The ruling Trinamool Congress on Tuesday said that the resignation of Laxmi Ratan Shukla as West Bengal minister of state for youth services and sports is unfortunate but it will not affect the party, while the Bharatiya Janata Party said that the former cricketer is welcome to join the saffron camp.
The by-election was necessitated due to death of sitting CPI(M) member Bikash Chowdhury.
A victory in Nandigram would not only establish him as one of the tallest BJP leaders in Bengal but would push him miles ahead of others in the chief ministerial race if the party is voted to power.
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari filed his nomination on Friday from the Nandigram seat against his mentor-turned-adversary Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, and said he was '100 per cent' confident of his victory.
What Roy is planning is not known. Will he side with the BJP, which he calls 'non-communal'? Or will he float a party? Or revive the Nationalist TMC to further his political career?
'We have got together to save the democracy, Constitution and brotherhood. The country's constitutional institutions are being misused and the country's wealth is being sold out'
The BJP chief began his speech with the slogan of uprooting the TMC government from Bengal and said in order to do that, he would visit all the districts of the state.
"All students supporting the Left will participate in the campaign along with Kanhaiya. For the first time, the nation can see the power of the youth of Left," Yechury said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who heads the All India Trinamool Yuva, on Monday denied suggestions that the newly formed national platform for youths followed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's example to woo youths.
Consensus emerged on the appointment of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as the chairperson of the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), while Janata Dal-United chief Nitish Kumar's name was proposed for the convener's post, pending approval of parties absent at the alliance meeting on Saturday, according to sources.
Attacking the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal over the issue of development, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said funds worth crores were sent from the Centre to the state but they never reached the people.
With his exit, the TMC will lose a crucial, politically influential vote catcher in the Jungalmahal region and areas in minority-dominated Murshidabad, and the BJP will get a face it badly needs, especially in rural Bengal, reports Aditi Phadnis.
The condition of the youth, who had slapped West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee at a rally on Sunday, was stated to be critical after he suffered multiple head injuries.
Modi launched a scathing attack on the Congress alleging that the opposition party has become outdated and has always been against any kind of reservation.
President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders celebrated Raksha Bandhan on Thursday.
While the Congress is not willing to campaign in Muslim areas, the BJP encourages Muslims to attend its public meetings, reports Archis Mohan.
'Mamata Didi is the only politician who can take on the might of Modi.'
In a press conference later in the day Sangma said that any resolution that is decided upon should be acceptable to the people.
In New Delhi, state Congress president Anil Kumar and party workers were detained by police at a petrol pump near Parmanand hospital.
The run-up to the polls, which should have been a humdrum affair, became a cause celebre after it was marred by violence, arrests, sit-ins in far-away Delhi and a Supreme Court intervention asking officials to ensure peaceful polling.
Didi embarks on her new mission: To unite the Opposition to take on Modi in the Lok Sabha elections of 2024, observes Payal Singh Mohanka.
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The Congress works more but is not good at marketing itself, unlike opposition parties, believes party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
Given her penchant for obfuscating issues Mamata is encouraging the false perception, parroted by her political hangers-on, that all refugees from Bangladesh would face the brunt of deportation once the BJP came to power. In fact, Didi's theatrics and those of all her extras, in the last few days, have been based on propagating this falsehood, says Dr Anirban Ganguly.
The West Bengal CM launched her campaign for the 2016 assembly polls saying the TMC would fight the election alone... and win.
If only the Congress could rebuild on its strengths and develop a modern enough ideology, we could again be moving towards a clearer two-party political landscape, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Here's a recap of moments captured in India in the past 24 hours.
'Mamata has used minorities only as her vote bank.' 'In her entire election campaign Mamata did not utter a single sentence against the RSS.'
'The strategies outlined in Jaitley's Budget won't create the millions of jobs needed to dispel the despair and cynicism of militant youth in the Red Corridor running from Nepal to Tamil Nadu.'
An initial probe has revealed that the 53-year-old singer, who was on a two-day tour to Kolkata to perform at two college programmes, was 'almost mobbed' by fan followers at the hotel where he had returned to after performing at Nazrul Mancha auditorium in the southern part of Kolkata.
Can Mamata Banerjee unite the Opposition?
'With the appeal of both the Left and the Congress fading, Banerjee fears the saffron brigade's inroads into her citadel,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
Bharatiya Janata Party Chief Amit Shah on Tuesday attacked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, alleging she was focused on trying to save her chit fund scam 'tainted' leaders instead of governing the state and was jeopardising national security for vote bank politics.
The Congress Working Committee will meet on Sunday to discuss the outcome of the assembly elections in five states where the party received a drubbing, sources said.
Accusing Trinamool Congress of creating widespread fear psychosis through "terror and intimidation" in West Bengal, the Left parties on Tuesday sought Election Commission's intervention to ensure free and fair polls.
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.
Every week, we bring you fascinating videos, chosen by you, through your likes.
Replying to the debate in Lok Sabha on Motion of Thanks to President Ram Nath Kovind's address to the Parliament, Modi said the Congress' 'arrogance' has not gone away despite multiple electoral defeats and its 'misdeeds' seem to indicate that it has made up its mind not to come to power for the next 100 years.
'The BJP will take time to come to power in Andhra.'
Glimpses of the Bharat Bandh called to protest the Agnipath scheme, June 20, 2022.
Opposition parties on Sunday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party after Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar and eight others were inducted into the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government, saying the ruling party's 'washing machine' has resumed its operation to clean tainted leaders and it was an 'ED-facilitated power grab'.
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