The CPI-M leader was the chief minister of the state from 2000 to 2011.
The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments of Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala, a crucial electoral exercise since the parliamentary polls in April-May, will begin at 8 am on Saturday.
The juggernaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which triumphed in three of the four east and north-eastern states that went for assembly bypolls on Saturday, was halted yet again in West Bengal where Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress registered a six-on-six clean sweep.
Announcing the first list of candidates, Left Front chairman Biman Bose said that of the 16 names announced, 14 are new, of whom three are women.
Biman Basu, the senior-most Marxist leader in the country, pays homage to a comrade he has known and admired since the 1980s.
Exuding confidence that Left Front would come back in its bastions, Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat on Monday criticised the United Progressive Alliance-II for following anti-people policy. "In the UPA's first term, the Left exercised all restrains and succeed in checking prices, disinvestment and subjugation by the government to the corporate," said Karat.
He was reviled by critics in his party as a neo-liberal in disguise but till the end, he retained his belief in secularism and the humanity of Communism.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is trying to bluff people with her opposition to FDI in multi-brand retail, Left Front chairman Biman Bose said on Monday and questioned the purpose of her meeting with the United States secretary of state and the US ambassador to India.
The Left Front in West Bengal has evidently failed to win back the confidence of Muslims since the 2008 civic and Panchayat elections, as they lost nearly 90 seats in the just concluded assembly polls in constituencies where the minority community has a strong presence. Muslims have a good presence in nearly 125 seats across ten border districts, of which over 90 have been won by the Trinamool Congress-Congress combine.
Former West Bengal chief minister and a front-ranking Marxist leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will go down in the country's history as a pragmatic communist who kept aside his ideological convictions to woo capital for the industrialisation of his state.
Chief ministers of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha on Wednesday evening condoled the demise of Tata Group's chairman emeritus and veteran industrialist Ratan Tata, and said his legacy will live on forever.
Sekhar Roy was summoned by the police in connection with a social media post he made over the alleged rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Manik Sarkar was elected chief minister after the 1998 polls.
The second round of the crucial Front meeting also decided that the state government would be run strictly on the basis of policies decided at the LF meetings.
Describing the drubbing of the Left in West Bengal as a "defining moment", Communist Party of India general secretary A B Bardhan has told Left Front leaders "either change or you are out".
Counting of votes would be take place on March 3
The Front partners welcomed the visit of the 19-member team ahead of Assembly elections.
The Left Front on Friday welcomed the statements of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progress Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi about the nuclear deal, saying the government was committed to considering the findings of the joint mechanism set up to allay their concerns on the issue. Communist Party of India General Secretary A B Bardhan said that the deal has never been the 'end-all' of the government, as propagated all these days.
It was the summer of 2006 (May 18). Writers' Building, then the state secretariat, was buzzing with journalists. The event marked the start of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's second term as chief minister. And in style, it got off with West Bengal bagging the small car plant, Nano.
'The life of his political career is dependent on success in this constituency.'
The Kerala police on Thursday launched an investigation into an alleged social media campaign against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's Facebook post requesting help for the people affected by the landslides in Wayanad district. The campaign was aimed at motivating people to reject the CM's appeal for disaster relief, it said.
The government has convened an all-party meeting on July 21 ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament which will start next Monday, the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry said.
Embroiled in a battle for survival, Left parties marginally improved their performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, leading in eight to 10 seats according to vote counting trends.
An MP from Baharampur since 1999 and the reigning Pradesh Congress president of West Bengal, this was perhaps Chowdhury's toughest electoral challenge which came in the form Pathan, the non-resident TMC candidate.
The preferred format would be for the top BJP leadership in the government to reach out to the alliance leaders on a case-to-case basis.
He said, during a press meet in Kannur, that during the LS polls, alliances were being formed in various states as part of the platform and its result was that the Bharatiya Janata Party was being largely isolated.
While Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala mockingly called the CM as "the most knowledgeable" person in the state who has the habit of terming priests "wretched creatures" and "ignorant", BJP leader V Muraleedharan said that Vijayan's remarks indicate that he continues to be intolerant towards those who disagree with him.
The welfare schemes of the government, particularly Lakshmir Bhandar, have had a major impact on the electoral outcome.
'Rahul Gandhi is the face of the INDIA alliance. If he contests against a BJP candidate and defeats her/him, it will send a strong message.'
The judgment will impact a sizeable number of people in the state, according to a lawyer involved in the matter.
Justice Gangopadhyay, known for his swift directives, occasionally mandating compliance within hours, has garnered appreciation from diverse segments of society, particularly aspiring candidates for school jobs.
'Rahul Gandhi has done nothing for the constituency'
The meteoric rise of Shajahan Sheikh from a modest background of a helper in a local transport company to becoming the so-called 'tiger' of Sandeshkhali is what Bollywood film scripts are made of. And so does his fall.
It is worth wondering how far the fulsome national coverage Jyoti Basu received this week was warranted, except on the basis of his record as India's longest-serving chief minister.
In a strategic move, the BJP has welcomed prominent Christian figures like Anil K Antony, son of Congress stalwart AK Antony, and seasoned Kerala politician PC George, into its fold.
'Commentators have said that dealing with allies as equals will make Modi more sensitive.' 'Remember that the people Modi is dealing with are equally autocratic in their own lairs.' 'Further, Modi always has handy the threat of dissolving Parliament and calling for fresh polls.' 'Most of his own party, and certainly his allies and opponents having blown their budgets of efforts and resources in the just concluded elections, have no stomach for this.' 'They are all greatly looking forward to the loaves and fishes of office on offer.' 'That gives Modi an unbeatable advantage in any push-comes-to-shove situation,' explains Shreekant Sambrani.
Three ED officers were injured and several of their vehicles vandalised, as hundreds of supporters of TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh attacked them on January 5, when the team went to conduct a raid at his house in Sandeshkhali in connection with alleged irregularities in the state's ration system.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist leadership which had shut its doors on the CPI and had unilaterally given the green signal to the Abdul Nasser Madani sponsored candidate Hussain Randathany to go ahead with the election campaign in Ponnani Lok Sabha constituency has now reconciled.
Kharge said conducting polls in seven phases meant that nearly all the development works will be stopped.
The political heat in West Bengal has been giving the rising mercury levels serious competition since the high court order.
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