Chidambaram's strong letter to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee comes in the wake of ally Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee alleging misuse of central security forces in the state and offering to quit if her charge was proved wrong.
The district Congress has filed a complaint against West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee accusing him of making "provocative" speech at a public meeting in Coochbehar.
The Bengal intelligentsia that stood by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee is now divided on how to resolve the fracas at Lalgarh -- a generic name that represents the Naxal-stricken tribal heartland of West Bengal.
The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha today rejected West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's offer of more autonomy, power and funds for Darjeeling hills, saying it would not rest till its demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland is met.
Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro, met the chief minister and formally accepted the plot offered in New Town Rajarhat, on the north-eastern fringes of this city.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday admitted that terrorists were using the metropolis as a haven.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Monday said terror could not be countered by terror but by organising mass movements.
West Bengal Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen, whose statement on Maoist links with the Trinamool Congress put the administration in an uncomfortable position, had more trouble on Tuesday, when a senior minister called for action against him for his remarks.
After a meeting with Buddhadeb, Indrani -- the wife of officer-in-charge of Sankrail police station, Atindranath Dutta -- said they had conveyed to the chief minister Maoist leader Kishenji's demand that the women arrested by joint forces in West Midnapore district be released immediately.
A directional landmine blast took place at Baroa, 17 km from Salboni, from where the West Bengal CM, Paswan, state industry minister Nirupam Sen and industrialist Sajjan Jindal were returning after laying the foundation stone of Jindal Steel Works plant, police said.
A poll update from Maharashtra's Nashik, where Raj Thackeray is on fire
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will not attend the full session of the Communist Party of India(M) extended central committee meeting in Vijayawada. Bhattacharjee's move comes days after Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan's decision to stay away from the meet.
Buddha countermands Forward Bloc's rejection of German wholesaler's permit.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has said that the decision of the Tata Group to withdraw from the Singur project was a colossal one.
The West Bengal government on Thursday said it was formulating rules to ensure that schools do not create fear among students as physical and mental torture pose hindrance to their natural development.
On Monday, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee had rejected the chief minister's offer of talks and stuck to her demand for returning 400 acres of land to 'unwilling' sellers of land.
With successive electoral setbacks in Panchayat, Lok Sabha and municipal polls in the past three years, Left leaders in Bengal have realised that there has been a steady and serious erosion in their traditional vote bank among the urban and rural poor.
In a freewheeling interview with a daily, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has admitted that corruption has influenced the CPI-M's rank and file and some of its leaders are behaving like 'local kings'. "We are living in a society which is basically corrupt" and it had influenced "our leaders and our boys" too, he said. But the Bengal CM was quick to add that the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress was not the change the state needed.
After two days of self-introspection, Karat, the party general secretary, retains his hold and instead the West Bengal lobby along with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will now be taking "corrective measures at the organisational and governmental level."
As the operation against Maoists in Lalgarh entered a crucial phase, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P Chidamabaram on Saturday and apprised them of the situation there.
Israel will discuss the issue of homeland security with West Bengal which is reeling under the brunt of Maoist extremism.
On his first visit to the heart of Naxal territory in West Bengal, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram ruled out the involvement of the military in anti-Maoist operations and made a fresh offer of dialogue with the left-wing extremists.
The long-awaited meeting between Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to discuss the law and order situation in the state would take place on January 19 in Delhi. The chief minister would also meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the same day. "The chief minister is going to Delhi on January 18 to meet the home minister and prime minister the next day," the sources said.
Admitting that the fire at Stephen Court has 'opened our eyes', West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday said the civic administration will be under the scanner over illegal constructions in the city."The top floors of Stephen Court are illegal. We are investigating what the Kolkata Muncipal Corporation's role was at that time. The city has a coterie of illegal builders with whom administration is involved. Exemplary punishment will be given," said CM
Virtually shielding higher officials from any blame, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday said that failure, if any, was at the camp level leadership when Maoists attacked Silda camp of Eastern Frontier Rifles in which 24 personnel were killed last month.
Continuing to bicker with West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee through letters, Home Minister P Chidambaram has described the killings of political workers in the state as 'alarming' and said that the violence points to a virtual collapse of law and order in some parts of Bengal. He also said he used the word Harmad (hired killers) in an earlier letter because of its extensive usage in the media.
Railway minister promises jobs for land deals for the project.
Nandigram remained in headlines throughout the year despite the West Bengal government cancelling the SEZ project of Indonesia's Salem Group in January following violence and political pressure on Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
Admitting that the police and administration had failed to rid Maoist menace in West Bengal, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday said that the ultras have to be tackled politically as it was done in 1977 when the Left Front came to power.
In a snub to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Mamata Banerjee-led Railways kept the Communist Party of India-Marxist veteran away from the ceremony attended by President Pratibha Patil to mark the start of a new Metro Rail project in Kolkata.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee claimed on Monday that he had got specific information on the Trinamool Congress' link with the Maoists and warned the party not to join hands with it to put the Communist Party of India-Marxist in trouble.
Kolkata's security agencies are in a tizzy following reports of a possible terrorist strike in the city, especially after four mobile SIM cards used by the terrorists, who struck Mumbai, were said to have been acquired in West Bengal.
Four Eastern Frontier Rifles jawans were killed in a surprise assault by Maoists in Gidhni in West Midnapore on Sunday, hours after Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee wrapped up a two-day visit to the violence-hit district. Claiming responsibility for the killings, top Maoist leader Koteshar Rao alias Kishanji dared the central government to deploy as many forces as they wanted in the embattled area.
Hours before Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's visit to Naxal-infested Midnapore on Saturday, three youths were shot dead by Maoists in Kusbani jungle in the district.Bullet-riddled bodies of the three youths -- Lakhi Das, Jayram Mandi and Manoranjan -- with their limbs tied with ropes, were found on a road near Kusbani jungle, police sources said. The Maoists had left behind posters near the bodies of the three, claiming that they had been 'punished'.
The Centre has assured the West Bengal government that it would not withdraw the 1,700 personnel of central security forces from the three Maoist-hit districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia, even though assembly elections in adjoining Jharkhand is round the corner.
Furthering his damage control measures, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Saturday visited the family of Rizwanur Rehman, three weeks after the graphics designer died in mysterious circumstances. Bhattacharjee was greeted with protestors wielding black flags and chanting slogans like "Chief minister hai hai" and "Please give us justice". He requested the family members to have faith in the CID, which is investigating the case, and the judicial probe.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Monday described Union Railway Minister Mamata Bannerjee's remark as "juvenile disorder" after she demanded his arrest saying there was violence in the state whenever he was away.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Sunday finalised a plan to rectify the 'wrong trends' in the party under which guidelines were formulated for an austerity drive and to make its ministers more accountable.
The Communist Party of India - Marxist Politburo on Saturday began a two-day meeting to finalise a document, to deal with its organisational problems, which led to its rout in the recent polls in its strongholds of West Bengal and Kerala. The purpose of the meeting is to give final touches to amend and strengthen its 'rectification document' that had been prepared several years ago. The meeting is being attended by all top leaders barring CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Wednesday sought to ignore Union Health minister Anbumani Ramadoss' suggestion that he give up the cigarette by refusing to react to it."No comment," was all Bhattacharjee, a heavy smoker, told reporters when asked for his reaction to the minister's suggestion.Ramadoss had sent letters to all state governments, asking them to make the workplace smoke free by October 2.
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