Abhijit Mukherjee is a proud man. By the time of filing this report, his father, United Progressive Alliance-nominated candidate Pranab Mukherjee, was leading the Presidential election with 438,502 votes against the Opposition-backed P A Sangma.
Security has been beefed up in Mirati village of Birbhum district in view of President Pranab Mukherjee's visit to his ancestral house during the Durga puja rituals, official sources said on Friday.
Abhijit Mukherjee, son of President Pranab Mukherjee, was on Friday chosen by the Congress as its candidate for the by-election for Jangipur Lok Sabha seat vacated by his father.
An apex court bench headed by Justice S K Kaul also asked the BJP state unit to submit a revised plan for its "Save Democracy Rally" for consideration by the state government.
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 bus carrying members of a marriage party from Kolkol village in Burdwan district to Birpara in neighbouring Birbhum district overturned when the driver lost control over the speeding vehicle at around 3.30 am, police said.
An SFI member was hospitalised and several others suffered minor injuries in the attack that comes a week after BJP MP Swapan Dasgupta was heckled by Left-leaning students at the university. SFI blamed the ABVP for the attack, however the latter said attackers were TMC members.
In an affront to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has refused to relieve an Indian Administrative Service officer he wanted as his private secretary in what appears to be fast soiling relations between the two since differences cropped up over Teesta river deal with Bangladesh.
Establishment of Sharia rule by overthrowing the democratically-elected government in Bangladesh was the motive of Burdwan module of banned terror outfit Jamiat-ul-Mujahdieen Bangladesh, the National Investigation Agency claimed on Monday.
Two presiding officers were removed following allegation of influencing voters and an election agent of Communist Party of India-Marxist detained for interrogation after postal ballots were recovered from him, the sources said in Kolkata.
Amid the rituals of Maha Ashtami (the third day of the five-day festival), Pranab Mukherjee spoke to Shine Jacob on the Moody's downgrade of State Bank of India and other issues.
Away from the political chaos in New Delhi, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is celebrating the Durga Puja at his ancestral home in Miriti village of West Bengal's Birbhum district.
Far from the rough and tumble of politics, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is in Kolkata at his ancestral home at Miriti in Birbhum district to perform Durga Puja as he has been doing every year.
"I extend puja greetings (Saradiyar Subhecchha) to all people and wish them well," a relaxed Mukherjee said while leaving for his ancestral home with his wife.
The state government had adequate land for these projects, the CM said.
Noor-ul-Haque, alleged to be a financial brain behind banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh terror outfit, was nabbed outside Howrah railway station.
A eight-member central team, headed by Joint Secretary in Union Agriculture Ministry E K Majhi, will visit drought-hit districts of West Bengal on Wednesday.
Polling began on Saturday morning in 50 constituencies for the second of the six-phase assembly elections in West Bengal in which an electorate of 93.33 lakh will decide the fate of 293 candidates.
Rediff.com's Indrani Roy Mitra was in Nalhati in the Birbhum district near the Bengal-Jharkhand border on Wednesday to cover the campaign of Abhijit Mukherjee, a former corporate executive and son of Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. And here's what she saw.
A speeding express train rammed into the rear of another killing 60 people and injuring over 150 at the Sainthia station in Bhirbhum district of West Bengal, apparently after overshooting the signal in the early hours on Monday.
Union Minister of Railways Mamta Bannerjee, who is extremely perturbed by the disastrous train mishap in West Bengal early on Monday morning, has asked her ministry to carefully oversee the postmortem of M C Dey, the driver of the New Coochbehar-Sealdah Uttarbanga Express, which rammed into Bhagalpur-Ranchi Vananchal Express in Sainthia station of Birbhum district, killing 62 people and injuring 92 others.
Union Minister Pranab Mukherjee worshipped Goddess Durga on Thursday at his ancestral home in Mirati village on 'Mahasaptami', the first day of the four-day long puja.
The districts have provided 64 days of jobs under the 100-day job scheme as against the state average of 45 days.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday suggested CPI(M)'s hand in the train accident in Sainthia and the Jnaneswari Express mishap and ruled out resigning on moral grounds.
"We have some doubts in our mind. Whatever has happened is not a casual thing. We will take strong steps against those who are behind this," she said.
Business Standard brings you a three-part series on how the Trinamool is gaining political supremacy through these tried and tested methods in rural Bengal.
After the sudden change in the balance of political power following the successive electoral setbacks, the ruling Communist Party of India - Marxist has made it and its government helpless in the face of growing violence and series of murderous attacks on its cadres and sympathisers. Two days back, Ananda Das, a former CPI-M Member of Legislative Assembly from Nanur, Birbhum was brutally shot dead by a gang of armed people.
In heart-wrenching scenes reminiscent of the aftermath of the 2019 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, coffins of soldiers arrived in several states for the last rites with full military honours.
Two days after Monday's train disaster at Sainthia in Birbhum district, the cause of the collision that snuffed out 66 lives still remains a riddle.
Train services on the Khana-Rampurhat section of the Howrah division in Birbhum district, where a high speed express collided with another, were restored on Tuesday.
West Bengal with its porous borders has turned into an easy transit point and secure hideout for the agents of terror outfits like Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh and Pakistani secret service Inter-Services Intelligence.
A potato farmer allegedly committed suicide at his home at Nagrakata in Jalpaiguri district on Wednesday
One more potato farmer has committed suicide in West Bengal after being unable to repay his agricultural loans despite a bumper crop, taking the toll in the state to seven so far.
A breathalyser test on the driver and assistant driver of the ill-fated Uttarbanga Express did not show any trace of alcohol but police said this is not enough to determine whether they were intoxicated or not.
A division bench of justices Biswanath Somadder and A Mukherjee said the government's silence on the permission is 'astonishing and astounding'.
We saw the finance minister in a new avatar, donning the priest's mantle at his ancestral home on Friday and Saturday. Here are some glimpses. . .
"The puja is around 100 years old. Pranab's grandfather late Jangaleswar Mukherjee started the puja," said Goutam Roy, who has been looking after puja arrangements for the last couple of years.
In New Delhi, state Congress president Anil Kumar and party workers were detained by police at a petrol pump near Parmanand hospital.
Calling upon all Indians to get involved in the 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan', President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said the government alone cannot do it without people's involvement.
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