Though she looked uncomfortable, the feisty TMC leader continued to stand being held by the two TMC leaders on the stage and joined others in singing the national anthem.
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.
Announcing the name of candidates for the West Bengal assembly polls, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said she will be contesting from the Nandigram constituency as announced earlier.
Banerjee, Adhikari alleged, was playing with the sentiments of the people of Nandigram. "That will not work this time and her party will be democratically dumped into the Bay of Bengal."
She faced off against former disciple-turned-defector Suvendu Adhikari in a very different contest. It's not land acquisition, but an ego clash that has acquired, tragically, communal overtones, explains Kanika Datta.
While the first house has been rented for a year, according to neighbours, the other house has been rented for six months. Both houses are located at a distance of approximately 100 metres from each other in the Reyapara area.
"After going through the reports the commission decided that Vivek Sahay IPS, Director Security shall be removed from the post of the Director Security and be placed under suspension immediately. The charges must be framed against him within a week for grossly failing in discharge of his primary duty as Director Security to protect the Z+ protectee," it said.
Whether the age-old cry of kendrer banchana will be able to drown out pangs of Sandeshkhali, the EVM will tell.
In its point-by-point rejoinder, the EC said Banerjee's letter regarding booth capturing and the presence of outsiders at a polling booth in Boyal was "preceded by a massive coverage all over the country.
Justice Shampa Sarkar directed that Banerjee's election petition will be taken up for hearing on August 12.
Sekhar Roy was summoned by the police in connection with a social media post he made over the alleged rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
The decision followed a petition by former deputy superintendent of the medical establishment, Akhtar Ali, who sought an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into alleged financial misconduct during the tenure of the college's former principal, Sandip Ghosh.
The TMC supremo, who started her poll campaign for the Bhabanipur by-election, also alleged that the saffron party is targeting party general secretary and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee for political reasons, claiming there is no valid case against him.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea seeking direction for investigation by an independent probe agency like the Central Bureau of Investigation into the March 10 incident where West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had sustained leg injury after an alleged attack on her in Nandigram.
On Monday, the TMC leader had alleged that the returning officer of Nandigram did not order recounting of votes even after she demanded it as he feared for his life.
Claiming Banerjee has been made aware that Justice Kausik Chanda, who is hearing her plea, was 'an active member of the Bharatiya Janata Party' and since the adjudication of the election petition will have political ramifications, it was prayed that the matter be assigned to another judge by the Acting Chief Justice, who is the master of roster.
Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party are contesting in all the 30 seats, while the Communist Party of India-Marxist is in the fray in 15 and its alliance partners of Sanjukta Morcha the Congress and ISF are competing in 13 and two seats respectively.
In a video, Mamata Banerjee can be seen pouring tea into paper cups from a large kettle as people gather around her and record videos of the act.
West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday said he would visit places in Nandigram, where post-poll violence was allegedly reported.
"Why was the server down for four hours? We are willing to accept people's mandate but if the result of one place has anomalies, there may be something beyond what appears. We have to seek the truth," she added.
The last two companies of Central Reserve Police Force, deployed at the height of violence in trouble-torn Nandigram, have been withdrawn.
"There were some incidents, but it was controlled. The Central forces sought by the state administration are yet to arrive. We had written to the Centre yesterday seeking forces," Home Secretary P R Roy told reporters in Kolkata.
Fresh violence broke out on Monday in West Bengal's embattled Nandigram between supporters of the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee, which is opposing land acquisition for industrialisation, and activists of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist. Sources said both sides exchanged fire and hurled bombs at each other at a new area in Nandigram, where two BUPC members were injured.
"I own up responsibility for the lapses in Nandigram on behalf of the state government. I don't want any more deaths."
Tata said, "Please disassociate Tatas from Nandigram. We are not in Nandigram. We are in a place called Singur. The two places are contiguous to each other."
A BUPC member alleged that a woman was attacked by CPI-M activists for her active role in the land acquisition resistance agitation.
An eight-member CBI team arrived in Nandigram on Wednesday to continue the investigation into the March 14 police firing, which left 14 dead.
Bombs were thrown and guns were fired at Tulaghata area of Nandigram when a PTI correspondent was present there.
In Rajya Sabha, BJP members and the lone Trinamool Congress member Dinesh Trivedi sought to raise the Nandigram issue as soon as the House met for the day.
The CPM argued that though the Kolkatta high court order asking the Central Bureau of Investigation was judicially not correct, it will not contest the order.
The East Midnapore District Superintendent of Police A K Dutta told PTI that there had been no incident of violence.
Seeking the abolition of the SEZ policy, the INLD suggested framing of Manufacturing Investment Region policy to boost investment and production.
Daily life was partially affected in West Bengal on Wednesday due to a 12-hour shutdown called by the Bharatiya Janata Party, protesting the police action against demonstrators during a march to the state secretariat.
Ten persons, including a physically-challenged man, were allegedly assaulted by drunk soldiers of the Eastern Frontier Rifles over a petty issue near Rajaramchak High School where a camp had been set up to oversee the law and order situation on Tuesday night.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddadeb Bhattacharya on Sunday said the Communist Party of India-Marxist would guard against the creation of a Nandigram-like similar situation anywhere in the state.
Patkar also lauded Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi for indicting the CPM for its role in the violence.
IGP (law and order) Raj Kanojia told PTI in Kolkata that the police inspector was critically injured when a bullet hit him on his head while he was on duty near Bhangabera, close to Sonachura.
He was reviled by critics in his party as a neo-liberal in disguise but till the end, he retained his belief in secularism and the humanity of Communism.
Acting on a tip-off, CRPF personnel went to the Janani brick kiln area with sniffer dogs and found the bombs hidden in the bushes.
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