The Election Commission on Tuesday censured former Calcutta high court judge and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Abhijit Gangopadhyay for his comment against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and debarred him from campaigning for 24 hours.
A final decision on Congress joining the new government in West Bengal at the invitation of ally Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee will be taken by the party high command, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee said on Sunday. "We will take a final decision after discussions with the Congress high command. Decision will be disclosed at the appropriate time," Mukherjee said. "I congratulate Mamata Banerjee for this fantastic win. It is a big achievement," he said.
Trinamool Congress Legislature party on Monday formally nominated party leaders Biman Banerjee and Sonali Guha for the posts of speaker and deputy speaker respectively in West Bengal assembly.
Mamata Banerjee had founded the party in 1998 after breaking away from the Congress, and has headed it ever since.
Trinamool Congress sources on Wednesday claimed the Congress delayed the talks and made unreasonable demands on seat-sharing without acknowledging the ground reality.
Delivering a speech at a rally in Jalpaiguri on Wednesday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Congress-led UPA government of denying funds while spending 'so much money' for its advertisement campaign.
Protests were held in different parts of Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, Hooghly, Howrah, Birbhum, South 24 Parganas, Jalpaiguri districts, and Trinamool Congress supporters briefly blocked roads in some areas.
The Calcutta high court on Tuesday restrained West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and three others from making any defamatory or incorrect statement against Governor C V Ananda Bose.
A police complaint was filed by the Trinamool Congress in Siliguri for the comments Hazra made at a party programme in Baruipur in South 24 Parganas on Sunday evening. "Our workers are fighting a bigger enemy than corona. They are fighting Mamata Banerjee. When they (BJP cadres) have been able to fight it out against Mamata Banerjee without a mask, they think they can also fight against COVID-19 without wearing a mask," Hazra said.
Uproarious scenes on the concluding day of the special session on Thursday turned the West Bengal Assembly into a cauldron of chaos, as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's speech was repeatedly drowned out by slogan-shouting, leading to the suspension of five Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs and the collapse of two legislators during forcible eviction by marshalls.
Notwithstanding the snub from the party, Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Saturday said he stands by "every word" he has said about Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.
Dhankhar, who represented the Kishangarh Assembly constituency as a Congress MLA from 1993 to 1998, received pension as a former legislator until July 2019. It was discontinued after he was appointed the governor of West Bengal.
The Delhi High Court refused to accept TMC MP Saket Gokhale's written apology in a defamation case against former diplomat Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri, citing discrepancies and directing him to file a fresh one. The case involves allegations of defamatory utterances and financial impropriety.
The rally was not allowed to proceed towards the South Calcutta Law College, where the 24-year-old student was allegedly gang-raped by three men, including an alumnus of the institute, on June 25.
Banerjee, during a nearly 50-minute meeting with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at his south Kolkata residence on Saturday, proposed that Congress should join the ministry to be headed by her.
JD-U MP Sanjay Kumar Jha heads a diplomatic mission to Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and Singapore, to seek international cooperation after the Pahalgam attack while highlighting Pakistan's role in cross-border terrorism.
"All opposition parties should work together. It should be a one-to-one fight against the BJP. All opposition parties should help the strongest one in the state against the BJP," Banerjee said.
The Trinamool Congress supremo, who reached Khadikul village in this area, 11 days after the blast, also said the incident could have been averted if the state had received proper intelligence inputs.
Dissident Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament Somen Mitra on Wednesday resigned from the Lok Sabha giving effect to his plans to join the Congress ahead of the general election this year.
Banerjee, a former minister in the Mamata Banerjee government, said he 'repents' for joining the BJP ahead of the assembly elections despite being asked by the West Bengal chief minister not to leave TMC.
Senior Trinamool Congress minister Udayan Guha has sparked controversy by claiming that fingers of those blaming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and demanding her resignation over the alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor would be broken.
As many as 12 MPs out of Trinamool Congress's 19 were ready to vote against the diktat of their leader Mamata Banerjee.
Banerjee also appealed to the people of West Bengal not to get provoked over matters concerning the current situation in Bangladesh.
Questioning the 'certificates' given to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by her Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi, the Congress on Tuesday wondered if there was a secret "nexus" between the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Ahead of her party MPs' meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi on Tuesday over fuel price hike, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday said her party would not compromise on the price rise issue.
As the countdown begins for the Durga Puja festival, a section of Trinamool Congress supporters have put up a hoarding in Kolkata bearing various photographs of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee with a caption in Bengali -- 'Modishahsurmardini', punning with 'Mahisasuramardini' (demon slayer).
Is Mamata Banerjee's decision to support United Progressive Alliance's presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee going to change the dynamics of opposition politics in West Bengal? Both Congress and Communist Party of India Marxist rule out that possibility and insist that instead the heat would be more and more on the ruling Trinamool Congress in the coming days.
The internal party exchange unfolded amid an ongoing purported discord among party veterans, recognised as loyalists of Mamata Banerjee, and the younger generation, perceived as close to her nephew Abhishek.
Amid criticism over his absence from violence-hit Murshidabad in West Bengal, TMC leaders defended Baharampur MP Yusuf Pathan, saying he is "busy with the IPL." TMC sources expressed unhappiness with Pathan for not visiting the district during last week's communal clashes. Three people were killed in the clashes, which erupted during protests against recent amendments to the Waqf Act. The BJP seized the opportunity to criticize the ruling party, with Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar saying, "Bengal is burning under the indulgence of TMC leaders. But TMC MP Yusuf Pathan is busy sipping tea as Hindus get slaughtered. This is the true face of the TMC."
Banerjee, who lost the election in Nandigram, has to win this bypoll to retain the chief minister's post.
Reshuffling her 18-month-old ministry in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday inducted eight new faces, mostly from rural Bengal, with an eye on the coming panchayat elections in the state.
Indications from the Congress are that the party is veering round to the view that it cannot allow any troublesome ally to dictate terms on an issue like presidential poll and that the party has to prepare for any eventuality
Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien Thursday held West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury responsible for an alliance not working out between the two parties in West Bengal.
The announcement is seen as a bid to assert Banerjee's control over the party, and stem dissension between a section of TMC's old guard and the next generation leaders.
Will the dithering government buckle under pressure from Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to save itself from sinking into oblivion? Sheela Bhatt examines
A five-member delegation of TMC MPs, comprising Derek O'Brien, Satabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Pratima Mondal and Md Nadimul Haque, also met the farmers there to support their protest against the new farm laws.
Banerjee also said she was curious over why the BJP-led central government was 'worried' about her meeting Hasina.
'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.'
The convoy of West Bengal's Leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, was allegedly attacked by TMC workers during a protest in Cooch Behar. Bulletproof glasses of Adhikari's vehicle were smashed. TMC denies involvement, calling it a 'well-scripted drama'.
It will be her first public appearance after she was allegedly attacked by some people in Nandigram earlier this week.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances