborty will contest from Barasat, Soham Chakraborty from Chandipur, director Raj Chakraborty from Barrackpore, actress Sayantika from Bankura, June Malliah from Midnapore Sadar, Sayani Ghosh from Asansol-South, cricketer Manoj Tiwari from Howrah’s Shibpur, Lovely Maitra will contest from Sonarpur South and Kaushani Mukherjee from Krishnanagar-North assembly constituency.

“I have given importance to young people this time while choosing the name of candidates. They all are young people. We have given assembly poll tickets to eminent personalities from the field of arts, sports, media, and culture,” Banerjee said.

She said that as many as 23-24 existing Trinamool legislators have been dropped from the candidate list owing to age-related issues and other reasons.

Former Congress leader and Jadavpur University professor Om Prakash Mishra will contest from Siliguri on a Trinamool ticket.

Banerjee also thanked Tejashwi Yadav, Arvind Kejriwal, Hemant Soren, and Shiv Sena for extending their support to the Trinamool Congress in the upcoming state assembly elections.

West Bengal will go to polls in eight phases between March 27 and April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

AAP again exposed on farm laws issue: Punjab CM

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AAP again exposed on farm laws issue: Punjab CM

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday lashed out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for once again exposing its “true colors” on the issue of the farm laws and the farmers’ agitation by walking out of the House before the resolution seeking repeal of the legislation was put to vote.

In a statement issued here, the Chief Minister said that the party had never been truly concerned about protecting the farmers or their interests, and its leadership again proved itself to be an agent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with whom AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was colluding against the agitating farmers.

Amarinder Singh, who had earlier in the House shown to the members a copy of the Delhi gazette notification implementing one of the three farm laws, reiterated that the party was cheating the farmers with its false propaganda in their support.

The fact is that they have repeatedly backstabbed the farmers, and have done so ago, he said, recalling AAP’s earlier U-turns also on the issue in Punjab.

In the House earlier, AAP members had rushed into the well before staging a walk-out, alleging that the Chief Minister was a member of the high-powered committee set up by the Centre on agricultural reforms and hence party to the decision on the farm laws.

Even though the Chief Minister himself made it clear that he was not present at any meeting of the committee, where his minister Manpreet Badal had attended one meeting while another was participated by an officer and Manpreet also categorically stated that the state government was not aware of the Ordinances, the AAP chose to create a ruckus in the House on the issue.

It was evident, Amarinder Singh said later, that the AAP was not interested in the truth but wanted to continue with its malicious agenda of spreading misinformation on the issue.

As pointed out by Manpreet Singh in the House, the Chief Minister said that all the minutes of the committee meetings were available as the state government had placed them in the House.

Further, at both the meetings held after Punjab was included in the committee following his letter to the Centre, his government had categorically cautioned the Centre against tinkering with the minimum support price (MSP) in any way, he added.

2.1 million Covid vaccines to arrive in Kerala: Pinarayi Vijayan

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2.1 million Covid vaccines to arrive in Kerala: Pinarayi Vijayan

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said that the Covid vaccination drive is going on well and 3.47 lakh doses have been given, while a fresh supply of 2.1 million doses is arriving in the state.

“By now 3.47 lakh health professionals have taken the vaccine besides 1.14 lakh officials who are getting ready for assembly election duty, 91,916 front line Covid warriors and from Monday onwards 30,061 people in the above 60 age category have also taken the vaccine,” said Vijayan to the media.

He also pointed out that the ICMR has given the green signal to Bharat Biotech’s – Covaxin which is believed to be effective even against the Covid variant that was found in the UK.

“The Covid spread in Kerala has come down and if one were to compare the total Covid positive case at present which stands at 45,995, was around the same, during last September. Likewise if one compares it to the figure a month back, today it’s 30 percent less,” added Vijayan.

He also pointed out that in the coming days more and more Covid vaccination centers would be opened and people can do online registration, while spot registration at vaccine centers would also be available.

Shah meets PM Modi ahead of BJP CEC meet

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Shah meets PM Modi ahead of BJP CEC meet

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the crucial Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting of the BJP to discuss the names of party candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal and Assam.

Modi is also expected to attend the CEC meeting at the party headquarters here on Thursday evening along with Shah, BJP President J.P. Nadda, and other senior leaders. The CEC is a body that decides who the candidates will be for the different constituencies in the poll-bound states.

