A lawyer representing Sandeshkhali strongman Sheikh Shahjahan was in for some tough talk by the Calcutta High Court today. A bench led by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam turned down the advocate’s request to raise a bail plea and said it has “no sympathy” for Shahjahan.

The Trinamool Congress strongman was arrested by Bengal police yesterday in connection with a mob attack on a team of Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials last month. He is also at the centre of serious allegations levelled by residents of Sandeshkhali, an island in Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district. The Trinamool strongman and his aides have been accused of land grab, extortion and intimidation. Allegations of sexual harassment have also come up.

This morning, when his advocate mentioned the anticipatory bail petition, the Chief Justice refused and asked him to return on Monday, when the court will hear the matter next.

“Certain observations were made by your Lordships against my client,” the lawyer said. Chief Justice Sivagnanam replied, “Wonderful, we were waiting for you.”

“Mr Counsel, this man has some 43 cases against him. Mind you, now for next 10 years, this man will keep you busy. You will have to handle all his cases till next 10 years at least,” the Chief Justice added, according to Bar and Bench.

“My anticipatory bail was rejected. I was arrested last night. I cannot mention before the regular bench now,” Shahjahan’s advocate said. “Come on Monday. We have got no sympathy for that person. Please come on Monday, not now,” the bench remarked.

The strongman, who was on the run for 55 days, has been remanded in a 10-day custody after he was produced in a Bengal court this morning.

India’s economy expanded 8.4 per cent in the December quarter from a year earlier, compared with 7.6 per cent growth in the previous quarter, government data showed on Thursday.

Economists had expected Asia’s third-largest economy to grow 6.6 per cent during the final three-month period last year, according to a Reuters poll.

The BJP-led NDA is just three short seats of majority in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament. With the election to 56 Rajya Sabha seats this month, the BJP alone has inched closer to 100. Altogether, the party managed to win 30 of the 56 seats in this round of elections, taking its score in the Upper House to 97 and the NDA to 118.

Candidates on 41 of the 56 seats had got elected unopposed earlier this month. Election was held on 15 seats across three states on Tuesday. There, the party scooped up two extra seats — one in Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh and one in Uttar Pradesh — thanks to cross-voting by MLAs of the Congress and the Samajwadi Party.

The majority mark in the 245-member Upper House is 123. However, currently five seats are vacant, four of them in Jammu and Kashmir, which has been under President’s Rule, and one in the nominated member category. This brings down the strength of the House too 240 and the majority mark to 121.

With the BJP dominating the Lok Sabha, the numbers in the Rajya Sabha have become crucial in terms of passing of bills.

Till 2019, several bills — including the land reform and Triple Talaq Bills of 2017 and 2018 — got blocked by the Opposition in the Upper House. While the land reform bill was not re-introduced, the government went ahead to pass the bill against Triple Talaq in its second term.

After 2019, despite not having majority, the NDA government managed to get crucial bills — including the repealing of Article 370, abolition of triple talaq, Delhi Service bill and others — passed in the upper house with the support of neutral parties such as Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal and Andhra Pradesh’s YSR Congress.

For the Congress-led Opposition, a minority position in the Rajya Sabha would push them in a corner.

The INDIA bloc is yet to get the seat sharing process completed. The Congress is expected to finalise the seats for Maharashtra this evening at a meeting with allies Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar’s faction of the Nationalist Congress Party.