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.
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."
Industry was the most obvious casualty of the Left's excesses. Now what lies ahead for the state?
On the eve of Durga Puja in October 2008, industrialist Ratan Tata announced that Tata Motors would withdraw from the nearly completed Nano car plant in Singur, attributing the decision to Mamata Banerjee's anti-land acquisition movement, which he claimed had derailed what was meant to be a "groundbreaking project" -- the world's cheapest car.
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.
Tata's Nano project sinks back into crisis. While Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee hinted at reviving her agitation at Singur, the Left Front came down heavily on her demand that ancillary units be shifted across the highway opposite to the project site.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Israel will discuss the issue of homeland security with West Bengal which is reeling under the brunt of Maoist extremism.
Supporting West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's stand, Mittal said, "Let us see for the next 7-10 years what Indian companies deliver and then we can take a call."
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.
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
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.
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'.
The state government's stand on land acquisition for industries and the Nandigram police firing on March 14 is understood to have figured at the meeting.
This is the sixth day that Parliament has been disrupted.
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.
An important political milestone during the year was the return of the Left Front to power with an over two-thirds majority.
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.
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.
The postman used to be a joy to behold when he knocked on the door for he brought news. These days, the postman knocks on the door fewer times, and when he does, he brings the letter late, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Bangladesh on Wednesday said that no Indian insurgents training camp exist in that country and that this has been verified during investigations on the basis of a list provided by New Delhi.
Naxalite groups came to the state from Andhra Pradesh while the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation was trying to re-group and rebuild its organisation, the CM said.
On January 3, Bhattacherjee had strongly advocated capitalism and not socialism as the only way to industrialise the state.
Facing all-round attack over Nandigram, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee sought on Wednesday a 'fresh look' into the Centre's policy on SEZs, which he felt should be restricted to select industries. He also wanted the Centre to fix a ceiling on land for a particular type of SEZ and work out the percentage of land area to be compulsorily utilised for industries within that limit.
Standing by his denouncement of the ruling CPI(M)'s capture of Nandigram, West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Sunday visited the troubled area on Sunday and said wrong-doers must not be exonerated and pitched for presence of CRPF for some more time.
The Centre on Friday asked the Maoists in Lalgarh area of West Bengal to lay down arms and come for talks. Home Minister P Chidambaram said he endorsed the appeal of West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to the Maoists and the tribals to come for talks.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will seek Rs 15,000 crore from the Centre for building a "mini Chinese Wall" along the coastal area of the Sundarbans to protect the area's 4.1 million people from further cyclones and high tides. The area was recently hit by cyclone Aila.
Five senior police officials told the Calcutta High Court that they handed out threats to Rehman, the computer graphics teacher, were baseless.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee admitted on Thursday that there was a definite lack of alertness on the part of the forces leading to the massacre of 24 jawans by Maoists in West Midnapore district.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has announced that 10 per cent reservation in jobs would be given to socially, educationally and economically backward Muslims.
Work on modernising, expanding and renovating the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport will be taken up from January next year, civil aviation secretary Ashok Chawla said on Friday.
Seeking to expedite the process, the front had also empowered all partners to initiate peace parleys on their own and talk to the Opposition.
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