BJP fields candidate against former ally Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata, Mar 13: The BJP today fielded a candidate against Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, an erstwhile ally in the past Lok Sabha election in West Bengal. State BJP Mahila Morcha president Jyotsna Banerjee has been pitted against the TC chief in the prestigious Kolkata South constituency.

Former union minister Tapan Sikdar, who had rejoined the party last week in the presence of BJP & Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani, was renominated from Dum Dum constituency, which he had won twice in 1998 and 1999, a party release said.

Sikdar had lost the 2004 Lok Sabha election from the seat. BJP had earlier announced that its state president and former union minister Satyabrata Mukherjee would contest from Krishnangar in Nadia district.

SUCI with Trinamool, but will oppose Congress

Kolkata, March 13 : The Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) has joined hands with the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal but that will not deter it from fielding candidates against the latter’s new ally, the Congress, in the Lok Sabha elections.

“We’ve decided to support the Trinamool but will field candidates against the Congress in nine Lok Sabha seats,” SUCI state secretary Probhas Ghosh told reporters here Friday. He said that SUCI would pit Tarun Mondal against Nemai Barman of the state’s ruling Left Front in the Jaynagar seat as part of the Trinamool-SUCI alliance.

Earlier, SUCI had threatened Trinamool that it would withdraw from the alliance if the latter tied up with the Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the coming Lok Sabha elections. “Despite (the Trinamool’s tie-up with) the Congress, we’ve decided to go on with the alliance, keeping in mind the interests of common people in the state,” Ghosh added.

Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee has appealed to the SUCI leadership not to field candidates against the Congress in West Bengal. The SUCI is a Leftist party but is opposed to the ruling LF.

West Bengal government gears up for auto components park

Kolkata: After the Singur jolt, the West Bengal government is slowly making arrangements to house the state’s first auto components park in Guptamoni in West Midnapore district. A special purpose vehicle (SPV), floated by the developers of the project, has now started buying land directly from land owners in Guptamoni, some 127 km from here, a top official of West Bengal Industrial Infrastructure Development Corp (WBIIDC) told mediapersons Friday.

“The project started around a year back. The SPV is now purchasing land directly for the project from the land owners,” the official said.It is a joint venture project by WBIIDC and Bengal SREI Infrastructure Development. WBIIDC is an organisation of the West Bengal government for development of trade, commerce and industries in the state.

Bengal SREI is a joint venture between West Bengal Industrial Development Corp (WBIDC) and SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd. WBIIDC and Bengal SREI would develop the infrastructure and then invite auto component manufacturers to set up manufacturing units over there. Asked when the project would be completed, the official said: “It is too premature to talk about it now. We are still purchasing land.” The park would be spread over 500 acres.

The state government suffered a huge setback when global auto major Tata Motors pulled its Nano car project out of the state due to violent protests by farmers, who alleged that their land had been taken by the state government forcibly. The protests were led by the state’s principal opposition party, the Trinamool Congress. At Rs.100,000 ($2,000) Nano has been advertised as the world’s cheapest car.

Tata Motors acquired 997.11 acres at Singur in Hooghly district to construct the Nano car factory in 2006, out of which 400 acres were earmarked for building auto ancillary units. “No auto component company has approached us yet. The project is still at a nascent stage and the economic condition worldwide is also not very conducive,” the official said.

Congress surrenders to Mamata on seat deal

KOLKATA: IT HAS happened the way it was scripted to happen. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee succeeded in arm twisting the Congress on seat sharing to seal the electoral deal at the level of the Congress High Command with the party’s high priestess Sonia Gandhi presiding over matters and conceding to the Bengal firebrand’s demand.

The seat sharing deal had to do with the Congress accepting 14 Lok Sabha seats and getting cut out of South Bengal a Trinamool base and Mamata’s party fighting in the lion’s share of seats at 27. One seat has gone to left ally SUCI.

It was obvious from the very beginning when the two parties were sparring over an electoral deal to stop division of anti-Left votes that the Congress would have to play second fiddle to the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and would have to accept the role of a junior ally. The fact remains that ever since Mamata left the Congress in 1997 and formed her own party, the Trinamool Congress has gone from strength to strength vis a vis the Congress and reduced the latter to sign board. It is only in recent years that the Congress has seen some revival in North Bengal districts. By accepting that the Congress will fight in 14 seats as against the Triamool’s 27, Sonia and the high command has tacitly admitted that the Left in Bengal can be taken on only with Mamata spearheading the fight.

The seat sharing arrangement was formally announced by Congress Working Committee member in-charge of West Bengal, K Keshav Rao.

That the seat sharing arrangement has not gone down well with a large section of the Congress was apparent. But no leader in Bengal has dared to voice dissent so far. The Congress had wanted a few seats in South Bengal which they did not get apart from the lower number of seats they are being allowed to contest. At one stage it asked for one seat in South Bengal but was denied it by Mamata. Besides the six seats that the Congress holds it will contest from Arambag, Jhargram, Bankura, Purulia, Burdwan-Durgapur, Bolpur and Jalpaiguri.

