>The BJP's star campaigner could not help even half the number of candidates for whom he campaigned in his aggressive 'Didi-o-Didi' style in Bengal
Against the backdrop of the Lok Sabha results, a much larger scale of desertion was anticipated from the TMC. 'It seems, people don't believe that the ship is sinking.'
The IMD has also issued a red-coded warning alert to the Odisha and West Bengal coasts.
In a prize catch, joint forces have arrested top Maoist leader Bikram, who was wanted for a string of killings including that of a CID inspector and two political leaders, from Purulia district.
After a Denmark court rejected its plea for extradition of Purulia arms drop case prime accused Kim Davy, India is likely to push for his trial within the Indian Embassy premises in Copenhagen.
It's a political gambit aimed at the BJP's Suvendu Adhikari who won the seat in 2016 as a TMC candidate, while also retroceding to the land movement that catapulted her to power.
With suspected Maoists gunning down two Trinamool workers in Purulia district, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday dismissed the Maoist letter on their ceasefire withdrawal and said joint-operations would be intensified against the ultras.
Heat wave conditions continued to prevail in the southern districts of West Bengal with 48 persons succumbing to the heat till Wednesday, official reports from the districts said.
India has decided to make fresh efforts for the extradition of Kim Davy, the prime accused in the Purulia arms drop case, after a Danish court turned down a plea for sending him here to face trial in the 17-year-old case. The decision was taken after Union Home Secretary R K Singh discussed the issue of extradition of Kim Davy to India with Indian Ambassador to Denmark Ashok Attri last week.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who will complete a year in office on May 20, has claimed that her government has been able to restore peace in Junglemahal with not a single death reported so far this year.
Readers tell us how they celebrated the festival of lights this year.
Nandigram, 126 km south of Kolkata, is Suvendu Adhikari's bastion, where he has vowed to defeat Mamata Banerjee by 50,000 votes or quit politics.
After spending 40 years in the Indian Army, Lieutenant General Subrata Saha marches into the electoral battlefield as the BJP candidate from Rashbehari.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again led the BJP's campaign holding several rallies and stepping up his attack on Opposition parties, particularly the Congress.
'With sufficient gaps between polling dates, the BJP will have time to convert the 'fence-sitter' votes,' observes Payal Mohanka.
The government may make a fresh diplomatic move with Denmark after it refused to file an appeal in its Supreme Court for the extradition of Kim Davy, an accused in the Purulia arms drop case, to India.
As West Bengal readies for its sixth and final phase of the assembly election, rediff.com's Sanchari Bhattacharya visits the Maoist-affected districts West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia, to find that talk about poriborton is the last thing on the villagers' minds as they struggle each day to make ends meet.
As West Bengal readies for its sixth and final phase of the assembly election, rediff.com's Sanchari Bhattacharya visits the Maoist-affected districts West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia, to find that talk about poriborton is the last thing on the villagers minds as they struggle each day to make ends meet
For Jai Balaji, the state had already handed over 1,130 acres earlier.
As the West Bengal chief minister was busy containing the fallout of an internecine feud in her TMC following a rebellion by a redoubtable Suvendu Adhikari, the Centre shot off a fresh letter to her government to immediately relieve three IPS officers for central deputation.
The brewing discontentment in the party may adversely impact the TMC's prospects in the next assembly polls due in April-May next year.
India on Wednesday termed as "disappointing" a Denmark court's refusal to allow the extradition of Purulia arms drop case mastermind Kim Davy and strongly rejected the argument that prisoners are subjected to torture in India. "The Kim Davy verdict is very disappointing. We reject the argument that prisoners are subjected to torture or that human rights of the accused will be violated," said Home Minister P Chidambaram.
Nearly 20 days after it withdrew the 'most wanted' list from its website after one person mentioned in it was found lodged in a prison, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday uploaded a pruned list having 143 names.
The location of the landfall is north of Dhamra and south of Bahanaga, close to Bahanaga block, on the coast, around 50 km of Balasore, he said.
The CBI sleuths were left red-faced after Davy's counsel pointed out during the court proceedings in Copenhagen that the arrest warrant issued by a special CBI court against his client had expired in January this year.
India is expecting a favourable verdict from a Denmark high court on Thursday on the extradition of Purulia arms drop case prime accused Kim Davy, leading to his trial here.
A eight-member central team, headed by Joint Secretary in Union Agriculture Ministry E K Majhi, will visit drought-hit districts of West Bengal on Wednesday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday said there was no evidence linking any Indian politician or government agency with the Purulia arms drop case of 1995, dismissing claims of accused Kim Davy that the clandestine work was carried out by "political forces" at the Centre to destabilise the Left front Government of West Bengal.
Mamata said the saffron party could not build even a small Ram temple in the last five years.
Three Forward Bloc activists were shot dead by armed Maoists in West Bengal's Purulia district on Sunday night. According to sources, nearly 50 armed Maoists raided Chirogora village late on Sunday night and dragged out the three activists from their houses and shot them dead. The deceased were identified as Leru Majhi, Dasrath Majhi, and Choto Majhi.
West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan, who had earlier expressed anger at the state's law and order situation following the Lalgarh killings on January 7, on Wednesday visited Netai village and also Maoist-hit Baghbinda village in Jhalda in neighbouring Purulia to assess the situation. The former national security adviser said he was aware of the Maoist problem in this region.
The 10th IRB of Nagaland has been requisitioned by the Centre to fight Maoists in Bengal's Midnapore and Purulia districts, but a section of jawans staged protest at the police training centre at Chumukedima, near Dimapur, on Saturday alleging they had inadequate logistic support and 'vintage' firearms were provided to them.
Maoists on Friday killed five Forward Bloc workers at Jhalda in Purulia district on the suspicion that they were working as police informers. "Chapala Garai, Tapan Singh Sardar, Kinkar Singh, Rajesh Singh and Gopeswar Mahato were shot dead by armed Maoist cadres at Baghbinda village," said Superintendent of Police Sunil Kumar Chaudhuri.
The West Bengal government said on Friday that the police and intelligence agencies had got information about Maoist leader Kishenji hiding in the state and that he was likely to be arrested soon.
Central Bureau of Investigation Director Ashwani Kumar on Monday denied that the premier investigative agency works under pressure from government but said shortage of staff was affecting its performance.
All police stations and Central Reserve Police Force camps in the three Maoist-hit districts of West Bengal have been put on high alert and Railway Protection Force has been asked to keep vigil on trains and tracks ahead of Wednesday's 48-hour Bharat bandh called by ultras.
Total of 59 seats spread across 6 states and one Union Territory will go to polls in the sixth phase on May 12.
Four Communist Party of India-Marxist supporters and a party worker were shot dead by Maoists on Friday after they suspected them to be police informers and their bodies dumped on the highway at West Midnapore and Purulia districts, the police said.
A demand for autonomy for three tribal-dominated districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia in West Bengal was made on Saturday by a top Maoist leader, who also justified the Gorkhaland statehood issue.
There was no possibility of holding talks with Maoists or tribal group PCPA, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee said on Sunday even as he maintained that law and order in Naxal-infested Lalgarh and adjacent areas has improved but more work needs to be done.
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