The resignation also signals a continuing saga of unaddressed concerns of young leaders, once considered close to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
Voting for the bypolls in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu were held on Wednesday.
Bandyopadhyay, eminent playwright and director, said in a statement that he is returning the award conferred on him earlier this year by the Paschimbanga Natya Akademi and the Rs 30,000 monetary grant.
The BJP may be in the Opposition in many states, but nowhere is it as divided as it is in Karnataka, points out Aditi Phadnis.
The TMC-led West Bengal government has already started laying the groundwork for the election, setting the tone with the recent Bengal Global Business Summit and the state Budget.
Armed with sticks, they set ablaze thatched structures near a fishing yard in Belmajur area of Sandeshkhali, venting their fury against the elusive TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh and his brother Siraj. The torched structure, it was revealed, belonged to Siraj.
The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday demanded from the West Bengal government that 300 acres of land should be given from within the Tata Motors project area in Singur to "unwilling farmers".
As BJP leaders went all out to project the event as a moment of national pride, some leaders were directly critical of the ceremony with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, belonging to the Communist Party of India-Marxist, slamming the state's role in the Ram Temple consecration, saying the line that demarcates religion and state seems to be 'getting thinner and thinner'.
The West Bengal assembly on Tuesday turned into a virtual battlefield with the ruling Trinamool Congress and Opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist members scuffling and trading blows resulting in injuries to three MLAs, with the Speaker suspending three Marxist members for the rest of the short winter session.
'Most senior Congress leaders in Assam have a secret understanding with the BJP.' 'They are hobnobbing with the chief minister for their self-interest.'
Navigating a history of animosity and mistrust, negotiations for a potential Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance in West Bengal face significant challenges while addressing the shared adversary of the Bharatiya Janata Party, with the Bengal Congress unit appearing reluctant to engage in an electoral pact.
Both the BJP and Congress understand that coalitions and alliances are not just about numbers, but have symbolic value.
Speaking to reporters at Kanthi in Purba Medinipur district, Giri said he will resign but won't apologise.
A day after a Bharatiya Janata Party delegation met President Ram Nath Kovind seeking dismissal of the Mamata Banerjee government over the "political murder" of a party MLA, the West Bengal chief minister wrote a latter to him claiming the saffron party might have presented "distorted facts".
Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra and former party leader Sovan Chatterjee, who were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Narada sting case, were admitted to a hospital in Kolkata early on Tuesday after their health condition deteriorated in a correctional home, an official said.
The West Bengal assembly on Tuesday plunged into bedlam with ruling Trinamool Congress and Left members coming to blows and the speaker suspending three Left MLAs, while three injured members were taken to hospital.
Congress MP from Sultanpur Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh Sanjoy Singh is one of the Congress candidates who have filed nominations for the February 7 election to the three Rajya Sabha seats from Assam.
The Supreme Court granted regular bail to former TMC youth leader Kuntal Ghosh in a corruption case linked to the West Bengal primary school recruitment scam. Ghosh, who has been in custody for 19 months, will be released from jail after being granted bail in the money laundering case linked to the scam on November 20. The court said it was not likely that the trial would be completed in the foreseeable near future.
Those trying to use my father to serve their political interests should be ashamed of themselves, Mukul Roy's son said.
All the winners in the assembly bypolls were from the respective ruling parties.
In a rerun of the 'Reclaim the Night' campaign, hundreds of women took to the streets in Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal on Sunday night, demanding justice for the alleged rape and murder of a doctor in the state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday asserted that she did not threaten junior doctors at state-run hospitals, who have been continuing cease-work for 21 days now to protest against the alleged rape and murder of a woman medic. Addressing a rally organised by the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad, Banerjee had on Wednesday urged the agitating junior doctors of Bengal to urgently consider returning to duty and said she doesn't want to lodge first information reports (FIRs) against the striking doctors in consideration of their future careers.
Maintaining that the letter of resignation was not written in accordance with the rules of conduct of business in the assembly, Banerjee said it did not have any mention of the date from which the legislator wanted to vacate his seat.
Besides Defence Minister Singh (Lucknow), Minister of Women and Child Development Irani (Amethi), those in the fray are Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj) and Minister of State of Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur).
Clashes broke out between two groups during a Ram Navami procession in West Bengal's Hooghly district on Sunday evening, police said.
The top ten richest candidates are from the Trinamool Congress which has won a second consecutive term.
Trinamool Congress leadership is yet to take a call on ghar wapsi (return home) by former TMC leaders who had joined the BJP ahead of the recently concluded assembly elections which the Mamata Banerjee-led party swept.
One person was killed and around 40 houses were ransacked during a clash between workers of the Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist at Hatishala village under Chapra police station in Nadia district on Tuesday.
'After joining, I realised the TMC in no way could bring a 'new dawn' in Goa.'
The victory was marked with the support of 32 of the total 60 MLAs in the assembly.
West Bengal minister and veteran Trinamool Congress leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay is all set to vacate the Bhabanipur assembly seat on Friday as party supremo Mamata Banerjee is likely to contest bypoll from the constituency, party sources said.
Delhi faces a severe financial crunch and the deficit is largely due to numerous welfare schemes without adequate revenue flowing in. The success of welfare schemes and electoral promises will need careful financial planning and out of the box thinking to whip up additional revenue, notes Ramesh Menon.
Ahead of the day-long Opposition meeting on Friday, Samvad Bhavan, Rajkiye Atithisala and Sadaquat Ashram have got a facelift.
TMC demanded 'strong action' for the 'unfounded, inappropriate and illegal' campaign and utterances of Modi.
'Two years ago I told Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi that we have traitors in the Congress.'
Senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress were stopped by police on Friday from visiting the trouble-torn Sandeshkhali, escalating the political tensions in the state as the leaders accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of fostering a 'lawless situation' and attempting to 'communalise' the issue.
The Bharatiya Janata Party surprised many with its latest list of Lok Sabha candidates for West Bengal, nominating a protester from Sandeshkhali for the Basirhat constituency and changing the seats of its two incumbent MPs -- the party's former state chief Dilip Ghosh and ex-Union minister Debasree Chowdhury.
Amid the political blame game over Bengal's potato ban, which led to shortages in Jharkhand and Odisha, Uttar Pradesh farmers are the unlikely winners.
The development is a major boost for West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has been trying to expand her party's footprint beyond her native state.
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