1. HC To Bengal: Talk To BJP Yatra ‘Reps’
The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday turned down the Bengal government’s objection to two of the three BJP representatives nominated for the court-ordained talks on the proposed rath yatra.
It extended the talks deadline by a day to Thursday and directed the state to announce its decision “with valid reasons” by Saturday.
A division bench of justices Biswanath Somadder and Arindam Mukherjee didn’t buy advocate general Kishor Dutta’s objection to holding talks with Mukul Roy and Joyprakash Majumdar on the ground that they had criminal charges against them. BJP’s third representative, Pratap Banerjee, does not have any criminal case against him.
(Source: The Times Of India)
2. BJP's Heartland Losses Jolt Plan For Bengal Rathyatra
BJP workers in Bengal will be “demoralised” and the party’s rathyatra, now caught in a legal jam, is likely to be derailed, a senior state leader said.
“What do I tell you? The workers were upbeat but they will feel a bit demoralised. Above all, our rathyatra programme will suffer,” the leader said after the Assembly poll results on Tuesday.
His comments mirrored the mood at the BJP state headquarters on 6 Muralidhar Sen Lane in Calcutta, with the usual bustle missing.
“We wanted the CMs of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan to tour with our raths but we don’t know whether we will get them after such results. Besides, who wants to parade leaders who have lost?” a BJP insider said.
(Source: The Telegraph)
3. Vote Swing Takes Biz Fraternity At Burrabazar Trade Hub By Surprise
The results of the Assembly elections came as a surprise to many from the city’s business community.
Mahendra Jain, secretary of the Chamber of Textile Trade and Industry, a veteran Burrabazar businessman who, during his several visits to his home state had gauged the way the political wind was blowing, was taken aback by the BJP putting up a decent fight contrary to perceptions of a wipeout.
“We had a feeling that given the disgruntlement with the BJP government, the party will struggle to cross even the 50-seat mark in Rajasthan. But the fact that it managed to garner more seats and Congress just about crossed the halfway mark came as a surprise. It was not a cakewalk for them,” said Jain, who heads a chamber which has 50 affiliated markets and over 17,000 members through affiliate associations.
(Source: The Times Of India)
4. ‘Betrayer’ Tag On BJP By Binay Tamang Over ST Bill
GTA chief Binay Tamang on Tuesday criticised the BJP for allegedly failing to list a bill during the ongoing winter session of Parliament to grant Scheduled Tribe status to 11 hill communities terming it another “betrayal” by the saffron camp towards the Gorkhas.
The winter session began on Tuesday and is scheduled to end on 8 January.
Citing the Lok Sabha bulletin number 7454-7464 dated 5 December 2018, Tamang, who is also the president of the Gorkha janmukti Morcha, said: “Despite tall claims by the BJP and leaders associated with Bimal Gurung, there is no mention of a bill for the inclusion of 11 hill communities in the ST category. This is a sad day for the Gorkhas, who had voted for the BJP twice, and have always been betrayed by the BJP.”
(Source: The Telegraph)
5. Emergency Landing After Smoke In Plane Triggers Scare In Air
“Mayday! Mayday!” was the terse voice that crackled on the VHF radio at the Air Traffic Control (ATC) in Kolkata. It was Monday night, 10.33 pm to be exact, an hour when the flurry of evening flights begins to slacken a wee bit, affording controllers time to catch their breath. It was no different on Monday night when the distress call rang out in the controller’s headset, making him jump out of his seat.
In the plane — a Jaipur-Kolkata IndiGo Airbus A320neo aircraft — there was smoke in the cockpit. A few moments ago, the head stewardess had informed the captain about smoke in the passenger cabin. An alarm also indicated smoke, possibly a fire. The captain had no option but to make the distress call that every pilot dreads.
The ‘Mayday!’ triggered a chain of events. The controller informed the senior who relayed it to emergency agencies — fire services and ambulance. At the same time, the controller handed the other flights over to a fellow controller and began clearing the path to bring flight 6E 237 into Kolkata airport at the earliest.
(Source: The Times Of India)
6. Cops Visit Bangur Home After ‘Stree Dhan’ Plaint
A family feud arising from a marital dispute resulted in Kolkata Police carrying out a search and seizure operation at the house of leading city industrialist S K Bangur on Tuesday.
Accompanied by Nitya Bangur, the estranged daughter-in-law of S K Bangur, the cops entered the sprawling Bangur mansion on Alipore Road for recovery of articles that Nitya claims to be her “stree dhan”.
Nitya, who is married to S K Bangur’s son Virendra, belongs to another leading industrial house of the city — the Khaitans of the Williamson Magor Group. She is the daughter of late Deepak Khaitan and granddaughter of BM Khaitan. She is also the niece of industrialist Sanjiv Goenka.
(Source: The Times Of India)
7. Boy Suffers Fracture After Teacher Assault
A Class VII student of a private English-medium school in Howrah’s Bonbehari Bose Road allegedly suffered a rib fracture after being beaten up by a teacher during an exam on Tuesday.
The student’s sister alleged that her brother ran out of the exam hall with a bleeding mouth and nose and went straight to the headmaster’s office.
A school staffer said the boy was ill when he went to the headmaster’s office.
“We immediately informed his family, who wanted to get him admitted to a hospital. We took him to a private hospital. In the evening, we heard from the hospital officials that the boy had suffered a rib fracture. We then decided to suspend the teacher against whom the boy had complained,” said the staffer.
(Source: The Times Of India)
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