Five days after he tore into the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-led West Bengal government over the Sandeshkhali row, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be back in West Bengal on Wednesday to address a rally in Barasat in North 24 Parganas and is expected to again take on the Mamata Banerjee-led party over the issue. Last month, protests erupted in Sandeskhali after women accused former TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan, who was expelled by the ruling party after his arrest, and other leaders of the party of land grab and sexual abuse. While in the state, Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the country’s first underwater Metro section for Kolkata Metro’s East-West corridor, a part of which runs under the Hooghly river. The PM will also inaugurate two other sections of the Kolkata Metro and virtually flag off the priority corridor of the Agra Metro, a stretch of the Pune Metro, and a section of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor. The Kolkata projects cost Rs 15,400 crore, officials said. Modi will also travel to Bihar and inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of multiple development projects in Bettiah. In context: With the stakes high in the key battleground state, the Sandeshkhali incident has opened up an opportunity for the BJP to hit the TMC and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee where it hurts the most by making a dent in the party’s women support base, writes Atri Mitra. In 2021, the two Ms – Muslims and Mahila (women) – helped the TMC thwart the BJP’s attempt at capturing power in the state. The party can ill afford an erosion in either as it looks to stop the BJP in its tracks and prevent it from repeating the 2019 Lok Sabha performance when it won a record 18 parliamentary seats from the state. Last week, Modi excoriated the TMC and the Opposition INDIA bloc in his speech in Arambagh in Hooghly district. “The entire country is watching the situation in Bengal and the conduct of those who advocate for Maa, mati, manush (mother, soil, people). People across the country are sad and enraged to see what the TMC has done with the mothers and sisters of Sandeshkhali,” Modi said. Congress’s promises The Congress is likely to announce its first tranche of manifesto promises for the youth on Wednesday, reports Manoj CG. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi are likely to announce the promises at a public meeting in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district. The Congress’s manifesto committee, headed by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, finalised the document at a meeting on Tuesday. The document will then be placed before the Congress Working Committee (CWC) for its approval. Among the promises for the youth are a Rs 10-crore startup fund in each Lok Sabha constituency for young entrepreneurs, a monthly scholarship of Rs 10,000 for 50 lakh budding sportspersons under the age of 21, a promise to make apprenticeship a legal right, and monetary compensation for those affected by paper leaks. BJP meeting on Karnataka candidates The BJP’s Central Election Committee (CEC) is expected to meet again on Wednesday to decide on the candidates for the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, senior BJP leader and former CM B S Yediyurappa has said. Yediyurappa, a member of the BJP’s Parliamentary Board and the CEC, is in Delhi for the meeting. In 2019, the BJP won 25 of the 28 seats in a comprehensive victory, with the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) winning just one seat each. However, with the Congress recording a thumping victory in the Assembly polls last year, the state’s political landscape has changed considerably over the last five years. If the BJP is to reach the 370-seat target set by Modi, the party, at the very least, must retain the seats. This time, the BJP has allied with the JD(S) in the hopes of boosting its chances in the state. However, a seat-sharing arrangement between the parties has not been announced. Recent reports suggest the BJP may cede three to four seats to the JD(S) and some candidates of the regional party may contest on the BJP symbol. Also happening today: Farmer leaders have given a call to farmers across India to reach Delhi on Wednesday to renew the push for a legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) for all crops, among other demands. Farmers from faraway states have been told to head to Delhi by train and by other means of transport. How the government responds to them will be closely watched. Since starting their protest on February 13, farmers from Punjab have stayed put at the Shambhu and the Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana after their march to the national capital was stopped by security forces. Several rounds of talks with the Union government have failed to achieve a breakthrough. — With PTI inputs
