West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asserted that she would win the ongoing state polls despite injury and eventually aim for power in Delhi.
Sircar, a retired IAS officer, claimed that corruption by a section of leaders of his party and lack of action against them was one of the reasons for his decision.
BJP national president, J P Nadda during his recent visit to the state had said that rules for implementation of the Act are being framed. CAA will be implemented in letter and spirit after it.
Clashes broke out between Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party supporters in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district after a public meeting addressed by Union Minister of State for Home Nisith Paramanik got over and a rally led by state minister Udayan Guha was about to begin nearby.
The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments of Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala, a crucial electoral exercise since the parliamentary polls in April-May, will begin at 8 am on Saturday.
The bus careened and went down to a field behind the highway, leaving a few passengers slightly injured. Its occupants were brought back to Purulia town in West Bengal for medical treatment, a party leader said.
Fish sellers of Chittranjan Park found themselves in a state of disbelief last week when the anti-meat overdrive of the Hindu right hit the local markets with a warning to shut shops because they were close to a temple.
Police said there were intelligence inputs that attempts would be made to trigger violence during the match, because of which it was cancelled.
The political war of words over Manipur intensified on Saturday with the BJP raising the incidents of atrocities against women in West Bengal and Rajasthan and questioning the 'silence' of the opposition, which termed it as a diversionary tactic to avoid debate on the situation in the north-eastern state.
Nine MLAs, including Babul Supriyo, took oath as ministers in West Bengal on Wednesday, in a major reshuffle of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's cabinet.
There are challenges galore before him, and it is not going to be easy. In the next four years, he has to conjure a system that changes the optics about him and the BJP both nationally and internationally so that he can ride back on his own, claim the top slot, and not have to lean on a coalition, asserts Ramesh Menon as Modi 3.0 completes a year in power.
TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose submitted a letter to the Election Commission on Thursday.
It said the chief justice-led bench of the high court shall be at liberty to pass appropriate order in the petition after hearing all the objections, if any, of Adhikari both on the merits and maintainability of the plea.
Maintaining that the INDIA alliance is for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and not for assembly polls in any state, the Congress on Friday asserted that the opposition bloc of 27 parties exists and will fight together.
In the notice, Malviya's lawyer said Sinha, in a post on Facebook, made "some false and defamatory allegation" with an intention to harm his client's reputation.
The message from Sunday's event will undoubtedly reverberate globally. It's a landmark occasion that will be remembered for generations and will inspire many other states to introduce the story of Rajendra Chola into school curricula, says Tarun Vijay.
'After a longish time being on the defensive on the Muslim issue, Mamata found in the Centre's surgical strike just the kind of battle in which she specialises -- hand-to-hand combat.' 'Having routed the once formidable Marxists by her trademark, no-holds-barred belligerence, she is now ready to employ the same tactics against the BJP,' predicts Amulya Ganguli.
Reacting to TMC's jibe, West Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said "agents of BJP" should not advise the party how to fight against the saffron camp.
As the BJP activists jostled to reach the Bowbazar crossing in the city, police resorted to firing tear gas shells and water cannons to disperse them.
The political heat in West Bengal has been giving the rising mercury levels serious competition since the high court order.
Political observers have said that the TMC, now desperate to shed the 'anti-Hindu' tag and embrace 'soft Hindutva', is carefully planning its moves, with help from poll strategist Prashant Kishor and team, as is evident from its decisions to organise Brahmin Sammelan, provide sops to Sanatan Brahmins, and financial aid to Durga puja committees.
'This can eventually start the end of the current market frenzy, which has lasted for a full year.'
Biswas had won the Sagardighi seat on a Congress ticket in a by-poll held earlier this year.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday condemned the violence in West Bengal's Murshidabad district following the passage of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, accusing the opposition of instigating the violence. He also criticized the opposition for their alleged silence over the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh and emphasized the BJP's commitment to protecting Hindus.
During the Zero Hour of the Lok Sabha, BJP MP Anurag Thakur tried to corner the Leader of Opposition and Congress MP, Rahul Gandhi, by alleging that he has not spoken about ensuring the safety of minorities in Bangladesh.
The BJP, which has emerged as the main opposition party in West Bengal after winning 77 seats in the assembly polls last year, failed to win even a single civic body.
Chowdhury termed Banerjee as an "opportunist politician" who altered her stance after realising the changing political landscape.
The Lok Sabha MP from Maldaha Dakshin said Congress' alliance partner Communist Party of India-Marxist forged a tie-up with Indian Secular Front of Furfura Sharif cleric Abbas Siddiqui as it feared it will not be able to win a single seat.
There is a proposal from the BJP camp that they would resort to a proportion-based increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats for individual states, based on what they now have. On the face of it, this sounds like a fine argument that those demanding a 'freeze' now cannot oppose without reasons and justification, avers N Sathiya Moorthy.
Banerjee said she will not allow implementation of the CAA, the NRC and the Uniform Civil Code in the state.
"I am ready to fight the money power (of her political opponents), and (central) agencies (which her party alleges has been unleashed on TMC with a political motive), but I will not bow my head," she said.
The BJP, which contested more seats this time than in 2019 but is likely to fall short of the magic figure of 272, garnered 36.91 per cent of the total votes polled, a drop of around 0.39 percentage points as of 6.15 pm.
BJP leaders in the state are either lying low or criticising the CAA move in hushed tones. Chandra Kumar Bose, vice-president of the BJP's state unit, is most vocal with his opposition to the Act in the current form. "The country is above petty party politics. How can I keep quiet when I see that something is happening which is wrong in its current form?" Other party leaders aren't as vocal as Bose but clandestinely have been questioning the merit of the CAA and its impact on the BJP's prospects in the state. In fact, at a time when the BJP started making deep inroads in the state, the fear of the CAA and the NRC appears to be ruining its prospects.
A heated debate erupted in the Rajya Sabha over the ongoing strike by ASHA workers in Kerala, with Congress and CPI(M) MPs trading accusations over responsibility for addressing their demands for a higher honorarium and post-retirement benefits. Congress MP Jebi Mather alleged that both the Kerala government and the Union government had ignored the workers' pleas, while CPI(M) MP John Brittas countered by claiming Kerala provides the highest honorarium to ASHA workers. The debate also saw demands for an AIIMS in Kerala and a hike in MBBS seats, as well as concerns over maternal health, elderly care, and mental health in India.
Jayanta Roy Chowdhury reports on how the West Bengal elections are being fought by the BJP and Trinalool Congress amid COVID challenges, 'Bangaliana', and campaigns based on religion, region, and caste.
'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 apex court, however, allowed the West Bengal unit of the BJP to continue with its proposed public rallies and meetings under its "Ganatantra Bachao Yatra".
Rekha Gupta had the support of the RSS, which actively participated in the Delhi assembly poll campaign to help the BJP win.
The officers have been deployed for north, west and south zones of the state as well as for the Kolkata Police areas.
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