'Without our support Nitish Kumar wouldn't have become chief minister.' 'After the government was formed we became ministers, but our agenda remained the same: Amit Shah had promised reservation for Nishads.' 'He wouldn't listen, so we went to UP and contested 52 seats in the 2022 elections. He didn't like the idea of rebellion.' 'He saw that this man, coming from Bombay, is very sharp. He's made four MLAs now, tomorrow he'll make 40. A time will come when they will make it 125.' 'They bought our MLAs and ousted us from the government.'
A four-member team of the Union home ministry, tasked with looking into reasons for the post-poll violence in West Bengal, met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar at the Raj Bhavan.
Violence rocked parts of West Bengal over the filing of nominations for the July 8 panchayat poll as activists of the ruling Trinamool Congress and opposition parties clashed prompting the police to use force to disperse the mob.
Tension was palpable in the area, and a large police contingent was deployed to prevent any further flare-up.
'There's no transparency in work (of the Wakf Board), in property transactions (of the Waqf).'
Trinamool Congress supporters held demonstrations defying lockdown norms in various places, while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee offered to court arrest on Monday against the arrest of two West Bengal ministers in the Narada case by the CBI.
Voting for by-elections to seven assembly constituencies of six states, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Tripura, West Bengal, and Jharkhand, started on Tuesday at 7 am.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday ordered an immediate ban on the screening of the controversial film The Kerala Story to avoid "any incident of hatred and violence", a senior official said in Kolkata.
Nine MLAs, including Babul Supriyo, took oath as ministers in West Bengal on Wednesday, in a major reshuffle of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's cabinet.
Banerjee, while addressing a convention of party workers and leaders, said her party's cadres have to reach out to the people to counter canards spread against the TMC by opposition parties.
The elections in two eastern Indian states were keenly observed in Bangladesh for two major contentious issues, writes Prakash Bhandari from Dhaka.
Senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress were stopped by police on Friday from visiting the trouble-torn Sandeshkhali, escalating the political tensions in the state as the leaders accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of fostering a 'lawless situation' and attempting to 'communalise' the issue.
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.
The resolution under Rule 169 was tabled in the assembly, proposing to observe Poila Baisakh, as "Bangla Diwas" and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore's Banglar Mati, Banglar Jol (Bengal's soil, Bengal's water) as the state song.
Polling began at 7 am on Saturday for 44 seats in the fourth phase of the West Bengal assembly elections amid tight security, officials said.
The CBI has carried out searches at 15 locations in connection with the case related to attempt to murder of Dharma Mandal who suffered serious injuries after his family was attacked on May 14 night at their home in Nadia district's Chapra.
A PIL was filed before the Calcutta high court on Tuesday praying for a direction to the central government to remove Jagdeep Dhankhar as the governor of West Bengal, claiming that he was acting as the mouthpiece of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
She expressed confidence that a three-way alliance is very much possible in West Bengal between her Trinamool Congress, Congress and the Left.
The ED officers are conducting raids at 15 places in the state during the day and Sajahan's house is one of them, an officer said.
Following their meeting, speculation is rife about his political move.
Riding a scooter, Union minister Smriti Irani led a rally of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday as she campaigned for the upcoming West Bengal elections in the South 24 Parganas district.
A voter turnout of 10.82 per cent was recorded till 9 am on Saturday in 58 constituencies in six states and two Union territories where polling is underway in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
All the four special units of the investigating agency tasked to probe the cases of violence have moved their units from Kolkata to crime scenes across the state, sources said.
Addressing her first press conference after the election results were declared, she accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of polarising the people on religious lines to garner votes in West Bengal.
The TMC victory came on the heels of its recent civic election success which saw the ruling party winning four of the six municipalities
Maintaining that the INDIA alliance is for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and not for assembly polls in any state, the Congress on Friday asserted that the opposition bloc of 27 parties exists and will fight together.
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.
Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday alleged that Lalit Jha, the alleged mastermind in the Parliament security breach case, was associated with the youth wing of the Trinamool Congress.
Banerjee also said she was curious over why the BJP-led central government was 'worried' about her meeting Hasina.
A day after announcing the dates for assembly polls in West Bengal, the Election Commission on Saturday removed Additional Director General of Police (Law and order) Jawed Shamim and brought in Jag Mohan in his place, an official order said.
Malik had served as the 18th governor of Goa between November 3, 2019, and August 18, 2020.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday pledged to protect the rights of 'eligible candidates' who lost their jobs after a recent Supreme Court verdict, evoking mixed responses from the affected teachers, thousands of whom turned up to hear the leader speak but remained dangling between hope and despair after she finished.
The Trinamool chief has so far said she will not part ways with ally BJP.
West Bengal CID claimed that two of its teams in New Delhi and Guwahati were restrained on Wednesday morning by the local police in the respective places from carrying out investigations into the cash seizure from three Jharkhand MLAs.
Mamata Banerjee fended off a spirited challenge by a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal with a landslide victory for her Trinamool Congress on Sunday for a third consecutive term and the saffron party and the Left Democratic Front were poised to form government again in Assam and Kerala respectively while the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam stormed back to power in Tamil Nadu after a gap of 10 years.
The police condemned the unprovoked, unacceptable attack on an individual's religious identity and added that stern legal action is being initiated.
The Supreme Court expressed serious concern over the Enforcement Directorate summoning advocates for offering legal advice or representing clients during investigations, calling for guidelines on the matter.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused NIA officials of attacking villagers in Purba Medinipur district, the BJP hit back at her saying that the attack on the NIA officials is Sandeshkhalli 2.0 orchestrated by the state.
The saffron party took out rallies in several parts of the state, with BJP workers sporting black badges.
Mamata asserted that she will never allow the implementation of CAA in West Bengal.
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