Mamata, Digvijay, Tharoor on poll results
A high voter turnout was recorded in West Bengal, Assam Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections on Tuesday. The massive polling exercise following COVID-19 health protocol and involving lakhs of personnel began at 7 am and the last hour from 6 pm to 7 pm was set aside for COVID-19 patients and those under isolation. The counting of votes in the states will be held on May 2.
Violence has always been a fact of life in Bengal's politics; it is just that the faces have changed, the contesting ideologies have changed, says Saisuresh Sivawamy.
According the latest CNN-IBN-CSDS-Lokniti post poll survey, the National Democratic Alliance is projected to win 274 to 286 seats, and the Bharatiya Janata Party is projected to win 230 to 242 seats on its own, it best ever poll tally.
Celebrations continued for a second day on Friday after the Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee put up a stunning victory in West Bengal winning 211 of the 294 seats, bettering its 2011 tally of 184 seats. And the mood prevailed at the south Kolkata residence of Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament Saugata Roy with his associates distributing sweets and samosas and smearing each other with green gulal. Amid this hullabaloo, Roy squeezed out some time to speak to Indrani Roy/Rediff.com about the victory.
'If the BJP thinks it is going to overnight transform Bengal into Madhya Pradesh, sorry, that's not going to happen because I have faith in our ethos and culture.'
'It did not start as a Hindutva slogan.' 'It started to tease the TMC and slowly it got internalised and the BJP started countering with Jai Shri Ram slogans because Mamata was getting provoked.'
Major problems afflicting the national economy at the moment are unemployment, inflation and corruption, says Asim Dasgupta, former finance minister of Bengal.
The top court also directed the SEC not to declare those candidates who have won unopposed as winners.
A formal invitation for the rally had been sent to Kishor, a senior TMC leader told PTI.
The Indian economy is sinking but everyone's busy leading the high life, no one's worried, says veteran economist Ashok Mitra, in an interview to Rediff.com's Indrani Roy.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) contention that capitalism was the only way to industrialise West Bengal has made Left Front partners aghast.
The erstwhile Left Front government had earmarked 1000 acres at Singur for the Nano car plant but the acquisition of the multi-crop land from unwilling farmers was one of the reasons for its poll debacle after a long stint of 34 years in power.
RSP leader Abani Roy spoke about the reason for pulling out of the UPA-Left co-ordination committee, the Centre's policies, the uneasy relations with the CPI-M and the Left's prospects in the coming general elections.
A Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front government headed by Manik Sarkar assumed office for the fourth consecutive term in Tripura on Monday. Sarkar was sworn in as the chief minister for the fourth time along with 11 ministerial colleagues by Governor Dinesh Nandan Sahaya.
The ruling Left Front on Friday stormed back to power for the fourth consecutive term in Tripura while Meghalaya appeared to be heading for a hung verdict with the ruling Congress emerging as the single largest party. The election to the 60-member Meghalaya assembly threw up a hung House with the ruling Congress emerging as the single largest party bagging 25 out of 59 seats for which polling was held on March three.
The party believes that Mamata's poor handling of the pandemic and the devastation brought on by Cyclone Amphan will provide it the political fillip it needs.
The state will be referred to as Bangla in Hindi and Bengal in English.
Assam may throw up a hung assembly with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the ruling Congress there engaged in a neck and neck fight while Left Democratic Front could oust the Congress-led alliance in Kerala, an opinion poll has projected.
Last week, Basu had been quoted as saying, "We want capital, both foreign and domestic. After all, we are working in a capitalist system. Socialism is not possible now." Maintaining that Basu's remarks were on the nature of capitalist development in West Bengal and the role of the Left Front government, party general secretary Prakash Karat said, "On the basis of these reports, some political leaders have also come out with equally confused and misplaced reactions."
'Dr Abdullah is fine and in good spirits,' says National Conference Lok Sabha MP Mohammad Akbar Lone.
In an interview with CNN-IBN, the Trinamool Congress chief explains why she decided to team up with activist Anna Hazare and alleges that the Left Front, the BJP and the Congress have an 'understanding' in Bengal.
Between 71 to 82 per cent polling was registered in five Lok Sabha seats in the eastern states of Tripura, Assam and of Sikkim in the fourth phase of the polls on Saturday.
The middle portion of the structure near Siliguri collapsed on a canal below at around 9.30 am when a truck was crossing it.
The Left-UPA committee, that has been constituted to look into the apprehensions voiced by the Left Front, is likely to meet on November 18. In the meeting, the Left Front may clear the government's move to approach the international atomic watchdog but without committing anything in writing, Left sources said. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during a luncheon meeting with Prakash Karat and A B Bardhan last week, had sought their nod for the government to approach the IAEA.
Breaking her silence over the Saradha scam, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said she would quit if allegations of her closeness to the ponzi company was proved.
Paul, who was in Mumbai to visit his daughter, complained of chest pain at the Mumbai airport during his return to Kolkata and was rushed to a hospital in Juhu but died around 4 am, they said.
Communist Party of India General Secretary A B Bardhan warned that if government officials held talks with visiting International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed El-Baradei about the nuclear agreement, the Left Front would withdraw its support to the government. "Let the IAEA chief meet Dr Manmohan Singh and other political dignitaries. But if the govt officials hold talks with El-Baradei about the safeguards of the 123 agreement, we will pull the rug," he threatened.
'Mamata is synonymous with Bengal, its culture, language, traditions.'
Last Monday, she termed the Centre's silence over loan repayment restructuring as a 'political vendetta' to ruin Bengal.
Accusing Trinamool Congress of creating widespread fear psychosis through "terror and intimidation" in West Bengal, the Left parties on Tuesday sought Election Commission's intervention to ensure free and fair polls.
Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan are the other three states to pass a resolution opposing the contentious legislation, reports Archis Mohan.
The Trinamool Congress has romped back to power in style in West Bengal. However, Bharatiya Janata Party activists and supporters can't help being happy with their performance in the state. The party has received a 10.2 per cent vote share. Sumantra Maity, a BJP activist and Information Technology professional, speaking to Indrani Roy/Rediff.com had predicted the party putting up a respectable show. He explains to Rediff.com the factors that led to the rise in Bharatiya Janata Party's vote share in Bengal.
The same political aide to chief minister's office who had spoken to rediff.com about Bhattacharjee's intent to step down on Monday said over telephone a day after, "I have never seen Buddhababu so perturbed as he was yesterday."
The Forward Bloc, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Communist Party of India finalised a strategy to put pressure on the CPM to maintain coalition dharma
State party leaders admit that Hindu consolidation by itself was not good enough to unseat Didi.
Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Sunday admitted to the complicity of his partymen in the killing of nine villagers at Netai in January, 2011 during his tenure as Chief Minister of West Bengal, which had caused a nationwide outcry.
On Wednesday, a police party, including DIB's Sadhu Chatterjee, went to the area for routine enquiry. But soon they were surrounded by a large mob, which assaulted them.
In a huge embarrassment for the Left Front, a Commission of Inquiry into the police firing on a Youth Congress movement in 1993 killing 13 persons on Monday said that it was worse than the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
Promising to promote the ailing jute industry in the state, the chief minister said, "If the Centre does not make use of jute bags mandatory for packaging, the state will do it."
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