'The Congress's arrogance and unrealistic claims have weakened the anti-BJP movement at the national level.'
The West Bengal government said the situation was under control in Baduria, Swarupnagar, Deganga and Basirhat, which had witnessed violence. Prohibitory orders are in force there. No untoward incident was reported.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf traces the trajectory of Lal Kishan Advani from the highs of the 1990s to the present, when he may have to watch the elections from the sidelines.
The resolution said the state will be called Bangla in three languages -- Bengali, English and Hindi.
The fate of 961 candidates, including Union ministers Giriraj Singh, Subhash Bhamre, S S Ahluwalia and Babul Supriyo of the BJP and former Union ministers Salman Khurshid and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress, will be decided by about 12.79 core voters in the fourth phase.
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.
Former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu's body was taken to funeral parlour 'Peace Haven' from the hospital where it will preserved till Tuesday.
The 95-year-old Marxist breathed his last at the AMRI Hopsital where he had been admitted on January 1 with a 'moderately severe' pneumonic infection.
Paying glowing tribute to former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Sunday described him as the "first and last chapter of the Left Front government".
Cracks appeared in West Bengal's ruling Left Front as the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), one of its constituents, on Tuesday withdrew its support to the Congress-led Siliguri Corporation.
The Congress on Thursday won the mayor's post in Siliguri Municipal Corporation in north Bengal with the support of Left Front councillors, defeating ally Trinamool Congress, which had refused to concede it.
The Centre's ban on the Communist Party of India-Maoist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on Monday would make the outfit more aggressive, according to Left Front partners.
He pointed out that wages under the NREGA have been increased from Rs 61 to Rs 100 which would lead to earnings of Rs 10,000 annually 'irrespective of qualification'. Mukherjee, who is the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief urged party workers to pinpoint failures in implementation of the scheme at the block and panchayat levels.
Forced to lie low after their dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections, parties like Samajwadi Party, Janada Dal - Secular, Lok Janshakti Party and the Left Front have come together in Maharashtra to contest the assembly elections. Having formed the Republican Left Democratic Front in the state, these parties claim that the alliance is only for the assembly elections in Maharashtra, which are scheduled to be held on October 13.
Samajwadi Party supreme Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday termed as 'biggest mistake' the decision to save United Progressive Alliance-I government last year over the Indo-US nuclear deal and said had the ruling dispensation collapsed, it would have brought a big change in the Indian polity.
Turning the heat on senior Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Pinarayi Vijayan, the Kerala High Court on Thursday asked the Left Front government to act independently without 'political compulsions' while deciding on the Central Bureau of Investigations plea to prosecute him in the SNC-Lavalin graft case.
All the newly elected MLAs have been invited to Patna after the Chhath festival for a joint meeting with Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Trinamool Congress has won the August 18 by-elections to both the Bowbazar and Sealdah assembly constituencies, results of which were declared on Friday.
Accusing the Left Front government in West Bengal of ignoring Darjeeling Hills, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh on Friday demanded the creation of a separate Gorkhaland. Singh also demanded more funds under the Cyclone Aila package. Initiating a debate on the Finance Bill in the Lok Sabha, the Darjeeling Member of Parliament wondered, "What wrong have the Gorkhas done not to deserve a separate state."
The Communist Party of India - Maoist on Thursday rubbished charges leveled by the Communist Party of India Marxist, that the Trinamool Congress was patronising Maoists, saying the Left Front party was trying to keep itself afloat by making such allegations. "There is no need for us to have the CPI-M or the Trinamool Congress as allies," Maoist leader Kishenji said while reacting to the CPI-M's allegations that the outfit was protected by the TC.
Having been outwitted by Trinamool Congress' Mamata Banerjee after she sent the Tata Nano car project packing from West Bengal by demanding that land be returned to unwilling farmers, the Communist Party of India-Marxist is getting ready to do a Singur on Banerjee.
So long as no females were allowed to pray there, the strength of emotion kept the issue burning. As more and more women do this, the matter will fade.
Protesting against the attack on a Congress Legislature Party team in West Bengal, party activists clashed with the police in Kolkata and other towns across the state, leaving one person dead and several injured. Five Congress workers were injured in fresh violence in Mangolkot where a CLP team, led by Manas Bhunia, was attacked on Wednesday allegedly by supporters of the ruling Left Front. During the clash, Zia-Ur-Rahman Mullick, 40, died of a heart attack.
"This is applicable for the entire country, all states and we have accepted it. But how to implement it is the government's business," Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told media persons after a cabinet meeting in Kolkata.
'A prohibition is not going to have any influence on our party's activities. In fact, it will only infuse into us a new sense of grit to counter the government opposition,' says Gour Chakraborty, the CPI (Maoist) spokesman.
Upadhyay submitted the resignation to Governor K N Tripathi at the Raj Bhavan.
The United States' Central Intelligence Agency, perceived to have the best spy network in the world, appears clueless about a crucial Indian political development."Privatisation of government-owned industries remains stalled and continues to generate political debate; populist pressure from within the UPA government and from its Left Front allies continues to restrain needed initiatives," says the World actbook section of the CIA website about the state of the Indian economy
The party president also said that India's self-confidence, pride and scale of ambition have grown manifold in three years.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist should apologise to the people of West Bengal for its "policy mistake" in Singur and Nandigram that was reflected in the Left Front's debacle in the Lok Sabha polls in the state, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said in Ranchi on Monday.
Is it the intermittent strikes or the never-ending political turmoil, is it the 32-year-old Left Front 'mis'-rule or the laid-back work culture of the state -- it is difficult to ascertain what plagues the West Bengal economy that is not really showing much sign of improvement.
'Neither the Centre nor the state is helping us, rather they are coming up with new ways to create stumbling blocks for the return of money.'
The Left Front' economic policies may continue to haunt the UPA government.
Lakhs of commuters in Kolkata and adjoining districts had a harrowing time on Monday as a rally by the ruling Left Front in the city sent normal life into disarray with arterial roads closed and public transport taken over to ferry participants.
'Mamata did not stand up for those who suffered owing to the chit fund scam, but only stood up for Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar because he has all the knowledge about the chit fund case.'
'The strategies outlined in Jaitley's Budget won't create the millions of jobs needed to dispel the despair and cynicism of militant youth in the Red Corridor running from Nepal to Tamil Nadu.'
Leaders of the Left front, Bahujan Samaj Party, Telugu Desam Party and other parties on Tuesday met President Pratibha Patil to demand immediate convening of the monsoon session of Parliament, accusing the government of 'concealing' information regarding the Indo-United States nuclear deal.They charged the ruling coalition with subverting the Constitution by deciding to do away with the monsoon session and convening a combined session.
Developments in Nandigram and Singur, where the government's bid to acquire farm land for industrialization ran into stiff resistance from locals and main opposition Trinamool Congress, have given enough worries to the ruling alliance.
There are limits to the support offered by the Nehru-Gandhi family, and they have become only too evident in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament.
Senior Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Anisur Rahman has triggered a controversy by allegedly making derogatory remarks against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her cabinet colleagues, drawing angry reaction from Trinamool Congress leaders on Sunday.
CPM politburo member Hannan Mollah said the party is facing one of the toughest situations following its defeat in Tripura, which has "forced us to rethink in a new way".
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