The Army was deployed in Kolkata and its neighbouring districts on Saturday, hours after the West Bengal government sought its help for immediate restoration of essential infrastructure and services in the state.
The saffron party's IT cell had realised the power of WhatsApp early in the day and wielded it to devastating effect in the Bengal elections.
The UNICEF said an estimated 2.4 million children have been affected by the recent floods in the country.
Wednesday's expansion shows that Modi still has a keen eye on Bengal. The BJP is gearing up for the panchayat elections in Bengal next May and the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
The ministry had sent the six previous teams to Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal to review the implementation of the lockdown measures after the assessment of ground situation in identified select districts.
The EC has deployed 580 companies of central forces to man over 98 per cent of the polling booths in these constituencies to ensure free and fair polling.
'With sufficient gaps between polling dates, the BJP will have time to convert the 'fence-sitter' votes,' observes Payal Mohanka.
Mamata set 6 conditions for the state government to withdraw their four-day-long stir.
Mamata alleged that the BJP and the CPI-M were provoking doctors and giving communal colour to the issue.
The group has more than 9000 fans from across the state and the masks have been sent out to the members in various districts like Bardhaman, Asansol, Nadia, North, South 24 Parganas. They will be sporting the masks on Wednesday.
Police personnel in adequate strength were deployed across the state to maintain law and order, officials said.
'Why should the state and Centre fight?'
Three persons have been detained in connection with the killing of nun Valsha John, police said on Friday.
The world organisation said UN humanitarians and partners were working hard to assist the people of Bangladesh and India suffering from the impact of the cyclone, which made landfall on Wednesday, wreaking havoc, causing high tidal surges, flooding and embankments to collapse.
Election Commission officials said they have deployed around 680 companies of central police forces and over 20,000 state police personnel in over 53 constituencies of South 24 Parganas, Kolkata South and Hooghly districts going to the hustings on Saturday in the fifth phase of polling.
In a first such action in India's electoral history, the Election Commission had Wednesday ordered campaigning in the nine West Bengal constituencies to end at 10 pm on Thursday, instead of 6 pm on Friday, in the wake of violence between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata during Amit Shah's roadshow.
Many anticipate that by the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal, the BJP may come to power, says Mohammad Sajjad.
With these states imposing lockdowns anew, the health ministry emphasised that the restrictions should be utilised to focus on containment, surveillance and testing in the containment and buffer zones as the key strategy for early detection of cases and fatality management.
The districts have provided 64 days of jobs under the 100-day job scheme as against the state average of 45 days.
Eighteen people, 15 women and 3 girl children, were drowned and many were missing when an overcrowded trawler carrying about 100 pilgrims capsized in Hoogly river at Talpatti island in East Midnapore district on Saturday.
The 10-day Ganesh festival began on Saturday under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, with devotees restricting celebrations to their homes and using online platforms to get 'darshan' of the Lord at temples, amid strict COVID-19 restrictions imposed by governments.
There may not be a third wave of coronavirus in the country if strong measures are taken and effectively implemented at the state, district and city-level, the country's top scientific officer said on Friday, two days after he warned that this wave was inevitable.
Mayank Mishra reports on how the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal has been extending patronage to the ruling party cadre.
Bird flu has spread to fresh areas in affected West Bengal districts of Howrah, Birbhum and Nadia, while a large number of chickens died in North 24 Parganas, which is still not among the 13 affected districts.
Modi accused the TMC of killing the aspirations of the middle-class people in the state and said the ruling party in West Bengal is known for 'triple T -- Trinamool Tolabaji Tax'.
This is the first time in many years that the BJP has been elected to the gram panchayat level in every district of the state.
Those who know Alapan Bandyopadhyay describe him as measured, tactical and extremely focused on achieving what he sets out to do. To many it came as a surprise that he would cut short a meeting with the prime minister.
It is a complete mayhem in West Bengal, Manipur and Odisha with more than 60 dead
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.
More than 750 constituencies spread across four states and one union territory will go to the polls on Tuesday
10 central trade unions have called a nationwide shutdown against 'anti-worker policies' of the central government. Apart from being successful in Bengal, Kerala and NE states, the bandh has also got support from Cong leader Rahul Gandhi and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.
'Modi wants to go down in history not necessarily as India's first overtly Hindu RSS pracharak prime minister, but as a world statesman who built the idea of India as a great nation.'
She is the 21st chief minister of West Bengal and 8th person to hold the office.
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.
'It's a classic conflict between the old and the new BJP. The new BJP is made up of turncoats and the old of veterans who slogged for decades when the BJP barely existed in West Bengal'
Fifteen persons were killed and over 300 injured in a severe cyclonic storm that lashed West Bengal's south 24 Parganas and east Midnapore districts in the early hours on Wednesday.
The TMC expects to emerge victorious by way of a majority of minority votes and a minority of majority votes, notes Arun Bhatnagar, a retired IAS officer.
Results of the panchayat polls indicated a paradigm shift in state politics with the baton of main opposition party passing from the Left to the BJP.
The death toll in the trawler capsize in Hooghly river shot up to 69 on Monday night with 28 bodies retrieved from the waters, even as search for 43 others missing was suspended for the night due to inclement weather and strong currents.
The owner of a rural chit fund firm, active in two south Bengal districts, died on Thursday in Hooghly district taking the ponzi scheme fiasco deaths in the state to 14.
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