Hours after Kharge's snub, Bengal Cong chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury sticks to his anti-Mamata stance
Kolkata, May 18: In a veiled reference to West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said he cannot speak in favour of someone who wants to finish him politically and his party in the state.
His comment comes hours after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge asserted that Chowdhury is no one to take a decision on whether Banerjee would be part of the INDIA bloc in the event of the anti-BJP alliance coming to power after the Lok Sabha polls.
Asked about Kharge’s statement, Chowdhury, who is seeking re-election from Baharampur on a Congress ticket, said, “I cannot speak in favour of someone who wants to finish me politically and our party in Bengal. This is a battle for every Congress worker. I have spoken on their behalf.”
Stating that his opposition to Banerjee stemmed from his principled stance, not from his interest, Chowdhury said “There is no personal grudge but I question her political ethics."
Asked about Mamata Banerjee's comment that she will support the INDIA bloc government from the outside and Chowdhury's remark that the Bengal CM cannot be trusted and she might go with the BJP, Kharge told reporters, "Mamata Banerjee is with the alliance. She has recently said that she will join the government. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary will not take the decision. The decision will be taken by me and the high command those who don't agree will go out."
Chowdhury also alleged that Banerjee had "taken Maoists' help to discredit the Left in Purulia, Bankura and Jhargram and then abandoned them.
“I don’t want the state Congress to be used for her personal agenda and then finish the organisation. If Kharge ji speaks against my views, I will continue to speak for Congressmen at the grassroots in the state.”
The TMC is contesting the Lok Sabha elections alone in the state, while the Congress and the Left are jointly fighting.
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Sonam Wangchuk urges PM Modi to act on Ladakh's demands
New Delhi (PTI): Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to include Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, granting law-making powers to local people to protect their land and cultural identity.
On September 1, Wangchuk and around 75 volunteers embarked on a foot march from Leh to New Delhi to request the Centre to resume dialogue with Ladakh's leadership regarding their demands.
At a virtual press conference, Wangchuk said he has not received a response to the memorandum of demands submitted to the prime minister during the latter's visit to Dras for the 25th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas in July.
Wangchuk also said the creation of five additional districts in Ladakh could be "indirectly linked" to their protest.
"However, we still do not know if these districts have been granted decision-making powers," he said, adding that it would be unfortunate if that is not the case.
"Ladakh is an ecologically-fragile region facing industrial and climate-related challenges. I urge the prime minister to include it in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to safeguard the autonomy of its people," Wangchuk said.
He said through the march, he aimed at drawing the attention of world leaders and the global community to the severe impacts of climate change in the region.
Responding to a question from PTI, Wangchuk said the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs) of Leh and Kargil have only been granted authority to spend development funds. "The people of Ladakh want law-making powers too," he added.
Wangchuk acknowledged that a single march would not resolve the issue. "We want the Centre to resume discussions on the demands of the Ladakhi people," he said.
Wangchuk said he has no intention of joining politics and that the march is unrelated to the upcoming Assembly elections in several states.
In fact, "we are considering avoiding Haryana, which is about to hold elections", he said.
Wangchuk claimed that the government has withdrawn its promise to provide tribal area status and full statehood to Ladakh under pressure from "industrialists, who want to exploit the resources" of the ecologically-fragile region.
The noted engineer had earlier told PTI that land in Ladakh is being allocated for solar-power projects without the consent of the LAHDCs.
With around 320 clear sunny days a year and an average daily global solar radiation of 2022 kWh/m sq./annum, Ladakh is a solar-power generation hotspot in the country. The cold desert also has the potential to generate 35 GW from solar energy and 100 GW from wind energy.
The government has already approved a 13-GW renewable-energy project, with a 7.5-GW solar park, in Ladakh.
Wangchuk went on a 21-day fast in March, surviving only on salt and water, to demand statehood for Ladakh and its inclusion under the Constitution's Sixth Schedule to help protect the ecologically-fragile region from "greedy" industries.
