Tag: BJP

Ask PM Modi why 60 pc electorate did not vote for BJP: Ex-Tripura CM Manik Sarkar

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Agartala: Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader and former Tripura CM Manik Sarkar on Saturday launched a scathing attack on Bharatiya Janata Party and said 60 per cent of the electorate did not vote for the BJP and asked the people to question Prime Minister Narendra Modi on this.
While talking to ANI, Sarkar said, “One thing is very clear, 60 per cent of the electorate did not vote for the BJP. The anti-BJP vote has been divided. I don’t like to mention any party’s name. I have categorically made my point.”
“Last time they got 50 plus (vote tally) but now it has gone down to 40 and their seats have also gone down. Why so, ask the Prime Minister. Muscle power, money power, and a large chunk of media were also with them. The central and state government offices were misused. They have just managed the majority numerically. This is not good for them,” Sarkar added.
Sarkar further stated that the results of the Tripura Assembly polls were “unexpected” and alleged that the polls were converted to a “farce”.
The former Tripura CM said, “It is unexpected as the government’s performance was zero, democracy was attacked and the electorate’s right to exercise franchise freely was snatched away. The polls were converted to a farce, and the Constitution didn’t work.”
“The secular fabric of a state was destroyed. Because of all of this minorities were put under severe mental pressure. The crimes against mothers and sisters are rising like anything. On the other hand, the economic situation is very very bad. It is turning worse. There is no work, no income, and rampant starvation. In tribal areas in some pockets, parents are forced to sell their offspring,” he added.
On the Congress-Left alliance failing in Tripura, he said, “It was not an alliance but a seat adjustment. The Congress and Left arrangement will get many more seats.”
Attacking Mamata Banerjee led-Trinamool Congress, he said, “I want to ask what is Mamata Banerjee doing in West Bengal? TMC is destroying democracy there. Corruption is rising. Who does not know the things done by TMC leaders? BJP would not have won in two to three seats if TMC’s vote was not there. TMC came to help the BJP.”

The former Tripura CM also targeted the post-poll violence in the state and said, “Post-poll violence started in the counting hall. That has spread throughout the state. Police are not doing any work. There must be instructions from the top. I will not blame the police. It is inhuman and barbaric. This is a dismal performance for the BJP.”
Notably, in the recently held Tripura Assembly election, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power by winning an absolute majority.
According to the Election Commission of India, BJP won 32 seats with a vote share of around 39 per cent.
Tipra Motha Party came second, winning 13 seats. Communist Party of India (Marxist) got 11 seats while Congress bagged three seats. The Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) managed to open its account by winning one seat.
The CPI(M) and the Congress, arch rivals in Kerala, came together in the Northeast this time in a bid to oust the BJP from power. The combined vote share of CPI(M) and Congress remained around 33 per cent.
The BJP, which had never won a single seat in Tripura before 2018, stormed to power in the last election in alliance with IPFT and ousted the Left Front which had been in power in the border state for 35 years since 1978.
The BJP contested on 55 seats and its ally, IPFT, on six seats. But both allies had fielded candidates in the Ampinagar constituency in the Gomati district.
The Left contested on 47 and Congress on 13 seats, respectively. Of the total 47 seats, the CPM contested 43 seats while the Forward Bloc, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) contested one seat each.
The CPI(M)-led Left Front ruled the state for nearly four decades, with a gap between 1988 and 1993, when the Congress was in power but this time both parties joined hands with the intention to oust BJP from power.
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#Modi #electorate #vote #BJP #ExTripura #Manik #Sarkar
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 5, 2023
BJP president Nadda meet ex-Australian PM Abbott

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New Delhi: BJP president J P Nadda met former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott at the party headquarters here as part of its “Know BJP” initiative to engage with leaders and diplomats of different countries among others.
During the exercises, Nadda elaborates on the party’s history, ideology, evolution and its contribution in nation building.
The meeting, the party has said, helps strengthening bilateral ties and also in building party-to-party ties.
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#BJP #president #Nadda #meet #exAustralian #Abbott
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 4, 2023
KCR’s daughter will soon go to jail, says BJP leader

