In a stern two-page letter to West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said stricter enforcement of lockdown norms was necessary to contain the spread of coronavirus in the state.
From Bollywood strong men to cricketing greats, celebrities upped the glam quotient this poll season. Some we will see as future MPs, the others just have to get back to business. Rediff.com takes a look at some popular faces, who fought Election 2019 and here's the verdict on them.
Allegations of strains on democratic and constitutional institutions across the board, security threats from outside, a greedy Opposition inside, were all a part of the package then as now, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Indian Meteorological Department, meanwhile, warned of intense spell of 30 to 50 mm rainfall per hour with strong winds in Mumbai and suburban areas.
In his separate telephone conversations with Tripathi and Banerjee, the home minister took stock of the prevailing situation in the riot-hit area.
Tapas, the TMC upa-panchayat pradhan of the area, was absconding ever since his name surfaced in the first information report lodged by the family of Kaushik Purkait who was beaten to death on Monday night.
Mayank Mishra reports on how the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal has been extending patronage to the ruling party cadre.
Justice Chakraborty said that the petitioner BJP will be vicariously responsible for any damage or loss of public property.
Siddaramaiah added that all efforts would be made to provide drinking water to Bengaluru and other places as also for crops.
Noisy protests disrupted the both houses of the Parliament on the first day of the second part of the budget session
The Trinamool Congress sought complete withdrawal of the NRC, alleging that Indian citizens have also been left out of the final draft.
A day after an under-construction flyover collapsed in the city leaving at least 24 dead, the police on Friday night arrested three top officials of a Hyderabad based company which was building the flyover and slapped murder charges on them.
Many BJP leaders are of the view that most key members of the previous Cabinet could be retained.
The Bharatiya Janata Party decided to put on hold Shah's proposed rally and the Rath Yatra, saying it will wait for the final order from the high court, which will now hear an appeal by the saffron party on Friday morning.
The two-day nationwide strike called by central trade unions to protest the Centre's alleged anti-worker policies evoked mixed response all over country 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.
Indrani Roy/Rediff.com visits Ranaghat in West Bengal's Nadia district, the scene of the horrific rape of a 72-year-old nun, and encounters a clueless police and a frightened Christian community.
By-elections to Lok Sabha and assembly seats in the states of Assam, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Tamil and West Bengal passed off peacefully on Saturday amidst tight security.
The Narendra Modi wave seems to have reached the Bengal shores, indicated by the more than two-fold increase in the membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party's state unit.
The parties, including the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Trinamool Congress, said they will collectively oppose the Union home ministry's order issued on Thursday.
The fate of 961 candidates, including Union ministers Giriraj Singh, Subhash Bhamre, S S Ahluwalia and Babul Supriyo of the BJP and former Union ministers Salman Khurshid and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress, will be decided by about 12.79 core voters in the fourth phase.
'If anybody makes an attempt to create trouble -- be they Hindus or Muslims -- they will be tackled strictly.'
The Special Protection Group, the National Security Guard, the Central Reserve Police Force, the Central Industrial Security Force and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police are ensuring a watertight VIP security cover everyday to politicians campaigning across the country.
In a candid conversation Indrani Mitra, educationist Sunanda Sanyal explains why many intellectuals like him are disillusioned with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
When Modi's name was called out by the Secretary General for taking oath, Members from the ruling National Democratic Alliance thumped the desk greeting the Prime Minister with slogans such as 'Modi Modi' and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'.
In its interim order, a Madurai bench directed the Centre to file counter in 4 weeks.
'There is no difference morally between politicians scoring points amid the rubble and non-politicians who assume that politics and corruption necessarily had something to do with it,' says Mihir S Sharma. 'Both are twisting a tragedy to their own ends.'
RJD president Lalu Prasad on Thursday said Railway Budget has cheated people as it has nothing to offer.
Can Baichung Bhutia's Hamro Sikkim party pose a challenge to Pawan Chamling who has not lost an election in 24 years?
The ruling Trinamool Congress said it was contemplating to appeal in the Supreme Court to hold the panchayat polls in West Bengal before Ramzan, a day after the apex court rescheduled the dates and directed that it be held in five phases from July 11.
During a media interaction, Mamata Banerjee voiced her discontent over the Centre's 'stepfatherly' attitude towards Bengal. Banerjee's detractors feel that the agenda that she conveyed to the media is nothing but an eyewash. According to them, 'Mamata and Modi are heading towards an alliance of convenience'. Indrani Roy reports from Kolkata on the agenda and politics of prime minister two-day visit to the state.
The march to the secretariat in Howrah district was organised by the Left parties to protest against what they called attack on democracy, and unemployment and lawlessness in the state during Trinamool Congress rule.
The Tamil Nadu government welcomed the decision, hailing it as a 'grand victory for the 'Amma (Jayalalithaa) government' and the state's farmers'.
"(Former PM) Atal Bihari Vajpayee said 'raj dharma' was not followed in Gujarat (during the 2002 riots). Now, 'raj dharma' is not being followed in case of Andhra Pradesh. We have been denied what was rightfully ours," he claimed.
The party president also said that India's self-confidence, pride and scale of ambition have grown manifold in three years.
Opposition said saying it lacked vision and road map to execute ideas.
Allegations of electronic voting machines malfunctioningreturned to haunt the Election Commission as four Lok Sabha seats and nine assembly constituencies went for bypolls on Monday across 10 states with moderate-to-heavy voting amid prestige at stake for the Bharatiya Janata Party as well as opposition parties ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Scripting history, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday stormed to power in Assam bagging a government in the north east for the first time dethroning the Congress which also lost Kerala while Jayalalithaa and Mamata Banerjee retained power in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal with spectacular victories.
Thirty-five per cent of the 64,41,634 voters exercised their franchise till noon on Monday in five Lok Sabha constituencies of Assam where four persons clashed with CRPF personnel demanding that they be allowed to cast their vote first in Kaliabor constituency.
Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said the "historic day will remain etched in their memories forever".
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