Somen Mitra, the one time pillar of the Trinamool Congress and now Congress candidate from Kolkata North constituency, can't help smiling. The SC's order directing the CBI to probe the Saradha scam is the fruit of his hard and lonely battle. On the day when 17 constituencies in the state go to polls, Mitra speaks to Rediff.com's Indrani Roy about the impact of the Saradha scam on the elections and his relationship with his former party chief.
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Taking a jibe at Mamata Banerjee over her "paper tiger" comment, Narendra Modi on Sunday said that a real tiger is one who jails those involved in the Sharada chit fund scam and gets back money of the poor.
Last year, he was the BJP's darling. Today, Arnab Goswami is a hated figure for the Modi bhakts. What changed?
Attacking Modi, who is set to address the nation after end of the 50-day period he had sought from the people to ease their problems due to cash crunch, Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that the PM is good at making announcements that are far from reality.
'(Upper caste) leaders talk against the Constitution, reservations and the nation and still get away.'
A key prosecution witness in a case arising out of the 2G scam probe on Tuesday claimed that he was threatened by the Central Bureau of Investigation that he would lose his job if investigating officer writes to his employer.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the ruling Trinamool Congress government in the state saying that the women in Bengal were the worst sufferers despite having a lady chief minister.
Asked about the selection of chief ministers in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, he said there will not be any issue and it will be done smoothly.
'The RBI has not allowed any commercial bank to fail in the past three decades.' 'It has always played the role of a matchmaker, but this is the best deal it has stitched,' notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
To mark the anniversary of note ban, the Congress was observing a 'black day'.
"Here, you have to answer to the country. You are not to make accusations here...," he said.
'High denomination cash notes which was 1.4 lakh crores of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in 2004 became Rs 15.5 lakh crores in 2016.' 'If it had been allowed, by 2022, it would have been Rs 34 lakh crores, and that would have been the end of the Indian economy.' 'Demonetisation was a huge hit on the head of the economy, but without the hit, you could not U-turn the economy.'
'Collateral damage during operations needs to be avoided.' 'Such an objective can be achieved more easily should stone throwers not gear up to en masse oppose security forces.' 'With the conditions being quite sensitive at this stage, the death of one of these boys could easily serve the terrorists in instigating violence,' notes Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
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 on Tuesday sought to make more trouble for the government on Lalitgate issue, putting forth six demands including making public minutes of a meeting it claimed External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had with United Kingdom High Commissioner James Bevan in which she had favoured grant of travel documents to Lalit Modi.
PM also came up with new acronym of Vikas--V for 'vidyut', K for 'kanoon vyawastha' and S for 'sadak'.
'She really doesn't care if she is called heartless.' 'For her, the job needs to be done. That's all that matters.'
After the Bihar setback, these are the issues the PM must address to maintain the people's faith in him.
Justice Sikri, the second senior-most judge in the apex court after Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, was part of the three-member panel along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior Congress leader Mallikajurn Kharge which decided on removal of Alok Verma from the post of Central Bureau of Investigation director.
'They (BJP) can claim of winning even 82 seats, despite the fact that Uttar Pradesh has only 80 seats'
Tej Pratap, the RJD chief's elder son said that "the numbers could swing as voters' mood is also not quite clear at the moment".
Kamal Nath will need to watch his back because given the slender majority, there is no doubt that the BJP will try to topple his government.
Bankers pay a small price for their misdeeds, no matter how large the cost to their banks or to the economy at large, says TT Ram Mohan.
"They call themselves the champions of speech and expression. But deny the same for the people of Kerala."
Mishra was catapulted to the chief ministership of Bihar following the assassination of his elder brother Lalit Narayan Mishra in 1975.
India continues to rank as the third top source of overall malicious activity including spam, malware, phishing hosts and bots
Hardening further its stand on 'Modigate', the Congress on Tuesday demanded a Supreme Court-monitored special investigation team probe into the "scandal".
The deal was "put on hold" only in 2013 after corruption was "proved", he said adding the Congress chief should answer who was behind the delay.
The Congress said arrogance of the BJP has touched its zenith as it turned 'blind' to farm distress.
The Congress, which described the note ban decision as the "biggest scam" and "the largest government-abetted money laundering scheme", has asked all its state units to organise protests, processions and marches to mark the day.
The 61-year-old feisty leader, who had single-handedly wrecked the red bastion in West Bengal in 2011, was unfazed by the Left-Congress alliance ahead of the assembly polls.
Somaiya, an old BJP hand and one of its leading speakers on economic issues in Parliament, had been a trenchant critic of the Sena.
It is time to take the sainthood away from Dr Manmohan Singh, says Sudhir Bisht.
'The failures of private businessmen have set back the process of market-oriented reform, though that is the only way forward,' argues T N Ninan.
New Delhi is approaching Gota with an open mind, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Every cog in the wheel must present its unique services at the moment of instructed haste, says Vikram Johri.
Thegidi directed by debutant P Ramesh is an exciting investigative thriller revolving around a massive insurance scam.
Collegepond.com, a career guidance company responds to student queries on international admissions.
'Modi and his team have read the message from the ground.' 'People have started questioning what they have achieved by putting Modi in power.'
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