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Tirupati: Telangana BJP leader Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy said on Saturday that Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) legislator K. Kavitha will soon go to jail in the Delhi liquor policy case.
The former MLA said that Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekha Rao’s daughter and BRS MLA Kavitha will go to jail tomorrow or day after.
Talking to reporters after offering prayers at Sri Venkateswara temple atop Tirumala here, he alleged that Kavitha was a partner in the scam along with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders in Delhi.
Earlier, another BJP leader, G. Vivek, had said that Kavitha will soon be arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the liquor policy case. Vivek had said this after former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI.
Vivek had also claimed that Kavitha had given Rs 150 crore to AAP for Punjab and Gujarat elections.
Reddy on Saturday also said that there is no democracy in Telangana.
“There is family rule and autocracy in Telangana,” Reddy said, as he called for leaders to come together and rise above party lines to overthrow Chief Minister KCR.
The BJP also leader claimed that in the by-election to the Munugode Assembly seat, KCR realised that people have turned against Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and to divert people’s attention, he started a new drama by changing the name of the party to BRS.

Reddy, who was defeated in the by-election, alleged that BRS spent thousands of crores of rupees and misused the official machinery, adding that the ruling party also carried out a false campaign against him that he got money from the BJP for resigning from Congress and joining the saffron camp.
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#KCRs #daughter #jail #BJP #leader
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 4, 2023
BJP is only alternative to all parties, says BJP spokesperson NV Subhash

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Hyderabad: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Spokesperson NV Subhash on Friday said that BJP is the only alternative to all the parties in Telangana.
Subhash reacted to Akbaruddin Owaisi’s statement that AIMIM will defeat BJP in the upcoming Telangana elections.
Speaking to ANI, He said, “I would advise Akbaruddin Owaisi and Asaduddin Owaisi to read today’s newspaper.
Yesterday, they should have watched the TV and known that the BJP has won with a thumping majority in the northeastern states where there are minorities. Many people in these places have supported BJP and the party has come into power.”
“As far as Telangana is concerned, BJP is the only alternative to all the parties in Telangana. AIMIM has friendly contested with TDP, Congress and also BRS,” he added.
“If they really have the guts and the support from the people of Telangana, they should contest at least 50 assembly seats in Telangana,” he further added.
He stated, “We challenge them that they should come to the people and the battleground and then convince the people that AIMIM is a secular party.”
“We demand that you should definitely contest and field at least 50 candidates in the upcoming 2023 assembly elections, as you have told in the public meeting so that people and also they (AIMIM) will know who is going to win,” he further stated

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#BJP #alternative #parties #BJP #spokesperson #Subhash
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 4, 2023
Shinde vs MVA over Kasba Peth – ‘BJP lost one bypoll, but won 3 states’

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Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Friday tore into the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) over Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawars statement that the “common mans government was defeated by the masses in the Kasba Peth Assembly bypoll”.
Speaking on the motion of thanks to Governor Ramesh Bais’ address, Shinde said that merely one seat is not Maharashtra and “those who lose by-elections sweep the general elections”.
Taking a jibe at Ajit Pawar, the CM said the MVA is celebrating its victory in just one bypoll, but it forgets that the BJP has won three states (Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura).
He said the BJP has a history of losing bypolls and then winning Assembly elections, citing the example of Uttar Pradesh where the party lost four bypolls, but swept the entire state, and even in Maharashtra.
Shinde said he was thankful for losing the Kasba Peth bypoll as they have learnt some lessons from the defeat and will now work harder to win the hearts of the people there.
Referring to Ajit Pawar’s tweets that despite many bigwigs campaigning, contacting with the masses, the CM holding roadshows etc., the BJP candidate lost Kasba Peth to the Congress-MVA nominee, Shinde countered that even Sharad Pawar and other MVA leaders had held so many meetings there.
Hitting out at the Congress, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi held roadshows in Gujarat and won the state, while Rahul Gandhi held roadshows in the northeastern states, but lost in all three, and “you don’t see the same common man who vanquished you in Chinchwad” (won by the BJP on Thursday).
Shinde also snubbed Ajit Pawar for making a political speech on the Governor’s address, saying it’s the result of losing power “which has clouded his vision and he cannot see the good performance of (his) government”.

