Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held deliberations with Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda amid speculation about a reshuffle in the Union cabinet, an exercise Modi has not undertaken since forming the government for a second time in May 2019.
An angry Nadda called the attack 'unprecedented' and alleged the state has slipped into 'complete lawlessness and goonda raj'. He also said the violence reflected the 'frustration' of the Mamata Banerjee government. West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee insinuated the attack was staged.
BJP MLA from Kaliagnaj Soumen Roy Saturday joined the ruling TMC, becoming the fourth saffron party legislator to do so since the West Bengal assembly poll results were declared in May.
The party's national general secretary, Mukul Roy, said, "This government has no moral or ethical right to place a railway budget."
Security measures have been heightened in view of the violence in the previous phases, particularly the death of five people in Cooch Behar in the fourth phase of polling on April 10, an Election Commission official said.
Twelve Trinamool Congress leaders including Mukul Roy and Madan Mitra have been booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation for alleged criminal conspiracy and corruption in the Narada sting case wherein they were purportedly filmed while taking money.
"The death knell of Mamata Banerjee's regime has rung. We will form the next government in Bengal with a two-third majority," he added.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday held parleys with some Union ministers and senior party leaders amid indications of a Cabinet reshuffle.
Allies and opposition parties tonight attacked the government over the hike in diesel prices saying it will further hit the common man and demanded an immediate rollback.
Seeking more funds, Railway Minister Mukul Roy requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to provide additional allocation to meet the rising demands of the Railways to achieve efficiency and provide more safety.
A professor of chemistry of the Jadavpur University was arrested on Friday along with his neighbour for allegedly posting a cartoon on a popular social networking site involving West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Railway Minister Mukul Roy and former Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi. He was later released on bail.
Trivedi's resignation came amidst the exodus from Mamata Banerjee's party ahead of the West Bengal assembly poll.
Amid differences among allies, the government today deferred a decision on the changes in the crucial Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, 2011.
Key United Progressive Alliance allies Trinamool Congress and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Saturday mounted pressure on the Centre to rollback the steep hike in petrol price with Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee leading a street march in Kolkata against the government of which her party is a part.
Trinamool Congress ministers have sought an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for submitting their resignation on Friday. Railway Minister Mukul Roy on Thursday said that an appointment has been sought from the prime minister at 3 pm on Friday.
Threadbare discussion & political consensus is required over the Bill: Railway Minister.
The MP from East Burdwan, who defected to the BJP last December, has been put on 'probation' by the TMC, which he wants to rejoin.
The Trinamool Congress expects the Congress leadership to keep its "word" on removal of Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi even as he asserted that Railways is nobody's fiefdom.
The Trinamool Congress, which has asked Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi to quit his post, on Saturday rejected his demand that party supremo Mamata Banerjee should say so in writing to him. "Nothing will be given in writing," Trinamool Congress parliamentary party leader in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandyopadhay told reporters when he was leaving the state secretariat with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, after a meeting which lasted over three hours.
Congress, which is an ally of the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, on Monday questioned the recurrence of train accidents and said the railway ministry was not safe in the hands of state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's party.
The Trinamool Congress has decided not to support Congress nominees, if any, in the Rajya polls in West Bengal and has renominated party members of Parliament and Union minister Mukul Roy while giving tickets to three journalists.
Dinesh Trivedi, late on Wednesday night, sent his resignation letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, according to television reports. Mukul Roy, minister of state for shipping, who had earlier served in the railway ministry, is expected to take over. The government is also expected to announce a rollback on hike in rail fares.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has invited President Pranab Mukherjee to visit the state, Railway Minister Mukul Roy said on Wednesday.
The railways are in the process of forming a Rail Tariff Authority but Bansal said the fare rise would be independent of the formation.
Saradha kingpin Sudipta Sen had alleged in his purported letter to the Central Bureau of Investigation that Kunal Ghosh and TMC Rajya Sabha member Srinjay Bose had blackmailed him, and he was forced to pay hefty amounts to them.
Incumbent Hamid Ansari is the United Progressive Alliance's candidate for the Vice President's post and he is all set to get a second consecutive term.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday called up Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee after which the key United Progressive Alliance ally decided to attend a meeting of the ruling coalition in Delhi on July 14.
The minister along with the senior officials visited the accident site where the Doon Express derailed on Thursday killing five persons and met the injured at the district hospital, official sources said.
After slamming the Centre for the steep hike in petrol price, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday hit the streets in Kolkata, leading a massive protest march to put pressure on the United Progressive Alliance government for a roll-back. Banerjee, who was accompanied by Railway Minister Mukul Roy, party functionaries and thousands of Trinamool Congress workers, marched from Jadavpur to Hazra crossing, a distance of five km in south Kolkata.
Hardening its stand on the Lokpal Bill, United Progressive Alliance ally Trinamool Congress today ruled out any compromise on the Lokayukta provision and said the government should have faced voting in the Rajya Sabha.
Two months after Dinesh Trivedi was removed as railway minister, his party Trinamool Congress continued to target him for hiking passenger fares and advised his successor Mukul Roy on Thursday to follow the policies of Mamata Banerjee in running the organisation. Trivedi was removed from the railway ministry a few days after he presented the rail budget, in which he hiked passenger fares.
Trinamool Congress, a key constituent of the United Progressive Alliance, on Thursday opposed the hike in diesel prices, saying it was not consulted about the step and demanded its rollback. "We were not consulted for this and we are unhappy with the decision to hike diesel prices," said Railway Minister Mukul Roy.
If the sanction is accorded, the four leaders might be named in the charge sheet.
The development comes about a week after Roy said that the work has slowed down especially during the last eight to nine months apparently making a veiled attack on his predecessor, who is also a fellow party leader.
In a fillip to the West Bengal unit of the BJP ahead of the 2021 assembly elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be on a two-day visit to the state from November 5 to take stock of the party's organisational matters, sources said.
Trinamool Congress has named Derek O'Brien as its chief whip in the Rajya Sabha. The party, which is a key constituent of the United Progressive Alliance government, has sent a communication in this regard to the Rajya Sabha secretariat, sources said in New Delhi on Thursday.
Even as Mukul Roy took the oath of office as railway minister in the presence of a sombre-looking Prime Minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, whose body language showed the discomfort of the Congress with its ally Trinamool Congress which has given them a run around, the United Progressive Alliance managers were sighing with relief on Tuesday, says Neerja Chowdhury.
Attacking the prime minister over the removal of Dinesh Trivedi, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said if the former railways minister was sacked due to the increase in fares, the role of the prime minister and finance minister should also be questioned in the whole episode. Trivedi, who had presented the Rail Budget on Wednesday, was replaced by Trinamool Congress with Mukul Roy after party chief Mamata Banerjee opposed the increase in rail fares.
Roy's son Subhrangshu is also a Trinamool MLA from Bijpur constituency of North 24 Parganas.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is upset with the prime minister's office for not including DMK's M K Alagiri in the Empowered Group of Ministers on drought.
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