The Trinamool Congress has romped back to power in style in West Bengal. However, Bharatiya Janata Party activists and supporters can't help being happy with their performance in the state. The party has received a 10.2 per cent vote share. Sumantra Maity, a BJP activist and Information Technology professional, speaking to Indrani Roy/Rediff.com had predicted the party putting up a respectable show. He explains to Rediff.com the factors that led to the rise in Bharatiya Janata Party's vote share in Bengal.
On Wednesday, a police party, including DIB's Sadhu Chatterjee, went to the area for routine enquiry. But soon they were surrounded by a large mob, which assaulted them.
Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Sunday admitted to the complicity of his partymen in the killing of nine villagers at Netai in January, 2011 during his tenure as Chief Minister of West Bengal, which had caused a nationwide outcry.
In a huge embarrassment for the Left Front, a Commission of Inquiry into the police firing on a Youth Congress movement in 1993 killing 13 persons on Monday said that it was worse than the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
Promising to promote the ailing jute industry in the state, the chief minister said, "If the Centre does not make use of jute bags mandatory for packaging, the state will do it."
State party leaders admit that Hindu consolidation by itself was not good enough to unseat Didi.
Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan are the other three states to pass a resolution opposing the contentious legislation, reports Archis Mohan.
The automobile firm's response came in reply to an earlier specific query of the apex court asking it to make its stand clear over the allotted land in the wake of changed scenario as the company had already moved its car plant to Gujarat.
Just as political battles hot up along with rural polls in West Bengal, a certain report in the most circulated regional daily Anandabazar Patrika has caused major discomfort for the Left Front.
'Mamata is synonymous with Bengal, its culture, language, traditions.'
Calling the United Progressive Alliance a "minority government" and ruling out the possibility of a Third Front government, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday claimed that the National Democratic Alliance would come to power after the 2014 elections.
BJP president Amit Shah, while kickstarting 'Ganatanatra Bachao Yatra' in Bengal, vowed to overthrow the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in the state.
The Left has said the amendments will make the RTI useless.
The group's major investments in Bengal are from Tata Metaliks, Tata Consultancy Services, Indian Hotels and Tata Hitachi.
Anybody living in India is a Hindu, Bhagwat said.
The chief minister said the situation was not a crisis and dubbed the protesters Communist Party of India-Marxist cadres.
Defending its proposal for the formation of a Federal Front, the Trinamool Congress on Saturday said such an idea is relevant in the current political scenario as the United Progressive Alliance was slipping fast and the Bharatiya Janata Party was unable to come up sufficiently to be an alternative.
Three-way contest, an advantage for CPI-M in West Bengal
'The chief minister has to remember that the people of Bengal have suffered a lot. They waited for three decades for a change in rule. Hence, they are impatient and want fast and effective action.' Legendary writer Mahasweta Devi rates the Trinamool Congress-led government in West Bengal.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned abruptly on Thursday, following an uproar by Trinamool Congress members against the Left Front government in West Bengal.
Govt, however, is readying new Bill that will give it more teeth to deal with such scams.
A total of 259 companies of paramilitary force personnel are patrolling and keeping vigil all over Tripura where campaigning for the February 14 assembly election is going on in full swing.
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.
A leader of Communist Party of India - Marxist students' wing Student's Federation of India, who was arrested after a clash with the police, died in Kolkata on Tuesday. His death triggered a row with the men in uniform claiming he fell from a vehicle while the party alleged that he succumbed to injuries sustained in lathi-charge by police.
Accusing the opposition for the presence of bogus voters in electoral rolls, the ruling Left Front in West Bengal Monday urged the visiting Election Commission observers to go for a thorough scrutiny and remove all fake names.
Statistics from the Association for Democratic Reforms analysis of the newly-elected legislative assemblies in Nagaland and Tripura indicate that there are 36 and 8 crorepatis respectively in both the Houses. Vicky Nanjappa reports:
The Bihar bandh called by opposition parties to protest against the killing of three people in police firing in Madhubani district on Monday affected normal life across the state. Most shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed in Patna and other districts.
'There are many able, good, police officers in Bengal who are capable of handling this situation, but without Mamata Banerjee nothing moves.'
Congress MLAs including women members wore helmets when they entered the West Bengal assembly on Wednesday, a day after a scuffle inside the House spun out of control, even as the Speaker ordered a probe into the role of security men during the violence.
The stalemate in Parliament over the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on coal block allocation continues.
News from Kolkata paints a bleak picture - flyover collapse, deadly fires and crackdowns on political humour. But the City of Joy is changing, finds, Sumit Bhattacharya. Only, few are sure if it's for the better
The timing of the flyover collapse couldn't have been worse for the CM with the assembly elections just days away.
The All India Student Federation, backed by the Left Front, swept the Patna University students' union polls -- which were held after a gap of 28 years -- by winning three of the five major posts. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, managed to win the president's post. The Janata Dal United's student wing won the secretary's post, said an official.
Tripura on Thursday set a new record for the country's highest-ever voter turnout with 93 per cent polling in the state assembly elections. The Left Front is hoping to return to power for a record fifth time in the elections to the 60-member assembly in the north-eastern state.
Members of the Congress party and its supporters were enthused to see the party's vice president Rahul Gandhi and the young titular king of Tripura, Maharaja Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma, share the dais at an election rally.
The base camps of Pamba and Nilackal witnessed intensified protests as the Lord Ayyappa temple opens for the five-day monthly pooja on Wednesday evening, for the first time after the landmark top court verdict.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee showed "political immaturity" in moving a no-trust motion against the UPA-II government with just 19 MPs in her fold, Left Front chairman Biman Bose said on Friday.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday claimed that pro-Communist Party of India - Marxist state government employees were trying to sabotage her government to give it a bad name, but cautioned the people against taking the law into their own hands.
Hours after taking charge as CM, Mamata had announced returning 400 acres to 'unwilling' land-losers
The implementation of the NRC as nothing but a political vendetta of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government, she told the assembly.