A section of Congress leaders were of the opinion that the party high command had been taken for a ride by Mamata when she was not in a position to do so. The Congress they felt was in a much better position in striking a better deal in terms of seats simply because Mamata cannot go back to the NDA fold for fear of losing minority votes which she cashed in on during the Panchayat polls. She had the choice of tying up with the Congress or going it alone. This is where the Congress should have pressed home its advantage. Instead it was Mamata being the only MP from Bengal from her party, who managed to turn the tables on Sonia. The leaders did admit that the slow pace of political equations working out in the rest of the country may have prompted Sonia to seal the deal with Mamata despite the advantages the Trinamool chief managed to reap. Some, state Congress leaders, among them Deepa Dasmunhsi wife of Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi felt that the Congress had surrendered to Mamata.
An elated Mamata addressing a press conference went on record stating that the seat-sharing arrangement was a fulfillment of the people’s aspirations. People, she is convinced, wanted the alliance where a united opposition could take on the CPI(M) led Left and oust it from Bengal.

Mamata announces list of candidates for LS elections

KOLKATA: AFTER THE central committee of Congress in New Delhi finally gave its nod to an alliance with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal on Thursday (March 12), the TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee announced that TMC would fight for 27 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal. While Congress would place candidates for the remaining 14 seats and the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) for one seat only.

Banerjee also announced the names of the 27 TMC candidates. Terming the alliance between Congress and TMC in West Bengal as “a symbol of friendship”, K Kesava Rao, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) official announced in New Delhi that the alliance would sustain up to 2011 Legislative Assembly election in West Bengal to fight against the Left Front, which has been ruling Bengal for the last 32 years.

The names of the TMC candidates are as follows:

Constituency name Name of the candidates

Contai............... Sisir Adhikari

Bishnupur......... Seuli Saha

Howrah............... Ambika Banerjee

Basirhat.............. Hazi Nurul Islam

Kolkata North...... Sudip Bandopadhyayay

Kolkata South....... Mamata Banerjee

Jadavpur............... Kabir Suman

Diamond Harbour............... Somen Mitra (PIC)

Asansol............................. Moloy Ghatak

Birbhum............................. Satabdi Roy

Ranaghat............................... Sucharu Halder

Krishnanagar........................ Tapas Pal

Hoogly...................................... Ratna Nag

Ghatal....................................... Nure Alam Chowdhury

Tamluk...................................... Suvendu Adhikari

Uluberia..................................... Sultan Ahmed

Balurghat.................................. Biplab Mitra

Midnapore............................... Deepak Ghosh

DumDum.................................. Sougata Roy

Barrackpore............................... Dinesh Trivedi

Cooch behar................................ Argha Roy Pradhan

Burdwan East............................ Ashok Biswas

Serampore................................. Kalyan Bandopadhyayay

Mathurapur............................ C M Jatuya

Alipurduar........................... Pawan Lakra

Bongaon.................................... Gobinda Chandra Naskar

Barasat................................... Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar

Though Somen Mitra is the founder member of the Pragatisil Indira Congress (PIC) and would fight for the Diamond Harbour seat, he wants the symbol of TMC in the ballot.

CPI(M) demands action against SUC for provocative campaign

Kolkata, March 6 : The Communist Party of India(Marxist) Friday lodged a complaint with West Bengal’s chief electoral officer seeking action against the SUC for unleashing a provocative political campaign in the state.In a letter to the Election Commission, state CPI(M) secretary Biman Basu said the SUC has unleashed an “anti-democratic and provocative campaign in the state”.

“In connection with their political programme on March 9, they are using very objectionable words in graffiti like ‘either accept the demand or shoot’. I don’t understand how a political party which participates in a democratic process can use such undemocratic words,” Basu said in the letter.

He demanded action against the party as it was a law and order issue. The CPI(M) also sent two pictures of the wall writing to the Election Commission.

WBLA terminates memberships of two sitting Congress MLAs

KOLKATA: In an unprecedented move, the Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly (WBLA) Hasim Abdul Halim, on Friday, terminated the memberships of two sitting Congress MLAs, Somen Mitra and Sudip Banerjee, under the anti-defection laws. Responding to a plea made before him by the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) chief Manas Bhunia, Mr Halim, on Friday, took the historic decision of expelling the sitting Congress MLAs.

This is for the first time since 1977 when the Left Front government came to power in the state that two sitting members of the WBLA have lost their membership. After dismissing the two MLAs, Mr Halim said that "both of them were given enough time to explain why steps would not be taken against them under the anti-defection rules. But, they have not responded and I feel this is a fit case to disqualify them." Mr Bhunia, who brought anti-defection charges against the MLAs, said, "The Speaker has taken the right decision by terminating the memberships of the two MLAs. I think both have been unethical. While one has joined another political party after winning the elections on a Congress symbol, the other has floated his own party, without relinquishing his membership, after winning the election on a Congress ticket."

Mr Mitra had been one of the seniormost Congress legislators in West Bengal and represented the Sealdah assembly seat without any interruption since 1982. He won the assembly seat for the last time in 2006 on a Congress ticket, but recently left the party to float his own organisation, Progressive Indira Congress (PIC), which will be an ally of Mamata Banerjee during the coming Lok Sabha elections. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee announced on Friday evening that both Mr Mitra and Mr Banerjee will contest the Lok Sabha elections on her party symbol. It is learnt that Mitra is likely to contest the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat, while Banerjee may fight the Kolkata North Lok Sabha constituency.

