'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'
More than 750 constituencies spread across four states and one union territory will go to the polls on Tuesday
TMC on a roll, wins 13 out of 17 zilla parishads in WB
It has also been decided to suspend the interstate bus services till March 31, the officials said. The decisions have been taken at a high-level meeting attended by chief secretaries of all states and the cabinet secretary and the principal secretary to the prime minister.
The main accused in the brutal murder of a college student in North 24 Parganas district, was on Wednesday arrested from Rampurhat in Birbhum district, the police said.
Thousands of BJP workers from Kolkata and Howrah began marching towards Nabanna to protest the "worsening" law and order in the state.
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.
Police personnel in adequate strength were deployed across the state to maintain law and order, officials said.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Hemant Soren, the son of Jharkhand architect Shibu Soren, took the reins of the state as chief minister on Sunday, a week after a three-party coalition, led by him, swept the assembly polls, bagging 47 seats in the 81-member assembly. This will be Soren's second stint as the chief minister of the tribal state. His first had lasted for just about 14 months since July 15 2013.
The incident, initially reported as a stampede, occurred when there was a huge rush of pilgrims to board vessels to reach Kolkata.
His first stint as chief minister of the tribal state had lasted for just about 14 months since July 15, 2013.
Picketeers blocked rail traffic at several places in the Sealdah-Ranaghat, Sealdah-Bongaon and Sealdah-Barasat section for several hours.
With his exit, the TMC will lose a crucial, politically influential vote catcher in the Jungalmahal region and areas in minority-dominated Murshidabad, and the BJP will get a face it badly needs, especially in rural Bengal, reports Aditi Phadnis.
Aggrieved by the violence that marked the panchayat poll in West Bengal which claimed at least 12 lives and left 43 injured, several candidates who were in the fray had met the SEC officials and demanded the repolling.
Normal life was partially affected in West Bengal on Thursday following a state-wide 12-hour general strike called by Left Parties and trade unions, with the Bharatiya Janata Party also calling a 10-hour bandh to protest against alleged violence by ruling Trinamool Congress in the recent civic polls.
The PM's visit comes at a time when West Bengal has been witnessing widespread protests against the contentious Citizenship Act.
The Bangladesh navy has detained 72 Indian fishermen for allegedly fishing in its territorial waters near southwestern Sharankhola coastlines, officials said on Tuesday.
With Communist Party India-Marxist and Trinamool workers clashing in South 24 Parganas district and indulging in violence, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday held a high-level meeting at the state secretariat in Kolkata.
A low-intensity bomb on Saturday went off in a school ground in North 24 Parganas district in Kolkata injuring one person, a top police official said.
Banerjee has held five rallies in Kolkata in 11 days against the CAA.
The body count, mostly from suicides after the chit fund bubble burst, went up to 11 on Tuesday with the death of an agent and an alleged suicide by a chit fund firm director.
Alleging that there had been politicisation and criminalisation of government officers in the state, the BJP leader, who was on a two-day visit, said the TMC government had stopped sending crime statistics to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) after 2018.
Two persons were killed in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district as strong winds and thunder showers hit several parts of the state. While one died in a tree fall incident the other was hit by lightning, the police said.
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.
The chitfund scam in West Bengal claimed its twelfth victim on Monday with an agent of a ponzy scheme found hanging in his home at Basirhat in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district.
Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Monday said that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had earlier objected on certain issues, has a 'positive mind' towards the National Counter Terrorism Centre.
A senior Maoist leader identified as Anukul Chandra Naskar alias Pareshji, who is also a politburo member of the CPI (Maoist), was arrested by a joint team of the Andhra Pradesh Police and Assam Police.
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.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on warned against any attempts to forcibly enforce general strike called on February 20 and 21 by central trade unions and said that her government will ensure normal life in the state on the two days.
The apex court, however, allowed the West Bengal unit of the BJP to continue with its proposed public rallies and meetings under its "Ganatantra Bachao Yatra".
A passenger of an auto-rickshaw was killed and its driver injured when a bomb kept in a bag held by the passenger exploded in South 24 Parganas district on Saturday, the police said
Three Congress workers were killed ahead of Monday's fourth phase of panchayat polls in four districts of West Bengal and at least 100 houses vandalised and looted in South 24-Parganas district on Sunday.
A middle-aged woman was allegedly gang-raped and murdered at Jagannathpur in West Bengal's North 24-Parganas district on a day the nation was mourning the tragic death of the Delhi rape victim.
'People say my personality doesn't have sharp edges, but politics doesn't have to be about pulling down your opponents or bad mouthing them.'
Hailing the court's decision to grant bail to Asian Games gold medallist Pinki Pramanik, the Bengal sports fraternity on Tuesday demanded punishment for those who are guilty of mistreating the athlete.
From carrying portraits of their sons and husbands who have committed suicide due to agrarian distress to picketing to doing sewa 24x7 at langars, women have shown a rare determination not to capitulate before the government.
The UNICEF said an estimated 2.4 million children have been affected by the recent floods in the country.
Two children died and over 400 others were hospitalised after eating food at an iftaar party in North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal, Minister of State for Health Chandrima Bhattacharya said on Tuesday.
Asian Games gold medalist Pinki Pramanik walked out of jail after 26 days on Wednesday and said she was falsely implicated in the rape case. She was arrested after a woman charged that the athlete was male and had raped her.
