The Trinamool will be as vulnerable to traders' blandishments as the CPI(M) is.
Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee on Monday warned the West Bengal government not to use the stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against intellectuals by alleging links with Maoists, but the ruling Left Front stuck to its guns.
With Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front government in West Bengal not readily implementing the ban imposed on Communist Party of India-Maoist, Congress on Wednesday accused the Marxist party of "double speak" and warned if state governments implement Central laws "selectively", it would lead to "constitutional chaos."
A Left-Right tactical unity is emerging as the Opposition's strategy to deal with a resurgent Congress, writes Sanjaya Baru
An impressive body of anti-Modi films accumulating since 2002, are now a ubiquitous part of the 'documentary festival' circuit, delivering compact body blows to the reputation of Hindutva's puffed up poster boy.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said it had not been a correct decision to align with Congress in the 2011 assembly elections and accused the Congress of holding out the threat of the Central Bureau of Investigation "whenever there is a protest against the UPA government".
The Centre should 'topple' the Left Front government in West Bengal for "state-sponsored terrorism" against activists of the opposition parties, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee demanded on Tuesday. "We want the Centre to topple this government which has unleashed state-sponsored terrorim against the opposition," Banerjee told a press conference at her residence in Kolkata.
The ruling Left Front and the opposition Trinamool Congress and the Congress on Friday united against the demand by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha for a separate Gorkhaland on the lines of Telangana. "We don't want division of Bengal," Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, said in Delhi.
Banerjee has fulfilled two key electoral promises: Ridding Lalgarh of Naxals and bringing peace to Darjeeling
A day after Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee indicated that she was open to working with Jayalalithaa, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief on Friday telephoned her and was stated to have discussed the upcoming general elections.
With two years to go before West Bengal elects its next government, the BJP's internal objective is to scale down the Trinamool Congress tally from 211 to 45 seats. This amounts to an annihilation of the TMC while enabling the BJP to win a record 250 seats in the 295-member legislature, reports Radhika Ramaseshan
Polling will be held in all 13 seats in Punjab and an equal number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat Chandigarh.
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.
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.
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".
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.
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.
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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again led the BJP's campaign holding several rallies and stepping up his attack on Opposition parties, particularly the Congress.
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.
'The BJP capitalised on the Left Front's failure and inaction and the Congress' deliberate retreat in Tripura.'
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.
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.
Mass agitations are not particularly uncommon in India. But a mass agitation led by an environment-related issue that has gone out of hand is not something that can be easily recalled.
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.
"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.
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
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.
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.
The Left Front' economic policies may continue to haunt the UPA government.
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