Ending the suspense, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Friday will be skipping Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony on May 26 and will be sending state Finance Minister Amit Mitra and party general secretary Mukul Roy.
Three persons were killed and 19 others, including policemen, injured on Saturday as violent clashes broke out between two communities over a land dispute in Saharanpur with mobs indulging in brick batting and arson, prompting authorities to clamp curfew.
The saffron party, which had witnessed unprecedented growth in terms of vote share and mass base over the last few years, had opened its doors wide for leaders from other parties as part of its poll strategy, but that did not go down well with many senior leaders, who had once locked horns with the newbies from rival camps, sources in the BJP said.
A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur issued notices to the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir government while seeking their replies on a plea alleging "excessive" use of pellet guns in the state.
Adhikari, the face of the Nandigram movement that catapulated Mamata Bannerjee to power in 2011, sent his resignation letter to the chief minister by fax, which he then forwarded to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar by e-mail.
'A hugely dangerous game which she thought she had mastered has now found a stronger opponent,' points out Payal Mohanka.