Interestingly, both the Sealdah and Bowbazar assembly seats (the latter being Banerjee’s domain) does not exist now following the delimitation of all the 42 Lok Sabha and 294 assembly seats in West Bengal. Like Mr Mitra, Mr Banerjee was also elected to the state Assembly on a Congress ticket during the 2006 assembly elections from Bowbazar. Recently, he rejoined Trinamool Congress and faced the ire of the CLP. Mr Banerjee also represented the Bowbazar seat in 1987, 1991 and 1996. During 2001 assembly elections, Bowbazar was left to Nayana Banerjee, Sudip’s wife, who too won the seat on a Trinamool Congress ticket.

However, like Sealdah, Bowbazar assembly seat also does not exist after the delimitation. Following the Speaker’s verdict, the Congress has lost two seats in the state legislature reducing their tally to 19. Trinamool Congress, however, increased their tally in the state legislature as the newly elected party MLA from Bishnupur West Assembly seat, Madan Mitra took oath on Friday. Now, Trinamool Congress has 32 MLAs with the party also winning the Nandigram and Bishnupur West assembly by-elections in the past four months.

It is expected that by-elections to fill up the vacant Congress seats will be held before the 2011 assembly elections. The chief electoral officer (CEO), West Bengal, Debasish Sen, when contacted, said, "We have not yet received any official communication about termination of the two MLAs. We will take necessary steps after getting word of it from the state assembly." It is learnt that by-elections to these two assembly segments, which have been remodelled after the delimitation, can take place along with the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Dunlop To Recommence Work At Sahagunj Plant On Mar. 6

KOLKATA: Dunlop India on Tuesday said it would withdraw suspension of work at its Sahagunj facility and the plant would commence operation on March 6, reports media.The company declared suspension of work on November 30, 2008, after trade unions rejected the company's proposal for a temporary wage cut and suspension of production to tide over working capital crisis. The company had also approached the West Bengal Government for working capital refinance and a set of fiscal concessions. The company said in a statement that a few bankers have now agreed to meet the working capital requirement for running the plant. Besides, the State Government also said it would it would consider relief and incentives sought by the company.

The company is yet to reach a consensus with the labor unions on pending issues and reopening of the facility and it hopes to sort out all pending issues with the unions after the commencement of repairing and refurbishing of the plant, the release said.The company had initially asked 229 workers (out of a total of around 1,200) of maintenance and engineering division to report to duty. The rest of the workers will be inducted in different departments in a phased manner, once the plant is ready for production.

BIMAN BASU RELEASES BOOK ON DELIMITATION OF BENGAL ASSEMBLY AND LOK SABHA CONSTITUENCIES

KOLKATA: Bengal CPI (M) secretary Biman Basu released at the Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan, late in the afternoon of 1 march a book on delimitation. The books deals with a brief history of delimitation in Bengal and delineates the changes that the recent amendments had wrought in the shape, size, and population pools of the different Assembly and Lok Sabha segments and units.

State committee member of the CPI (M) and an associate of the Delimitation Commission, Rabin Deb wrote and compiled the book. Biman Basu wrote the all-important political introduction to the 75-page, soft cover document published by the National Book Agency (NBA), and priced at Rs 20.

Introducing Rabin’s book while releasing it to the media, Biman Basu said that the effort merited equal importance with the Prannoy Roy-edited India Decides and Dilip Banerjee’s Election Recorder. Certainly, Rabin’s book is the first of its comprehensive kind for Bengal, and the data used has been brought up-to-date to mid-February of 2009. ‘I have not seen such a detailed work of this kind in the past,’ confessed Biman while praising the smart style of writing, analysis, and compilation of the material that had been marshalled with help from both NBA and the daily Ganashakti.

Te book dwells at some detail on how the 294 Assembly segments and the 42 Lok Sabha seats have been reconstituted by the Delimitation Commission chaired by Justice Kuldip Singh. Bima Basu pointed to the principal contents of the book, which looked like this:

Delimitation—an exercise after 33 years
Population based effects
Reserved seats and changes
The shape and size of the Bengal Assembly 1952-2006
Demographic and other features of each Assembly and Lok Sabha seat
Results of the 13th and 14th Lok Sabha polls
Gazette notifications of the Delimitation Commission and of the Election Commission
A multi-coloured map delineating the delimitation results

Biman Basu pointed to the acts of commission indulged in by the Bengal opposition, especially by the Trinamul Congress during the public hearings that the Commission organised at Siliguri, Durgapur, and in Kolkata. The then CEO as well as the chairman of the Delimitation Commission were physically heckled. Work of the Commission was hampered. Unprintable words were thrown at the members of the Commission who were dubbed as ‘stooges of Alimuddin Street,’ and yet the work could be completed thanks to the LF members of the Commission present, which backed the Commission’s work to the hilt.

