MONDAY 11 MARCH 2024 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 Twitter.com/thestatesman Facebook.com/thestatesman KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR WEATHER Mainly clear sky very likely. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 32 °C and 19 °C respectively. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 85 % Min. 28 % Max: 31.7°C (-1) SUN RISES 05:50 hrs MOON RISES 05:47 hrs Min: 19.0°C (-3) SUN SETS 17:44 hrs MOON SETS 17:49 hrs TEMPERATURE New Moon on 10 March THUMBNAILS Farmers from Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee block the railway track as they stage a nation-wide 'Rail Roko Andolan', at Devidaspura, in Amritsar on Sunday.  ANI India signs free trade agreement with European bloc: India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) States ~ Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland ~ on Sunday signed a landmark Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) which promises to bring significant (Page 8) economic benefits. TMC announces list; 6 ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’ is the biggest lie: Mamata sitting MPs dropped Party to contest all 42 LS seats; puts paid to Congress’s seat-sharing hopes STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 10 MARCH he Trinamul Congress’s list of 42 candidates for the ensuing Lok Sabha election contains a few surprises, some new faces and ensured representation of the old guard while six sitting MPs were dropped. The list of candidates was announced from the podium at the mammoth Janagarjan Sabha gathering at Brigade Parade Ground this afternoon. The announcement, for all Lok Sabha seats from Bengal, also put paid to any lingering hopes on the part of the Congress for a seat-sharing arrangement in Bengal. Eleven women candidates have been nominated for the Lok Sabha election. They are Mala Roy, Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Shatabdi Roy, Mahua Moitra, Pratima Mondol, Shaoni Ghosh, June Malliah, Mitali Bag, Sujata Khan, Dr Sharmila Sarkar and Rachana Banerjee. Abhishek Banerjee, party’s T Trinamul Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee with some of the party’s Lok Sabha candidates at the Brigade Parade Grounds in Kolkata on Sunday. BISWAJIT GHOSHAL national general secretary read out the list at the instruction of party’s chairperson Mamata Banerjee. Six sitting party MPs were not given tickets. They are Mimi Chakraborty ( Jadavpur), Nusrat Jahan (Basirhat), Aparupa Poddar (Arambag), Arjun Singh (Barrackpore) and CM Jatua from Mathurapur and Sunil Mondol from East Burdwan. Actor-turned-politician Shaoni Ghosh, who is the president of the Trinamul Youth Congress will fight from Jadavpur Parliamentary seat. She replaces another actor Mimi Chakraborty. Actor Rachana Banerjee will make her political debut contesting against sitting BJP MP Locket Chatterjee from Hooghly. The other actors who will be contesting are June Malliah from Midnapore, Satabdi Roy in CMYK Birbhum, Dipak Adhikari (Deb) from Ghatal and Bollywood veteran Shatrughan Sinha,who will contest from Asansol. Two popular cricketers, Kriti Azad and Yusuf Pathan, will contest from Burdwan-Durgapur and Behrampur, respectively. Of the old guard who were renewed their tickets, Abhishek Banerjee will contest from Diamond (Turn to Page 4) STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 10 MARCH Trinamul Congress chairperson and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Sunday that Modi Ki Guarantee is the biggest lie, as she launched the party’s Lok Sabha election campaign at a massive Janagarjan Sabha rally at the city’s Brigade Parade Ground. TheTMC also announced its candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal at the rally, with the party going it alone as Miss Banerjee had previously made clear. Addressing the gathering, Miss Banerjee said: “They have brought down the price of cooking gas by Rs 100 per cylinder because of election and it will go up again after the polls are over. He has given many guarantees since 2014 but till date has failed miserably to keep the promises. He will come before the election and it will all evaporate once it is over.” Coming down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra for deliberately spreading lies, she said: “Before making any statement, Prime Min- Bengal’s garjan (raising voice in the loudest manner) is BJP’s bisarjan (immersion)... He (PM) has given many guarantees since 2014 but till date has failed miserably to keep the promises. He will come before the election and it will all evaporate once it is over.... MAMATA BANERJEE ister should cross-check the facts. In 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24 the Centre did not give a single penny to set up houses for rural poor. Why speak lies? Speak the truth. I assure that if the Centre does not give money to build houses for 11 lakh rural poor, the state government will set up their houses from 1 May.” Reiterating that the BJP has no right to ask for votes in Bengal, Miss Banerjee said: “People of Bengal had elected 18 BJP MPs in 2019. But what did they do for Bengal?” She added they have deprived Bengal and urged people not to give any vote to the saffron party leaders. Miss Banerjee added: “It is unprecedented that the Election Commissioner Arun Goel has resigned before the Lok Sabha election and the Commission is silent on the matter.” Miss Banerjee reiterated that Bengal will not allow (Turn to Page 4)