The CM, while defending his government for working without keeping the elections in mind, accused Ajit Pawar of acting like a spokesperson of Shiv Sena (UBT), and advised him not to become a die-hard Shiv Sainik’ and allow others also to do their work.
Shinde emphatically reiterated that “we are the Shiv Sena, and with the BJP, and the Shiv Sena-BJP had contested the elections together (in 2019)”.
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#Shinde #MVA #Kasba #Peth #BJP #lost #bypoll #won #states
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 3, 2023
BJP, Cong trade barbs over Rahul’s Pegasus remarks at Cambridge University

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New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks at Cambridge University that he was under surveillance triggered a political slugfest on Friday with the BJP accusing him of maligning India on foreign soil and the Congress hitting back by citing instances of Prime Minister Narendra Modi raking up internal politics abroad.
Gandhi, who is a visiting fellow of the Cambridge Judge Business School, during a lecture ‘Learning to Listen in the 21st Century’ on Tuesday evening said Indian democracy is under attack and several politicians, including himself, are under surveillance.
Referring to the controversial Pegasus snooping issue, Gandhi alleged that the Israeli spyware was installed on the phones of a large number of politicians, including him.
“I, myself, had Pegasus on my phone. A large number of politicians have Pegasus on their phones. I’ve been called by intelligence officers who say please be careful what you say on the phone because we are sort of recording this stuff. So, this is a constant pressure that we feel,” the 52-year-old former Congress chief claimed at the lecture, a video recording of which was posted on Twitter by Congress leader Sam Pitroda, ex-adviser to former prime minister Manmohan Singh.
Reacting to the remarks, Union Minister Anurag Thakur hit out at Gandhi over his claims of being under surveillance by intelligence agencies and accused him of maligning India on foreign soil after facing successive electoral setbacks. “Pegasus is not in Rahul Gandhi’s phone but in his mind,” he said.
Thakur wondered what prevented Gandhi and other Congress leaders from submitting their phones to a Supreme Court-appointed technical committee that probed the Pegasus snooping issue.
“We can understand his hatred towards the prime minister, but the conspiracy to malign the country on foreign soil with the help of foreign friends raises questions on the agenda of the Congress,” the information and broadcasting minister told reporters here.
Thakur said Gandhi was aware of the electoral rout the Congress was facing in the assembly elections and had resorted to levelling allegations from foreign soil.

“Once again, the Congress lost in the elections but their bankruptcy was evident when they lost no opportunity to malign India from foreign soil,” he said.
Hitting back at Thakur and the BJP for its criticism of Gandhi, the Congress cited instances of Prime Minister Modi going abroad and allegedly raising internal politics and criticising the Congress.
“I have seen those foolish statements given by Anurag ‘Golimaaro’ Thakur,” Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said in an apparent reference to the ‘Golimaro’ slogans purportedly raised at a public meeting of Thakur last year.
She urged the information and broadcasting minister him to listen to Gandhi’s full lecture.
On BJP’s criticism that Gandhi was “maligning” the country from foreign soil, Shrinate said the kind of statements Modi had made in places such as Shanghai, Toronto, California, Seoul and Abu Dhabi on internal politics and against the leading Opposition party of the country, if those are recounted then the BJP will have no place to hide.
If they listen to Rahul Gandhi’s lecture, they would get to know that he has talked about democracy and how the media, judiciary and the Opposition are intimidated and how it is important for agencies to remain impartial, she said.
“He (Gandhi) has talked about strengthening democracy. Those who give statements of ‘Golimaaro’ from stage and become cabinet minister from minister of state, they can never understand the meaning of these remarks,” she said.
Congress’ head of media and publicity department Pawan Khera said the party would like to advise the BJP that they should stop such activities which are shameful to even discuss.
“So if they stop doing such activities, we will stop discussing them. There is an allegation on you (BJP) took the help of Israel to snoop into the phones of Opposition and your own leaders. They don’t feel ashamed of that, but if it is discussed they feel shame,” he said.
The BJP thinks that England will not find out about their raid on BBC if the Congress does not discuss it, he said.
“We are living in a different era we are not living in the 17th or 18th century where news travelled at the speed of a camel cart or at the speed of a pigeon. Now if I am talking to you anybody sitting in Papua New Guinea can hear me out,” Khera said.
In an apparent swipe at Prime Minister Modi, Khera claimed that from foreign soil he made fun of the country. “The kind of activities you are involved in, you should first be ashamed of that. We will stop discussing them then so that you don’t feel ashamed,” the Congress leader said.
Earlier, the BJP made light of Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that he was being snooped upon, saying the Congress leader was “hallucinating” and makes such claims as he wants to create headlines wherever he goes.
“What we can say for Rahul Gandhi’s hallucinations. If he makes his (Congress) MoU with China public, we will be interested and people of India will also like to know. Who is interested in his telephonic conversations,” BJP spokesperson Tom Vadakkan told reporters.
Vadakkan noted that the Supreme Court has closed the Pegasus matter.
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#BJP #Cong #trade #barbs #Rahuls #Pegasus #remarks #Cambridge #University
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 3, 2023
Modi hope of BJP govt in Kerala overambitious, says Vijayan