Later, answering questions on the fact of the lessening of the population profile of Kolkata, that saw Kolkata lose one Lok Sabha seat of three, Biman Basu offered four tentative reasons:

Tenants often went to the suburbs in the houses/flats that they had built and/or purchased
Jobs took people and their families away from the metropolis
Dilapidated houses were sold off and families moved to the suburbia

Those working abroad, and originally khas Kolkatans, now preferred to return to pricey and luxurious flats/condominiums they have come to own in the high-rises that increasingly dot the outer reaches of the city.

CPI (M) WORKER ATTEMPTED TO BE BURNT ALIVE AT NANDIGRAM

NANDIGRAM: In a vicariously cruel incident, Trinamuli goons sought to set fire to Uttam Bera, local committee secretary of the Bhekutia unit of the CPI (M) at Nandigram alive, deep into the night of 1 March. In fortuitous circumstances, Uttam managed to escape what was a sure and terrible death awaiting him.

Uttam himself told us that he was alone in his one-and-a-half stories mathkotha mud hut on that fateful night, his wife having gone to her mother’s place with their only girl child. The roof of the mathkotha is an inevitable and traditional construct of thatched roofing material of dried straw and wooden chips to hold them together.

The arsonists would surreptitiously climb atop the roof as Uttam slept the deep slumber of a daily wage earner, and then quickly spread highly flammable spirits and kerosene plus petrol on the roof and on the wooden window sills. The whole ensemble burst into a ball of flame with a vicious hissing noise.

Uttam woke up with a start at the sudden change in temperature (nights are chilly yet in east Midnapore), and had the presence of mind, and the deep courage, to leap down to the ground floor by jumping though the fatal ring of fire that was his nearest window. He identified in the bright light, as his much-beloved self-fabricated house burnt to cinders, the Trinamuli goons who had come in their dozens and who could flee in the dark of the mid-night.

Uttam has been target for long, says CPI (M) leader of the district secretariat Ashok Guria for Uttam is a popular Party organiser. We recall with regret the series of murders the Trinamulis have committed in 2008 of CPI (M) workers at Nandigram since they won the rural polls in the district.

21 May 2008 Khalek Mullick

6 August 2008 Niranjan Mondol

7 August 2008 Dulal Garudas

Besides, Joydeb Paik of Sonachura was shot thrice on 5 August 2008 but he somehow managed to survive, although the wounds had left him half-a-man that he was as far as strength and stamina are concerned. Biman Basu, state secretary of the CPI (M) has castigated the attempted murder of Uttam Bera in strong language.

Elsewhere we learn that more than 300 CPI (M) workers and sympathisers have been driven from home and hearth of late by the right-left combination at Nandigram in the area of the Sonachura and Kalicharanpur Gram Panchayats in a shocking replay of the fateful weeks and months of 2007.

BISHNUPUR WEST SEAT RESULT

KOLKATA: On the defeat of the CPI (M) candidate in the Bishnupur west Assembly seat, Biman Basu said that the greater factor was not the alliance between the two Congresses, Pradesh, and Trinamul, for the former could garner less than ten thousand votes the last time around. The defeat has to be judged in the success or lack of it on the part of the organisation to carry the campaign of the CPI (M) deep enough among the masses of the people.

In addition, Biman was confident that the results of an Assembly by-elections were dominated by factors and conditions that would never apply when it came either to the general elections to the Assembly or to the Lok Sabha. For the record, the CPI (M) had won the seat the last time around after garnering 44% of the votes polled. This time, the figure was but one per cent less – and that made the difference.

Maoists-Jharkhandis Burn Alive Three-Year Old

DHANIAKHALI(HOOGHLY): Three-year-old Sumana Mandi, daughter of CPI(M) panchayat member Loncho Mandi was burnt to a horrible end with a mixture of petrol and kerosene lit with a fatal matchstick. The child died screaming in extreme pain.

The incident took place on February 22, 2009 at a small hamlet in Dhaniakhali in Hooghly. Sumana’s mother Jharna could be of little help as she too had been set upon, bound up, and then lit up with burning fuel in another corner in the hutment. She is at present fighting for her life at a local hospital.

It was to be an otherwise peaceful country evening with the reverberating sound of conchshells welcoming the evening. Loncho, a khet mazdoor, escaped as he was away attending to some urgent panchayat business. The attackers came in an armed group of fifteen.

Biman Basu, senior CPI(M) leader said that the heinous act proved how desperate the right-left opposition had become as the Lok Sabha elections approached. CPI(M) leaders Mitali Kumar and Bharati Mukherjee rushed to the spot and condoled the death in the bereaved family and also looked after the treatment of the burn injuries of Jharna. Statewide protest rallies have been held to castigate the inhuman act. It is learnt that the Disam group of the Jharkhandis were involved in the attack along with Maoists and Trinamulis.

Elsewhere at Raina in Burdwan, Comrade Nurul Islam, a CPI(M) worker, succumbed to his fatal injuries after battling for life for seven days. Comrade Nurul had been brutally attacked by goons in the hire of the Trinamul Congress. Comrade Nurul led the resistance but was felled by many bullets.

