Congress won't be able to win alone, federal front necessary: Mamata
Kolkata, April 24: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said Congress alone won't be able to win the 2019 General Elections and urged it to be more flexible in seat sharing with the regional parties so as to confront the BJP in one-on one fights.
Claiming that the idea of a federal front can work if the opposition parties unite on a common minimum agenda, she said the election results would be in their favour if the Front can pit the BJP in one-on-one contests in 80 per cent of the Lok Sabha seats.
"In the current situation, the Congress won't be able to do anything on their own. So it would be better if all the states can come together and form a federal front. All regional parties have their own ideology and compulsion towards their states. The parties can come together through a common minimum agenda," Banerjee said during an interview in News18 Bangla channel.
"Even if we can fight the BJP on a one is to one basis in at least 80 percent of the seats, the result would be very much in our favour," she claimed.
Citing the examples of parties like DMK and AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and Telegu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh, the Trinamool Congress supremo said it would be prudent to let the most powerful regional party contest the elections against BJP while others can provide outside support.
"It is not that only Congress is present all over the country. Andhrea has Telegu Desam, Maharastra has Shiv Sena, West Bengal has Trinamool Congress. It is not necessary that Congress has to fight the election everywhere in the country. Why would they contest everywhere? They have their limitations also..." Banerjee said.
"If some parties decide to give outside support to the federal front or be a part of it they can do so," she added.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
