Former Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Tapas Roy on Wednesday joined the BJP in the presence of West Bengal LoP and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari days after resigning from the TMC over the Sandeshkhali issue.

Expressing his displeasure over the functioning of the party, he said that he was worried about the manner in which the issue was addressed by the party.

Roy, submitting his resignation as an MLA to the Assembly Speaker, said that he is now a free bird. In his resignation, he also mentioned that he was disappointed by the party’s functioning in the State.

Explaining his resignation, Roy said that he was fed up with so many allegations of corruption levelled against the TMC and the government. Secondly, he does not support the way the Sandeshkhali issue has been handled, Roy told the media.

The former TMC leader also expressed that party leadership did not support him when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided his residence in central Kolkata in January in the civic body recruitment case.

Earlier on his resignation, the West Bengal BJP MLA Adhikari had said that Roy is a very senior leader of the State and he is an ex-minister and has been a 4-5 time MLA. Welcoming Roy’s decision, he said that if  Roy makes a request to join the BJP, the party will consider it.

TMC MP Shantanu Sen said TMC gave him all the posts possible, and he backstabbed the party. He has no ideology or principle, Sen further said. He ran away in fear of an ED raid, or they must have offered him something big, the TMC leader charged. Roy surrendered himself to the BJP and the people of Bengal will not forgive him for this, Sen added.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier slammed the BJP for making attempts to defame the State and arrest leaders of TMC. The party supremo said the agencies claim that the BJP has instructed them to arrest TMC leaders. She also accused the BJP of sending the ED officials forcefully to Bengal.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 109 km long Muzaffarpur-Motihari LPG pipeline of Indian Oil as he unveiled developmental projects worth Rs 12,800 crore at Bettiah in West Champaran in Bihar on Wednesday.

The LPG pipeline will not only provide cleaner cooking fuel to the people of Bihar but also to neighbouring Nepal. The Prime Minister also inaugurated Indian Oil’s LPG bottling plant and storage terminal at Motihari which would also act as a strategic supply point for the export of petroleum products to Nepal, besides the 8 districts of North Bihar.

PM Modi also laid the foundation stone of the city gas distribution project in East Champaran, West Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan and Deoria, and grain based ethanol projects at HCPCL Biofuels Ltd’s facilities at  Sugauli and Lauriya.

He also inaugurated the 2 laning of the Piprakothi-Motihari-Raxaul section of NH-28A and the Sheohar- Sitarmarhi section of NH-104. The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone for a 6-lane cable bridge over the Ganga, parallel to Digha- Sonepur rail-cum-road bridge, and the four-laning of the Bakarpur Hat-Manikpur section of NH-19 bypass.

Among the railway projects he inaugurated were the doubling of the 62- km line from Bapudham  Motihari to Piprahan, and the gauge conversion of the Narkatiaganj-Gaunaha section. PM Modi also laid the foundation stone for the doubling and electrification of the 96-km-long Gorakhpur Cantt Valmiki Nagar rail line, and the redevelopment of the Bettiah railway station.

PM Modi also flagged off 2 new trains on the Narkatiaganj-Gaunaha and Raxaul-Jogbani routes. State Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary of the JD(U), Vijay Kumar Sinha, Deputy CMs Samat Chaudhary and Governor Rajendra V Arlekar were also present at the programme. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was not present at the programme. The Prime Minister is on a 3-day visit to states including Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar from March 4 to 6.

A video of people climbing school walls in Haryana’s Nuh to help the students by passing the chits to them while they were writing their class 10 board exams, has been shared widely on social media platforms.

According to reports, the incident has left people in shock, which took place at the Chandravati School in the Tauru area in Nuh district on March 6. It was reported that the paper had been allegedly leaked shortly after the commencement of the board exam.  

Taking cognisance of the matter, the District Education Officer Paramjeet Chahal said that he had come across the video and said some newspaper cuttings that some children had climbed up the roof of a school. He further said that he had asked for a report regarding it.

The incident has sparked widespread condemnation from people. The locals were alarmed by the blatant disregard for examination protocols and captured the event, which prompted an immediate response from education authorities. As a result, an investigation was ordered to identify the individuals involved, and officials have vowed to take stringent action against those found guilty of facilitating cheating for students.

This incident has also prompted a reassessment of security measures at examination centres and the Haryana School Education Department needs to implement more robust mechanisms to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Last year in February, an incident from Bihar’s Samastipur got the attention of the people where students were reportedly helped by their relatives to cheat during an exam in Sant Kabir College. The video of the incident was viral on the internet and became a hot discussion in the country.

The alleged relatives of the students were seen holding out their phones through the channel gate in order to show the students the right answer. Not only one but a large crowd of people were seen standing outside the channel gate to help the students cheat.