CPI(M) Calls For Struggle Against Separatist And Divisive Forces

KOLKATA: IN its latest meeting of the state committee, held on February 24, 2009 the Bengal unit of the CPI(M) has called upon the mass of the people to stand guard against forces of reaction and their political patrons. A ceaseless campaign-movement must be waged against these anti-people and anti-poor elements. Presided over by central committee member Benoy Konar, state secretary Biman Basu made an important address, on the political-organisational reality and tasks.

Biman Basu said that a move had been started for some time now to cobble together an unprincipled mahajot’ or grand alliance comprising a rainbow opposition from the reactionary right to the sectarian left. To counter their moves, the CPI(M) must deepen mass contact and build up an intense political campaign at all levels, keeping in mind the interest of the masses. The unity of the Left Front must be augmented even further in all districts.

The meeting saw state committee members report on different political organisational issues. They said that the acceptability of the Party had continued to increase and the rallies at the call of the Party at the district level were bigger than ever. The resistance of the people is on the rise against the continuum of efforts by the separatists to try to create mayhem and chaos.

The issue of Lok Sabha candidates was discussed and it was decided to allocate the responsibility in this regard to the state secretariat. A meeting of the Bengal Left Front would be convened after all the partners had finalised their list of LS candidates. The comprehensive list of Left Front candidates shall be declared from that meeting of the state Left Front.

LF SURE TO DEFEAT EVEN COMBINED OPPOSITION: BUDDHADEB

BENGAL chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, addressing two meetings at Howrah and in Burdwan asserted that the Bengal Left Front would emerge victorious in the coming elections even if the opposition combined. He also asserted that industrialisation was the most suited way for creating jobs for the unemployed in Bengal.

The task before the Left would be to go deep amongst the masses and disseminate the Left’s political point of view in the backdrop of the evolving reality. The Left unity must be further strengthened. The crude face of capitalism-in-crisis must be unmasked relentlessly. He pointed out how the proponents of the ‘all-powerful market’ across the world were now reading Marx and extolling the virtues of the demand side economics of John Maynard Keynes. Socialism remains all powerful but it would be too early now to write off capitalism as a force to be reckoned with.Speaking in some detail about the danger emanating from the Trinamulis centrally aiding and abetting all kinds of forces of separatism, division, and religious fundamentalism, Buddhadeb emphasised that the issue central to the industrial policy of Bengal was the creation of jobs. Land is a prime requisite for the process to fructify. The LF government shall move forward with more discretion in the days to come and with a more organised approach in the task of land acquisition. At the same time, the ongoing process of democratisation and popular participation n governance shall move ahead.

EC FOR AN ADDITIONAL
11,000 POLLING BOOTHS

In one of its recent decrees, the Election Commission (EC) has called for reduction of voters per booth in Bengal. According to the EC, one booth will not include in its list more than 1200 voters. This translates to setting up of more booths than earlier. The state election department calculates that this will mean an additional of 11,000 booths, come the LS polls. At present the number of polling booths in Bengal number 51,919. After the EC ruling is put in place, sources in the state EC tell us, the number is likely to cross 64,000. The first experiment with the new figures of around 1200 per booth will be done at the Bishnupur west by-elections come February 26, 2009.

We learn from the EC that the argument behind the call for increase in the number of booths is quite straightforward. In Bengal where the political consciousness of voters is widespread, elections are held as almost a sacred event with voters coming out in their millions to vote in instances of assembly or Lok Sabha polls. Even in by-elections, the voting percentage is seldom below 70-75 per cent. Thus, long queues are formed even after darkness had fallen.

The average number of voters per booth now is between 1500 and 1600. The last assembly elections saw Bengal EC suo motu reduce the number of voters per booth to 1400. This time the number, as we said, would work out to 1200-odd. An additional and complex burden that the Bengal election machinery shall have to bear would be the additional components of election workers and security personnel who have to be brought in this time around, or, shall we say, from this time around.

12% INCREASE OF VOTERS AT NANDIGRAM VERSUS 2% AT KHEJURI

The Lok Sabha elections approach fast. One seat that the Trinamul Congress aims to wrest from the CPI(M) is Tamluk. Nandigram assembly segment is a part of this constituency that shall play a crucial role in the final outcome as would Khejuri. Data of the state election commission reveals something very disturbing – in an unprecedented electoral event for Bengal, there has been an increase of 12 per cent of voters in Nandigram assembly segment over the past two years of disturbance at the behest of the right-left combo. The concomitant rise in voters’ strength is a norm hovering around less than 2 per cent.

Subhendu Adhikari of the Trinamul Congress and their candidate designate from Tamluk has already started to boast that he would win the seat by an unprecedentedly huge margin. Let us take a look at a few statistical scenarios. Since the panchayat polls, the voters’ list has puffed up to stand at 12 per cent more than it had been during the past two years. How did this happen?

From January of 2007, the right-left combination let loose a veritable reign of terror in the entire Nandigram blocks, perhaps except Nandigram III. During the whole of 2007 and part of 2008, the voters’ list was revised in the appropriate manner by the Maoists and the Trinamulis with help from SUCI. They played political ducks-and-drakes with the entire process. At the end of the exercise we are now confronted with a hugely inflated voters’ list – 12 per cent worth of increase in less than two years. The whole development has thrown an additionality of challenge to the CPI(M) and its mass base, come the Lok Sabha elections.

