Three TMC leaders Amit Mitra, Bratya Basu and Rathin Ghosh were sworn-in virtually. Mitra is unwell and both Basu and Ghosh are recuperating from COVID-19.
Voting is being held in 59 of the total 60 seats .
Four more babies died at Kolkata's B C Roy Children's Hospital, which has witnessed a series of crib deaths, besides 12 newborns in the Burdwan Medical College, taking the death toll in two government hospitals in West Bengal to 29 on Friday.
Dissident Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh, whose name has cropped up in the Saradha chit fund scam and who was served a show-cause notice for speaking against party chief Mamata Banerjee, was suspended from the party on Saturday, while two other MPs who had also hit out at the leadeship were spared.
With an aim of maximising its electoral prospects, Trinamool Congress will be using the 'star power' of actor Mithun Chakraborty to add spark to its campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections will go to polls on April 29. The voting will be held for 71 seats spread across 9 states.
A day after a Trinamool district president allegedly asked party men to attack the police with bombs and burn houses of Independent candidates, a TMC member of Parliament on Thursday asked party activists to "beat up Communist Party of India-Marxist workers with shoes".
Trinamool Congress MPs accused the Modi government of having imposed a "super emergency" by launching the exercise and engaging in "vendetta politics" by arresting two party lawmakers after it opposed the "draconian" move.
"After pulling down the statue, slogans of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' were raised,'' Datta told PTI.
Rekha, the Rajya Sabha MP, once again came last when it came to attendance of actor-turned-MPs with an abysmal 5 per cent.
Dissident Trinamool Congress MP Somen Mitra on Friday said he has decided to leave the party and go back to the Congress, while stating he would resign from his Lok Sabha membership first.
A senior opposition member in Rajya Sabha on Friday sought a probe into the manner in which the death of former Union Minister E Ahamed was "handled", alleging he had died soon after being rushed to the hospital but his demise was announced much later.
Clashes were reported from Kharagpur in West Midnapore district, Narayanpur in North 24 Parganas, and Alipurduar town in north Bengal, among others.
The list, which is a mix of seasoned political players and greenhorns, has 17 women candidates, five more than the last elections, constituting roughly 41 per cent of the candidates.
As Rose Valley resurfaces, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Tapas Pal's arrests marks the end of the bonhomie between the TMC and BJP.
'Mamata's fascination with stars is so deep-rooted that she uses her clout as chief minister to get close to them.'
Three persons, including husband of a Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate, were killed on Monday and several others injured in violence during the second phase of panchayat elections in West Bengal where 75 per cent polling was recorded.
Indrani Roy/Rediff.com visits Ranaghat in West Bengal's Nadia district, the scene of the horrific rape of a 72-year-old nun, and encounters a clueless police and a frightened Christian community.
Those who claim the Maheshtala rape case was only a road accident, are unable to answer why four people were arrested and a gangrape case was registered. Indrani Roy and Dipak Chakraborty report
I am not ruling out possibility of joining Cong again, says Trinamool Congress MP Somen Mitra.
