Mamata visits injured BJP MP Khagen Murmu at Siliguri hospital, assures him of all help
Siliguri (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday visited BJP MP Khagen Murmu at a private hospital in Siliguri, where he was undergoing treatment after being assaulted during a visit to flood and landslide-affected areas in the northern part of the state a day ago.
The CM's visit comes a day after a political storm erupted over the assault of two BJP leaders – Maldaha Uttar MP Khagen Murmu and Siliguri MLA Sankar Ghosh – at Nagrakarta in Jalpaiguri district in flood-ravaged north Bengal.
Banerjee spent a few minutes speaking to the injured MP, his wife, and son, before consulting the team of doctors attending to him.
According to sources, Banerjee enquired in details about the MP's condition, including his injuries and medications.
"Do you have diabetes? Are you taking insulin and medicines regularly?" she was heard asking Murmu.
Before leaving, the chief minister requested him to follow medical advice carefully and told his family that the government would extend all necessary help.
"If you need any assistance or further treatment elsewhere, please let me know," Banerjee reportedly said.
However, it was still not clear whether Banerjee met BJP MLA Sankar Ghosh, who is also admitted at the hospital.
Ghosh and Banerjee share an acrimonious relationship following several occasions of verbal duels on various issues on the floor of the assembly.
The West Bengal BJP welcomed the CM's gesture but wondered why not a single arrest has been made, even after 24 hours have passed since the incident.
"This was a courtesy visit. But it is really appalling that even after 24 hours have passed, the police have not made any arrest and the culprits, who assaulted Murmu and Ghosh, are roaming free," state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said.
Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, claimed that Murmu suffered facial injuries.
Speaking to reporters at the hospital, the BJP MLA said, "She visited one of the two injured but did not enquire how it happened. She is trying to shield her party workers who were involved in the attack."
"As Murmu has been advised not to speak due to serious facial injury, he could not pose relevant questions to her about the involvement of TMC workers and why no arrests have been made so far," he added.
Adhikari also dismissed the CM's claim that the BJP leaders had visited the spot in a convoy of 20 cars which infuriated locals.
He said the BJP leaders' convoy comprised not more than four-five cars and included central security forces, while both police and local panchayat officials had prior information about their visit and the number of vehicles.
The BJP leader said that as advised by members of the medical board of the hospital, Murmu will undergo treatment in the same private medical facility for another three weeks, while Ghosh will be discharged in one-two days.
A full-blown confrontation broke out on Monday between the Centre and the West Bengal government over the attack on Murmu and Ghosh by a mob.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Monday night condemned the attack, terming it "outright appalling" and "reflective of the absolutely pathetic law and order situation" in the state.
Banerjee hit back, accusing the PM of "politicising a natural disaster", instead of standing by the people during their time of distress.
Torrential rain triggered flash floods and landslides in north Bengal, leaving 32 people dead and several missing.
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Bill Gates apologises to Foundation staff over Epstein ties: report
New York (PTI): American tech entrepreneur Bill Gates has apologised to the staff at the Gates Foundation over his ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein but maintained that he did “nothing illicit,” according to a media report.
The Microsoft co-founder also admitted that he had two affairs with Russian women and that he made mistakes that had cast a cloud over the philanthropic group while insisting he didn’t participate in Epstein’s crimes, The Wall Street Journal said in an exclusive report on Tuesday.
Gates was among the scores of celebrities, politicians, leaders and tech entrepreneurs shown having connections with the sex offender as was evident in the tens of thousands of documents, including emails, interview transcripts, photos, call logs etc with some names redacted, released online – collectively termed Epstein files - last month by the US Justice Department.
In a town hall on Tuesday, Gates acknowledged that he had two affairs with Russian women that Epstein later discovered, but that they didn’t involve Epstein’s victims. “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” Gates said, according to a recording reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Gates said images in the recently released Epstein files showing him with women whose faces are redacted were pictures that Epstein asked him to take with Epstein’s assistants after their meetings. “To be clear, I never spent any time with victims, the women around him,” Gates said.
“It was a huge mistake to spend time with Epstein” and bring Gates Foundation executives into meetings with the sex offender, Gates said.
“I apologise to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made,” The Wall Street Journal quoted Gates as saying.
The philanthropist said he had met Epstein in 2011, three years after the sex offender had pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Gates said he didn't “properly check” Epstein's background even when he was aware of some “18-month thing” that had limited Epstein’s travel and added that he continued meeting with Epstein even after his then-wife Melinda French Gates expressed concerns in 2013.
Speaking of his ex-wife, he added: “To give her credit, she was always kind of skeptical about the Epstein thing.”
The Wall Street Journal further said that Gates told staff on Tuesday that he continued meeting with Epstein through 2014, flew on a private jet with Epstein and spent time with him in Germany, France, New York and Washington. “I never stayed overnight,” he said, or visited Epstein’s island.
Gates admitted that his ties to Epstein and newly disclosed emails from the Justice Department files had cast a cloud over the Gates Foundation and its reputation, the newspaper said.
“It definitely is the opposite of the values of the Foundation and the goals of the Foundation,” he said. “And our work is very reputational sensitive. I mean, people can choose to work with us or not work with us.”
A Gates Foundation spokesperson said Gates holds town halls twice a year and he “spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions.”
The Microsoft co-founder said Epstein “talked about the kind of intimate relationship he had with a lot of billionaires, particularly Wall Street billionaires,” and that he could help raise money for causes like global health.
Gates said because Epstein had other prestigious people at these meetings, that “made it easier for me to feel like this was a normalized situation.” He said he realizes that his association with Epstein also helped the sex offender to burnish his reputation.
In the town hall, Gates also said: “I did have affairs, one with a Russian bridge player who met me at bridge events, and one with a Russian nuclear physicist who I met through business activities.”
Gates said that 2014 was the last year he met with Epstein.
Epstein, as per the US media reports, killed himself in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after he was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.
