Daily Bulletin: TMC-BJP tension rises ahead of Amit Shah's Kolkata roadshow; Narendra Modi to address four rallies; day's top stories

TMC-BJP tension rises ahead of Amit Shah roadshow in Kolkata BJP president Amit Shah will hold a roadshow in rival Mamata Banerjee’s own turf of Kolkata on Tuesday. The Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal had first denied permission to Shah to hold a rally at Jadavpur in the city and then withdrew permission for his chopper to land there as well. The BJP said on Monday that the Election Commission has become a “mute spectator” to Trinamool’s alleged undemocratic means to target the saffron party. BJP media head and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni said his party will hold protests and also move the poll panel over this. [caption id=“attachment_6557401” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Amit Shah. Twitter @BJP4India[/caption] The tension between the two parties is at an all-time high, with every one of the six phases of the polls witnessing violent clashes between workers of the two parties in Bengal. On Monday, TMC leader and Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien called Shah a “low-life” who “insulted” the state with his “kangal Bangla” remark. Addressing an election rally in Canning, Shah had targeted Mamata and said, “We will restore the glory of Bengal. Mamata Banerjee has turned ‘shonar’ (golden) Bangla into ‘kangal’ (pauper) Bangla. She is only interested in protecting infiltrators to secure her vote bank. But her vote bank won’t be able to save her from imminent defeat.” BJP’s Amethi candidate Smriti Irani will also campaign in Kolkata on Tuesday. BJP has claimed that the party has been denied permission for the rallies of Yogi Adityanath and Irani that were scheduled on 15 May. Supreme Court to hear Priyanka Sharma’s plea The Supreme Court will hear the plea of a BJP activist challenging her arrest by West Bengal Police for allegedly sharing a morphed photo of chief minister Mamata Banerjee on social media. A vacation bench, comprising justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna, on Monday took note of the plea of advocate NK Kaul, representing the activist, Priyanka Sharma, that the issue of her arrest be accorded urgent hearing. Sharma, a BJP Yuva Morcha leader, allegedly shared on Facebook a photo in which Banerjee’s face has been photoshopped on to actor Priyanka Chopra’s picture from the MET Gala event in New York. Busy day of campaigns for Modi, Rahul, Priyanka Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold four public rallies in three states on Tuesday. He is first expected to speak at Baliya in Uttar Pradesh, then at Buxar and Sasaram in Bihar, and finally at Chandigarh. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will hold rallies at Neemuch, Ujjain and Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh, while his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi will speak in public meetings at Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, and Bathinda and Gurdaspur in Punjab. Nationwide curfew in Sri Lanka after clashes kill one One person was killed in Sri Lanka on Monday as police fired tear gas at mobs attacking mosques and Muslim-owned shops and imposed a curfew after the worst outbreak of sectarian violence since the Easter bombings by Islamist militants. The 21 April attacks, claimed by Islamic State, targeted churches and hotels, mostly in Colombo, killing more than 250 people and fuelling fears of a backlash against the island nation’s minority Muslims. Four policemen killed, 11 injured in a blast in Pakistan’s Quetta A bomb blast tore through a market near a mosque in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province on Monday, killing four policemen and injuring 11 others, officials said. The explosion in the provincial capital Quetta’s Satellite Town area occurred when people were assembling for prayers near the mosque. The bomb was apparently planted on a motorcycle, Deputy Inspector General Police Abdul Razzaq Cheema said. Two unsolicited bids submitted for Jet Airways; SBI hopes one more buyer enters fray The State Bank of India (SBI) has said it has received two unsolicited bids for Jet Airways, raising hopes for the revival of the debt-laden carrier which was forced to ground its entire fleet last month. The SBI leads a consortium of 26 lenders owning a controlling stake in the Mumbai-based airline which was India’s second-biggest carrier by market share before funding woes brought it to the verge of bankruptcy. SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar said he was hoping for one more buyer to enter the fray before the deadline for submitting bids ended at 12:30 GMT on Friday. “Two unsolicited bidders have submitted EoI (expression of interest) for Jet and we are expecting one more bid by the end of the day,” Kumar told reporters without giving further details. The lenders are offering up to 75 percent stake in the company on a fully diluted basis, a PTI report said. The SBI-led consortium has been looking to sell a controlling stake in Jet, shortlisting four potential buyers including Etihad Airways which already owns 24 percent. Jet, which has debts of more than $1 billion, has been in a tailspin for months. It has defaulted on loans and failed to pay many staff since the start of the year. Hoping to get U/A certificate for Kabir Singh: Shahid Kapoor Shahid Kapoor says he is hopeful that his forthcoming film Kabir Singh will get a U/A certificate from the Censor Board. Shahid, Kiara Advani and the makers of the film launched the trailer of Kabir Singh on 13 May. It is a remake of the 2017 Telugu film Arjun Reddy. The film is laced with foul language and shows alcohol and drug abuse. “It is important that today we are able to tell stories honestly without sugar coating. I think audiences are mature enough to understand that and censors should give into that. There is nothing in the film which is off-putting. It is an honest depiction and it should be allowed to showcase itself,” said Shahid to a news agency.