Now that the Left Front has cowed down to Mamata Banerjee's persistent pressure, it sends out a loud signal to their detractors -- unless you create nuisance in this state, you won't be heard.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Wednesday expelled Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who defied the party's order to resign from his post and presided over the two-day trust vote debate.
If political analysts and party insiders are to be believed, the CPI-M would soon be divided into two easily identifiable groups: Pro-Prakash Karat and anti-Karat. "Some veteran party members are only awaiting the trust vote result. Should the United Progressive Alliance government win, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat and his team will be in for some rude shocks," say party insiders.
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee will quit office on August 12, sources said.
'The Trinamool Congress cannot afford to vote with the BJP or the CPI-M,' she said. 'Neither can we support the Congress.'
Tata Motors has decided to stick to the Rs 1-lakh price tag -- plus value-added tax (VAT) plus transport charges -- for the car as the company believes hiking the price at this stage will be a 'breach of promise to the customers.'
The official figure for the Nandigram panchayat election stated that 40 per cent polling was conducted till 1 pm on Sunday. In Kanungopada, only 200 families out of 900 were 'allowed' to vote. Those who voted were known CPI-M supporters.
Mamata Banerjee flayed the ruling Left Front government in West Bengal for failing to bring those 'guilty' in last year's violence in Nandigram to justice. She called on the people of West Bengal to observe March 14 as 'martyrs' day'. She also said that her party would hold a rally in Kolkata to pay tribute to the 'martyrs of Nandigram'.
While Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, her supporters and I&B minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi are expected to attend the memorial, the residents of Nandigram see the event as an attempt by political parties to gain sympathy ahead of the panchayat elections.
She was also upset with Priyanka Todi's statements to the media tarnishing the family's image.
While villagers claim that the exhumed bodies belong to registered missing persons, CPI-M members claimed that the bodies were of party loyalists who were killed in an attack by Trinamool Congress activists.
The Islamists are unhappy with Taslima, there is no confusion about that. But what baffles me what has that got to do with an issue as grave as Nandigram? I fail to see any connection between the two. Nandigram, Taslima; Taslima, Nandigram -- I give up. Which is exactly when realisation dawns.
When Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee became chief minister after Jyoti Basu stepped down in 2000, the younger generation could not have been happier. 'Change is about to set in' they thought. But the euphoria was short-lived.
The filmmaker lauded West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi for his 'courageous statement' indicting the state government and the ruling Left for Nandigram incidents.
Though Ballmer was caught off guard, he pulled himself together and went on record: "Oh no, not at all. Why should we be? We are the market leaders. Every day is a day of opportunities for us and we are eager to take those opportunities."
As the South African city of Pretoria gears up to host the second IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) summit, rediff.com provides you a ready reckoner.
Given the rare honour to a visiting dignitary, the prime minister laid out the roadmap for ties in his address to the joint session of the Nigerian National Assembly, which was attended by all sections of the House including a group which had threatened to boycott it because it had a running duel with Speaker Patricia Etteh on corruption charges against her.
"India and Nigeria share many commonalities. Our historical experiences and common developmental challenges have brought us close together. We share common hopes and aspirations."
Nigeria has not seen an official visit by any Indian prime minister since 1962, when the country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had visited Lagos. It is quite surprising that despite growing trade links, the two nations have had few top-level bilateral exchanges in the past 45 years.
India is significant to Microsoft from both a market perspective as well as from a talent perspective, says Microsoft head honcho.
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