He said though the Bharatiya Janata Party wants to expand its influence in the Trinamool Congress-ruled state, its goal is to rid West Bengal of the 'environment of terror'. "Bengal is the only state in the entire country where the culture of political violence is flourishing," he told the BJP's virtual 'Jan Samvad' rally.
Claiming that their activists were under attack from 'Trinamool Congress-led anti-socials', the Left parties on Wednesday asked the Election Commission to take immediate steps to ensure free and fair polls in West Bengal, including ordering the execution of non-bailable warrants against criminals who were 'terrorising' people ahead of the vote.The four parties also alleged that a prominent media group, which they said was 'acting as an official mouthpiece' of Mamata Banerjee'
What about Uttar Pradesh Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Gujarat and Bihar? Mamata asked.
The family members of Border Security Force constable Purnam Kumar Shaw, who was released by Pakistan from its custody on Wednesday, expressed immense relief and gratitude to the central government and BSF authorities for securing his return.
INDIA bloc parties are set to raise issues such as the Pahalgam attack, US President Trump's claims of brokering a ceasefire, and concerns over electoral roll revisions in Bihar during the Parliament's Monsoon session.
"Even without her, we have over 60 per cent votes that may go up with others' support and hence we are just not counting on Trinamool," a Congress functionary said on Monday.
BJP protest outside Mamata Banerjee's residence over attack on BJP leader Roopa Ganguly's convoy
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'.
"Not a single woman (from Sandeshkhali) has lodged any FIR. It was me who directed the police to lodge a suo motu case. Our block president has been arrested," she said.
Disgruntled West Bengal minister Rabindranath Bhattacharya, who has refused to take up his new ministerial assignment, on Tuesday stoked the 'cut money' debate, urging Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to tackle corruption in party ranks.
The Congress is hopeful of soon finalising the Lok Sabha poll seat-sharing arrangements with the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) allies Aam Aadmi Party and Trinamool Congress, sources said on Friday, days after the principal opposition party arrived at an understanding with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.
Asserting that her government has zero tolerance to incidents of rape, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said an amendment to existing laws will be passed in the state assembly next week to ensure capital punishment to convicted rapists.
Former United Progressive Alliance ally Trinanmool Congress on Sunday said West Bengal was "thoroughly deprived" in the reshuffle of the Union council of ministers as none was made a Cabinet minister and the three Congress leaders made ministers of state were there only to "needle" TC.
Seeking intensification of the joint operations against Maoists, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) launched a scathing attack on the Trinamool Congress on Thursday for "playing footsie" with the extremists for electoral gains.
'She could have sat down with the students and taken a list of their grievances including their allegations and suspicions.' 'Not all suspicions are true, but you have to listen, you have to let the steam come out.'
The TMC released a video, in which a man, claimed to be a BJP mandal president in Sandeshkhali, was heard saying that leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly "Suvendu Adhikari is behind the whole conspiracy".
The party also announced the names of Milan Ghosh and Sujit Das for Samserganj and Jangipur seats respectively.
A day after it received a considerable drubbing in Howrah Lok Sabha bye-election, Congress today sought to attribute Trinamool Congress's win to a "nexus between Mamata Banerjee's party and the Bharatiya Janata Party", saying it was the latter's 'gift' to Banerjee for walking out of the United Progressive Alliance.
A delegation of the National Commission for Women (NCW), led by its chairman Vijaya Rahatkar, met with riot-affected women in Murshidabad district of West Bengal, assuring them of safety and demanding an NIA probe into the recent communal clashes. The women narrated their harrowing experiences and demanded permanent BSF camps in select areas of the district. The NCW team also visited relief camps in Malda district and assessed the condition of women affected by the violence.
Mamata said that she raised the issue of violence in Tripura in which TMC workers were allegedly assaulted by BJP workers.
The banned Communist Party of India-Maoist on Wednesday dismissed allegations levelled by the Marxists on the nexus between the Trinamool Congress and the rebels, saying the proscribed outfit did not have any relations with the Mamata Banerjee-led party.
Kalyan Banerjee said that he did not intend to hurt anyone but did not offer any apology for the mimicry act which has been described by Dhankhar as an insult to the post of vice-president, the farmers and his own community.
Opposition parties are wary that any such attempt that is likely to fail or is even potentially risky will end up helping the Congress eventually, says Sheela Bhatt.
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said the central government's claim that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tried to contact her following Tuesday night's political developments is absolutely wrong and charged the leaders of the ruling Congress Party of distorting facts.
The war of words between Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Saturday touched a new low with the chief minister alleging she was a 'liar' and the Trinamool Congress chief accusing him of being responsible for spurt in Maoist activities.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is Trinamool Congress's Bhabanipur bypoll candidate, of violating the model code of conduct (MCC) by participating in a programme where the West Bengal government announced a grant of Rs 50,000 to each Durga puja organising committee ahead of the state's biggest festival.
He also accused the Trinamool Congress supremo of doing appeasement politics even in case of deaths.
Trinamool Congress ministers have sought an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for submitting their resignation on Friday. Railway Minister Mukul Roy on Thursday said that an appointment has been sought from the prime minister at 3 pm on Friday.
Riding the winds of political change, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress on Wednesday won the 141-ward Kolkata Municipal Corporation polls, inflicting a crushing blow to the ruling Left Front in the civic elections, dubbed as a semi-final before next year's crucial assembly polls.
Tata's Nano project sinks back into crisis. While Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee hinted at reviving her agitation at Singur, the Left Front came down heavily on her demand that ancillary units be shifted across the highway opposite to the project site.
Voting to elect 60 members of the state assembly in Meghalaya is scheduled for Monday, February 27. The results will be declared on Thursday, March 2.
The Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday dubbed the Trinamool Congress as a 'silent partner' of United Progressive Alliance and that party chief Mamata Banerjee was going 'soft' on it on corruption and price rise despite being a major ally.
The feisty 56-year-old Banerjee, who is the founder and chairperson of the Trinamool Congress which she set up in 1998 after falling out with the Congress Party in West Bengal, can now have the satisfaction of a victorious General seeing all the war plans fall into place.
Opposition parties on Tuesday decried the GJM for raising the Gorkhaland demand before Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at a government programme, with the Communist Party of India-Marxist accusing the Trinamool Congress of having created a 'Frankenstein'.
Defending its proposal for the formation of a Federal Front, the Trinamool Congress on Saturday said such an idea is relevant in the current political scenario as the United Progressive Alliance was slipping fast and the Bharatiya Janata Party was unable to come up sufficiently to be an alternative.
Suspended Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh on Monday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was the biggest beneficiary of Saradha Media, an arm of the Saradha Group embroiled in a multi-crore chit fund scam, during his deposition before a city court.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday allocated portfolios to her newly sworn-in council of ministers, keeping to herself nine departments, including Home, Land and Land Reforms.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday during which the issues of financial package for the state and United Progresseive Alliance's Presidential candidate are likely to come up for discussion.
Stepping up the party's moves to reach out to Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee, Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh on Wednesday talked to her over phone and condemned her heckling by Communist Party of India-Marxist protesters here while demanding a thorough probe into the incident.
TMC's campaign in the seat in south Kolkata is already underway with the Election Commission announcing the by-poll on Saturday, following a request from the state government to avoid a constitutional crisis.
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