LF GOVT GOES IN FOR RS 5106 Cr WORTH OF INCOME GENERATION, ADDITIONAL EMPLOYMENT

The Bengal Left Front government has declared a plan for additional generation of income and employment especially amongst the poor. This is a step to fight the recession that has spread its hydra-headed tentacles around the Indian economy.

Finance minister Professor Asim Dasgupta would prefer to describe the plan as a move towards farther empowerment of the mass of the people in distressing times. The plan aims at carrying beneficent economic and financial measures to the poorest of the poor as part of the LF government’s policy outlook.

The measures set in motion can thus be summarised:

1.Rs 1000 crore earmarked for non-BPL rural poor for housing
2.BPL families to get ration at Rs 2 for a kg of rice
3.Self-help groups to receive loans at a rate of 4 per cent from banks
4.Rs 50,000 to be disbursed as compensation to farmers whose potato crops have been affected with disease
5.All districts to have decentralised set up of godowns with a capacity of two lakh MT
6.Rs 500 crore allotted for land banks for medium and heavy industries
7.Rs 55 crore allotted for the handloom sector
8.One thousand vocational centres to be set up
9.Two new universities to be set up at Purulia-Bankura, and Jalpaiguri
10.50,000 primary school teacher posts to be filled up
11.Increase in the pay of para-teachers, school and college part-time teachers, and secondary education centres
12.The pension of workers of closed factories and closed tea gardens to be increased to Rs 1000 from the existing Rs 750
13.Increase of pension of the old, the widows, the physically challenged, as well as of kisans and workers

SPREAD OF EDUCATION IS FACILITATED BY THE USE OF THE MOTHER TONGUE

In order to ensure a fast spread of education, especially scientific education amongst the people, the use of the mother tongue is essential. This was stated by CPI(M) leader Biman Basu while addressing a seminar on ‘study of science in Bengali’, on the occasion of the international mother language day in Kolkata on February 21, 2009. The Bangiya Sakhsharata Prasar Samity (BSPS) organised the seminar at Kolkata University.

Biman Basu said that language had always played a central role behind the process that led to the formation and growth of States. Bangladesh is a potent example of this tenet. Imperialism was at work in ensuring that languages became fewer and fewer and diversity was done away with. This must be resisted.

Bengali language, too, was under attack from the forces of imperialism and their lackeys. The role emoted by such stalwarts in the development of the Bengali language like Vidyasagar, Madhusudan Dutta, Akhshaykumar Datta, Ram Mohan Roy, the Tagore family, J C Bose, and P C Roy were mentioned. Their tradition must be carried forward.

The occasion also saw the celebration of the 18th year of the organ of the BSPS, Lekha O Pada.

Three ministers, 18 new candidates in West Bengal’s Left Front list

Kolkata, March 3: Three ministers and 18 new faces figure in the list of candidates announced Tuesday by West Bengal’s ruling Left Front for the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, with Front chairman Biman Basu conceding that the alliance which has been ruling the state for 32 years faces a tough battle.

The ministers in fray are Sailen Sarkar from the newly created constituency Malda (North), Anisur Rehman from Murshidabad and Manohar Tirki from Alipurduar. While Sarkar and Reham belong to Left Front major Communist Party of India (Marxist), Tirki represents the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP).

Keeping intact the seat-sharing formula among the Front partners, the CPI(M) will contest 31 seats, Forward Bloc and RSP four each, while Communist Party of India (CPI) will field their candidates on three seats.

Bolpur, the seat which Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had won seven times consecutively on a CPI(M) ticket, will see Ramchandra Dom as the party’s candidate. Last time, Dom was elected from the neighbouring Birbhum constituency. Chatterjee, expelled from the CPI(M) for refusing to toe the party line and continuing as speaker during the Lok Sabha trust vote triggered by the left parties’ withdrawal of support to centre’s United Progressive Alliance dispensation over the India-US civil nuclear deal in mid last year, has announced his retirement from active politics.

But even if he had decided to seek re-election, Bolpur would have been out of bounds for the veteran parliamentarian as it has been reserved for a Scheduled Caste candidate. Former Asian Games gold medallist and sitting MP from Krishananagar Jyotirmoyee Sikdar has been renominated from the seat.

Veteran Congress leader and external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee would be up against newcomer Mriganka Bhattacharya of the CPI(M) in Jangipur, while Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee faces an old rival in CPI(M)’s Rabin Deb in Kolkata South.

Among the party’s high-profile current MP's, Mohammad Salim will seek re-election from the new constituency Kolkata (North), while sitting MP Laxman Seth has being renominated from his Tamluk constituency, that includes the trouble-torn Nandigram.

CPI’s vocal Lok Sabha member Gurudas Dasgupta will seek the people’s verdict from Ghatal. In the 2004 Lok Sabha election, the Left Front had bagged 35 seats, while the Congress got six and the Trinamool Congress one.

