Rebel BJP MLA Bishnu Prasad Sharma joins TMC ahead of West Bengal polls
Kolkata (PTI): Rebel BJP MLA Bishnu Prasad Sharma joined the ruling TMC in West Bengal on Thursday ahead of the assembly elections.
Sharma, a first-time MLA from Kurseong, joined the party at its headquarters in Kolkata, signalling a churn in the Darjeeling Hills before the assembly polls, expected to be held in the next two months.
He was welcomed to the TMC by Education Minister Bratya Basu and Industry Minister Shashi Panja
Sharma said he would work for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's "development model".
"I was elected by my Gorkha brothers and sisters, but I have not been able to work for them. The BJP made promises but did nothing. There was no real work on the ground," he said.
Sharma had repeatedly voiced support for the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state, arguing that the Hills require focused administrative attention and development.
He had also at times raised the pitch for a separate North Bengal state, insisting that regional aspirations were not being addressed adequately.
Sharma had publicly criticised the BJP several times in the past, and staged a demonstration outside the assembly over what he described as inaction on the demand for Gorkhaland.
He contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as an Independent from the Darjeeling seat, projecting himself as the "son-of-the-soil". The bid, however, failed to gain traction, with the BJP's Raju Bista retaining the seat.
Downplaying his joining the TMC, BJP chief whip in the assembly, Shankar Ghosh, said Sharma had no support base in his constituency and had not been in touch with the party for a long time.
"His joining the TMC will have no impact on the BJP in the Hills," Ghosh, the MLA of Siliguri, claimed.
Elections to the 294-member assembly are expected to be held in the next two months, with the term of the present House expiring in May.
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Four booked for tying 18-year-old to tree, beating him up in UP's Pratapgarh
Pratapgarh (UP) (PTI): Four people were booked here for the abduction and assault of a man who they allegedly tied to a tree and beat up, police said on Wednesday.
The incident, a video of which has gone viral, took place on Tuesday afternoon under the Kunda police station limits.
The FIR was registered on Wednesday evening based on a complaint from the victim's father.
According to Keshav Prasad Yadav, a resident of Mauli village, some people called his 18-year-old son Nikhil Yadav on the phone and asked him to come out of his house around 2.30 pm on Tuesday.
As he reached outside the village as instructed, the accused allegedly forced him into a car and took him towards the Tinpedwa forest area, where they tied him to a tree and assaulted, the complainant said.
The attackers also recorded a video of the incident and circulated it on social media. The purported video shows the men thrashing Nikhil one after another, while one of them is assumed to have recorded the act.
Kunda Station House Officer Manoj Pandey confirmed the incident and said efforts are underway to identify and arrest all the accused.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has shared the video on social media, describing the incident as reflective of a "dominant mindset" against the PDA (Pichda or Backward, Dalit, and Alpasankhyak or Minority), and demanded strict action against the accused.
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