Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday threw a spanner in the Congress party's works by proposing a completely different set of names for the post of President.
Rediff poll: Can Mamata transform Kolkata into London?
We want a change in Bengal again -- but this time a change in the real sense of the term, writes Indrani Roy in an open letter to the West Bengal chief minister
However, the chief minister made up for her absence by addressing the gathering via state Industry and Finance Minister Amit Mitra's mobile phone.
Once implemented, customers making payments using Rupay card or BHIM UPI will get a cashback of 20 per cent of the total GST amount, subject to a maximum of Rs 100.
In her opening remarks, while chairing the meeting of the Congress Working Committee, Gandhi also accused the Centre of giving preferential treatment to some states while maintaining "thundering silence" on requests of states ruled by the Congress and opposition parties.
Ten trade unions with a combined membership of 15 crore workers in public and private sector, including banks and insurance companies, are on a nationwide strike to protest against changes in the labour laws.
We knew from the moment the pandemic took hold that this would be a long haul -- at least 12 to 18 months. Nothing should have changed that assessment, says Mihir S Sharma.
'I'm pitching India for the strengths we offer, including the English language, engineers, doctors, nurses, professionals, innovative talent of startups.'
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also said 800 cheques would be distributed among the farmers who had not taken them earlier
'The power sector accounts for much of the financial burden of state governments in India.'
While Congress and the states ruled by non-NDA parties pushed for the Centre meeting its statutory obligation of covering the deficit, the Union government cited a legal opinion to say it had no such obligation if there was a shortfall in tax collections. The Centre as well as BJP-JD-U-ruled Bihar were of the opinion that the states should borrow to make up for the shortfall in the tax revenues that have been compounded by the COVID-19 crisis, sources said.
Reflecting the growing strains in relations between the two United Progressive Alliance allies, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday criticised attempts of Trinamool Congress to marginalise Congress in West Bengal.
Probodh Panda and Atul Kumar Anjaan are among 39 candidates declared by the Communist Party of India for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as the party said that it would fight on 60 seats in 24 states.
What some of our leaders were up to on Monday and Tuesday.
Continued lack of consensus at next meeting could cast shadow on GST rollout by April 1.
The Centre managed to collect only Rs 990 crore as compensation cess in April 2020-21, almost one-ninth of the figure of Rs 8,874 crore mopped up a year ago. The subdued collection would further increase states' problems unless the GST Council, which meets next week, decides to borrow from the market.
Bandhan Bank has declared disappointing results for the first quarter of the 2023-24 financial year (Q1FY24). While the market has been braced for known issues around microfinance exposures in West Bengal and Assam, there is higher stress in the portfolio. This means higher credit costs and poorer asset quality, leading to target downgrades by analysts.
Officials said Mukherjee had proposed the name of Modi for the post, as an experienced person like him could have helped convince BJP-ruled states to move ahead on the Goods & Services Tax (GST).
His resignation has been accepted by the Ficci leadership, which said that it "wishes him all the very best for another historical role in the impending and hugely awaited economic transformation of West Bengal".
Accusing the Centre of setting a new trend of playing "dirty politics" for votes through the budget, an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said the allocation of more funds to poll-bound states is a kind of "bribery".
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday presented his fifth budget in Parliament on Friday but Morarji Desai holds the record of doing so 10 times.
A eight-member central team, headed by Joint Secretary in Union Agriculture Ministry E K Majhi, will visit drought-hit districts of West Bengal on Wednesday.
Seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation under court supervision into chit fund scam in West Bengal, Left parties on Thursday accused the Mamata Banerjee government of opposing such a probe into the "unprecedented fraud" and failing to take any step to recover "hard-earned" savings of the people.
According to reports, the Trinamool Congress workers are staging rallies, holding protests in Kolkata and other parts of the state to protest against the SFI attack on their leaders.
An upset West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday cancelled her scheduled meeting with Finance Minister P Chidambaram and left for Kolkata, a day after she was gheraoed and her minister Amit Mitra manhandled by Left protesters in New Delhi.
The gherao of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Finance Minister Amit Mitra in Delhi on Tuesday by Communist Party of India-Marxist supporters was condemned unequivocally by political parties including the rival Marxist party, which said it was "undesirable".
Mitra will take over from P V Bhide after January 31.
Stating that GST council meetings have become "almost toxic" with the erosion of trust between the Centre and states, West Bengal minister Amit Mitra on Wednesday urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to consider a "course correction" to rebuild faith. In a letter to Sitharaman, the state's finance minister also claimed that the central government comes to GST council meetings with a "predetermined conclusion". Mitra on June 13 alleged that his voice was "muzzled" during the GST Council meeting on that day and his opposition to levy taxes on Covid essentials like vaccines, masks, PPE kits and anti-viral drug Remdesivir, was not heard.
In the fray are revenue secretary P V Bhide, transport secretary Brahm Dutt and IDBI Bank chairman Yogesh Agarwal. In addition, Devashish Gupta, a Jharkhand cadre IAS officer and West Bengal cadre officer Anil Verma were also in the contention, sources familiar with the selection process said.
Away from the political chaos in New Delhi, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is celebrating the Durga Puja at his ancestral home in Miriti village of West Bengal's Birbhum district.
In a surprise statement, Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the Congress has announced that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is not their Presidential candidate, comments that came shortly after a Congress spokesperson suggested he is too "valued" to be spared.
"The process of NRC will be carried out across the country. No one irrespective of their religion should be worried. It is just a process to get everyone under the NRC," the Union home minister said replying to a supplementary during Question Hour in the Upper House.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will start the customary pre-budget consultations with different interest groups like captains of industry, economists, agriculturists and bankers next week.
West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan on Wednesday said the "attack" on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Finance Minister Amit Mitra in Delhi was "unprecedented" and "a blot on India's cherished democratic values".
A minister who was with Mamata Banerjee when she and state Finance Minister Amit Mitra were targeted in Delhi by the Students Federation of India activists, on Wednesday alleged that the attack was aimed at killing the West Bengal chief minister.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee fell ill and was administered oxygen while her Finance Minister Amit Mitra was put under observation in AIIMS for some medical tests, hours after they were heckled by an angry mob of SFI activists outside the Planning Commission office.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday faced protests over death of an SFI member from Left activists who also heckled her Finance Minister Amit Mitra outside the Planning Commission office in New Delhi.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived in Delhi on Tuesday night for consultations with United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday on the issue of the Presidential poll nominee of the UPA, amid intense speculation on Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's candidature for the post.
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