The issue of alliances in the coming assembly polls in five states including West Bengal and Tamil Nadu is ticklish for the Congress with the regional parties in both states playing the 'big brother'.
As the countdown begins for the Durga Puja festival, a section of Trinamool Congress supporters have put up a hoarding in Kolkata bearing various photographs of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee with a caption in Bengali -- 'Modishahsurmardini', punning with 'Mahisasuramardini' (demon slayer).
Indications from the Congress are that the party is veering round to the view that it cannot allow any troublesome ally to dictate terms on an issue like presidential poll and that the party has to prepare for any eventuality
Reshuffling her 18-month-old ministry in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday inducted eight new faces, mostly from rural Bengal, with an eye on the coming panchayat elections in the state.
Banerjee, a former minister in the Mamata Banerjee government, said he 'repents' for joining the BJP ahead of the assembly elections despite being asked by the West Bengal chief minister not to leave TMC.
However, speculation remained rife that the meeting was part of Banerjee's plan to form an opposition front with regional players minus the Congress.
Will the dithering government buckle under pressure from Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to save itself from sinking into oblivion? Sheela Bhatt examines
The Calcutta high court on Tuesday restrained West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and three others from making any defamatory or incorrect statement against Governor C V Ananda Bose.
Banerjee, who lost the election in Nandigram, has to win this bypoll to retain the chief minister's post.
'Mamata needs the Congress more than the Congress needs the alliance,' says a Congress leader. 'If the Trinamool and Congress fight the election together, a party survey claims the Trinamool will get around 165 out of 294 seats, but without us, the Trinamool could get somewhere around 130. It will be a few seats less than a majority.'
A five-member delegation of TMC MPs, comprising Derek O'Brien, Satabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Pratima Mondal and Md Nadimul Haque, also met the farmers there to support their protest against the new farm laws.
The TMC-led West Bengal government has already started laying the groundwork for the election, setting the tone with the recent Bengal Global Business Summit and the state Budget.
The announcement is seen as a bid to assert Banerjee's control over the party, and stem dissension between a section of TMC's old guard and the next generation leaders.
Amid escalating tensions with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, the Congress on Saturday said it was open to the idea of a United Progressive Alliance coordination committee to bring greater cohesion within the alliance. At the same time, it dismissed suggestions that the Congress was scared of Trinamool entering the poll fray in Uttar Pradesh or any other state.
In a jolt to the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress defeated its candidates in trouble-torn Nandigram in the three-tier panchayat elections. The front also faced rout in three zilla parishad seats in Singur to Trinamool Congress candidates. The polls are seen as a litmus test for the Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee government's farmland acquisition policy for industries.
It will be her first public appearance after she was allegedly attacked by some people in Nandigram earlier this week.
The internal party exchange unfolded amid an ongoing purported discord among party veterans, recognised as loyalists of Mamata Banerjee, and the younger generation, perceived as close to her nephew Abhishek.
Banerjee also said she was curious over why the BJP-led central government was 'worried' about her meeting Hasina.
Sachin Mukherjee was shot dead by unknown assailants in Garia.
The Congress party on Thursday sought to downplay Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee's remarks on alliance, saying she was only raising the issue of misuse of central forces in West Bengal, which she has the right to do.
A call made by Mamata Banerjee to Vijayamma, wife of late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Dr Y S Rajashekhar Reddy and mother of Jagan Mohan Reddy, is adding frown lines to the faces of Congress and Telegu Desam Party leaders alike.
'The decline of the Congress party and its inability to play the lead role in Opposition politics has created a space for the TMC to expand.'
Seeking to keep Mamata Banerjee in good humour ahead of Presidential poll, the Congress on Tuesday said she had not crossed the limit by suggesting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's name for the President's post and played down the threat by the Trinamool Congress to pull out from government.
'The numbers have been scaled down for the Trinamool Congress. Today, the upper number of victories seems to be 30, with 25 seats being the realistic option. The Trinamool Congress may still be the largest non-BJP, non-Congress party in the next Lok Sabha, but it may not make it to the Cabinet table, leave alone sit in the top chair,' says T V R Shenoy.
Congress, which is an ally of the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, on Monday questioned the recurrence of train accidents and said the railway ministry was not safe in the hands of state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's party.
A day after the Congress sought to reach out to its allies, party general secretary M Shakeel Ahmed on Saturday called on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to discuss 'things important to the state and general national scenario'. Emerging from a meeting with Banerjee, which lasted for about 45 minutes, Ahmed told reporters, "It is a courtesy call. We discussed things which are important to West Bengal and the general national scenario."
Banerjee also appealed to the people of West Bengal not to get provoked over matters concerning the current situation in Bangladesh.
Senior Trinamool Congress minister Udayan Guha has sparked controversy by claiming that fingers of those blaming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and demanding her resignation over the alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor would be broken.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asserted that ousting the Bharatiya Janata Party from power at the Centre in 2024 will be her 'last fight'.
Welcoming Trinamool Congress' move to withdraw support to the United Progressive Alliance government, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajnath Singh on Thursday said if Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party are "honestly opposed" to FDI in retail they should also follow Mamata Banerjee's footsteps.
Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien Thursday held West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury responsible for an alliance not working out between the two parties in West Bengal.
The rancour of associating with the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist while forming the board of the Siliguri Corporation has now created a major problem for the West Bengal unit of the Congress, as Debaprasad Roy, one of the vice-presidents of the state Congress, has resigned from the post, protesting the Left help sought by his party to gain power in the municipality.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has filed an election petition against Suvendu Adhikari before the Calcutta high court and the matter is listed for hearing before a single bench.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Wednesday hit out at the Trinamool Congress blaming it for seeking the stoppage of anti-Maoist operations in West Bengal and providing 'political patronage' to the extremists.
The bypolls are considered to be important ahead of the assembly elections in 2016.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi shared moments together, enquiring about each other's health and strategising on opposition unity on the first day of the Bengaluru summit, sources told PTI.
'Why should they say that their doors are open? Are we beggars? My doors are open for them,' a defiant Mamata said.
The Congress initially was aspiring for a contest in 90 seats in West Bengal. However, it seems the party decided to settle for a compromise to keep the alliance alive.
Capping weeks of hard bargaining, Congress finally accepted Trinamool Congress' seat-sharing formula and will contest 14 of the 42 seats while Trinamool Congress would be in fray in 28.
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