Chandan Mitra, 4 Bengal Congress lawmakers join Trinamool
Kolkata, July 21 : Former BJP leader and two-time Rajya Sabha member Chandan Mitra and four Congress lawmakers in West Bengal on Saturday joined Trinamool Congress at its Martyrs' Day rally here.
Mitra, Editor and Managing Director of The Pioneer newspaper, quit the Bharatiya Janata Party earlier this week.
Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee announced Mitra's switch to the Trinamool from the dais of the hugely attended rally in central Kolkata.
Mitra was nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha in August 2003. He was elected for another term in the Upper House as a BJP MP from Madhya Pradesh in June 2010.
He unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections on the BJP ticket from Hooghly constituency in West Bengal.
There were reports of Mitra being sidelined in the BJP over the past few years after Narendra Modi and Amit Shah took control of the party.
Besides Mitra, four state Congress legislators - Samar Mukherjee, Abu Taher, Sabina Yasmin and Akhruzzman -- joined the Trinamool. They are among a growing band of Congressmen who have crossed over to the Trinamool Congress but abide by the parent party's whip in the state assembly to avoid attacting the anti-defection law.
Former CPI-M MP Moinul Hassan, who was recently expelled after he publicly dissociated from it, also joined the Trinamool at the rally.
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Badlapur accused Akshay Shinde shot dead: Lawyer of minor girls calls it 'killing of justice'
Mumbai (PTI): The gunning down of Badlapur case accused Akshay Shinde on Monday was the "killing of justice", said Asim Sarode, lawyer for the two minor girls he allegedly sexually assaulted.
Shinde was killed near Mumbra Bypass around 6:15pm when he allegedly snatched the gun of a policeman while he was being ferried in a police vehicle as part of a probe into a case registered on the complaint of his former wife.
After he shot and injured an API, another personnel from the escort team fired at him, and he was declared dead by doctors at a nearby hospital.
"While representing the two minor girls, I noticed it was becoming uncomfortable for the local politics of the Thane district and even for the educational institution where Akshay Shinde was working. Shinde's death in such a manner is killing of justice," Sarode told a regional news channel.
"Now, the case of sexual assault of the two minor girls will get sidelined. The case of these two minor girls was becoming difficult for the educational institute, as it is affiliated with a certain political family. Such a practice would lower the confidence of people in police and the judiciary," he claimed.
Sarode said he will be filing a plea before the Bombay High Court demanding thorough inquiry into the firing incident.
"Shinde's case could have brought up certain aspects that would have been negative politically for the government. I wonder how Shinde could access the gun and how he could unlock it when his hands were tied. This is political murder and is absolutely wrong," he said.
