Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters' list commenced in nine states and three Union territories on Tuesday, amid objections from several parties with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee leading the anti-SIR offensive in West Bengal with a rally in Kolkata and alleging 'silent, invisible rigging' through the exercise.
Banerjee also said she was curious over why the BJP-led central government was 'worried' about her meeting Hasina.
Sachin Mukherjee was shot dead by unknown assailants in Garia.
United Progressive Alliance on Wednesday projected a united picture on the eve of the Presidential poll with all constituents including Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and supporting parties attending a lunch hosted by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
Former Union Minister Deepa Dasmunsi was on Friday made the Congress candidate from Bhabanipur seat in West Bengal to take on Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee in the assembly elections.
The Congress party on Thursday sought to downplay Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee's remarks on alliance, saying she was only raising the issue of misuse of central forces in West Bengal, which she has the right to do.
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.
'The decline of the Congress party and its inability to play the lead role in Opposition politics has created a space for the TMC to expand.'
Seeking to keep Mamata Banerjee in good humour ahead of Presidential poll, the Congress on Tuesday said she had not crossed the limit by suggesting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's name for the President's post and played down the threat by the Trinamool Congress to pull out from government.
'The numbers have been scaled down for the Trinamool Congress. Today, the upper number of victories seems to be 30, with 25 seats being the realistic option. The Trinamool Congress may still be the largest non-BJP, non-Congress party in the next Lok Sabha, but it may not make it to the Cabinet table, leave alone sit in the top chair,' says T V R Shenoy.
Banerjee also appealed to the people of West Bengal not to get provoked over matters concerning the current situation in Bangladesh.
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.
Congress, which is an ally of the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, on Monday questioned the recurrence of train accidents and said the railway ministry was not safe in the hands of state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's party.
A day after the Congress sought to reach out to its allies, party general secretary M Shakeel Ahmed on Saturday called on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to discuss 'things important to the state and general national scenario'. Emerging from a meeting with Banerjee, which lasted for about 45 minutes, Ahmed told reporters, "It is a courtesy call. We discussed things which are important to West Bengal and the general national scenario."
Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress inflicted a crushing blow to the ruling Left front in the civic polls on Wednesday, capturing the prestigious Kolkata Municipal Corporation and bagging 36 other municipalities in the "semi-finals" ahead of next year's assembly elections.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asserted that ousting the Bharatiya Janata Party from power at the Centre in 2024 will be her 'last fight'.
Welcoming Trinamool Congress' move to withdraw support to the United Progressive Alliance government, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajnath Singh on Thursday said if Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party are "honestly opposed" to FDI in retail they should also follow Mamata Banerjee's footsteps.
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.
Having been outwitted by Trinamool Congress' Mamata Banerjee after she sent the Tata Nano car project packing from West Bengal by demanding that land be returned to unwilling farmers, the Communist Party of India-Marxist is getting ready to do a Singur on Banerjee.
The rancour of associating with the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist while forming the board of the Siliguri Corporation has now created a major problem for the West Bengal unit of the Congress, as Debaprasad Roy, one of the vice-presidents of the state Congress, has resigned from the post, protesting the Left help sought by his party to gain power in the municipality.
In a video, Mamata Banerjee can be seen pouring tea into paper cups from a large kettle as people gather around her and record videos of the act.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has filed an election petition against Suvendu Adhikari before the Calcutta high court and the matter is listed for hearing before a single bench.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Wednesday hit out at the Trinamool Congress blaming it for seeking the stoppage of anti-Maoist operations in West Bengal and providing 'political patronage' to the extremists.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi shared moments together, enquiring about each other's health and strategising on opposition unity on the first day of the Bengaluru summit, sources told PTI.
The bypolls are considered to be important ahead of the assembly elections in 2016.
'Why should they say that their doors are open? Are we beggars? My doors are open for them,' a defiant Mamata said.
The Congress initially was aspiring for a contest in 90 seats in West Bengal. However, it seems the party decided to settle for a compromise to keep the alliance alive.
Capping weeks of hard bargaining, Congress finally accepted Trinamool Congress' seat-sharing formula and will contest 14 of the 42 seats while Trinamool Congress would be in fray in 28.
Banerjee, on a visit to Maharashtra, was scheduled to meet Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray earlier, but as he is unwell, she met his son and minister Aaditya Thackeray, sources said.
The Trinamool Congress on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of spreading lies and criminalising poverty over the detention of Bengali-speaking migrant workers in Odisha, while the saffron party charged the Mamata Banerjee dispensation with providing shelters to illegal immigrants.
A fresh strain in the Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance came to the fore on Friday when Youth Congress workers took out a silent procession in Kolkata denouncing "attacks" on Congress by the alliance partner in West Bengal.
TC insiders said at the moment she was not willing to join hands with any faction of state Congress and was more interested in strengthening her party organisation.
A senior TMC leader will be present at the proposed meeting, he said.
Industry leaders have urged the government to carry forward the reforms process.
Banerjee made it clear that she expected the seat-sharing formula to give priority to regional players in areas where they were strong.
Hundreds of local people and party activists accompanied her, shouting the slogan of 'Mamata Banerjee Zindabad!'.
Ghosh's elder son, Biswajit, claimed that this was a planned attempt to murder his father, and alleged that Shahjahan pulled strings sitting in jail to carry out the crime.
'The last three phases, the Trinamool gained more than expected due to Covid mismanagement by the Centre.'
Reaching out to arch rival Communist Party of India - Marxist, the Trinamool Congress on Thursday invited outgoing West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new government, to be headed by Mamata Banerjee.Deputy leader of the Trinamool Congress legislature party Partha Chatterjee met Bhattacharjee at his Palm Avenue residence in Kolkata and invited him for the ceremony.Chatterjee invited both Bhattacharjee and his wife Meera.
Chowdhury termed Banerjee as an "opportunist politician" who altered her stance after realising the changing political landscape.
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