From putting up a decent performance in the last Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh winning 10 seats stitching an alliance with arch rival Samajwadi Party, Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party drew a blank in the current general elections, dealing a severe blow to its reputation of representing the voice of Dalits in the state.
"My decision to join the BJP was a wrong one and I can feel that today. I did not bother to tell the BJP about leaving that party. I always felt unwanted there. They tried to use me and asked me to badmouth Mamata-di. I could not do that," she said.
'The Congress can exist without (someone from) the Nehru-Gandhi family being its president.'
Roy, on his part, said the decision to name him in the first information report was 'politically motivated'.
Banerjee, who was speaking to reporters at West Bengal's state secretariat, said that her party's name will remain the All India Trinamool Congress.
Tiwari, who was also the Asansol civic body chief, quit the TMC on Thursday, following in the footsteps of the party's former heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari. Sources close to the leaders indicated that they may join the BJP soon, but things seems to have taken a different turn for Tiwari, as Supriyo and other BJP leaders opposed his entry into the saffron party.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday received wholehearted support from a group of women from the troubled Sandeshkhali area who met her after a Trinamool Congress rally in Kolkata, party sources said.
He said his supporters were apprehensive that joining TMC would invite the "outside party" to Goa which will split votes.
Sandeshkhali Block 2, the epicentre of the violent protests triggered by allegations of land encroachment and sexual misconduct involving local TMC leaders, has contributed the largest share of close to 1,000 complaints.
Cricketer Yusuf Pathan will contest from the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat, whereas Kirti Aazd will fight from the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency.
Several prominent opposition leaders including Nationalist Congress Party's Sharad Pawar, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah will share the dais at a rally being organised by Indian National Lok Dal in Haryana's Fatehabad on Sunday.
Bypolls in three assembly constituencies in as many states passed off peacefully on Monday with around over 70 per cent voter turnout, though some technical glitches in electronic voting machine were reported in Tamil Nadu and the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal alleged that the Central Reserve Police Force was "influencing" voters.
The demonstration was held by the protesting school job aspirants at Camac Street in South Kolkata, where TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee's office is located.
Should the anti-defection law in India exist only to prevent democratically elected governments from being toppled?
Adhikari, a former minister in the cabinet of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, had resigned from the primary membership of the TMC on Thursday.
The special judge of MP/MLA court at Bidhannagar directed that Shah is "required to appear in person/by pleader" at 10 am on that day.
West Bengal Congress spokesperson Kaustav Bagchi was granted bail by a court in Kolkata on Saturday evening, hours after being arrested for his alleged comments against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Those who quit included deputy chief minister Y JoyKumar Singh.
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.
A Sikh Indian Police Service officer, who was deputed at Dhamakhali to prevent senior West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari from visiting restive Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district, got agitated after a group of activists of the saffron party allegedly hurled the 'Khalistani' jibe at him.
Supreme Court judge Justice Aniruddha Bose on Tuesday recused himself from hearing appeals of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and state law minister Moloy Ghatak about their role on the day of arrest of four TMC leaders by the CBI in the Narada sting tape case.
Banerjee, who lost the election in Nandigram, has to win this bypoll to retain the chief minister's post.
Adhikari had demanded Roy's resignation under the anti-defection law, pointing out that the latter joined the TMC despite winning the assembly polls from the Krishnanagar Uttar assembly constituency on a BJP ticket.
A number of high-profile electoral battles, starring veterans and debutants, formidable opponents and unlikely contestants, feature in Tuesday's outcome.
Ahead of the 2022 assembly elections, Churchill Alemao 'merged' the NCP with the TMC. The 'merger' took place when Mamata Banerjee was in Mumbai talking to NCP supreme leader Sharad Pawar on how to forge Opposition unity!
Local women with sticks and brooms in their hands took out processions in different areas of Sandeshkhali as the protests intensified on the second day on Friday.
The Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party on Wednesday decided to forge a pre-poll alliance for the next month's assembly elections in Goa, saying that the Congress didn't respond to their proposal for a joint contest.
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.
What some of our leaders were up to on Tuesday and Wednesday.
West Bengal minister Jakir Hossain was seriously injured after unidentified attackers hurled a crude bomb at him on Nimtita railway station in Murshidabad district on Wednesday night, police said.
With Thursday's win, the Congress's strength in the Lok Sabha has gone up to 48.
Sekhar Roy was summoned by the police in connection with a social media post he made over the alleged rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Trinamool Congress on Wednesday suspended party Member of Legislative Assembly Sikha Mitra for violating the party's stand. "I am scared to enter the assembly after Tuesday's violence," Mitra had told media personnel earlier on Wednesday, reacting to the ugly brawl in the legislature on Tuesday.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said she has written to the Centre, seeking permission to visit the strife-torn state of Manipur.
The Supreme Court on Friday annulled the Calcutta high court's June 9 order refusing to take on record the reply-affidavits of West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and state Law Minister Moloy Ghatak on their role on the day of arrest of four Trinamool Congress leaders on May 17 by the Central Bureau of Investigation in Narada scam case.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda and new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday while Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will witness polling on February 27.
Saturday's voting will mark the end to the marathon polling process that began on April 19 month and has already covered 486 Lok Sabha seats in 28 states and Union territories.
The legendary Bhaichung Bhutia on Friday filed his nomination for the president's post in the upcoming AIFF elections but getting through won't be easy for the former footballer as several candidates with political affiliations have also thrown their hats in the ring.
A designated MP/MLA court on Monday forwarded a case of defamation brought against Union Home Minister Amit Shah by Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee to the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Kolkata over jurisdiction issues.
Sources at the private hospital where Mitra was admitted to said he died due to heart and age-related ailments.
