West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing it of seeking to tarnish her party’s image.

Speaking shortly after Trinamool Congress won the bypolls in Krishnaganj Assembly seat and Bongaon Lok Sabha seat, the Trinamool Congress chief said, “BJP tried to tarnish the image of TMC, isolate the people, but it is the people who decide. Conspiracy won’t yield results,” said Mamata.

“TMC is a strong party, no one can divide us,” she added.

Mamata’s verbal attack on BJP can be viewed in connection with BJP’s improved showing in the state in Lok Sabha polls last year, and the national party’s push to dent TMC’s voter base.

The bypolls are considered to be important ahead of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation election this year and Assembly Elections in 2016.

Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday said the government is in the process of making necessary changes in rules and regulations to control pollution.

“As many as 64 government officers gave us suggestions about proper implementation of various policies regarding pollution control. We are making necessary changes in rules and regulations to control pollution,” Javadekar said after launching the ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign.

“We have detected 17 highly polluted locations and initially 3,000 industries have been selected for installation of pollution control devices for proper effluent discharge,” he said.

The same exercise will be followed for all industries in the country, he added.

Stressing that no damage to the environment will be allowed, he said proper action will be taken against those causing pollution.

Javadekar also said that satellite images of rivers will be used to locate points for sand extraction and assured that no damage to the rivers will be allowed.

On the action being taken against use of plastic bags, the Minister said plastic bags measuring 40 microns and below in width are totally banned and added that the pollution control department has been instructed to immediately seize the stock of such bags found anywhere.

Clean air, clean water, clean power, and green surroundings are the four major tasks determined by the environment ministry, he said while seeking people’s participation to achieve the target.

Later, the minister participated in a road cleaning drive along with students.

Earlier, nearly 5,500 students from 21 schools in Ratnagiri district sung the ‘Swachh Bharat ka irada kar liya hamne’ song, composed by noted lyricist Prasoon Joshi for the Centre’s Clean India campaign.

Days after forming government in the national capital, the maiden press conference of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was left in total chaos on Monday.

Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia left the press conference after journalists wanted party’s clarification over media’s entry inside the secretariat.

According to media reports, journalists were furious over the complete ban of media inside the Secretariat premises.

As media persons protested and demanded an answer to the ban of even accredited journalists inside the Delhi government office, Sisodia, without giving any answer, just walked-off from the press conference.

Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, “Very unfortunate showdown between media and AAP government.”

In 2013, the AAP government had restricted media entry inside the secretariat. Mediapersons were not allowed to visit the rooms of ministers and other offices inside the Delhi Secretariat.

The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to Congress leader Rasheed Masood who was disqualified from the Rajya Sabha and jailed for four years after being convicted in a medical admission scam.

The bail by the apex court comes three days after Masood had on Friday moved the SC, filing a plea against rejection of his bail petition by the Delhi High Court.

The former Rajya Sabha lawmaker, in his plea filed through lawyer Archit, sought bail on various grounds including that he is acutely diabetic and taking insulin several times a day besides other medicines for his ailments.

He had challenged the order of the High Court which refused to grant him bail on November 14, last year during the pendency of his appeal against the conviction in the graft case.

Acting on the Congress MP’s plea, the Supreme Court then issued a notice to the CBI, seeking its response.

The 68-year-old Congress leader became the first MP to lose his Rajya Sabha seat in 2013 after the Supreme Court’s ruling on disqualification of convicted lawmakers.

Masood has also challenged the trial court’s verdict convicting him and sentencing him to a four-year jail term.

He was held guilty by the trial court in September 2013 of fraudulently nominating undeserving candidates to MBBS seats allotted to Tripura in medical colleges across the country from the central pool as Health Minister in the National Front government of 1990.

The trial court had also imposed a fine of Rs 60,000 on him.

Masood’s conviction and sentencing was the first case after the apex court judgement that struck down a provision in the Representation of the People Act, under which incumbent MPs and MLAs could avoid disqualification till pendency of the appeal against conviction in a higher court.

Masood, Minister of Health in the VP Singh government between 1990 and 1991, was held guilty of fraudulently nominating his nephew, another juvenile and Sachidanand Dwivedi to MBBS seats allotted to Tripura in medical colleges across the country from the central pool.

The Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS) on Monday targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the party’s disastrous performance in the recent Delhi Assembly polls, in the latest edition of its mouthpiece ‘Organiser’.

Delving into the poll loss, the RSS stated that the BJP’s decision to project ‘parachute CM’ Kiran Bedi at the last moment conveyed a wrong message to the people.

The article further said that the decision to project Bedi as the party’s chief ministerial candidate against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal was a “very late move” and gave out the message that despite having senior leaders in the national capital, the party has already accepted defeat.

The article also pointed out that during Lok Sabha polls, Modi had declared that he had three ‘Vijays’ in Delhi – Vijay Goel, Vijendra Gupta and Vijay Kumar Malhotra.

It further said that three out of four senior BJP leaders, who also have a following in the national capital, were upset at being upstaged.

It seems now that the BJP paid the price as its rank and file didn’t work to win this Assembly Election, the article quoted.

According to reports, a meeting is likely to take place to work on the strategy for upcoming polls in other states.

The BJP faced a rout in the Delhi polls after it managed to win only three seats while AAP swept 67 out of 70 seats. Congress failed to win even a single seat.

In a jolt to Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, the Patna High Court on Monday restrained his government from taking any policy decisions.

While restraining the Jitan Ram Manjhi government, the HC said that the CM can only work on routine matters till majority is proved on the floor of the House.

It may be recalled that Manjhi has been asked by the state Governor to prove majority on the floor of the Assembly on February 20.

The same was necessitated after JD(U) expelled Manjhi from the party following his failure to step down as CM to make way for Nitish Kumar.

Manjhi has defied party orders calling it illegitimate to remove him as CM. He has also said that he will neither dissolve Assembly nor recommend President’s Rule in the state.

Further, there’s speculation that BJP may back Manjhi during trust vote on February 20.