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".
Arun Jaitley on Friday said he would defer the move.
Copies of the bill, to be moved by Finance Minister Amit Mitra tomorrow for consideration and passage, were circulated among members on the first day of a two-day special session of the Assembly on Monday.
Nobody should be surprised if the Congress-led alliance at the Centre now makes favourable policy overtures to Naveen Patnaik also, like it has done for Nitish Kumar and Mamata Banerjee, in the hope of strengthening its prospects after the next general elections, says AK Bhattacharya
The gheraoing of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and manhandling of her colleague Amit Mitra in New Delhi came in for all-round criticism, even from the Left whose supporters were involved in the unruly incident.
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 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.
The West Bengal Assembly had in a special session last week passed the West Bengal Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishment Bill, 2013, to protect investors in chit fund companies.
In a virulent attack on the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Bandopadhyay on Monday threatened to 'break the hands' of the CPI-M cadre if the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was attacked again.
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
A controversy broke out on Wednesday over whether or not West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was gheraoed by Left activists on Tuesday, ignored an advice to enter the Planning Commission building through the VIP gate.
He was confident of collecting tax revenue of Rs 31,000 crore.
Though no reason was officially cited for his absence, Trinamool Congress sources here said Mitra will attend a crucial parliamentary meeting of the party in Kolkata on Tuesday to discuss the Centre's decision to hike diesel price, restrict of subsidised cooking gas and allow FDI in retail and decide the future of the party's ties with the United Progressive Alliance.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who chose to skip the chief ministers' conference on internal security in New Delhi, on Monday voiced her dissent over the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre and asked the Centre to play an "effective coordinating role" to counter Naxalism.
Outlay for cultural activities increased, for social welfare schemes slashed
'Food security' will, unfortunately, become a giant boondoggle.
In Kolkata, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee let her annoyance be known.
Hours after West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra met Pranab Mukherjee to seek a special financial package for the state, the Congress on Monday indicated that the crisis-ridden state could be helped but dismissed suggestions on any quid pro quo for the Presidential 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.
Notably, the present government has been vociferous about the high debt it inherited from the Left Front government
Besides, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry secretary general Amit Mitra, L Suresh, vice president of Film Federation of India, UTV Group chief financial officer Rajeev Waghle, chief financial officer of Reliance Big Films Subhashish Sarkar and Zee Tele films chief executive officer Puneet Goenka, among others, were also part of the delegation.
In a telephonic conversation, Mitra explains to Namrata Acharya how the state is reeling under a huge debt, a 'legacy' of the Left government.
State finance minister Amit Mitra said that attempts were being made to blame the government for not depositing the salary amount of employees 'which is totally incorrect as deposit is done by the first day of a month as announced by the state government'.
Many states are open to the idea of petrol and diesel being brought under the goods and services tax (GST) regime - contrary to the perception that they are averse to it - but they want a concrete proposal, including a compensation mechanism, from the Centre. West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra says while the issue can be discussed, the Centre may not be keen to bring the change because it earns "much more" from taxes on petrol and diesel. "(The peak rate of) GST is 28 per cent. Under the regime, the Centre would only get 14 per cent. "So, definitely, the Union government does not want GST on fuel. It is all lies. Currently, they are in a very cozy place," Mitra said.
'You have to explain to them about Indian investments in the US creating jobs this reverse outsourcing'
Trinamool Congress candidate and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce And Industry secretary general Amit Mitra, pitted against Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate and West Bengal Finance minister Ashim Dasgupta, is confident that his party is heading for a victory at the forthcoming Assembly elections.
In a central govt report, the state only has figures from 2001-02 to 2003-04. But nothing after that.
Kumar, a well-known economist and the author of several books, would succeed Amit Mitra, who has become the Finance Minister of West Bengal.
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".
The state government was under a mammoth debt of Rs 2 lakh crore.
The industry body Ficci, whose Secretary General Amit Mitra is among the winning Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidates in West Bengal elections, on Friday described the TMC victory as "historic".
The 2,75,000 new jobs would cost a monthly Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion), officials with knowledge of the development said.
The Centre is working out a financial package for West Bengal to tide over the huge problems the new government has inherited from the Left Front administration, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday.
The Union ministry of information & broadcasting has constituted a committee headed by Amit Mitra, secretary general, FICCI, to review existing television rating point system (TRP) in India and suggest measures to bring in place an effective mechanism for a transparent TRP system in the country.
The state government as an interim measure would raise Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) from market borrowings and Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) as loan from small savings, Mitra told reporters at the state secretariat.
The industry ministry in a recent concept paper proposed raising the FDI cap in the defence sector to 74 per cent.
The 2009 Budget had raised the rate of MAT to 15 per cent. The industry wants it to be lowered to at least 10 per cent in the forthcoming Budget.
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