With the Supreme Court rejecting West Bengal government's plea for rescheduling the Panchayat polls in view of Ramzan, the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist on Tuesday blamed the ruling Trinamool Congress for it and said the party was not serious about holding the election at the grassroot-level.
Launching a blistering attack against the Centre, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee termed state Transport Minister Madan Mitra's arrest as "political vendetta" and "dirty conspiracy" by the BJP and dared the NDA government to arrest her.
Chidambaram's strong letter to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee comes in the wake of ally Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee alleging misuse of central security forces in the state and offering to quit if her charge was proved wrong.
Murshidabad district alone accounted for 18 deaths, mostly in clashes and bomb attacks between Congress and CPI-M supporters on Sunday, with Chief Medical Officer (Health) M G Mondal confirming 11 deaths at Domkol, two each in Raninagar, Lalgola and Kandi and one at Sagardighi. District Magistrate Subir Bhadra said one CPI-M activist was killed and another injured in an armed clash with Congress workers at Rezinagar, 40 km off Berhampore, on Monday morning.
Expelled Communist Party of India-Marxist leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker said on Friday the trends indicated that the Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance was coming to power in West Bengal.
Triumphant over the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in making it swallow threat to quit the United Progressive Alliance government, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked the party managers to strike a similar hard bargain with Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress for alliance in the upcoming West Bengal assembly elections.
Three-way contest, an advantage for CPI-M in West Bengal
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.
Claiming that the Trinamool Congress is not perturbed over desertions by some leaders, she said politics is a solemn ideology and philosophy and one cannot change these everyday like clothes.
Apparently toeing the central party leadership's move to keep Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in good humour ahead of the Presidential poll, the West Bengal Congress, which had threatened to pull out of the state government, on Wednesday changed its track and said it wanted to work in harmony with the ally.
In the first major test of popularity, the Trinamool Congress on Tuesday won the elections to three civic bodies and was leading in another while the Congress and Left Front major Communist Party of India-Marxist bagged one each in West Bengal.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandh on Thursday asked the people of West Bengal to end the 34-year-old 'misrule' of the Communist Party of India-Marxist and elect a government of the aam admi that would bring development and prosperity to the state.
'Just because there is some misunderstanding, you cannot recall the chief secretary.' 'This is not a good development. This is an assault on federalism.'
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee directed the director general of police to instruct all the superintendents of police to take strong action against those who carried arms in the rallies.
Sending a tough message to the rebels, Finance Minister and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said it was not possible to satisfy all aspirants for party tickets and warned that contesting against official nominees would invite stern action.
Clashes were reported from some parts of West Bengal after the announcement of assembly poll results in which the Trinamool Congress trounced the Left Front with the Communist Party of India-Marxist alleging that three of its activists have been killed.
Rifles, guns and ammunition were seized from a Communist Party of India- Marxist party office, a health centre and other places in West Midnapore district on Tuesday, while the hand of a Trinamool Congress worker was chopped off allegedly by a CPI-M worker in Malda district.
TMC on a roll, wins 13 out of 17 zilla parishads in WB
Claiming that the Left Democratic Front government in Kerala had little to show as its achievement, Defence Minister A K Antony on Monday said the state would become the 'second Bengal' if the Left alliance returned to power.
One person was killed and another 19 injured during a clash in Burdwan district between followers of the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist, police said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday alleged corruption in the erstwhile Left Front government and said that many files were missing for which FIRs should be lodged.
Elaborating on the reason behind the state government not enforcing the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act passed by Parliament, she said "We are not implementing it here as it is harsh. The fine proposed will be very hard on the poor."
Trinamool Congress backs the BUPC, an anti-land acquisition front in Nandigram, which has witnessed violent protests on the issue.
One person was killed and around 40 houses were ransacked during a clash between workers of the Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist at Hatishala village under Chapra police station in Nadia district on Tuesday.
Gunfire, arson and looting allegedly by Communist Party of India-Marxist activists was reported from recaptured Bhumi Ucched Pratirod Committee strongholds of Garchakraberia, Sonachura and Gokulnagar in Nandigram, as the bandh called by the entire opposition paralysed normal life in West Bengal. Fresh violence broke out in Nandigram recently as the CPI-M and the Trinamool Congress cadre fight to gain control over the area.
One person was on Thursday killed in a clash between Trinamool Congress and Communist Party of India-Marxist supporters in North Dinajpur district during the fifth and final phase of West Bengal panchayat elections, taking the toll in poll-related violence to 21 since the exercise began.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday appealed the Centre to halt anti-Maoist operations in the state alleging that the ruling CPI(M) was "conducting its own operation" in its garb.
A blood-soaked Nandigram made Mamata Banerjee what she is today and underpins the hopes of the combustible West Bengal leader of clinching a third straight term in office.
The video also showed protests by locals at Garia, a suburb in the southern fringes of the city where the incident had allegedly taken place, who claimed that the bodies were those of novel coronavirus victims. West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar expressed concern over the video and sought a report regarding the incident from the state home secretary.
A week after series of crib deaths at two state-run hospitals, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said most of the infants had been underweight and were suffering from malnutrition.
Several politicians from West Bengal are under scrutiny for sheltering Jammat-e-Islami and Chaatra Shibir operatives, says a Intelligence Bureau note to the Home Ministry. Vicky Nanjappa reports
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A 20-year old tribal woman was allegedly gang-raped at Labhpur in Birbhum district by 13 persons, as they were against her affair with a man from a different community.
In changes ahead of crucial Assembly elections, the Congress on Wednesday made Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi its state unit chief in the Left-ruled West Bengal and appointed two other union ministers as party heads in Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
A former Indian Police Services officer, who lodged an FIR against Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and was considered very close to the Left Front government during Jyoti Basu's tenure, is among five former police officers contesting the West Bengal assembly polls on Trinamool Congress tickets.
A clash broke out between the workers of the TMC and the CPI-M in the Arambag area of Hooghly. One CPI-M worker is said to be injured in the incident.
Mamata Banerjee accused Modi of trying to mislead the people with half-truth and distorted facts.
It is a mixed bag for the Congress in the upcoming elections to five state assemblies, says a pre-election survey of the 5 assemblies commissioned by the party.
Amid high drama, Bharatiya Janata Party vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was on Thursday arrested along with party leaders for defying prohibitory orders when they tried to enter trouble-torn Makra village in Birbhum district, made out of bounds for politicians by Trinamool government.
Nandigram, 126 km south of Kolkata, is Suvendu Adhikari's bastion, where he has vowed to defeat Mamata Banerjee by 50,000 votes or quit politics.
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