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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday reacted sharply on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that his BJP will form a government in Kerala after doing well in the Assembly polls held in three northeastern states.
“Modi’s statement is an overambitious statement. People who live here know the trials and tribulations of the minority communities and also know who is responsible for it. The minority communities here, who are under duress from the Sangh Parivar, just cannot take a pro-BJP stand. If there are stray incidents where some for vested interests make compromises, it should not be a generalised and if done it is going to be a big blunder,” said Vijayan in a statement.
He went on to point out that the Kerala soil is not a fertile ground for communal forces and has been proved also and the secular model adopted by Kerala is now slowly becoming the order of the day across the country.
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#Modi #hope #BJP #govt #Kerala #overambitious #Vijayan
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 3, 2023
Karnataka: Rs 6 cr recovered at BJP MLA’s home after son caught taking Rs 40L bribe

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Bengaluru: After Karnataka, BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa’s son Prashanth Madal was caught taking a bribe of Rs 40 lakh on Thursday, an amount close to Rs 6 crore was recovered from the MLA’s residence on Friday.
Karnataka Special Lokayukta Court remanded the BJP MLA’s son, who was arrested for accepting a bribe of Rs 40 lakh, to 14 days of judicial custody here on Friday.
According to Lokayukta sources, Prashanth Madal has been sent to judicial custody as raids are pending. The officials will seek his custody after the completion of preliminary investigations.
Four other accused in the case have also been handed over to judicial custody. Authorities are also likely to take BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa into custody and question him, they said.
The sources confirmed that the Lokayukta authorities have found Rs 7.62 crore at Prashant and his aides’ residences.
The authorities had arrested five persons in this connection, including Prashanth. Siddesh, a relative of Prashanth, accountant Surendra, Nicolas and Gangadhar. Nicolas and Gangadhar had come to hand over the cash of Rs 40 lakh, Lokayukta sources said.
The MLA from Channagiri in the Davanagere district, is the chairman of the state-owned Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL), which is known for its famous Mysore Sandal Soap.
The MLA has now stepped down from his position at KSDL.

Virupakshappa’s son Prashanth worked as the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) Chief Accountant.
After arresting Channagiri MLA K Madal Virupakshappa’s son Prashanth Madal, a chief accountant in BWSSB have conducted raids on his residence in Dollars Colony, the Lokayukta police seized around Rs 6 crore in cash from his residence.pic.twitter.com/CX6pW1qgGQ
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) March 3, 2023
The raids have also been conducted on the residence and office of BJP MLA from Channagiri constituency Madal Virupakshappa at K.M.V. Mansion in Sanjaynagar locality of Bengaluru. The authorities have seized documents and other evidence from the residences. The raid is still on.
The development is seen as a serious setback to the ruling BJP. The incident has come to light at a time when the opposition is launching attacks of 40 percent commission and kickbacks in government tenders. Congress has stated that the raids proved their allegations of corruption and commission charges.
Prashanth had demanded Rs 80 lakh bribe for a tender process and was caught while accepting Rs 40 lakh at his office.
The complaint was filed regarding the allotment of tender for providing raw materials to the KSDL. Prashath’s father Madal Virupakshappa is the Chairman of KSDL.
The authorities are preparing to question BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa as the bribe money has been received on behalf of Chairman of KSDL for raw material procurement tender.
The Lokayukta has lodged a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act and taken up the investigation.
Sources explained that Prashanth was an accused in a Rs 55 crore misappropriation case in Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited (KIRDL).
Prashanth and two others were suspended by the government and the case was handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The case in this regard was lodged at Surathkal police station.
(The story has been edited with inputs form IANS)

