Some of the Congress's new-found enthusiasm for hitting the streets will show its result in the Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Karnataka elections. That is when we will know if the Congress will go to the regional parties or the parties will come to the Congress.
BJP leader from West Bengal Suvendu Adhikari Tuesday urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to implement the citizenship law CAA at the earliest, with the latter assuring him that rules regarding it will be framed after the Covid precaution dose vaccination exercise is over.
In a break from tradition, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was on Thursday administered the oath as a member of the state assembly by Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced Adhikari's name as leader of the BJP legislature party in the assembly after a meeting of the legislators at the party's Hastings office.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has called the meeting on Monday to discuss a strategy on protests over the CAA and the NRC.
The West Bengal on Thursday became the sixth state to pass a resolution against the three contentious farm laws enacted by the Centre, even as the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party staged a walkout from the assembly amid 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans.
BJP president J P Nadda drew a parallel between the post-poll result violence in West Bengal with the bloodshed during India's Partition, while his colleagues compared the Trinamool Congress with Nazis, as the saffron party's leaders protested in different cities on Tuesday against attacks targeting its workers in the state.
Dhankhar in his letter claimed that the state of governance in the state was 'cliff hanging' and had been further strained by the barbarity witnessed in the Birbhum killings.
A day after its debacle in the Kolkata civic poll, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday announced the formation of its new office bearers committee in West Bengal, axed several members of its old guard and inducted new leaders to strengthen the party in the state.
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.
The saffron party, which had witnessed unprecedented growth in terms of vote share and mass base over the last few years, had opened its doors wide for leaders from other parties as part of its poll strategy, but that did not go down well with many senior leaders, who had once locked horns with the newbies from rival camps, sources in the BJP said.
On Thursday, the BJP emerged as the single largest party by winning 20 seats in the 40-member assembly, just one short of the majority mark, and later said it has secured support from regional outfit MGP, which bagged two seats.
If only the Congress could rebuild on its strengths and develop a modern enough ideology, we could again be moving towards a clearer two-party political landscape, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Having emerged as the face of opposition resistance to the Narendra Modi juggernaut after the TMC's triumph in the assembly elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is locked in an unequal battle as she squares off with "lightweight" rivals in her own lair--Bhabanipur.
Both the BJP and the Congress said they will seek support of the MGP in case they fall short of the majority mark of 21.
Naturally, the West Bengal chief minister is not leaving anything to chance, reports Ishita Ayan Dutt.
He clarified that if the saffron party does any better than what he has predicted, he would quit his work.
'Two years ago I told Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi that we have traitors in the Congress.'
'The way opposition parties such as the Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Jharkhand Mukti Morch have supported her, if she wins, she will be the biggest opposition face for 2024'
'The RSS-BJP fight against TMC excesses seem to have been limited to fighting the assembly poll, not coming to the defence of ordinary Bengalis who are being crushed daily by Trinamool goons,' points out Virendra Kapoor.
A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's comment that there was no United Progressive Alliance anymore, Kishor, who has earlier been political advisor to various parties, also called for democratically electing the opposition leadership.
West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party chief Dilip Ghosh on Saturday said that the party has to fulfil its long-cherished mission of winning the state not only to expand its ideological footprint but also to secure India's eastern borders, which have turned into a 'transit point for terror elements' trying to create unrest in the country.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has also filed a separate plea challenging the grant of remission to the convicts by the Gujarat government.
'Mamata is an emotional person, she follows her heart.' 'We loved that Didi, we still love her, but she is a changed person.' 'Why and how the change happened, who is responsible, I can't say.'
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider listing a plea challenging the grant of remission by the Gujarat government to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case.
Claiming that the Trinamool Congress is not perturbed over desertions by some leaders, she said politics is a solemn ideology and philosophy and one cannot change these everyday like clothes.
Whatever the outcome from the assembly elections, what's evident is that West Bengal has entered an era of identity politics, reports Ishita Ayan Dutt.
Hitting back at Prashant Kishor, Kailash Vijayvargiya remarked that the country will lose a poll strategist after his part forms the government in the state after the upcoming elections in the state.
The TMC leadership has decided to raise the issue in both the houses of Parliament.
Banerjee also criticised Dhankhar over his recent visit to North Bengal, claiming a conspiracy was being hatched to divide the region.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said she had suggested to the Congress that an advisory council comprising prominent personalities from civil society be set up to give a direction to the opposition, but rued that the plan did not materialise.
'For the time being, the party to put on hold induction of TMC leaders and focus on strengthening its grassroot level organisation.'
In Tripura, the challenge for the chief minister is less from the alliance partners and more from his own party, the BJP.
'This is the first time in Goa politics that a communal leadership is being foisted on Goa's people.'
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that the final decision on her party's stand on Presidential election would be taken three days before the polling date on July 19.
Shah, who held a closed door meeting to take stock of the party organisation, said he could 'sense massive public anger' against the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government in the state and gave a call to 'uproot' it in the state polls.
Campaigning came to an end on Saturday for the single-day election in Uttarakhand and Goa, two states known for political volatility where the Bharatiya Janata Party is attempting to retain power, and for the second phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on February 14.
Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who joined the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha election, lost to Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib constituency in Bihar by 2.84 votes.
All the candidates checked in the resort on Tuesday evening with their luggage, indicating that the government formation may be a long haul.
Noor, niece of Congress stalwart A B A Ghani Khan Choudhury, have quite often been taking stands which were not in line with that of the party's state leadership.
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