Five days after criticizing the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-led West Bengal government over the Sandeshkhali row, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will return to West Bengal on Wednesday to address a rally in Barasat, North 24 Parganas. It is expected that he will once again address the issue concerning the Mamata Banerjee-led party.
Last month, protests broke out in Sandeshkhali after women accused former TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan, who was expelled by the party after his arrest, and other party leaders of land grabbing and sexual abuse.
During his visit to the state, Modi is set to inaugurate the country’s first underwater Metro section for Kolkata Metro’s East-West corridor, part of which runs under the Hooghly river. Additionally, he will inaugurate two other sections of the Kolkata Metro and virtually launch 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 are estimated to cost Rs 15,400 crore. Modi will also travel to Bihar to inaugurate and lay the foundation stones for various development projects in Bettiah.
Last week, Modi strongly criticized the TMC and the Opposition INDIA bloc during his speech in Arambagh in Hooghly district. He expressed concern over the situation in Bengal and the treatment of the women in Sandeshkhali by the TMC.
Congress’s promises
The Congress is expected to announce the first set of manifesto promises for the youth on Wednesday. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi are likely to unveil these promises at a public meeting in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district. The manifesto committee, headed by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, finalized the document, which will be presented to the Congress Working Committee for 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 21, a pledge to make apprenticeship a legal right, and financial compensation for those affected by paper leaks.
BJP meeting on Karnataka candidates
The BJP’s Central Election Committee (CEC) is expected to convene on Wednesday to decide on candidates for the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, as mentioned by senior BJP leader and former CM B S Yediyurappa. In the 2019 elections, the BJP won 25 of the 28 seats, but the political landscape has shifted since then. The BJP has allied with the JD(S) this time, aiming to secure the seats.
Today, farmer leaders have called on farmers from all over India to gather in Delhi to demand a legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) for all crops. Since February 13, farmers from Punjab have been protesting at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana, seeking government intervention.
— With PTI inputs