It has been learned that the BJP leaders will go into a huddle to finalize the first list of candidates for 60 Assembly constituencies in West Bengal that will go to the polls in the first two phases. The first two phases of polling in Assam and West Bengal will be held on March 27 and April 1.

The elections in West Bengal, poised to be a stiff contest between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP, will be held in eight phases, beginning with 30 seats on March 27. The votes will be counted on May 2.

According to sources, the CEC is likely to discuss the party candidates for 86 seats in Assam where polls will be held in the first two phases. The third and final phase of polling in Assam will be held on April 6. The results will be out on May 2.

PM stresses on synergy between colleges, universities

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PM stresses on synergy between colleges, universities

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday emphasized the need for better synergy between colleges and universities and directed for the implementation of all the provisions of the National Education Policy from pre-nursery to Ph.D. “quickly”.

The Prime Minister expressed his views while addressing a webinar on effective implementation of Budget provisions regarding the Education sector, saying, “the Budget will be of immense help in this regard.”

The Prime Minister pointed out that to build a self-reliant India, confidence of the youth of the country is equally important and said that confidence comes only when the youth have complete faith in their education and knowledge.

He said that confidence comes only when they realize that their studies are giving them the opportunity to do their work and also the necessary skills.

Modi said that the new National Education Policy has been made with this thinking and stressed the need to “implement all the provisions of the National Education Policy from pre-nursery to Ph.D. quickly”.

The Prime Minister said the second biggest focus after health in this year’s budget is on education, skill, research, and innovation and at the same time pushed for “a better synergy between colleges and universities of the country”.

Noting the emphasis placed in this budget on skill development, up-gradation, and apprenticeship, the Prime Minister said this budget has further expanded the efforts made to link education with employability and entrepreneurial capabilities over the years.

As a result of these efforts, he said, today “India has come in the top three countries in terms of scientific publications, number of Ph.D. scholars and start-up ecosystem”.

“India has joined the top 50 ranks in Global Innovation Index and is continuously improving. New opportunities are growing for the students and young scientists with the constant focus on higher education, research, and innovation.”

The Prime Minister said for the first time, the focus is on issues ranging from Atal Tinkering Labs in schools to Atal Incubation Centres in higher institutions.

“A new tradition of Hackathons for start-ups has been created in the country, which is becoming a huge force for both the youth and industry of the country.”

He informed that through the National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovation, more than 3,500 start-ups are being nurtured. Similarly, under the National Supercomputing Mission, three supercomputers: Param Shivay, Param Shakti, and Param Bramha have been established in IIT BHU, IIT-Kharagpur, and IISER, Pune.

The Prime Minister said with the thinking that restricting knowledge and research is a great injustice to the country’s potential, many avenues in sectors like space, atomic energy, DRDO and agriculture are being opened for talented youth.

He said for the first time, the country has met the international standards related to Metrology which leads to R&D and improving our Global Competency a lot.

“Geo-spatial data has been opened up recently and this would lead to immense opportunity for the space sector and the youth of the country. The entire ecosystem will benefit immensely.”

Informing that a National Research Foundation is being built for the first time in the country, the Prime Minister said 50,000 crore rupees have been allocated for the project which aims at strengthening the governance structure of the research-related institutions and will improve linkages between research and development, academia and industry.

Three Kerala Ministers take Covid vaccine jabs

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Three Kerala Ministers take Covid vaccine jabs

Three Kerala ministers, including Health Minister K.K. Shailaja, on Tuesday, received the coronavirus vaccination jabs during the ongoing second phase of the vaccination drive being held nationwide.

The coronavirus vaccine is now available to all persons who are 60 years and above as well as those in the age group of 45-60 years with comorbidities.

Shailaja along with State Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan received their jabs at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College hospital here while Ports Minister Ramachandran Kadannappally got inoculated at a state-run hospital in his hometown Kannur.

Shailaja was accompanied by her husband for the vaccination.

“The vaccination is going smoothly in Kerala at nearly 1,000 centres. We are planning to have more centres which would include mass vaccination centres so more people can take the vaccine jabs without much delay. At present, more than four lakh people in the state have taken the vaccine and there have been no adverse reports of any complications due to the vaccine. All persons have to register themselves first and then proceed to take the vaccine,” said Shailaja.

All three ministers were kept under observation for half-an-hour after receiving the vaccine shots.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is likely to take the vaccine jab on Wednesday in Thiruvananthapuram.

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