1. BJP Seeks Calcutta High Court Help On No-Trust Vote
The BJP on Friday, 19 July, sought the intervention of Calcutta High Court for the peaceful conduct of a no-trust vote at Bongaon municipality, alleging that the Trinamool chairman and his followers had stonewalled the process despite the court’s orders.
Moving a petition on behalf of Dipendra Bairagi and 10 other BJP councillors, advocate Ashok Chakraborty told Justice Samapti Chatterjee: “With the assistance of police, the BJP councillors had been confined to a room at the municipality.”
The BJP has trained its eyes on Bongaon municipality, where Trinamul had an absolute majority with 20 of the 22 councillors.
(Source: The Telegraph)
2. Rose Valley Questions For Prosenjit
Enforcement Directorate officers questioned superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee for around six hours on Friday in connection with the probe into the Rose Valley deposit-default scam.
Sources said Prosenjit was asked about purported transactions between his company, Idea Locations and Production Pvt Ltd, and the Rose Valley group.
According to the sources, Prosenjit’s company had reportedly received Rs 2.75 crore from Rose Valley between 2010 and 2011. The actor’s statements were recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
(Source: The Telegraph)
3. Park Street Metro death: Cops Await Report From Forensic Experts, May Recreate Incident
Officers investigating the death of 66-year-old Sajal Kanjilal after his hand got stuck between doors of a rake last Saturday said they were waiting for feedback from the forensic experts on specific technical issues.
Only after that will the cops approach Metro authorities for a second round of physical examination of the coach. Cops said they wished to recreate the incident at the Park Street station.
“We had received the CCTV footage from Metro on Thursday. On Friday, we handed over this footage to the forensic experts. Even though we have sent a second set of questions to Metro on Friday – all of which are technical in nature – we will be banking on our FSL team for a report. We are also mulling writing to the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai, asking them to explain certain aspects of their software,” said a senior officer heading the probe.
(Source: The Times Of India)
4. Sujit Bose Emerges As A BMC Mayor Contender
Bidhannagar MLA Sujit Bose on Friday appeared to be emerging as a new contender for the Salt Lake mayor’s position.
Bose’s emergence in the fray makes it a three-way contest between him, deputy mayor Tapas Chatterjee and Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) chairperson Krishna Chakraborty.
According to Trinamool sources, the party leadership is wary that by nominating either Chatterjee or Chakraborty as BMC mayor-designate, the party may end up driving a wedge between the 40 councillors (without former mayor Sabyasachi Dutta) who appear to be split in their support for either.
(Source: The Times Of India)
5. Crowd Test For Trinamool's July 21 Rally
Trinamool units in some districts are said to be facing an unprecedented problem: for the first time since the party came to power eight years ago, sections of satraps are struggling to meet the headcount targets set by the state leadership for the biggest event on the party roster – the 21 July “martyrs’ day” rally helmed by Mamata Banerjee.
In the wake of the Lok Sabha elections, in which the BJP made deep inroads into Bengal and won an all-time high of 18 seats, Trinamool wants a redeeming show of support at the annual Esplanade spectacle. But places where the ruling party has stumbled in the elections have not responded with equal enthusiasm.
(Source: The Telegraph)