West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday said her party did not want to topple the United Progressive Alliance government, of which it is a constituent, but insisted the Congress-led dispensation should also do its part properly, especially in controlling prices.
A fresh strain in the Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance came to the fore on Friday when Youth Congress workers took out a silent procession in Kolkata denouncing "attacks" on Congress by the alliance partner in West Bengal.
Banerjee, also the state chief minister, said she had never seen this type of EC which is "full of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh people".
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has come under intense attack over arrest of a man who asked her a question at a rally with Press Council of India chairman Markendey Katju calling her "totally dictatorial, intolerant, and whimsical" in her behaviour.
"I say I am a 'big donkey' (Ami ekta boro gadha) for having failed to recognise them. I dont know (about it), but people say their 'empire' is worth Rs 5,000 crore and they will use money to buy votes. But don't vote for them," Banerjee told the rally.
She called on all "progressive forces" to join hands to fight the "oppressive BJP regime".
Troubleshooter for the Congress and the government not long ago, Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday refrained from making any comments on UPA-II at a time when it is accused of non-performance.
United Progressive Alliance Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said he will talk to Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee to seek support for his candidature when she is ready to talk to him.
Taking a dig at political parties which criticised her party's failed bid to move no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha as ill-conceived, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday said that she would stick to her ideology even if she "loses for the time-being".
There's a method in the Samajwadi Party supremo's serial flip-flops.
With A P J Abdul Kalam opting out of the Presidential race on Monday, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, who proposed his name, would take a decision on it.
Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee on Thursday made it clear that she is determined to back A P J Abdul Kalam as the candidate for the President's post.
CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI general secretary D Raja said the top leadership will not attend the meeting called by the TMC chief.
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee said that she would like the UPA government to complete its full term, while stating that her party was ready in the event of a mid-term Lok Sabha poll.
After a five-day waiting game, Railways Minister Dinesh Tiwari has resigned, according to Trinamool Congress sources. Tiwari met with TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, and expressed his willingness to quit.
The results of bypolls to three Lok Sabha and 29 assembly seats spread across 13 states and a union territory have been a mixed bag for the BJP as its fortunes continue to nosedive in West Bengal against the might of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee while bad tidings have also come from states like Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Trinamool Congress General Secretary and Minister of State for Shipping, Mukul Roy will be the new Railway Minister.
A final decision on Congress joining the new government in West Bengal at the invitation of ally Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee will be taken by the party high command, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee said on Sunday. "We will take a final decision after discussions with the Congress high command. Decision will be disclosed at the appropriate time," Mukherjee said. "I congratulate Mamata Banerjee for this fantastic win. It is a big achievement," he said.
The United Progressive Alliance's first anniversary celebrations tomorrow are essentially going to be a Congress affair. Barring Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, no other top leader of any of the ally or supporting parties is expected to be present at the bash to mark six years in office of the Congress-led coalition.
A day after inviting Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee to form the new government in West Bengal, Governor M K Narayanan on Tuesday issued an order appointing her as the chief minister. Narayanan had on Monday sent a letter to Banerjee inviting her to form the government following her party's landslide victory in the assembly elections. On Sunday, the Trinamool Congress had formally staked claim to form the government.
If Mamata Banerjee is a fighter jet bombing the Left Front fortress of West Bengal, Gautam Deb is the Communist Party of India-Marxist's anti-aircraft gun.
With the elections to municipalities and a civic body due in May-June and assembly elections next year in West Bengal, alliance partners Trinamool Congress and Congress announced on Tuesday that they would contest the polls jointly.
Claiming Banerjee has been made aware that Justice Kausik Chanda, who is hearing her plea, was 'an active member of the Bharatiya Janata Party' and since the adjudication of the election petition will have political ramifications, it was prayed that the matter be assigned to another judge by the Acting Chief Justice, who is the master of roster.
After his meeting with Rahul Gandhi, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said there can be no opposition front without the Congress, in a clear message to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over her 'no United Progressive Alliance' taunt, even as another ally Nationalist Congress Party asserted it will make every effort to form a broad-based alliance that will also include the Congress.
The West Bengal chief minister said no refugee living in the state will be deprived of citizenship. "You have an address, ration card, voter card, driving licence. There is no need to get this new card of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Don't worry, you will always find this didi beside you. Your family is my family. I will not let anybody take away the rights of our people," she asserted.
Hailing Banerjee as the "real Bengal tigress", the party, which had earlier said that it would join the electoral battle in the state, vowed to "stand in solidarity" with the TMC camp.
A quick look at the 66-year-old leader's political journey in the mid-1970s shows how injuries and physical assaults have shaped her political career over the years.
Emerging from a meeting with Banerjee at the state secretariat, Yadav said that the first priority of his party was to stop the Bharatiya Janata Party's progress in West Bengal.
"We got a lot of confidence from our success in Bihar, and we will continue that momentum," Owaisi told reporters after their meeting in Lucknow.
Banerjee, who had already spurned requests by the chief minister to give up her fast, also refused medical assistance late on Sunday night when doctors from a state-run hospital came for a health check up of the opposition leader.
She also alleged an atmosphere prevailed where opposition parties were also afraid of 'horsetrading, harassment and political vendetta'.
Hours after a district court directed police to arrest Mamta Banerjee and some others by February 27 in connection with a 12 year-old criminal case, the firebrand Trinamool Congress supremo said she will not surrender "under any circumstances".
Mamata said she would be attending it as "constitutional courtesy".
Referring to infiltrators as "termites", who are eating into the resources of this country, the BJP boss said his party will throw them out from Bengal after coming to power at the Centre for a second term
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for 'spreading lies and canards' against the Trinamool Congress government, and said voters, this time, would witness 'Didi versus BJP' fight in all 294 constituencies of the poll-bound state.
'Those who win indulge in shooting, looting, throwing bombs and burning houses.'
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday elevated her nephew and MP Abhishek Banerjee as the party's all-India general secretary, the second-most important post in the organisation, a senior leader in Kolkata said.
Election will be held in 60 out of the total 294 seats in the first two phases of the eight-phased polls which is slated to stretch from March 27 to April 29. The date for the second phase of election is April 1.
Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, said political parties should not ignore their senior leaders.
A day after Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee indicated that she was open to working with Jayalalithaa, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief on Friday telephoned her and was stated to have discussed the upcoming general elections.
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