Actor Mithun Chakraborty joins BJP during PM Modi's mega rally in Kolkata

News Network

March 7, 2021

Kolkatta, Mar 7: Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday, ahead of the state Assembly elections. He is participating in PM Modi's mega rally in Kolkata, the first big campaign after the announcement of the eight-phase polls beginning March 27.

BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya met Chakraborty on Saturday evening at his Kolkata residence and announced that the actor will attend PM Modi's rally. He was present on stage with Chakraborty on Sunday and welcomed him to the party.

Chakraborty has been a successful actor, and was even sent to the Rajya Sabha by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 2014 after it stormed to power in state in 2011. His political sting was, however, short-lived, as Chakraborty resigned citing health reasons in 2016.

He was embroiled in the Saradha scam controversy as he was the brand ambassador of the group that ran a ponzi scam in Bengal. Many other TMC leaders were associated with the group.

Following this, he distanced himself from both politics and the public eye and was believed to have undergone treatment abroad for his chronic back problem.

Visuals tweeted by news agency ANI showed a decent crowd at Brigade Parade Ground. The BJP has claimed that 10 lakh people will attend PM Modi's rally.

The Prime Minister will be addressing the mega poll rally as West Bengal heads for an eight-phase assembly election starting March 27. This is one of his many rallies planned by the BJP which is aiming to utilise PM Modi's star power to intensify its campaign against the TMC.

Many BJP leaders have announced that they will dislodge the Mamata Banerjee government in this election. However, the TMC has rubbished all the claims saying that it will come to power once again.

A number of TMC leaders have joined the BJP in the run-up to elections, the most high profile being Suvendu Adhikari. He has been named as a contestant from Nandigram and will face the chief minister herself who has left her Bhawanipore constituency to take on Adhikari. While the BJP leader has vowed to defeat Banerjee, the chief minister has called it a "smiley contest" that she will win easily.

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Taliban appoints Ikramuddin Kamil as acting consul in Mumbai as India-Afghan ties improve

News Network

November 12,2024

The Taliban regime has appointed Ikramuddin Kamil as the acting consul in the Afghan mission in Mumbai, Afghan media has reported.

It is the first such appointment made by the Taliban set up to any Afghan mission in India.

There was no immediate comment from the Indian side on the appointment that came.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan has announced the appointment of Kamil as the acting consul in Mumbai, the Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources.

"He is currently in Mumbai, where he is fulfilling his duties as a diplomat representing the Islamic Emirate," it said.

The appointment is part of Kabul's efforts to strengthen diplomatic ties with India and enhance its presence abroad, the media outlet said

Kamil holds a PhD degree in international law and previously served as the deputy director in the department of security cooperation and border affairs in the foreign ministry, it said.

He is expected to facilitate consular services and represent the interests of Afghanistan in India, the report added.

Kamil's appointment comes days after the external affairs ministry's point-person for Afghanistan held talks with the Taliban's acting defence minister, Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, in Kabul.

Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban's deputy foreign minister for political affairs, also posted on X about Kamil's appointment.

The appointment of Kamil is seen as part of efforts to facilitate consular services to the Afghan population in Mumbai.

There has been almost negligible presence of diplomatic staff at the Afghan missions in India.

Most of the diplomats appointed by the Ashraf Ghani government have already left India.

In May, Zakia Wardak, the seniormost Afghan diplomat in India, resigned from her position after reports emerged that she was caught at the Mumbai airport for allegedly trying to smuggle 25 kg of gold worth Rs 18.6 crore from Dubai.

Wardak had taken charge as the acting ambassador of Afghanistan to New Delhi late last year, after working as the Afghan consul general in Mumbai for more than two years.

She took charge of the Afghan embassy in New Delhi last November, after the mission helmed by then ambassador Farid Mamundzay announced its closure.

Mamundzay, who was an appointee of the Ghani government, had moved to the United Kingdom.

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