Deliberating on the acute financial crisis the new government faced after taking over from the Left Front regime following Assembly elections, Banerjee said, "I have sought a financial package from the Centre to rejuvenate the economy.
In an informal conversation with rediff.com's Indrani Roy Mitra, Salim speaks about Trinamool Congress' much-hyped poriborton, what made Left fare badly at the last Lok Sabha and municipal elections among many other issues.
The issue of acquiring farmland for industry is threatening to jolt West Bengal's Left Front, the world's longest-running democratically elected communist government, says Sumit Bhattacharya
The first option that the state government might opt for is offer Infosys space in one of the SEZs that are coming up, but that is unlikely to be accepted
A former Indian Police Services officer, who lodged an FIR against Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and was considered very close to the Left Front government during Jyoti Basu's tenure, is among five former police officers contesting the West Bengal assembly polls on Trinamool Congress tickets.
The Supreme Court on Friday pulled up the Delhi police in connection with the 2008 cash for votes scam, saying it was giving the latter four weeks (one month) to find the source from where the money had originated.
India's macroeconomic authorities must focus on fiscal stabilisation and Mukherjee has to provide the leadership as finance minister.
Mamata Banerjee created history on Friday when she was sworn in as the first woman chief minister of West Bengal, after her party Trinamool Congress ended the Left Front government's 34-year-old rule in the state.
Clashes were reported from some parts of West Bengal after the announcement of assembly poll results in which the Trinamool Congress trounced the Left Front with the Communist Party of India-Marxist alleging that three of its activists have been killed.
Mamata Banerjee was on Sunday formally elected Trinamool Congress's Legislature Party leader.Two days after her party stormed to power with three-fourths majority, ending 34 years of Left Front rule in West Bengal, the name of 56-year-old Banerjee as TCLP leader was proposed by Subrata Bakshi.
"The meeting of the newly-elected MLAs of the Trinamool Congress will be held in Kolkata on Sunday to elect the leader, party general secretary Mukul Roy said on Saturday.
History is being rewritten in West Bengal. The 34-year-old Left Front regime is coming to an end.
Drawing parallels between the victory of Trinamool Congress in West Bengal elections and the "freedom struggle", its chief Mamata Banerjee on Friday promised good governance and vowed to end "autocracy and atrocities".
The electoral debacle of the Left Front and the decisive win of the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal is actually a "huge emotional outburst" by the people of Bengal, believes eminent journalist Swapan Dasgupta.
The Trinamool Congress rose like a phoenix from the Singur and Nandigram movements chipping away at the hold of the Left Front to sweep into the portals of power in West Bengal after 34 years of uninterrupted Marxist rule. The land agitation in Singur and Nandigram is widely credited for Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's meteoric rise and the dramatic change in her political fortunes
The feisty 56-year-old Banerjee, who is the founder and chairperson of the Trinamool Congress which she set up in 1998 after falling out with the Congress Party in West Bengal, can now have the satisfaction of a victorious General seeing all the war plans fall into place.
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.
She turned down the renewed proposal by Industry Minister Nirupam Sen that she might accept Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's offer to return 100 acres of land to unwilling farmers in Singur.
Trinamool Congress will go it alone in next month's Assembly election in West Bengal, party supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday said and declared the list of TMC candidates which included sports personalities, actors and journalists.
In a complaint to the Election Commission, the Communist Party of India Marxist on Wednesday alleged that Home Minister P Chidambaram and his ministry were trying to "portray" the Left Front as an "aggressor" in West Bengal, thereby violating the model code of conduct in place in the state.The party petitioned to the commission that statements being made by Chidambaram during the course of his campaign for the ongoing assembly elections.
Communist Party of India-Marxist stalwart and Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, the star campaigner for the Left Democratic Front in the April 13 Assembly polls, on Wednesday said he would not campaign for Left Front candidates in West Bengal.
A day before Congress president Sonia Gandhi's visit for poll campaigning, senior party leader Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday snubbed party rebels contesting as Independents saying dissenters would not matter in the assembly elections.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday stressed for a change of regime in West Bengal, saying that the Left Front Government had failed to utilise Central funds given to the state for its development.
The BJP on Thursday criticised the UPA government at the Centre and the Left front government in West Bengal, saying the country has lost national security under the UPA and Bengal has lost all its glory under the Marxists. "Under UPA, the country has lost national security with tension over its borders with China and Pakistan. While under the Marxist rule, West Bengal has lost all its glory because of infiltration by Bangladeshis and a spurt in Maoist activity," BJP said.
Ethnic divisions are likely to dominate elections in West Bengal's Dooars region, which has 12 assembly seats, with the choice of the adivasi and Nepalese-origin electorate likely to be a deciding factor.
In his constituency Malampuzha, locals can't get enough of Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, his policies and his caustic speeches, says Shobha Warrier
Former Union Minister Deepa Dasmunsi was on Friday made the Congress candidate from Bhabanipur seat in West Bengal to take on Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee in the assembly elections.
The Left Front on Thursday said the Supreme Court's quashing of the appointment of P J Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner was 'another serious blow' to the UPA government which is facing major corruption cases. "I think what the court said today only vindicates the position our party has taken at the outset. Now the government, which is facing major corruption charges, has to answer why they have been taking such decisions," said CPM leader Sitaram Yechury.
Trinamool Congress-led alliance was on the cusp of a historic victory in West Bengal while Congress appeared set to capture Kerala and retain Assam but its ally Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam was facing rout in Tamil Nadu in the elections to state assemblies.
Expelled Communist Party of India-Marxist leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker said on Friday the trends indicated that the Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance was coming to power in West Bengal.
From almost being politically wiped out after the West Bengal assembly polls in 2006 to being touted as the woman who will single-handedly usher in the winds of change in the state, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee has come a long way. She opens up in a rare interview
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday said there was no evidence linking any Indian politician or government agency with the Purulia arms drop case of 1995, dismissing claims of accused Kim Davy that the clandestine work was carried out by "political forces" at the Centre to destabilise the Left front Government of West Bengal.
Five years after the Tatas abandoned their small car factory in favour of Gujarat frustrated by the land acquisition controversy, politics in the Singur assembly constituency still revolves around the failed project.
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.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday alleged that the Left Front had not done any development work or set up any industry in West Bengal in its 34 year-rule.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said it would be unfair on the part of the Left Front government to blame the Centre if it failed to pay salaries to its employees April onwards. Quoting from a local daily, which reported that payment of salary for state government employees would become uncertain from April, Mukherjee said, "If it comes to such a pass, then the state government may say that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is not giving funds," he said.
For Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the transition from a 'people's man' to corporate India's preferred chief minister was rapid, albeit with a cataclysmic effect.
If Mamata Banerjee is a fighter jet bombing the Left Front fortress of West Bengal, Gautam Deb is the Communist Party of India-Marxist's anti-aircraft gun.
It will be a 'tough fight' between the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress in this month's assembly polls in West Bengal while in Kerala the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front had an 'edge' over the Congress-led United Democratic Front, Communist Party of India General Secretary A B Bardhan said on Friday.
In a fresh bid to end the Parliament deadlock, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar will on Friday meet leaders of the Left Front and other non-Bharatiya Janata Party opposition parties. Communist Party of India - Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat, CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechury and Janata Dal - United chief Sharad Yadav are among those who will attend the meeting.On Thursday, the Speaker met BJP leaders but failed to bridge the differences as they insisted on a JPC.
