"Now-a-days, I am not surprised, when I see growing number of so-called political leaders having no spines. In my opinion, it has become a potential area of doing research on this aspect," Banerjee said in her latest Facebook post.
Rubbishing Trinamool Congress's links with Maoists as alleged in West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee's letter to Home Minister P Chidambaram, Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said, "The chief minister himself is a Maoist leader."
Acting against the wishes of the entire state unit of the Congress and even senior central leaders, Gandhi decided to give two prestigious Assembly seats, Sealdah and Bowbazar, to the TC, on Saturday night. Byelections to these seats are slated for this month.
Mamata said TMC will win all 42 LS seats from WB.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has distanced itself from controversial remarks made by its senior leader and West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim regarding the Muslim percentage in the population. Hakim, in a speech, had claimed that Muslims constitute 33 per cent of the population in West Bengal and 17 per cent nationwide, adding that they could become a numerical majority if they empower themselves. The party issued a statement on Monday condemning Hakim's remarks, asserting that they do not reflect its ideology and commitment to communal harmony. The remarks have sparked a political storm, with the opposition BJP accusing Hakim of attempting to stir communal sentiments. Hakim later clarified that his remarks were misinterpreted and that he was advocating for the empowerment of minorities through education and skill development. However, the controversy has caused ripples within the TMC and complicated the party's messaging.
Noting that the Trinamool Congress which boasts of the slogan 'Maa Mati Mansuh' (Mother, Land and people) actually indulges in extortion, corruption and appeasement, Shah exuded confidence of forming the next government in the state and take it to the path of development.
An MP from Baharampur since 1999 and the reigning Pradesh Congress president of West Bengal, this was perhaps Chowdhury's toughest electoral challenge which came in the form Pathan, the non-resident TMC candidate.
Famous clay modeller Mintu Pal is sculpting the fibreglass idol at his Kumartuli studio draping the 'deity' in the Trinamool Congress supremo's favourite white coloured tant saree and her trademark flip-flop slippers to boot.
The central agency asked Banerjee to appear at its Kolkata office on Friday morning, he said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi told party's Lok Sabha MPs to ignore comments of "middle- and low-rung" leaders of INDIA bloc parties and asserted that the Congress as the largest party in the opposition grouping is capable of addressing issues, sources said. The advice by Gandhi comes amid various leaders of the INDIA bloc weighing in on the leadership issue and TMC leaders aggressively pitching for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to head the opposition alliance.
The Congress core group met at the prime minister's residence late on Wednesday night and weighed options to deal with the demand made by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to sack Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi.
The party's prime mover in West Bengal and the state Pradesh Congress president was stunned by Trinamool Congress's star candidate and cricketer-turned-politician Yusuf Pathan who comprehensively defeated Chowdhury by a margin of over 85,000 votes.
At last, rays of hope have started shining on Singur factory land, which has been lying unutilised since the Tatas decided to shift their Nano factory from there on October 3, 2008, following relentless opposition by Trinamool Congress and its allies against the company's alleged 'illegal' acquisition of farm lands.
Ahead of the party's meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the fuel price hike, Trinamool Congress on Tuesday sought to down play the threat of pullout, saying the situation should not be seen as "us versus them".
Mamata Banerjee's fate in the United Progressive Alliance hangs in the balance with the Trinamool Congress leader continuing to give a loud and clear message that her party is not going to vote for Pranab Mukherjee as the UPA's Presidential candidate.
Banerjee also said she may not join the dharna being staged by Trinamool Congress MPs in protest against 'attack on party workers' in Tripura, but will surely express solidarity with them.
With the elections to municipalities and a civic body due in May-June and assembly elections next year in West Bengal, alliance partners Trinamool Congress and Congress announced on Tuesday that they would contest the polls jointly.
A massive fire that tore through a budget hotel in the congested Mechuapatti area of Burrabazar in central Kolkata on Tuesday night claimed at least 14 lives and left 13 injured, triggering a political blame game and calls for accountability.
What some of our politicians were up to on Tuesday, September 24, 2024.
The government may have plumped for FDI in multi-brand retail at this juncture because this is an issue which has also divided the opposition, believes Neerja Chowdhury
With numbers on its side -- the ruling NDA has about half the votes of the electoral college -- and the possible support of fence-sitters like the BJD, the AIADMK and the YSRCP, the NDA candidate will likely sail through the contest.
Modi later contended at a rally at Gangarampur in Dakshin Dinajpur, that Banerjee has been abusing him almost every other day as he raises questions on Trinamool Congress track record of "corruption".
The former Meghalaya chief minister, who recently switched over to the TMC along with 11 other Congress MLAs, told PTI in an interview that the political dynamics in the entire region is going to change with him quitting the grand old party.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday slammed the BJP-led central government over the Agnipath scheme, alleging that the saffron camp was trying to create its own "armed" cadre base through the new defence recruitment programme.
The Trinamool Congress will file a defamation suit against the Communist Party of India-Marxist and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for equating the party with the Maoists.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that a 'politically bankrupt' Communist Party of India-Marxist was mounting attacks on her party candidates and workers.
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.
In another sign of growing strains between Trinamool and Congress, Mamata Banerjee on Monday targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for not calling her during the Singur agitation, saying it was perhaps not to annoy her arch rival, Communist Party of India-Marxist
Former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has questioned his successor Mamata Banerjee's honesty, prompting an angry rebuttal Wednesday from Trinamool Congress which demanded an apology from the Communist Party of India-Marxist veteran.
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday hit out at the Communist Party of India-Marxist for seeking to link the Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee to Rajdhani Express hijack. He also talked tough on Maoist violence, saying no democracy could accept "violence as an instrument of change".
Alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party was bringing in goons from outside to stop people from exercising their franchise in Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged women to 'confront the hoodlums with ladle, spatula' and other cooking utensils.
"How dare they attack my car! I kept mum only because the elections are on. Or else I would have seen how big they have grown," Banerjee said at a rally in Goghat.
Congress has sent out a clear signal of taking the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal head on by making three leaders from the state as Union ministers, two of them bitter critics of Mamata Banerjee.
Banerjee claimed that some people will try to "engineer riots" during elections and urged everyone "not to fall prey to the plot".
In a clear snub to All India Congress Committee General Secretary Digvijaya Singh for his remarks against Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, the Congress on Monday said that he was "not officially authorised" to speak to the media.
According to top Trinamool sources, mercurial Mamata Banerjee is again angry with the Congress -- even before the previous contentious issues could subside -- over non-allocation of a preferred bunglow for her party office in the capital. Banerjee had zeroed in on bungalow number 14 on Bishamber Dass Marg as the ideal place to house her party office in Delhi.
A year after a young woman doctor was raped and murdered in Kolkata, her parents express their disappointment with the investigation and their continued pursuit of justice.
Congress on Saturday expressed the hope that Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee will accept the candidature of Pranab Mukherjee for the post of President like other United Progressive Alliance partners who gave their nod.
Senior Congress leader Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi's wife Deepa had on Sunday said that though the Trinamool was part of the United Progressive Alliance government, yet it issued statements against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and government policies. Also, she charged that Mamata put no photos of either Dr Singh or Congress chief Sonia Gandhi when she inaugurated projects in West Bengal.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has now set Thursday evening as the deadline for the Congress to reach a seat sharing agreement for the forthcoming West Bengal state assembly polls. Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee met Mamata late on Tuesday to resolve last-minute differences. Ahmed Patel, Gandhi's political secretary, called Mamata and asked her to wait till March 21, when the Congress president returns from London. But she has turned down the request.
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