The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday issued summonses to two Trinamool Congress leaders, including MP and popular Bengali actor Dev, for questioning in connection with its probes into money laundering cases, an official said.
This is a complete betrayal of the mandate of the people of the Sagardighi Assembly constituency, Ramesh said on Twitter.
'Mamata needs the Congress more than the Congress needs the alliance,' says a Congress leader. 'If the Trinamool and Congress fight the election together, a party survey claims the Trinamool will get around 165 out of 294 seats, but without us, the Trinamool could get somewhere around 130. It will be a few seats less than a majority.'
"We will complain. He can meditate, but televisions cannot show it," she said, alleging that this will amount to "violation of the MCC."
Firmly opposing the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said her party would not allow any move to divide West Bengal.
Six Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, were suspended from the West Bengal assembly over staging protests in the House in view of unrest in Sandeshkhali.
Kumar, who hosted the first such meeting, said they were working in the national interest and accused the BJP of acting against the national interest as it was trying to change the country's history.
In another display of the politics of threat in West Bengal, a ruling Trinamool Congress Member of Legislative Assembly openly threatened to "behead" a Congress leader in Birbhum district.
Draped in black shawls, Trinamool Congress MPs on Monday staged a protest outside Parliament House against the arrest of West Bengal minister Madan Mitra in the Saradha chit fund case, accusing the Centre of misusing the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Bharatiya Janata Party's youth-wing leader Pamela Goswami, arrested in a drugs case, on Saturday demanded the arrest of party colleague Rakesh Singh, accusing him of conspiracy, and sought a CID probe into the matter.
Dismissing the allegation, BJP district general secretary Shyamal Roy claimed that the murder was a fallout of infighting within the ruling party.
Questions are being raised on the future of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) as differences among its constituents come to the fore and several parties call for serious introspection by the Congress after a string of debilitating electoral losses.
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Police have leveled serious charges, including attempt to murder, assault with intent to outrage the modesty of a woman, and causing grievous hurt, against arrested Trinamool Congress strongman Tajemul Islam in the Chopra flogging case, a senior police officer said on Tuesday.
A call made by Mamata Banerjee to Vijayamma, wife of late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Dr Y S Rajashekhar Reddy and mother of Jagan Mohan Reddy, is adding frown lines to the faces of Congress and Telegu Desam Party leaders alike.
Bypolls will be held on Wednesday in 31 assembly seats spread across 10 states and Kerala's Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, from where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is making her electoral debut. Though these bye-elections are not going to have any bearing on the governments, they are seen as a big test for the Congress and the INDIA bloc which failed to put up a united show in the recent Haryana assembly polls. Most of these seats fell vacant after the sitting MLAs contested the Lok Sabha elections and won while in some constituencies, the bypolls are being held due to death of the representatives. The Wayanad seat was vacated by Rahul Gandhi, who also won from the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency which he kept. Voting will be held in seven seats in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, five in Assam, four seats in Bihar, three in Karnataka, two seats in Madhya Pradesh, and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala and Meghalaya. Votes will be counted on November 23.
Future Gaming of lottery king Santiago Martin was the biggest purchaser of electoral bonds at Rs 1,368 crore, of which nearly 37 percent went to the DMK.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday called up Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee after which the key United Progressive Alliance ally decided to attend a meeting of the ruling coalition in Delhi on July 14.
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.
Addressing a press conference, Pawar said the trends of the assembly polls (in five states set to be held in November) suggest the situation is favourable for the opposition, but added he had no authentic information to comment on whether there would be a change (in government) at the national level.
The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments of Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala, a crucial electoral exercise since the parliamentary polls in April-May, will begin at 8 am on Saturday.
A total of 78 Muslims were in the fray in the Lok Sabha elections this year, a significant drop from the last polls when 115 Muslim candidates were fielded by various parties.
Trinamool Congress strongman Shajahan Sheikh, accused of sexual abuse and land grab in West Bengal's Sandeshkhali, was on Thursday suspended from the party for six years, TMC leader Derek O'Brien said.
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.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee to appear before it in Kolkata on November 9 in connection with the alleged school jobs scam, a TMC leader said on Wednesday.
Consensus emerged on the appointment of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as the chairperson of the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), while Janata Dal-United chief Nitish Kumar's name was proposed for the convener's post, pending approval of parties absent at the alliance meeting on Saturday, according to sources.
One person was killed and at least 18 others were injured in a series of clashes between supporters of Trinamool Congress and Communist Party of India since Sunday night in West Midnapore district, police said on Monday.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said his party was discussing the seat-sharing arrangements for the Lok Sabha polls with the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, and the issue would be "resolved".
The party also doubted "there is no way of knowing with certainty as to whether these weapons were indeed recovered during the search or whether they were surreptitiously planted by the CBI or NSG".
Polling for the fifth phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections will take place on May 20, 2024, with 49 seats going to the polls across 8 states.
Expressing his resentment over the "attitude of some junior doctors of Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital," Kabir, the Bharatpur MLA in Murshidabad district said, "They agitate and protest in airconditioned rooms while the masses suffer on streets."
A woman on Thursday lodged a police complaint, alleging that she was abducted by three persons from outside her residence in West Bengal's Sandeshkhali where allegations of sexual abuse against Trinamool Congress leaders have been levelled.
"I am really disappointed with the way the party is functioning. I am fed up with so many allegations of corruption levelled against the party and the government. I also do not support the way the issue of Sandeshkhali was handled," he said while maintaining that the dual issues of corruption and Sandeshkhali were the primary triggers for his decision to quit.
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.
The National Testing Agency, under fire over the lapses in the conduct of NEET and UGC-NET, is gearing up to conduct on Sunday a retest for the medical entrance exam for 1,563 candidates who were earlier awarded grace marks to make up for the loss of time at six centres.
The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday denied involvement in the killing of two senior Communist Party of India-Marxist leaders in Burdwan town, claiming the two were victims of "mob fury".
In a major setback to the opposition INDIA bloc, Banerjee announced that her party has decided to go alone in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The TMC would field one candidate for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Haasan said his party would extend full support to him.
Trinamool Congress strategy of opposing the United Progressive Alliance candidate has raised question mark over its continuance in the Congress-led coalition.
The women's reservation bill is back in focus ahead of Parliament's winter session, with several opposition parties, including the Janata Dal-United, which had once opposed the move, demanding that it be introduced and passed in this session.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances