West Bengal Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen, whose statement on Maoist links with the Trinamool Congress put the administration in an uncomfortable position, had more trouble on Tuesday, when a senior minister called for action against him for his remarks.
A poll update from Maharashtra's Nashik, where Raj Thackeray is on fire
The West Bengal government on Thursday lodged a fresh complaint with the Centre against Trinamool Congress, accusing it of having a 'nexus' with Maoists.In a letter to Home Minister P Chidambaram, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee cited the arrest of two persons from a Trinamool Congress-run camp in Midnapore who allegedly had Maoist links. "The chief minister sent a letter to the Union home minister on the arrest of 2 persons on Monday with Maoist links," said sources.
The West Bengal chief minister did not have anything new to offer to Singur and its people, except that the site would be used for an industrial project.
Charging Home Minister P Chidambaram with adopting a 'partisan approach', the Communist Party of India - Marxist on Monday said the purpose of his letter to the West Bengal government on the alleged role of armed CPI-M cadres was meant to 'serve the political interests of Trinamool Congress'. The party also sought an explanation from him, saying the media was briefed about his letter to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee even before it reached the state government.
Chidambaram's strong letter to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee comes in the wake of ally Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee alleging misuse of central security forces in the state and offering to quit if her charge was proved wrong.
Nandigram remained in headlines throughout the year despite the West Bengal government cancelling the SEZ project of Indonesia's Salem Group in January following violence and political pressure on Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
After two days of self-introspection, Karat, the party general secretary, retains his hold and instead the West Bengal lobby along with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will now be taking "corrective measures at the organisational and governmental level."
Karat admits that creation of the Third Front was a wrong move.
The West Bengal government on Thursday said it was formulating rules to ensure that schools do not create fear among students as physical and mental torture pose hindrance to their natural development.
With successive electoral setbacks in Panchayat, Lok Sabha and municipal polls in the past three years, Left leaders in Bengal have realised that there has been a steady and serious erosion in their traditional vote bank among the urban and rural poor.
Germany is keen on investing in specific areas in West Bengal as part of a bid to strengthen Indo-German bilateral ties.
Kolkata's security agencies are in a tizzy following reports of a possible terrorist strike in the city, especially after four mobile SIM cards used by the terrorists, who struck Mumbai, were said to have been acquired in West Bengal.
Israel will discuss the issue of homeland security with West Bengal which is reeling under the brunt of Maoist extremism.
On his first visit to the heart of Naxal territory in West Bengal, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram ruled out the involvement of the military in anti-Maoist operations and made a fresh offer of dialogue with the left-wing extremists.
Admitting that the fire at Stephen Court has 'opened our eyes', West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday said the civic administration will be under the scanner over illegal constructions in the city."The top floors of Stephen Court are illegal. We are investigating what the Kolkata Muncipal Corporation's role was at that time. The city has a coterie of illegal builders with whom administration is involved. Exemplary punishment will be given," said CM
Railway minister promises jobs for land deals for the project.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has said that the decision of the Tata Group to withdraw from the Singur project was a colossal one.
A parallel meeting called by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha on Tuesday passed a resolution demanding creation of a separate state of Gorkhaland.
The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha on Friday rejected the West Bengal government's offer for talks on the Darjeeling issue on June 18, saying the agenda of development of the hills was "irrelevant" when the main issue was a separate state of Gorkhaland.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee claimed on Monday that he had got specific information on the Trinamool Congress' link with the Maoists and warned the party not to join hands with it to put the Communist Party of India-Marxist in trouble.
In a freewheeling interview with a daily, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has admitted that corruption has influenced the CPI-M's rank and file and some of its leaders are behaving like 'local kings'. "We are living in a society which is basically corrupt" and it had influenced "our leaders and our boys" too, he said. But the Bengal CM was quick to add that the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress was not the change the state needed.
