The alpona (artwork) on the steep, winding road leading to Makaibari bears testimony to the visit of G20 delegates for the second tourism working group meeting in April last year. The lush tea bushes, the delegates joining in for the moonlight plucking of Silver Tips Imperial first flush, a favourite of late Queen Elizabeth II, cut a picture of mystical magic. But it's not the Kurseong tea garden's only shining moment - the last few years have been busy for the estate and its bungalow.
Leaders of the West Bengal Congress unit, which has an alliance with the CPI-M-led Left Front in the state, were seen welcoming the Left leaders.
Expressing disappointment at the Left Parties withdrawing support to the Centre, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Wednesday said that the India-United States nuclear deal was not enough of a reason for pulling down a government.
The feisty TMC boss also accused the CPI-M of ruining her party's relationship with the Congress, its ally in the Opposition bloc INDIA at the national level.
Describing the two-day nation-wide general strike as the biggest working class action since Independence, Left parties on Thursday warned the government that 'bigger actions' will follow if the demands raised by the workers are not immediately met.
As the final five phases of polls draw closer, rift among Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partners, Congress-Left combine and the Trinamool Congress, which are fighting separately has intensified, triggering a fierce contest across half of the remaining 36 constituencies in West Bengal driven by local issues such as Sandeshkhali and the SSC scam.
Veteran Congress leader and former Defence Minister A K Antony said on Tuesday that his son, Anil K Antony, who is contesting as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, should not win the election.
'Till today, we don't know how many people died of Covid in India.' 'How many migrated from cities to villages during the Covid pandemic?' 'How many corporates contributed to PM Cares?'
The comment comes two days after state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said his party won't beg for seats from the TMC.
In a major victory for Tatas, an arbitral tribunal has awarded Tata Motors a compensation of over Rs 766 crore for the losses incurred because of protests by Trinamool Congress that stalled its small car project at Singur in West Bengal. The tribunal asked the West Bengal government to pay Tata Motors the compensation, along with interest, according to a stock exchange filing by the Mumbai-based auto major on Monday. The company stated that the arbitral tribunal has asked the West Bengal Industrial Development Corp (WBIDC) to pay the company Rs 766 crore compensation, in connection with losses incurred on its manufacturing site in Singur.
Giving a clarion call to defeat the Mamata Banerjee-led party in West Bengal, the prime minister while addressing a mega rally in Siliguri said, "The road to oust the corrupt TMC government from West Bengal will open from the Lok Sabha polls."
The Congress 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', led by Rahul Gandhi, is scheduled to enter West Bengal from Assam on Thursday, amid political ripples within the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in the state.
Maintaining that the INDIA alliance is for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and not for assembly polls in any state, the Congress on Friday asserted that the opposition bloc of 27 parties exists and will fight together.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited the building collapse site at Azan Molla Lane in the city's western periphery and assured local residents of stern action against illegal construction.
Mamata asserted that she has not spoken to anyone in the Congress on seat-sharing in the state for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
'Paribortan' or change -- the poll plank of Trinamool -- found an echo in the words of senior CPI-M leaders Sitaram Yechury and Brinda Karat as well as a party politburo statement which said the party accepts the people's verdict. "After the Left Front being in office for a record 34 years continuously, the people have opted for a change. The TMC-led combine has been the beneficiary of this change," the CPM statement said.
There have been media reports of Banerjee meeting Rahul Gandhi at his residence in New Delhi on Wednesday morning. A leading Bengali daily had reported the meeting.
Seeking to mollify allies miffed over its 'unilateral' announcement of candidates for 160 constituencies in Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK on Saturday concluded seat sharing arrangements with the Left parties and other allies for the April 13 assembly polls. The AIADMK is continuing its talks with the DMDK even as the process of filing of nominations for 234 seats begins on Saturday. The hectic political activity in the AIADMK camp continued till the wee hours of Saturday.
The unrest in the Sandeshkhali region of West Bengal ballooned into a major political row on Thursday as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the saffron camp of fomenting trouble in the area, while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Commission for Women (NCW) accused her party Trinamool Congress and the state government of being complicit in crimes against women in the area.
Sukanta Majumdar, the state BJP president, said, "Amit Shah has set a target of 35 seats. We will achieve that".
Left parties on Tuesday stopped short of seeking the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, after the Supreme Court's observations on the coal allocation scam, but asked him to face Parliament as he "owes an answer" to the country. They demanded the ouster of Law Minister Ashwani Kumar.
Fissures appear to have emerged in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) as its two key allies, the Congress and the Trinamool Congress, on Thursday clashed over seat sharing for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal.
The 14-year political journey of Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra has encountered both upheaval and elevation, as her expulsion from Parliament in a cash-for-query case marked the culmination of her tumultuous parliamentary term.
Tipra Motha has decided to go solo and hopes to sweep the 20 tribal-dominated seats that hold the key to power in the northeastern state that has a 60-member assembly.
Navigating a history of animosity and mistrust, negotiations for a potential Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance in West Bengal face significant challenges while addressing the shared adversary of the Bharatiya Janata Party, with the Bengal Congress unit appearing reluctant to engage in an electoral pact.
Will January 22 mark a point of no return for our Constitutional secularism? asks Shekhar Gupta.
Refusing to spell out their preference, Left parties on Wednesday asked the United Progressive Alliance government to come up with a candidate with the "widest possible acceptance" for the Presidential election. After a meeting of the four Left parties in Delhi, the leaders said they did not discuss any names during the 90-minute-long deliberations though they mentioned that Nationalist Congress Party leader P A Sangma approached them for support.
Abu Khayer Miah, who had contested, on a Tipra Motha ticket, from the Boxanagar assembly constituency in the last elections held in February and conceded defeat, has been suspended, a party leader said.
With the declaration of results for the Tripura Assembly polls on Thursday, the Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power in the state by winning 32 seats and its ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) winning one.
The announcement was made after AICC general secretary Ajoy Kumar held a meeting with CPI-M state secretary Jitendra Choudhury on Friday evening.
The veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist leader is likely to undergo a few tests later in the day, which will help in ascertaining the severity of the infection in his lungs that landed him in the hospital on Saturday afternoon.
Chowdhury said he has directed Congress workers to extend all cooperation to the CPI-M in fighting the July 8 polls.
Vishakan has urged the court to issue an interim direction for return of his mobile as it was the sole source of his livelihood.
Bharatiya Janata Party Supremo and Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi is embraced by a 103-year-old supporter in Dahod.
Chief Minister Manik Saha said that the BJP will contest in 55 constituencies in its bid to return to power in the northeastern state which has a 60-member assembly for the second time in a row.
Rumours around Putin's health and threat to life have been swirling around since Russia invaded Ukraine in February this year.
Tipra Motha, a regional party floated by Pradoyt Kishore Manikya Debbarma, scion of the erstwhile royal family, is set to play a key role in the formation of the next government in Tripura.
'If unity is not going to be based on values and principles, how will we achieve it?'
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has 17 crorepati candidates followed by Tipra Motha with nine and the Communist Party of India-Marxist seven, the report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a civil society organisation, said.
Nearly 88 per cent of voting was recorded in the one-day Tripura assembly elections, which were "largely peaceful', a senior EC official said on Friday.
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