Shah's visit to Ganguly's home had fuelled speculation that the he would join politics soon.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah, who is on two-day visit to West Bengal to address the party cadre said at a rally that party wants a huge victory in the 2016 assembly elections in Kolkata.
'If I had to describe my experience of the people in one word, it would be 'warmth'.' 'They opened their hearts and homes for us.'
The remarks by the BJP leaders came as 17 opposition parties resolved to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections unitedly to defeat the saffron party and work with flexibility by setting aside their differences. They dubbed the planned alliance as "unholy and opportunistic".
'For the longest time, people even denied the Holocaust and called Schindler's List a propaganda, just like some are doing to Kashmir Files. Truth eventually triumphs, no matter what'
'Yes, I said 'Sorry babu'. When you see a dead person, what else will you say?' 'I said sorry as he was no more. When you love someone and they die, you say sorry.' 'Sorry that you aren't here. Sorry that a joke has been made out of your death.'
What some of our leaders were up to on Monday and Tuesday.
Banerjee, who met party MPs, discussed various issues that need to be brought up in Parliament, including the Nagaland tragedy in which 13 civilians were killed in firing by security forces, the COVID-19 situation and the suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha members.
The party brought back Yashwant Sinha as its national vice-president.
'They are our go-to men, our trouble-shooters.' 'They draw their strength from remaining low-key and accessible only to our workers.'
The ruling TMC in West Bengal was rocked by a fresh bout of desertions on Friday with Banerjee quitting the party and several other leaders rallying behind him.
Shah, who was accompanied by BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy, national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargya, was greeted with slogans of 'Amit Shah zindabad', 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' by party workers at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata.
Union ministers Rao Inderjit Singh and Prahlad Patel, Subramanian Swamy, known for his strong views on a host of issues, Suresh Prabhu, Dushyant Singh, who is the son of former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, Vijay Goel, Vinay Katiyar and S S Ahluwalia are among those who have not found a berth in the new list while Union minister V K Singh is no longer a regular member and has been named as a special invitee.
Rajput's father while opposing the plea of Chakraborty, said Mumbai Police has not filed any case after the death of his son and did not allow the Patna Police to investigate by quarantining their senior officers.
Reacting to the statement, the Congress in Goa accused the TMC of entering the poll fray in the state in order to 'divide secular votes and give mileage to the ruling BJP', and also alleged that Kishor's remarks exposed Mamata Banerjee-led party's agenda.
Security measures have been heightened in view of the violence in the previous phases, particularly the death of five people in Cooch Behar in the fourth phase of polling on April 10, an Election Commission official said.
Gangubai Kathiawadi dominated the 68th Filmfare awards, held on April 27 in Mumbai, as it picked up 10 awards including Best Film, Best Director for Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Best Actress for Alia Bhatt.
'Gangubai required Alia to change her body language, voice, even the look in her eyes.' 'I threw the challenge at her and she was more than up to it.'
Questioning the eight-phase assembly elections in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Friday that she suspects that the dates were announced as per the suggestions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for better management of the BJP's poll campaign.
Hours after quitting as the MLA of the West Bengal Assembly, Rajib Banerjee on Friday resigned from the primary membership of the Trinamool Congress, intensifying speculation that he might soon switch over to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
In a fillip to the West Bengal unit of the BJP ahead of the 2021 assembly elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be on a two-day visit to the state from November 5 to take stock of the party's organisational matters, sources said.
What happened in India in the week gone by? Here's the top stories that captured India's attention in the week gone by.
This is New India, where our heroes and heroines are vilified and jailed by a State intent on damaging its own people, asserts Aakar Patel.
Rhea wants a stay on the Bihar police probe.
Department of Economic Affairs secretary Atanu Chakraborty said that equity capital flows have been positive this year.
'We will interrogate and punish the guilty.' 'Please don't use this case as a Maharashtra versus Bihar issue.' 'This is the most deplorable thing to do.'
Vote for your favourite celebrity showstopper.
Her campaign in the high-stakes constituency will begin at 11 am on Monday with an 8-kilometre roadshow from Khudiram More to Thakurchowk in Nandigram Block 2, followed by a public meeting in Jansabha Boyal II.
The Tripura police have registered a case against four Supreme Court lawyers under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and various sections of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly promoting communal disharmony with their social media posts about the recent violence targeting Muslims
The Central Bureau of Investigation recently took over the probe in the case, based on a Patna police FIR related to alleged criminal conspiracy and abetment to suicide against Rajput's girlfriend and actor Rhea Chakraborty.
Banerjee, speaking at a rally at Sahaganj in Hooghly district, also said Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are spreading lies and hatred throughout the country.
Against the backdrop of the Lok Sabha results, a much larger scale of desertion was anticipated from the TMC. 'It seems, people don't believe that the ship is sinking.'
The desecration of Vidyasagar's statue during Amit Anilchandra Shah's rally, which the TMC projected to be a 'Bhojpuri' and 'Dhokla' invasion on West Bengal's culture, may help her gain some favour with middle-class and erudite Bengalis in the last phase of the polls.
The BJP could win only 16 out of 57 seats where Shah campaigned.
For MP, Saransh Jain, Kumar Kartikeya and Anubhav Agarwal also took two wickets apiece. MP got seven points from the win. The outright-winning team gets six points while a victory of an innings or 10-wickets fetches seven points.
Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party are contesting in all the 30 seats, while the Communist Party of India-Marxist is in the fray in 15 and its alliance partners of Sanjukta Morcha the Congress and ISF are competing in 13 and two seats respectively.
The hits and misses of the week.
Announcing the name of candidates for the West Bengal assembly polls, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said she will be contesting from the Nandigram constituency as announced earlier.
In a first such action in India's electoral history, the Election Commission had Wednesday ordered campaigning in the nine West Bengal constituencies to end at 10 pm on Thursday, instead of 6 pm on Friday, in the wake of violence between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata during Amit Shah's roadshow.
Actor-turned-politician and sitting MP Locket Chatterjee has been fielded from Chunchura and another MP Nishit Parmanik from Dinhata. Also, a number of film personalities have been nominated as candidates in the high-stakes battle for West Bengal.