Four Eastern Frontier Rifles jawans were killed in a surprise assault by Maoists in Gidhni in West Midnapore on Sunday, hours after Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee wrapped up a two-day visit to the violence-hit district. Claiming responsibility for the killings, top Maoist leader Koteshar Rao alias Kishanji dared the central government to deploy as many forces as they wanted in the embattled area.
Hours before Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's visit to Naxal-infested Midnapore on Saturday, three youths were shot dead by Maoists in Kusbani jungle in the district.Bullet-riddled bodies of the three youths -- Lakhi Das, Jayram Mandi and Manoranjan -- with their limbs tied with ropes, were found on a road near Kusbani jungle, police sources said. The Maoists had left behind posters near the bodies of the three, claiming that they had been 'punished'.
There is a "high probability" of political leaders coming under a Chhatisgarh-type attack during their panchayat poll campaign in Maoist-hit Jangalmahal in West Bengal, intelligence sources here have indicated.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Monday described Union Railway Minister Mamata Bannerjee's remark as "juvenile disorder" after she demanded his arrest saying there was violence in the state whenever he was away.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Sunday finalised a plan to rectify the 'wrong trends' in the party under which guidelines were formulated for an austerity drive and to make its ministers more accountable.
The long-awaited meeting between Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to discuss the law and order situation in the state would take place on January 19 in Delhi. The chief minister would also meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the same day. "The chief minister is going to Delhi on January 18 to meet the home minister and prime minister the next day," the sources said.
The West Bengal government has denied before the Supreme Court all allegations regarding the reported excesses committed by the state administration in Nandigram where 14 people were killed in police firing in March last year.
Continuing to bicker with West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee through letters, Home Minister P Chidambaram has described the killings of political workers in the state as 'alarming' and said that the violence points to a virtual collapse of law and order in some parts of Bengal. He also said he used the word Harmad (hired killers) in an earlier letter because of its extensive usage in the media.
The Communist Party of India - Marxist Politburo on Saturday began a two-day meeting to finalise a document, to deal with its organisational problems, which led to its rout in the recent polls in its strongholds of West Bengal and Kerala. The purpose of the meeting is to give final touches to amend and strengthen its 'rectification document' that had been prepared several years ago. The meeting is being attended by all top leaders barring CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
He told the state party conference that West Bengal now stood at the crossroads and there was no prior model for industrialisation available to it.
Saying the CPI-M has nuked the farmers in Nandigram and the UPA government, LK Advani says the NDA will raise the Nandigram issue in Parliament.
The war of words between Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Saturday touched a new low with the chief minister alleging she was a 'liar' and the Trinamool Congress chief accusing him of being responsible for spurt in Maoist activities.
"This is applicable for the entire country, all states and we have accepted it. But how to implement it is the government's business," Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told media persons after a cabinet meeting in Kolkata.
Trinamool Congress has refused to attend the all-party meeting convened by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Sunday, to seek suggestions for expediting relief work in cyclone-affected areas, dubbing the whole exercise as 'suspect'.The chief whip of the TC parliamentary party in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay told PTI that the whole exercise was 'suspect' as the meeting will take place so many days after the cyclone hit Bengal.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was on Sunday gheraoed twice by relief seekers in the state's South 24 Parganas, the district worst-hit by cyclone Aila, even as the government prepared a memorandum seeking assistance of Rs 1,000 for submission to the Centre.The chief minister had gone to Gosaba in the Sunderbans to see the extent of the disaster and distribution of relief materials.
In a snub to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Mamata Banerjee-led Railways kept the Communist Party of India-Marxist veteran away from the ceremony attended by President Pratibha Patil to mark the start of a new Metro Rail project in Kolkata.
In view of the recent attacks on its agri retail stores, the Reliance Industries group company on Tuesday said it will go slow on the roll out of Reliance Fresh outlets in the state.
Three Bhopal gas tragedy survivors' organisations have opposed West Bengal government's move to invite Dow Chemicals to the proposed chemical hub in Haldia after the state government failed to acquire land at Nandigram.
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