The West Bengal assembly elections are due by March-April next year.
Three persons, including husband of a Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate, were killed on Monday and several others injured in violence during the second phase of panchayat elections in West Bengal where 75 per cent polling was recorded.
Firhad Hakim, a senior minister in West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), has defended his remarks on the Muslim population in the state and India, saying he is a diehard secular and patriotic Indian. Hakim's comments, made at a minority students' event, have sparked controversy with the BJP, Congress, and Hindu monks accusing him of promoting communalism and advocating for a Muslim majority. Hakim, however, clarified that his remarks were taken out of context and that he was merely advocating for the empowerment of the Muslim community. He also highlighted the need for greater representation of Muslims in the judiciary.
He also said that the party "cannot be selective in fighting the communists" and it must do so in all its manifestations, irrespective of religion and colour.
Workers from the BJP and Congress clashed in Patna during a protest march organized by the BJP against the use of abusive language towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi's late mother. The protest turned violent, with stone pelting and vandalism reported. Police intervened to control the situation, and an investigation is underway.
The Congress on Friday suspended two of its legislators for voting for the Trinamool Congress in the Rajya Sabha biennial election for five seats in West Bengal.
Sharma had on Monday slammed Congress' association with the ISF led by Muslim cleric Abbas Siddiqui in West Bengal, contending that it was against the "Gandhian and Nehruvian secularism" and the party cannot be selective in fighting "communalists".
Although no fresh arrests were reported in the case, the Central Bureau of Investigation continued with its questioning of top officials of the RG Kar Hospital.
The party's prime mover in West Bengal and the state Pradesh Congress president was stunned by Trinamool Congress's star candidate and cricketer-turned-politician Yusuf Pathan who comprehensively defeated Chowdhury by a margin of over 85,000 votes.
Congress and Janata Dal-United on Friday strongly objected to the description of revolutionary leaders Khudiram Bose, Jatindranath Mukherjee and Prafulla Chaki as "extremist and terrorist" in school syllabus in West Bengal and urged Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to drop the chapter.
The Congress plans to ensure that even if its candidates fail to register a win in the Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, the benefit should go to the Left Front and not to friend-turned-foe Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress. Renu Mittal reports.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist said that it will field a candidate as those opposed to the TMC and BJP needed an alternative.
Sources said senior leaders of the party have been told to reach out to other leaders of the alliance and talks with some parties have begun.
Senior Congress leader A K Antony, assisted by All India Congress Committee general secretary and former Union minister Mukul Wasnik mket party leaders from Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal and held meetings daily and interacted with leaders individually
If Meena resigns, it is likely to put pressure on other ministers whose areas also saw poor performance in the general elections.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi on Wednesday welcomed the bandh relaxation in the Darjeeling Hills by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, but said that Gorkhaland was an impossibility.
The Congress under a 'no surrender' policy evolved by Rahul Gandhi has decided to play tough in all the states where the party is negotiating with prospective and even existing alliance partners. The aim is to bag the largest number of seats possible.
With the Pradesh Congress committees passing resolution seeking Rahul Gandhi at the helm of All India Congress Committee, party General Secretary, Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said such measures have no binding effect.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha working president Hemant Soren was on Sunday sworn in as the 11th chief minister of Jharkhand at Morhabadi Ground in Ranchi. Governor Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office and secrecy to Soren, in the presence of senior political leaders and chief ministers from across states.
Bora said in his resignation letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi that infighting within the grand old party helped BJP and compelled him to leave despite having been a member since student days in 1976.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday urged party leaders in Kerala to shed their differences and fight the coming assembly polls unitedly
Reacting to the results, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that in the by-elections held on 13 seats in seven states, the people of the country have given their support to the INDIA bloc.
While the opposition alliance is putting up a united front in Ghosi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand's Dumri, Dhanpur and Boxanagar in Tripura and Uttarakhand's Bageshwar, its constituents are contesting against each other in Dhupguri in West Bengal and Puthuppally in Kerala.
The West Bengal CM also said that she wasn't averse to working with the Congress and expressed confidence that a grand alliance of opposition parties is possible.
The Congress party continues to be racked by arbitrary decision-making and the absence of accountability.
An inchoate anger is brewing within the party against the central leadership after the poor show in the assembly polls.
Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury while making these points however, spoke out against any need for change in the top leadership of the party, stating that both Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi have been 'trying wholeheartedly'.
In a major exercise ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Congress on Thursday night constituted screening committees for all states and union territories for early selection of candidates.
Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the Centre today reviewed the security situation in Naxal-affected states and directed security forces to foil any attempt by the rebels to disrupt the election process.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has called a meeting of chief ministers of 12 Congress-ruled states to figure out how to fill out the vacancies in the Rajya Sabha. Highly-placed sources have said that he wants to cajole Amethis's former feudal lord Sanjay Singh; by giving him an RS ticket, in view of his own weak position in Amethi. Renu Mittal reports.
'The message has gone loud and clear (among the people of Assam) that the BJP is only interested in polarising (the country) and they are basically interested in (capturing votes in) the Hindi heartland and they don't bother much about rest of India.'
'This is basically aimed at vilifying Nehruvian ideals.' 'Why?' 'Because, Nehruvian leadership is seen by Hindutva forces as the one which did not let them have their Hindu Raj.' 'The Hindutva proponents have always assumed that had Sardar become the first prime minister, India could never have become a secular State,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement about demonetising Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes was hailed as a "bold step" by President Pranab Mukherjee and the BJP, which called it a "surgical strike" on black money, but his rivals denounced it as a "heartless and ill-conceived" decision that would inconvenience people.
More and more Congressmen are breaking their silence and coming out in the open blaming party vice president Rahul Gandhi for the poll drubbing. Renu Mittal reports.
'If the leadership gets wrong information, what results you can expect?'
'People will realise sooner or later that there are no jobs, inflation is unchecked and loads of corruption charges are coming from various states which the government is totally brazen about.'
'He should have at least offered to step down. He should have shown some grace as head of the government in whom the party leadership reposed so much faith.' 'Sonia Gandhi is essentially a democrat. She does not like to disturb chief ministers. It is a reflection on the person's style of functioning when they mistake this trust as their personal power.' Former Union minister Kumari Selja lashes out.
