'Khela Hobe' in 2024; BJP will be defeated across India in LS polls: Mamata
Kolkata, Dec 15 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asserted that the BJP will be defeated across the country in the next Lok Sabha polls due in 2024, and claimed that the saffron party would face similar drubbing that it had tasted in the last assembly polls in the state.
While addressing a rally for the December 19 Kolkata Municipal election (KMC) at Phoolbagan area in the city, Banerjee said her sole aim after returning to power for the third consecutive term in the state is to bring industry and generate jobs.
"During the assembly polls, we have seen the campaign that the BJP had unleashed in the state. Everybody was afraid of it. But the people of the state defeated them. Bengal is a place of communal harmony. What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow. We will defeat the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. It will meet the same fate as it had faced in the last assembly polls," she said.
The rally is Banerjee's first public function after her return from Goa on Tuesday, where she had gone on a two-day political visit.
"I want to see the BJP lose across the country in the 2024 elections. It will be Khela Hobey (there will be a game) again," she said.
The "Khela Hobe" slogan of the TMC had become immensely popular during the high-octane campaigning of the assembly election held earlier this year.
"We have opened a new unit in Goa. In Tripura too, we have expanded. In Tripura, we have faced a lot of atrocities," she said
The ruling camp of West Bengal is trying to expand its footprint nationally. The TMC, in its bid to enter Tripura's political arena, recently engaged in a bitter battle with the BJP during the municipal elections there. It is also gearing up to contest the assembly elections in Goa to pitch Banerjee firmly as the foremost anti-BJP opposition voice.
Assembly elections in Goa and Tripura are due in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
Reacting to Banerjee's claim that BJP will be defeated in the next Lok Sabha poll, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said the TMC supremo should stop daydreaming about becoming the next prime minister.
She had said similar things in 2014 and in 2019 and all of us have seen the results, he said.
The CM, while speaking on her government's vision in her third tenure, said, "I am working towards bringing industry in the state so that jobs can be generated. That's my aim, and I will achieve it," she said.
She said her government is mulling to set up a one-stop online mechanism for clearing industries and building approvals easier and make the system corruption-free.
Giving a call for a corruption-free civic body, the TMC boss asked the party candidates in the KMC polls to work for the people and ensure that their grievances related to civic issues are addressed at the earliest.
Banerjee said several sitting councillors were dropped this time for "non-performance".
"The MPs and MLAs cannot do everything. People's representatives mainly do the work of an area. The councillor has to fulfil his responsibilities. If you don't work, you have to step down. If people come to you with a problem and you sit over it or seek money, it is unacceptable," she said.
No one can make money from people or monopolise the supply of building materials, she added.
In the last KMC polls held in 2015, the TMC had won 126 out of the 144 seats. It had retained 87 sitting councillors and had dropped 39.
Listing out the "good work" done by the KMC in the last two tenures since 2010, Banerjee said the TMC-led civic body has done a lot of developmental work for the city.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