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#Karnataka #recovered #BJP #MLAs #home #son #caught #40L #bribe
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 3, 2023
By-election results: Cong wins 3, BJP and ally 2; TMC suffers shock defeat in WB

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New Delhi: The assembly by-election results on Thursday brought some solace for the Congress as it wrested one seat each from the BJP and the TMC in Maharashtra and West Bengal respectively and retained a seat in Tamil Nadu with DMK’s support, while the BJP and its ally AJSU bagged one seat each in the western state and Jharkhand.
The ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal suffered a shock defeat in Sagardighi which was won by Congress’ Bayron Biswas by 22,986 votes. It is the only seat held by the Congress in the state assembly.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged the Congress and the CPI(M) had entered into an understanding with the BJP to defeat the Trinamool Congress with their “immoral” alliance.
Banerjee also said that her party will go it alone in the 2024 elections, “with the support of common people” and the Congress should refrain from calling itself anti-BJP.
“For the Sagardighi loss, I do not blame anyone… But, there is an immoral alliance, which we strongly condemn. The BJP transferred its votes to the Congress…. everyone played the communal card. The BJP, of course, played the communal card. The Congress, CPI(M), however, turned out to be bigger players in this regard,” she told
reporters
By-election to the constituency, seen as a prestige fight for state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury in his home district of Murshidabad, was necessitated following the death of state minister Subrata Saha in December last year.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to hold on to Chinchwad seat in Maharashtra’s Pune but suffered a setback as it failed to Kasba Peth Assembly seat, its stronghold in the district, as Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar defeated the saffron party nominee Hemant Rasane.
The BJP held the seat for 28 years. Girish Bapat, the current BJP MP from Pune, represented the seat five times till 2019.

Dhangekar, who was supported by Maha Vikas Aghadi allies Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), polled 73,194 votes while Rasane received 62,244 votes, as per figures on the Election Commission’s website after the final round of counting.
While the party’s performance was dismal in the assembly poll in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya , Congress general secretary communications Jairam Ramesh said the bypoll results were “very encouraging”.
“We are building the Congress for the future and those who thought they will make it big by breaking the Congress have not achieved any success,” Ramesh said in an apparent dig at TMC.
The bypolls saw the first direct contest between the ruling BJP-Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the opposing MVA after the change of government in Maharashtra in June last year.
As the bypolls had become an issue of prestige for the MVA as well as the ruling Shinde-BJP coalition in the state, senior leaders like NCP president Sharad Pawar, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis campaigned for their respective candidates.
In Chinchwad seat, BJP’s Ashwini Jagtap was ahead with 1.12 lakh votes against NCP’s Nana Kate who had bagged around 84,000 votes. The election commission
was yet to formally declare the result at 8 pm.
The
byelection was necessitated due to the death of incumbent BJP MLAs Mukta Tilak (Kasba) and Laxman Jagtap (Chinchwad).
Ruling DMK-backed Congress nominee EVKS Elangovan won in the Erode East byelection, with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin terming it a public endorsement of the “Dravidian model of governance” of his 22-month-old government.
Elangovan won more than one lakh of 1.7lakh votes polled on February 27.
With the “historic and grand win”, the ground was being prepared for an even iggervictory of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Stalin told reporters.
BJP state president K Annamalai said he did not see it as an endorsement of the government’s performance and indicated factors like “sympathy” were also there, apparently referring to Elangovan being the father of E Thirumahan Everaa, the Congress MLA whose demise in January necessitated the byelection.
AJSU Party candidate Sunita Choudhary won from Jharkhand’s Ramgarh defeating UPA-backed Congress’ Bajrang Mahto by a margin of 21,970 votes, the Election Commission said.
The AJSU Party, which tied up with the BJP for the by-poll, secured 1,15,669 votes, while the Congress, an ally of the ruling JMM-led coalition, bagged 93,699 votes after the completion of counting, it said.
The by-election was necessitated due to the disqualification of Congress legislator Mamta Devi, following her conviction in a criminal case.
The EC had in January announced that bypolls to the Lakshadweep Lok Sabha seat, along with six Assembly seats spread over five states – Maharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Tamil Nadu – would be held on February 27.
The Lakshadweep seat was vacated following the disqualification of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) member Mohammed Faizal after his conviction in a criminal case.
However, on January 30, the EC withheld the Lakshadweep Lok Sabha byelection l after the Kerala High Court suspended the conviction and sentence of Faizal.
On January 25, the poll panel “revised” the date of polling, from February 27 to February 26, for bypolls in two assembly seats of Maharashtra’s Pune district after it was informed about the dates clashing with scheduled class 12 and graduation exams there.
In Arunachal Pradesh’s Lumla seat, BJP candidate Tsering Lhamu has declared elected the MLA without a contest on February 10.
Lhamu, the wife of former MLA Jambey Tashi, was the only candidate who filed her nomination for the by-election which was necessitated due to the death of her husband in November last year.
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#Byelection #results #Cong #wins #BJP #ally #TMC #suffers #shock #defeat
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 2, 2023
BJP succeeds in maintaining momentum in its favour in assembly polls

