Somen Mitra to head Congress in Bengal
Kolkata, Sep 21: The Congress on Friday appointed Somen Mitra as President of its West Bengal unit, replacing Adhir Ranajan Chowdhury who was bitterly anti-Trinamool Congress and pro-Left. Chowdhury will be the Chairman of the campaign committee.
Immediately after the announcement, Mitra said he would work to strengthen the party infrastructure in the state ahead of the 2019 general elections.
"If we fail to strengthen the party infrastructure, we will not be able to get people's support. Therefore, my first aim will be to strengthen the party in Bengal. We need collaborative cooperation by party leaders, activists and general people to achieve that goal," he said.
Mitra refused to say whether his party would join hands with the state's ruling Trinamool Congress to counter the rising clout of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state.
"We cannot take a decision on that. Congress is a national party. So decisions taken by the state units do not have any value. If the party asks us, we will convey our opinion," he said.
"I will talk to co-workers and party leaders and then take the call on this issue."
Chowdhury had repeatedly claimed that he does not have any political understanding with the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress and argued in favour of an alliance with the Left in 2019.
Besides the appointments of Mitra and Chowdhury, Congress President Rahul Gandhi also named Pradip Bhattacharya as the Chairman of the Coordination Committee.
Shankar Malakar, Nepal Mahato and Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury have been named as Working Presidents.
A former Lok Sabha member, Mitra in 2008 quit the Congress to float his own party, Pragatisheel Indira Congress, which he merged with the Trinamool in 2009. He rejoined the Congress in 2014.
There have been reports of infighting within the Bengal Congress for some time, with several state party members writing to the central leadership seeking Chowdhury's removal to revive the Congress in the state.
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Karnataka sets up India's first Cyber Command Centre to tackle surge in cybercrimes
Bengaluru: In a significant step toward strengthening cybersecurity, Karnataka has established the country’s first Cyber Command Centre. This pioneering initiative aims to address the alarming rise in cybercrime cases across the state.
The newly-formed Cyber Command Centre will focus on a broad range of digital threats, including cyber fraud, hacking, identity theft, online stalking, sextortion, deepfake-related crimes, misinformation, data breaches, among others. It comes as Karnataka, particularly its capital Bengaluru, continues to grapple with a spike in cybercrime incidents—reportedly accounting for nearly 20% of all such cases recorded in India’s megacities. Over the past four years, the state has registered more than 52,000 cybercrime cases, the highest in South India.
The Cyber Command will operate under the leadership of an IPS officer of the rank of Director General of Police.
As part of the restructuring, 43 CEN (Cyber, Economic and Narcotics) police stations across the state will now function as designated cybercrime units.
Headquartered at the CID building on Palace Road, the Cyber Command Centre will serve as a hub for coordinating the state’s cybercrime prevention and investigation efforts. DGP (Cyber Command) will report to the Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department and not the Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP), Karnataka State Police.
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