West Bengal minister Madan Mitra on Friday claimed that if he had the power he would have removed the state election commissioner and alleged that it was conspiring with opposition parties in the panchayat polls.
All four persons, including state minister Sabitri Mitra's son-in-law Samadip Sarkar alias Tinku, accused of beating up Election Commission personnel in Malda's Manikchak area were arrested on Friday.
A devastating fire at a multi-storeyed building in Kolkata that claimed nine lives turned into the epicentre of a political slugfest on Tuesday, with the Trinamool Congress government and the Bharatiya Janata Party pointing accusatory fingers at the Railways and the state administration respectively, even as the bereaved families grieved at the loss of their near ones.
After battering the Left in its bastion in the Lok Sabha polls, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday called for an end to "Marxist misrule" in West Bengal, claiming it will come "within a year."
The party, going it alone on all 294 seats, earlier announced names of 83 candidates.
PM Modi said WB CM Mamata had boycotted meetings called by the Centre to discuss the issue of states' development and had failed to bring in any transformation to the state.
Senior Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Anisur Rahman has triggered a controversy by allegedly making derogatory remarks against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her cabinet colleagues, drawing angry reaction from Trinamool Congress leaders on Sunday.
Referring to the violence in Malda, he refuted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's statement that it was a result of tussle between Border Security Force officials and locals.
Tatas selected West Bengal for Rs 1 lakh small car Nano's plant on May 18, 2016.
'If Mamata Banerjee doesn't want, then violence cannot be stopped.'
The Trinamool government, which cashed in on the Nandigram protests in West Bengal politics, has not yet given the Central Bureau of Investigation the sanction to prosecute five police officers involved in the 2007 police firing which killed 14 villagers.
Opposition parties have expressed solidarity with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Normal life was partially affected in West Bengal on Thursday following a state-wide 12-hour general strike called by Left Parties and trade unions, with the Bharatiya Janata Party also calling a 10-hour bandh to protest against alleged violence by ruling Trinamool Congress in the recent civic polls.
He, however, asserted that all infiltrators will be thrown out of the country.
The incident, initially reported as a stampede, occurred when there was a huge rush of pilgrims to board vessels to reach Kolkata.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader, who travelled by road from Jharkhand to this West Bengal town to address a rally after being denied permission earlier for landing helicopter in the state, targeted the Trinamool Congress chief for opposing the Central Bureau of Investigation's attempt to quiz the Kolkata police chief in connection with the ponzi scams.
With details of affidavit filed by the intern in molestation case becoming public, Law Minister Kapil Sibal virtually put the onus of action against Justice A K Ganguly on the Supreme Court amid demands for filing of a case against him and resignation as head of West Bengal Human Rights Commission.
In January Amit Shah launched the 'Bhag Mamata Bhag' programme in West Bengal. On Monday Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled out the red carpet for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. What changed in two months?
The Centre has sought a detailed report from the West Bengal government on the circumstances leading to the violence.
Pulling no punches in her attack against the Bharatiya Janata Party for allegedly pursuing 'political vendetta' against the Trinamool Congress, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday charged that the Central Bureau of Investigation was being used as a 'political tool' by the National Democratic Alliance government and was functioning as 'a department of the Prime Minister's Office'.
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