Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee doubled down on her claim that the BJP is behind the massive controversy over sexual exploitation allegations from Sandeshkhali. Her detractors, she alleged, are making a “mountain out of a molehill”.

Speaking at an event in Birbhum, the Chief Minister doubled down on detractors and said the incident was engineered. “You try to create knots in Bengal and we try to untie knots. If any person is tortured then our government takes steps. One incident has happened. The incident has been made to happen,” she said.

“First they sent the ED there. Then its friend the BJP entered with the ED. And some media along with them. After going there, they are making a mountain of a molehill. Instead of peace, they are starting fires,” Mamata Banerjee said.

So far, the local women have held more than one protest, alleging that local Trinamool leader Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides are systematically exploiting them. Union minister Smriti Irani has spoken of a religious angle — which the Trinamool has vehemently rejected.

“No woman has made any police complaint or an FIR so far,”Mamata Banerjee said, declaring that because of this, she has asked the police to file “suo motu” cases.

“I want to tell people that whoever has any complaint, I will send officers and they will listen to you. If anyone feels that someone has taken something from someone, everything will be returned,” Ms Banerjee said, in what was apparently a reference to the land-grabbing allegations against the Trinamool strongman.  

Three ministers of the Trinamool Congress visited the area today and promised that all the complaints will be resolved. On instructions of the party’s second-in-command Abhishek Banerjee, ministers Birbaha Hansda, Sujit Bose and Partha Bhowmick visited Sandeshkhali. The complaints that have been reported will be addressed by the party, they assured the locals.

Many residents of Sandeshkhali have complained about Sheikh Shahjahan and his henchmen Uttam Sardar and Shibu Prasad Hazra.

Hazra and Sardar have been arrested. Sheikh Jahan is still on the run. State police chief Rajeev Kumar told reporters that the case which was registered by the police, has been stopped by the ED and the central agency should arrest him.

BJP leader Manoj Sonkar resigned as Chandigarh mayor this evening, a day ahead of the Supreme Court hearing in the alleged tampering in the mayoral election. He won the poll – seen as the first election battle against the INDIA bloc by defeating the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Kuldeep Kumar – lest than a month ago, on January 30.

The BJP secured 16 votes and Kuldeep Singh, the joint candidate of the Congress and AAP was able to manage 12 votes. 8 votes – that became a flashpoint between the BJP and opposition – were declared invalid.

The troubles for the AAP, however, are far from over as three of its councillors – Poonam Devi, Neha and Gurcharan Kala – joined the BJP today. The BJP had 14 councillors in the 35-member Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and after today’s additions, the tally is at 17. They also have the support of one Shiromani Akali Dal councillor and BJP’s Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher also has voting rights as an ex-officio member which brings BJP to the magic number of 19.

The AAP now has 10 councillors while its ally Congress has seven.

Soon after the results were declared on January 30, chaos broke out in the House with Congress and AAP councillors accusing the BJP of cheating and not following the due electoral process. They also alleged that presiding officer Anil Masih was caught “tampering” with ballot papers in a video that they later submitted to the Supreme Court. The charge was rubbished by the BJP.

Appalled by the alleged defacing of ballot papers, the Supreme Court had said it amounted to a mockery of democracy and ordered that the ballots and the video of the electoral proceedings be preserved.

“Is this the behaviour of a returning officer? He looks at the camera, and defaces the ballot obviously,” Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said after viewing a video of the counting. 

The court had asked Masih, the designated council member, must appear before it on February 19.

The AAP and Congress described the court’s observations as a “tight slap” for the BJP.

The mayoral poll, originally scheduled for January 18, was deferred to February 6 by the Chandigarh administration after the presiding officer fell ill.

The High Court on January 24 directed the administration to hold the mayoral polls at 10 am on January 30. While dismissing the order postponing the elections, the court called it “unreasonable, unjustified and arbitrary”.

The AAP had first approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court and sought fresh elections under the supervision of a retired judge but the court refused to grant any interim relief. Kuldeep Kumar, who lost the Chandigarh mayoral election, then went to the Supreme Court against the High Court’s order.

A panel of three Union ministers on Sunday proposed the buying of pulses, maize, and cotton crops by government agencies at minimum support prices for five years after entering into an agreement with farmers.

Speaking to the media after a more than four-hour-long meeting with farmer leaders here, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said the “innovative” and “out-of-the-box” idea came up during the discussions.

The minister said the farmer leaders will decide on the proposals put forward by the government by Monday morning.

“Cooperative societies like the NCCF (National Cooperative Consumers Federation) and NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India) will enter into a contract with those farmers who grow ‘tur dal’, ‘urad dal’, ‘masoor dal’ or maize for buying their crop at MSP for next five years,” said Mr Goyal.

“There will be no limit on the quantity (purchased) and a portal will be developed for this,” he added.

It will save Punjab’s farming, improve the groundwater table, and save the land from getting barren which is already under stress, Goyal, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, said.

He also proposed that the Cotton Corporation of India buy cotton from farmers at a minimum support price (MSP) for five years after entering into a legal agreement with them.

“We also want the cotton crop to be revived in Punjab. Whosoever farmer revives cotton or sows it, the CCI will enter into a legal agreement and whatever crop comes from the field through diversification will be bought for five years at MSP,” said Mr Goyal.

A panel of Union ministers held the fourth round of talks with farmer leaders here on Sunday over their demands, including a legal guarantee of MSP, as thousands of protesting farmers were camping at the Punjab-Haryana border.

Mr Goyal, along with Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Arjun Munda, and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai reached the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration in Sector 26 for the talks.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also joined the meeting.

The Union ministers and farmer leaders had met earlier on February 8, 12 and 15 but the talks remained inconclusive.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)