Mamata Banerjee's party seeks distance from libraries controversy in West Bengal

Kolkata:  Mamata Banerjee's party today tried to distance her from the controversy that has erupted after all public libraries were ordered to drop all English dailies and most other newspapers including the Ananda Bazar Patrika, which is the state's most-read paper.  

On Twitter this evening, her party's MP, Derek O'Brien said,  "To drag the CM's name into this 'controversy' is unfair.  Are we suggesting she starts micromanaging even library department lists?"  He added, "Circular issued by small time library services dept."
Last night, a circular signed by the Special Secretary, Library Services told 2500 public libraries what newspapers they can stock. All English dailies were to be removed, the notice said. Only eight papers made the cut  - five five Bengali, one Hindi and two Urdu dailies. Of these eight publications, four have editors or senior journalists who have been elected to the Rajya Sabha on Trinamool Congress tickets.   The circular states that public funds could not be spent on "any papers published or purported to be published by any political party." But the list of banned papers includes only one publication with direct links to a political party- the Ganashakti, which is a CPM mouthpiece.
Mr O'Brien says that the Times of India will also be stocked at government-funded libraries.
"This is worse than censorship; this has shades of fascism," said Sitaram Yechury from the Left, the main opposition party in West Bengal. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has appreciated the move, countered Library Services Minister Abdul Karim Chowdhury to local TV channels.  
"I have no idea why she has done this; she is trying to control what I read," said Pradeep Bhattacharjee, the president of the Congress, which is a partner in Ms Banerjee's government.  

The issue was also brought up in the state Assembly yesterday by a Congress MLA who called the government circular undemocratic and urged the chief minister to have it withdrawn. Mamata Banerjee was not present in the Assembly at that time.

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Husband facilitates wife's gang rape in West Bengal, absconding

Howrah:  Two men have been sent to police custody by a local court in West Bengal's Howrah for allegedly raping a newly-married woman in connivance with her own husband who is absconding, police said on Friday.

"Kartik Das and Raju Prasad were sent to custody by the court for their involvement in gang-raping a 19-year-old married woman. Her husband, who is suspected to have facilitated the crime, is absconding," Howrah Deputy Commissioner of Police Sukesh Jain said.

The woman had married Bappa Ruidas a week before the incident. Das and Prasad, both friends of the husband, came to meet the couple on Wednesday night. After a few minutes, Bappa left the house while the duo forced themselves on the victim, said an officer of Bally police station in the district.

The woman was initially reluctant to report the matter to the police, but finally lodged a complaint on Thursday afternoon following which the two were arrested from the area late at night.

Bappa has been named as an accused in the FIR and the police are looking for him, added the officer.

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Mamata 'keen to attend' swearing-in ceremonies in UP and Punjab, but won't due to budget session in Bengal

Kolkata/New Delhi:  Trinamool Congress chief and the UPA's most troublesome ally at the Centre Mamata Banerjee is reportedly "keen to attend" the swearing-in ceremonies of the Chief Ministers of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, but might now have to miss it for she has to attend the budget session at West Bengal assembly.
The message has been conveyed through a comment posted on Twitter by her party spokesperson Derek O'Brien that reads - "Just spoke to Mamatadi. Was keen to make trip to Ch'garh/L'now but now she'll be in #bengal on opening day of Assembly for Guv."
Sources say the Bengal Governor has asked Chief Minister Mamata to stay back for budget session. But Didi it seems has managed to send across the message to the Congress. 
It was another tweet by Derek O'Brien yesterday that had indicated that Ms Banerjee would attend the swearing-in ceremonies of Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal and Samjawadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav.
Since both parties are staunch opponents of the Congress, Mamata's "keenness" to attend the functions is being seen by many as yet another snub to the party. Over the past several months, Ms Banerjee has often confronted the Centre over key policy decisions like FDI in multi-brand retail.  She has also been a loud voice in a campaign by Chief Ministers who say the Centre is a serial offender of the principles of federalism.
The Congress however has so far tried to downplay the invites extended to the Trinamool chief. "Inviting someone for a function does not necessarily have some political motivation. In human relations, people invite people for a party and it should not all the time considered exclusively political," explained Congress General Secretary Shakeel Ahmed, who reportedly met Ms Banerjee yesterday after reports said that she would attend the ceremonies in Punjab and UP. Interestingly, these reports came on a day when in no small measure of relief for the Congress, Ms Banerjee said that "she is not a traitor" and has no plans to create the need for mid-term elections.
In Punjab, the Akalis have been voted back to power with their partner, the BJP.  The Congress had counted on winning the state. Ms Banerjee's desire to be present at the ceremony there will be seen as an indication of her increasingly warm relations with Congress rivals.
Mr Badal's son, Sukhbir Singh Badal, has explained that his invite to Ms Banerjee has "nothing to do with wooing." "We have invited Chief Ministers from several states because of personal relations Mr Parkash Singh Badal shares with them," he said.
After the recent state elections in Punjab and UP, BJP's Sushma Swaraj said that mid-term polls are likely. Dinesh Trivedi, cabinet minister from Ms Banerjee's party, said this week that he believes his party may prefer mid-term polls to capitalize on the voter preference that gave Ms Banerjee a stunning verdict two years ago. He later said that was his personal view and Ms Banerjee has said in Kolkata that all MPs from her party have been alerted not to share private opinions.
The elections in Punjab and UP have demonstrated the political might of regional parties who their states identify with. Both national parties- the BJP and the Congress-were marginalised. In Punjab, the BJP won fewer seats than it had in the last state elections. It was saved by the strong numbers if its collaborator, the Akalis, with who it now returns to power.