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New Delhi: The maiden alliance of the Left and the Congress in Tripura and the emergence of TIPRA Motha as a dominant force in tribal seats did not prove enough to topple the BJP from power in the state as the ruling party’s development plank and ideological resonance surmounted local factors to deliver it another victory.
Among the three northeastern states that went to assembly polls, Tripura’s verdict was the most keenly watched due to the high stakes for three national parties – the BJP, Congress and the Left – and the results underscored the continuity of momentum in the saffron party’s favour despite the occasional setbacks it has suffered in state polls.
“If our 2018 victory was an endorsement of our ideological and development agenda, the win now shows its popular acceptance,” a BJP leader involved in the Tripura polls said.
The party had benefited from popular anger against the Left “misrule” for 25 years in 2018 and it has now received a positive mandate for the Centre and state government’s work, he added.
Party sources said the BJP, like in so many other state polls, succeeded in making its overarching ideological and developmental planks and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popular appeal the central theme of its campaign which was also helped by an organisationally weakened opposition unable to match the ruling party either in firepower or in leadership charisma.
The winning momentum is important for the BJP as the crucial state of Karnataka is next headed for assembly polls, expected in May, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram later this year.
The BJP-led NDA, in power in 16 states, also romped home to a facile win in Nagaland, where Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party is the senior partner.
But its ambition of emerging as a bigger player in Meghalaya was thwarted as it was leading in only three seats against the two it held in the outgoing 60-member assembly.

BJP leadership had accused Chief Minister Conrad Sangma-led government of being the country’s “most corrupt” state dispensation but the two parties may now agree to do business together again. The BJP was part of his government but parted ways before the polls.
It may be a junior partner in Nagaland and remains a minor player in Meghalaya but the results in the two states will be helpful for the party in making ideological points, its leaders noted.
Accused by rivals of being “anti-minority”, the BJP has succeeded in improving its vote share to nearly 19 per cent from 15.3 per cent in Nagaland and bagging over nine per cent votes in Meghalaya.
Both are largely Christian populated states and its performance will give the BJP a handy weapon to beat back the charge.
However, it is the Tripura results which will matter the most to the BJP as its win has underlined popular acceptance of the party in this erstwhile Left bastion which it won for the first time in 2018.
Its vote share as well as seat tally have come down but things were worse for the Left-Congress alliance.
The BJP appeared headed to win 32 seats in the 60-member assembly, down from 36 in 2018. The combined tally for the opposition alliance was 14 while the CPI(M) had won 16 seats in 2018 when it had fought on its own. The Congress failed to open its account last time.
A point for concern, however, for the BJP will be the rise of Pradyut Debbarma-led TIPRA Motha and the decline of its tribal ally in IPFT, which could win a lone seat this time.
The BJP also suffered the embarrassment of the loss of its own most prominent tribal face and Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma to his TIPRA Motha rival Subodh Deb Barma.
Party sources said their leadership may explore the probability of an alliance with Pradyut Debbarma, scion of erstwhile royal, if he gives up on his demand for a separate state of “Greater Tipraland”.
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#BJP #succeeds #maintaining #momentum #favour #assembly #polls
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 2, 2023