Releasing the list, Basu said the alliance was waiting to see whether the Congress and the Trinamool can successfully conclude a seat-sharing arrangement in the coming days. “It will be a tough battle for us. We have to surmount a mountain of obstacles,” he said.

However, he said this alliance was not new. “Earlier, we used to fight the united Congress. Then Trinamool came out of it. Now the two parties and some other outfits are trying to form a Mahajot (grand alliance).”

“Whichever party forms an alliance, we are ready. We fight elections to safeguard the interests of the masses,” he said, after a Front meeting at the state headquarters of the CPI(M) at Alimuddin street.

Candidates List of the Left Front for Lok Sabha Polls-2009

Const No.
Name of Constituency
Name of Candidate
Name of The Party
1
Coochbehar (SC)
Nripen Roy NEW
AIFB
2
Alipurduar (ST)
Manohar Tirkey NEW
RSP
3
Jalpaiguri (SC)
Mahendra Roy NEW
CPI(M)
4
Darjeeling
Jibesh Sarkar NEW
CPI(M)
5
Raiganj
Bireswar Lahiri NEW
CPI(M)
6
Balurghat (SC)
Prasanto Mazumder NEW
RSP
7
Maldah Uttar
Sailen Sarkar
CPI(M)
8
Maldah Dakshin
Dr. Abdur Rezzak NEW
CPI(M)
9
Jangipur
Mriganka Bhattacharya NEW
CPI(M)
10
Murshidabad
Anisur Rahaman NEW
CPI(M)
11
Baharampur
Pramathesh Mukherjee
RSP
12
Krishnagar
Jyotirmoyee Sikdar - F
CPI(M)
13
Ranaghat (SC)
Dr. Basudeb Barman
CPI(M)
14
Bangaon(SC)
Dr. Ashim Bala NEW
CPI(M)
15
Barrackpur
Tarit Baran Topdar
CPI(M)
16
DumDum
Amitava Nandy
CPI(M)
17
Barasat
Sudin Chattopadhay NEW
AIFB
18
Basirhat
Ajoy Chkraborty
CPI
19
Joynagar (SC)
Nemai Barman NEW
RSP
20
Mathurapur (SC)
Animesh Naskar NEW
CPI(M)
21
Diamond Harbour
Samik Lahiri
CPI(M)
22
Jadavpur
Dr. Sujan Chakraborty
CPI(M)
23
Kolkata Dakshin
Rabin Deb
CPI(M)
24
Kolkata Uttar
Md.Salim
CPI(M)
25
Howrah
Swadesh Chakraborty
CPI(M)
26
Uluberia
Hannan Mollah
CPI(M)
27
Sreerampur
Santashree Chatterjee
CPI(M)
28
Hooghly
Rupchand Pal
CPI(M)
29
Arambag(SC)
Sakti Mohan Malik NEW
CPI(M)
30
Tamluk
Laxman Seth
CPI(M)
31
Kanthi
Prasanta Pradhan
CPI(M)
32
Ghatal
Gurudas Dasgupta
CPI
33
Jhargram (ST)
Dr. Pulinbehari Baske NEW
CPI(M)
34
Medinipur
Probodh Panda
CPI
35
Purulia
Narahari Mahato
AIFB
36
Bankura
Basudeb Acharia
CPI(M)
37
Bishnupur (SC)
Susmita Bauri - F
CPI(M)
38
Bardhaman(Purba) (SC)
Dr. Anup Saha NEW
CPI(M)
39
Bardhaman-Durgapur
Saidul Haque NEW
CPI(M)
40
Asansol
Bansha Gopal Choudhury
CPI(M)
41
Bolpur (SC)
Dr. Ramchandra Dom
CPI(M)
42
Birbhum
Braja Mukherjee NEW
CPI(M)

Tata Nano all set to hit the road on 23rd March

Kolkata, 27th February: FINALLY THE long wait of the middle class people for the Rs one lakh Tata Nano car seems to be coming to an end. On Thursday (February 26), Tata Motors announced that the Tata Nano will be launched at a glittering function in Mumbai on March 23, 2009.

According to company sources Tata Nano cars will be on display at Tata Motors dealership from the first week of April 20009. From the second week of April 2009 people can book the dream car. Tata Motors said that the booking process and other details of the Rs one lakh car will be announced on the day of the launch.

Meanwhile, the company is making arrangements for the widest possible network to book the car, so that interested customers can conveniently avail booking facilities at their locations, across India. Touted as the world’s cheapest family car, Tata Nano car was first unveiled at the auto expo in Delhi on January 10, 2008. Since it’s unveiling, the car has evoked unprecedented interest in the country.

The official website of Tata Nano has recorded over 30 million hits in the past one year and at the same time over 6,000 interest groups and communities have been created. However, due to rift between Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress Party and West Bengal government, Tata Motors had to relocate its manufacturing plant from Singur to Sanad in Gujarat.

Tata Motors ambitious project Tata Nano has became the centre of attraction for middle class people, who were earlier not able to buy four wheelers. Let us see, how much interest people show n buying the car, as the whole country has been badly hit by recession.

