Terming as "appropriate" the decision by her favoured candidate A P J Abdul Kalam to pull out of the Presidential race, Congress renewed its appeal to Mamata Banerjee to back UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee.
The industry body Ficci, whose Secretary General Amit Mitra is among the winning Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidates in West Bengal elections, on Friday described the TMC victory as "historic".
"I appeal to everyone to maintain peace. I hope to be back on the field in the next few days," Banerjee said.
The Congress and Left Front on Thursday finalised sharing of 193 seats of the total 294 in West Bengal assembly with the Left parties getting the lion's share of 101 seats.
TMC MP writes to Mark Zuckerberg, raises issue of Facebook's alleged bias towards the BJP.
Adani group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation at the Gautam Adani-led group. The group has maintained it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.
CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, who wants a debate in Parliament on FDI in retail, says that the way political parties are poised in Parliament they won't be able to win the motion of no-confidence. Sheela Bhatt reports
'The Maoists will not lose ground because of the State. The way they are responding to people's problems is why they will lose ground' feels CPI-ML leader Dipankar Bhattacharya.
EC said it has decided to 'withdraw' the press note announcing the elections to RS seats from Goa, Gujarat and West Bengal.
A basic outline and roadmap for Opposition unity are likely to be deliberated upon with the contentious issue of seat sharing and leadership questions to be avoided for now.
"In Bengal, the region of India I come from, we call this humanistic philosophy of 'Ma, Maati and Manush' signifying an equilibrium of the universally caring Mother, the earth, that nurtures us and human beings who must be central to our developmental endeavours," TMC MP Derek O'Brien told delegates while speaking on why poverty eradication should be the focus of UN's operational activities for development.
The Congress core group met at the prime minister's residence late on Wednesday night and weighed options to deal with the demand made by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to sack Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi.
Days after Bharatiya Janata Party MP Arjun Singh rejoined the Trinamool Congress, at least 20 saffron party leaders in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri have tendered their resignation together from their party posts, accusing the district leadership of taking money in lieu of inducting members in a local panel, a party functionary said on Wednesday.
An angry Nadda called the attack 'unprecedented' and alleged the state has slipped into 'complete lawlessness and goonda raj'. He also said the violence reflected the 'frustration' of the Mamata Banerjee government. West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee insinuated the attack was staged.
A defeat in Assam would be bad news for the Congress which is in power in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur.
The party's national general secretary, Mukul Roy, said, "This government has no moral or ethical right to place a railway budget."
Opposition parties on Monday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh for not allowing their leaders to visit Lakhimpur Kheri after eight people died in violence there during an anti farm law protest, alleging it was an attempt to cover up and demanding the sacking of Union Minister Ajay Mishra and the arrest of his son, who have been named in an FIR.
According to sources, several opposition leaders are also considering boycotting the inaugural function on Sunday, alleging that the government has insulted the President.
The now active member of the Janata Dal-United has been approached by Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and Janata Dal-Secular in Karnataka to help them in the upcoming elections, reports Satyavrat Mishra.
The allegations drew sharp reactions from the ruling TMC, which condemned the "vulture politics" of the saffron camp, further requesting it not to politicize the death.
Sources in various parties suggest that two lakh votes of the Patel community, locally known as OBC kurmi, for which mother-daughter led Apna Dal (S) and Apna Dal (K) are competing and over one lakh of OBC Rajbhars would be crucial in deciding the outcome of the assembly seats in Varanasi.
The repolling started at 7 am amid tight security with four central forces personnel deployed in each booth, besides state police. Till 11 am, 10.9 per cent voter turnout was recorded.
Reacting to TMC's jibe, West Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said "agents of BJP" should not advise the party how to fight against the saffron camp.
'Why don't you contest the election for PM's post. You are media, you can also contest'
The 'Group of 23' leaders who participated included Ghulam Nabi Azad, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Anand Sharma, Mukul Wasnik, Prithviraj Chavan, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor, besides Sibal who hosted the post-birthday dinner for them.
The feisty 56-year-old Banerjee, who is the founder and chairperson of the Trinamool Congress which she set up in 1998 after falling out with the Congress Party in West Bengal, can now have the satisfaction of a victorious General seeing all the war plans fall into place.
Justice Gangopadhyay said that he will abide by the SC's order. He maintained that everybody has to abide by the Supreme Court's directions and as part of the high court judiciary, he will also do the same.
Earlier, only Azad was scheduled to meet Sonia Gandhi.
The Trinamool Congress chief has slight fever and has been shifted to aspecial ward at the hospital's VVIP Woodburn Block soon after the MRI at the Bangur Institute of Neurosciences, he added.
'There is no hard evidence, but our MLAs have been getting calls from industrialists and mining mafia in the state to quit the Congress and join the BJP.'
Chatterjee, who also held several portfolios in the Banerjee government as a minister, lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah for their bold leadership and said there should be no place for negative politics, an apparent attack on TMC supremo.
Claiming that at least 14 Bharatiya Janata Party workers were killed and nearly one lakh people fled their homes in post-poll violence in West Bengal, party president J P Nadda on Wednesday alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's silence speaks of her involvement.
The Congress and other opposition parties have accused the police of bias and inaction in the Delhi violence.
"If you show us (threaten us with) ED, we will also send proof against BJP leaders to the agency. A section of BJP ministers and leaders is hand in glove with the coal mafia. They even stayed at hotels run by them during elections," she said.
It will be a 'tough fight' between the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress in this month's assembly polls in West Bengal while in Kerala the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front had an 'edge' over the Congress-led United Democratic Front, Communist Party of India General Secretary A B Bardhan said on Friday.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday justified its support to United Progessive Alliance Presidential poll nominee Pranab Mukherjee, saying abstention would have not only meant "lining up" with Trinamool Congress but also blunted its intervention in the emerging political scenario.
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday said the Missionaries of Charity's application for renewal of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) registration was refused on December 25 for not meeting eligibility conditions as some adverse inputs were received.
Trinamool Congress vice-president Yashwant Sinha on Sunday demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah following the outcome of West Bengal assembly poll.pti
One person was critically injured after being hit by a bullet fired accidentally from a police revolver.
'It could backfire on the BJP and boost the Opposition parties.'