Estranged TMC MLA Humayun Kabir's plan to build a mosque modeled on the Babri Masjid in Murshidabad has sparked a political firestorm in West Bengal, with accusations and warnings escalating tensions ahead of state elections.
Banerjee, who is staging a two-day sit-in to protest alleged discrimination by the Centre against the state, had on Wednesday in a change of stance urged all political parties in the country to unitedly fight the Bharatiya Janata Party in next year's Lok Sabha election.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, currently facing recommendations for expulsion from the Lok Sabha in a cash-for-query row, was tasked with strengthening the party's organisation in West Bengal's Nadia district ahead of the 2024 general elections, in a clear message of support from the TMC.
The Nationalist Trinamool Congress chief, however, escaped unhurt.
With Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee falling in line to back UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee in the July 19 Presidential election, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has sent out an invite to her to join the lunch she is hosting at Hotel Ashoka in New Delhi on Wednesday at 1230 hours for MPs of all parties supporting his candidature.
Moitra was expelled after the House adopted the report of its Ethics Committee that held her guilty of accepting gifts and illegal gratification from a businessman to further his interest.
Political analysts are deciphering her desperation as Mamata Banerjee's last resort to fight several investigations launched by the Centre against her party colleagues and close aides.
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that the final decision on her party's stand on Presidential election would be taken three days before the polling date on July 19.
In a candid conversation with rediff.com's Indrani Roy, Arunava Ghosh spoke about the split between the Congress and the Trinamool, the possibility of a mid-term poll and Banerjee's present political stance.
In a candid conversation with rediff.com's Indrani Roy, Arunava Ghosh spoke about the split between the Congress and the Trinamool, the possibility of a mid-term poll and Banerjee's present political stance.
Amid a war of words triggered by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's comments regarding seat-sharing in West Bengal, sources from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Thursday said they will give more time to ally Congress to sort out issues, adding the party is committed to the opposition bloc.
'There are many able, good, police officers in Bengal who are capable of handling this situation, but without Mamata Banerjee nothing moves.'
Mamata Banerjee gave Bengal the revolution it wanted but people will want to see results soon, says Aditi Phadnis
A day after the Trinamool Congress abstained from voting on women's reservation bill in the Rajya Sabha, party supremo Mamata Banerjee tonight met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and explained her party's stand.
The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday said there was no need for West Bengal Chief Minister and party president Mamata Banerjee to offer an apology for some of its party workers taking part in a function in which women dancers were hired to perform an alleged erotic dance
The recent controversy unfolded after West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee had in November advocated the need to give due respect to senior members and rejected the notion that elderly leaders should retire from active politics.
Rebel Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament Kabir Suman, whose sympathetic stand towards Maoists and outbursts against alleged in-house corruption embarassed the party, on Monday night quit the organisation and from the Lok Sabha.
The Trinamool Congress Chief on Thursday ruled the possibility of her accepting a Cabinet berth and said she was treating Singh's gesture as a political courtesy and nothing else.
The war of words between Trinamool Congress and Congress on Wednesday intensified with Mamata Banerjee saying her party was not in the United Progressive Alliance at anyone's "mercy".
In a show of strength, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday led a massive procession of Trinamool Congress supporters, in an apparent answer to a similar show by her predecessor Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in the city four days ago. Trinamool Congress leaders claimed that the procession was undertaken to protest against a "slander campaign and conspiracy by the Communist Party of India - Marxist in collusion with some TV channels" to undermine the state govt.
Banerjee lamented that she could not meet the next of kin of the deceased earlier, owing to a 72-hour ban on entry of political leaders in Cooch Behar, where four people were gunned down by CISF personnel in "self defence", on April 10.
Trinamool Congress's slogan of 'Satatar Pratik' (symbol of honesty) has been challenged by BJP's slogan, 'Gali, gali mein shor hai, Mamata Banerjee chor hai'.
Piling pressure on the Centre, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday threatened to take to the streets from Thursday to press for immediate withdrawal of joint forces from Maoist-hit areas in West Bengal. Alleging that the joint forces were committing atrocities on innocent people and Trinamool Congress workers, Banerjee said she was demanding their immediate withdrawal."Our party MPs will launch a dharna outside Parliament House," she said.
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday elevated her nephew and MP Abhishek Banerjee as the party's all-India general secretary, the second-most important post in the organisation, a senior leader in Kolkata said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation's arrest of senior Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal -- a loyalist of party supremo Mamata Banerjee -- in the alleged cattle smuggling scam on Thursday threatens his three-decade-long political career, which has been marked by controversies and strong-arm tactics.
She said nobody should consider others as political untouchables -- hinting at Congress not agreeing to enter into a political understanding with TC till it snapped ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The wife of the chief minister's brother Kartik, Kajari is contesting from ward number 73 of the KMC.
Political parties in West Bengal, including the ruling TMC and opposition BJP, have condemned the organizers of an event featuring Lionel Messi in Kolkata after it descended into chaos due to spectators' inability to properly view the football star. Demands for action and accountability have been made.
A Trinamool Congress delegation met the Election Commission (EC) on Friday and demanded a high-level probe into an alleged attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram and claimed it was not an 'unfortunate incident', but a conspiracy.
While addressing a rally at Alipurduar, Banerjee accused the Election Commission of removing the deputy inspector general of police of Murshidabad at the behest of the BJP.
Addressing a party rally in Midnapore, Shah alleged the Mamata Banerjee government was steeped in corruption resulting in alienation of the masses.
Efforts are on to convince West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to support FDI in multi-brand retail which is coming up for consideration of the Union Cabinet on Thursday evening.
Trinamool Congress MPs are likely to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi on November 8 against the backdrop of the UPA ally's threat to pull out of the government on the petrol price rise issue.
The draft rolls published on December 16 had already pared down the electorate from 7.66 crore to 7.08 crore, deleting over 58 lakh names on grounds of death, migration, duplication and untraceability.
At a time when relations have soured with its ally over the presidential polls, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday accused Communist Party of India-Marxist of trying to drive a wedge between the Trinamool Congress and the Congress and said that her party would not fall into the trap.
Angry over the hike in passenger fares in the Railway Budget, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to remove her party nominee Dinesh Trivedi from the post of railway minister.
She has been asked to respond to the notice within the next 48 hours.
The ruling Trinamool Congress claimed that the strike call exposed the BJP's game plan to foment disturbances in the state exploiting people's pain over the alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Mohammed Salim has accused Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee of trying to be more "Leftist than the Leftists" by attacking the government over reforms including FDI in retail.