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Bengal needs special attention, says Trinamool Congress

Kolkata:  Ahead of the budget session of Parliament, the UPA's most troublesome ally, the Trinamool Congress, has again made a pitch for financial aid from the Centre, saying that the finances of West Bengal, which it rules, have been crippled and that the state needs special attention.

Top Trinamool leaders met in Kolkata to firm up the party's strategy for the crucial session that begins next week and are set to raise tough questions and several issues like price rise. Trinamool leader Sudip Bandhopadhyay said today that the party would raise Bengal-related issues in the Lok Sabha. "The debt of the state is Rs 22,000 crore... Bengal needs special attention," Mr Bandhopadhyay said after the meeting. Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly sought a special package from the Centre for West Bengal, where she stormed to power two years ago.

Though the Trinamool partners the Congress in the UPA, it has given not an inch on matters like foreign direct investment in retail and or hike in fuel prices. Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee has used her party's status as the second largest group of MPs in a government with a razor-thin majority, to push through her populist agenda, often derailing reform measures.

The Trinamool has also been at odds with the UPA stand on key central legislation like the Lokpal Bill and a proposed land Bill; Mamata Banerjee stalled the Teesta river accord between India and Bangladesh objecting to the amount of water it gave Bangladesh. And she has now joined hands and is indeed at the forefront of opposition mounted by several Chief Ministers to the Centre's proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre, saying it goes against the basic tenets of federalism.

The Trinamool has 20 MPs in the Lok Sabha that the UPA badly needs to make up its majority in the House. It also has six MPs in the Rajya Sabha, where the Congress-led UPA does not enjoy a majority. The Assembly election results in far-off Uttar Pradesh would have emboldened the party further. The Congress's best laid plans to acquire another ally through a quid pro quo with the Samajwadi Party at the Centre and in UP came a cropper when the SP managed a comfortable majority in the state. If the Congress could have ensured that the SP needed its help to form a government in UP, it could have had the SP's overt support at the Centre in return to offset the sheer clout of numbers that Ms Banerjee wields in the coalition and uses without compunction. Right now the SP, with its 22 MPs, provides issue-based support to the Congress.

Mr Bandhopadhyay refused to comment on how the recent elections would affect coalition equations. But for the UPA, those equations could come into play come as early as next week, when Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presents his General Budget for the year. Conventionally, this would be one year when the Centre could have pushed through some tough measures for fiscal reform. But Mr Mukherjee needs at least the full support of all the UPA allies for that, which might be a big ask right now with the Trinamool already flexing its muscle.

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Bengal loot and rape case: Two more arrested

Kolkata:  Two more people were arrested on Saturday in the Katwa train loot and rape case in West Bengal. Nayan Seikh and Farid Seikh, accused of raping the woman when she resisted looting, were arrested last night at Chouhatta village in the Labhpur police station area in Birbhum district, they said.

Four people have been arrested in the case so far.

A woman was allegedly gang-raped after she tried to put up a resistance during a robbery attempt in a train near Katwa in the Burdwan district of West Bengal.

Two days after the incident, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had stated the medical records of the woman showed no rape and the entire incident was concocted. The statement attracted criticism from all sides. Ms Banerjee had also said the woman's husband was a CPM sympathiser. The woman has been a widow for the past 11 years.

The incident occurred at around 7:15 pm last Saturday when the train was passing through the Ahmedpur-Katwa section between the Pachandi and Ambalgram stations. A person allegedly approached the guard and asked him to apply brakes, saying a passenger had fallen on the tracks. The guard alerted the driver, who stopped the train. When he got off the train, a gang armed with guns and choppers surrounded him, pointed a gun to his head and snatched his walkie-talkie, mobile phone and other valuables. They then proceeded to loot the passengers on the train, most of who were daily commuters.

The alleged victim, a widow, told the police that when she tried to object, she was dragged out of the train and raped by five men on the railway tracks.

"They took away jewellery from my hands first, then they tried taking my earrings. I resisted so they started beating me. Then they took away my earrings. They also took away Rs. 1000 from me. Then they dragged me out of the train and raped me. Then one of them asked the others to leave me as I was crying," the woman had said.

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