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Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday alleged that several railway and metro projects in West Bengal were stalled for years due to a "lack of cooperation" from the previous TMC government, and asserted that work would now be expedited following what he described as a change in the state's approach. During a meeting with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at the state secretariat Nabanna, Vaishnaw claimed the railway projects in Bengal had faced repeated hurdles over permissions, land issues and legal challenges under the TMC regime, which he dubbed 'vikas virodhi' (anti-development). He also said sixty next-generation trains would be introduced for the Kolkata Metro in the next five years. "The previous government had blocked all forms of development. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has plans for Bengal, and that is evident from the Rs 14,205 crore allotted for railway projects in the state. Under the UPA government, Bengal got Rs 4,000 crore," Vaishnaw claimed. Highlighting the pa
Former Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai resigned from the party's primary membership on Friday, and BJP chief Nitin Nabin accepted the resignation. Annamalai is learnt to have tendered his resignation during his recent visit to Delhi. "The National President of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Nitin Nabin, has accepted the resignation submitted by the Tamil Nadu Ex-State President, K Annamalai, from the primary membership of the party," BJP national general secretary Arun Singh said in a statement on Friday. Annamalai travelled to Delhi to meet with party leadership amid speculation about his potential resignation and plans to establish a new political party. He met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday here at his residence to discuss the matter. Annamalai was believed to have been rather upset since being replaced by Nainar Nagenthran as the Tamil Nadu BJP president and following the revival of the electoral alliance with the AIADMK in preparation for the 2026 Assembly ...
BJP national president Nitin Nabin on Thursday appointed Union minister Harsh Malhotra as the party's Delhi unit president. Virendra Sachdeva was serving as the party's Delhi unit president till now. Nabin also announced presidents of the party's Haryana, Punjab and Tripura units, according to separate notifications issued by the BJP national general secretary Arun Singh. While Archana Gupta was appointed as BJP Haryana president, Sardar Kewal Singh Dhillon was made the party's Punjab unit president. BJP's Tripura MLA Abhishek Debroy has been appointed the party's state unit chief, according to the notification. "All these appointments come into immediate effect," Singh said.
In an apparent attack at the BJP, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday alleged that some "invisible weapons" within the country were secretly carrying out a highly dangerous attack on society and its harmony. In a post on social media platform X, Yadav claimed that lawyers are saying that legality of properties linked to BJP leaders and their associates -- homes, shops, offices, and establishments -- should be checked. "...an account should be demanded of the various kinds of donations and funds collected 'from all over the place' in the name of constructions, events, and disasters by the BJP and their associates, and an audit should be conducted," he said. "And yes, the public is also asking that the legal aspect of this be explained: in whose name do these 'unregistered' people take land and carry out their constructions, and how are these properties not benami?" Yadav asked if such constructions of "BJP associates involved in secret activities be called offices or ..
The BJP, which gained three seats in the Kerala assembly polls and ended its political drought in the state, came in the second place in six other constituencies. The BJP got second place in Thiruvalla, Palakkad, Malampuzha, Attingal, Kasaragod and Manjeshwar seats after counting of votes on May 4. In Thiruvalla, BJP's state general secretary Anoop Antony came second with 43,078 votes and lost by a margin of 10,146 to advocate Varghese Mammen of the Kerala Congress (KEC). He also increased the party's vote share in the constituency as compared to the 2021 Assembly polls. In 2021, the BJP came third with 16.25 per cent of the votes, while this time it got 30.61 per cent of the votes. In Palakkad, the party's senior firebrand leader Sobha Surendran, following a neck-and-neck contest in the initial rounds of counting, lost to UDF's Ramesh Pisharody by 13,147 votes. She got 49,052 votes, while Pisharody got 62,199 votes. However, she improved the BJP's vote share compared to the 202
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday asserted that the BJP virtually sealed its victory in phase 1 of the West Bengal assembly polls itself, claiming the party would win 110 seats in the first leg of polling and promising swift implementation of the CAA, a crackdown on infiltration, and a "fear-free" Bengal for women after coming to power. Addressing back-to-back rallies in Jamalpur of Purba Bardhaman district and Shyampur in Howrah, Shah sharpened the BJP's campaign around three of its core Bengal planks-the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) for the Matua community, women's safety, and alleged infiltration from Bangladesh-while projecting the election as a battle to end Mamata Banerjee's rule. "Voting for the first phase is over. In the very first phase itself, the BJP will win 110 seats, and Didi (Mamata Banerjee) will be thrown out of power. Instead of TMC, BJP will form the government here," he said. Polling was held in 152 of the 294 assembly constituencies on April 23 and ...
BJP national president Nitin Nabin, Union minister Ram Nath Thakur and senior Congress leader Abhishek Sanghvi, along with 13 other newly elected Rajya Sabha MPs, took oath of office on Thursday. Vice-President of India and Chairman of Rajya Sabha C P Radhakrishnan administered the oath to the 16 newly elected/re-elected members of Rajya Sabha, representing Bihar, Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Telangana. Of the 16 MPs, eight are from the BJP and three from its allies. The other five MPs belong to Congress. After being elected as the BJP's national president, Nabin has moved to the Upper House following his resignation from the Bihar legislative assembly. He took the oath in Hindi amid the thumping of desks. Along with him, Union Minister Ram Nath Thakur also took the oath. He has been re-elected to the House from Bihar. Upendra Kushwaha (RLM) and Shivesh Kumar (BJP) also represent Bihar. Terash Gowalla (BJP), Jogen Mohan (BJP), and Pramod Boro (UPP-L)
BJP leaders in Bihar on Monday said that the name of the party's "first chief minister" in the state will be known on Tuesday, with Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan like to arrive here to facilitate the power transition. Chouhan, whom the BJP headquarters in Delhi had on Sunday named the 'central observer' for the election of the new legislature party leader, will be visiting the state on a day when JD(U) president Nitish Kumar, the longest-serving CM of Bihar, is expected to put in his papers. Kumar, who turned 75 last month and was sworn in as a Rajya Sabha MP a week ago, is expected to visit Raj Bhavan to tender his resignation immediately after his last cabinet meeting scheduled at 11 am, where he is likely to make a formal announcement of relinquishment of the post. "Shivraj Singh Chouhan ji will be coming to Patna tomorrow and BJP legislators will be electing their leader in his presence," the party's Bihar unit president Sanjay Saraogi told reporters here. Interestingly,
Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah on Monday hoisted the party flag at the BJP Kerala State Committee office here to mark the party's 47th Foundation Day. The programme, held at Mararji Bhavan, was attended by party workers and leaders. Shah, who is on a visit to the state as part of the election campaign, arrived in the capital on Sunday. He addressed a public meeting in the Kattakkada constituency. He is scheduled to hold a roadshow later in the day in the Harippad constituency in Alappuzha. Elections to 140 Assembly seats in Kerala will be held on April 9.
Twenty months after the rape and murder of a young doctor inside Kolkata's state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital triggered nationwide outrage, the politics of that crime has caught up with Bengal's election battlefield. In Panihati, a constituency that for nearly six decades changed hands only between the Left and the Congress and later TMC, the April 29 contest is no longer just another election. In this north Kolkata suburb, now regarded as a safe TMC seat, voters are being asked less about local grievances and more about a question that has haunted Bengal since August 2024: "Who failed the RG Kar victim, and who can still deliver justice?" With the BJP fielding the victim doctor's mother, the TMC defending a fortress built over three decades, and the CPI(M) trying to reclaim a protest movement it helped lead, Panihati has become the constituency where Bengal's most emotionally charged issue is headed for its fiercest political test. The BJP has fielded the victim doctor'