No decision yet on post-poll support to Cong.: Basu

KOLKATA, 27th February, 2009 : The Leftfront may face a tough battle in West Bengal if the Congress and Trinamool join hands in the coming Lok Sabha elections, party patriarch Jyoti Basu on Friday said while maintaining that it has not taken any decision on extending support to the former after the polls.

"We cannot say it at this stage. No decision has been taken by the party in this regard," 95-year-old Basu said when asked if the CPI(M) would extend support to the Congress after the parliamentary polls.

Basu, who came to attend the CPI(M) State secretariat meeting at the party's Alimuddin Street headquarters, told reporters that the party would face a tough battle if Congress and Trinamool Congress forged an alliance in the LS polls in West Bengal and might get less seats compared to what it had won in the 2004 election.

Asked what strategy the party would adopt in the coming election, he replied, "We will go to the people and explain". The State secretariat meeting assumed significance as it was authorised by the CPI(M) State committee to approve the party's list of candidates for the LS polls.

West Bengal, Emami in pact for pulp, paper project

Kolkata, Feb 27: West Bengal Industrial Development Corp (WBIDC) and the city-based Emami Group Friday inked a pact for setting up a greenfield integrated pulp and paper project at an investment of Rs.22 billion (Rs.2,200 crore).The proposed project at Kutikri in West Midnapore district will be part of a Paper and Allied Products Park being developed by WBIDC.

“There will be a high-end printing and writing paper plant with a capacity of 200,000 tonnes per annum. The plant will be developed using the state-of-the art technology from Scandinavia and Germany,” state Industries Minister Nirupam Sen said at the signing of the pact, where Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was also present.

R.S. Agarwal, joint chairman of the Emami Group, said around 1,415 acres will be required for the project, which is likely to be commissioned 42 months after the company got possession of land.

Asked whether acquiring land could pose problems in view of the recent controversies over land acquisition, the chief minister said “No”. The project is expected to generate captive power of around 40 MW and employ around 1,000 people directly and 4,000 indirectly.

“To conserve energy, the plant will utilise the spent liquor from the process to generate steam and power for their captive use,” Agarwal said. The project also envisages setting up of social infrastructure, including hospitals, school and market facilities, for the employees and the local population.

BDR mutiny hits India-Bangladesh trade

Kolkata, Feb 27 : At least 500 trucks ferrying goods to Bangladesh, were stranded at the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal’s Petrapole Friday as exporters feared a loss of Rs.2 billion ($38.83 million) following the mutiny by Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) troopers. “As of now, at least 500 trucks with both perishable and other goods are stuck at the border,” Raja Roy, general secretary, Calcutta Goods Transport Association, told mediaperson.

West Bengal Exporter Coordination Committee secretary Ujjal Saha said: “In north Bengal, there could be a loss of Rs.2 billion. Vegetables and fruits are becoming stale”. India shares a 4,095 km-long border with Bangladesh, of which the longest stretch - 2,216 km - is in West Bengal.

After the mutiny, vigil was stepped up all along the border. The Border Security Force asked people to keep distance from the border and the authorities restricted movement of vehicles. The administration on the Indian side suspended operations at the three land customs stations (LCS) in West Bengal - at Mehadipur in Malda district, Hili in south Dinajpur and Chengrabandha in Cooch Behar districts.

The international check post at Petrapole had remained closed for about six hours Thursday following fears that the Bangladesh army personnel could be arriving to take over the outposts at Benapole on the Bangladesh side from the BDR.

The stalemate continued till 3 p.m., and even the two Dhaka-bound buses from Kolkata had to wait. Later on, the buses were allowed to cross over to Bangladesh. “But till now trucks are not being allowed to go by the customs authorities,” Roy said, adding he hoped something positive will happen in a day or two and the normal pace will be restored. As per a rough estimate, trade worth Rs.3 billion takes place with Bangladesh through West Bengal daily.

An official at Mehadipur said 200 trucks carrying perishable goods were still stranded at the border. Gunfights broke out inside the BDR headquarters in Dhaka Wednesday morning as BDR troopers mutinied to protest poor wages and frequent transfers.

The government held talks with a delegation of the mutineers Thursday and an agreement was reached but by that time, the mutiny spread to other BDR camps located all over the country. The revolt ended in the face of an imminent attack by the Bangladesh Army which moved tanks into position outside the BDR headquarters. The mutineers then laid down their arms.

Eighty-two percent polling in West Bengal by-election

Kolkata, February 26,2009: Eighty-two percent of the electorate cast their votes in Thursday’s by-poll to West Bengal’s Bishnupur (West) assembly seat, officials said.They said there were no untoward incidents and polling in in the constituency in South 24 Parganas district passed off peacefully. The votes will be counted March 1.

Trinamool Congress nominee Madan Mitra is pitted against Communist Party of India(Marxist)- CPI(M) candidate Dr. Iskandar Hussain. The Congress had withdrawn its candidate in favour of Madan Mitra.

The election has assumed importance as it would be the last trial of strength between West Bengal’s ruling Leftfront and the opposition before the April-May Lok Sabha polls. The death of CPI(M)’s Rathin Sarkar, who won the seat in 2006, had necessitated the by-election.