Didi embarks on her new mission: To unite the Opposition to take on Modi in the Lok Sabha elections of 2024, observes Payal Singh Mohanka.
Some leaders believe that the Mamata Banerjee-led party could tone down its shrillness in countering the saffron party whose win has given the BJP state leadership and cadres a strong footing to prepare ground for the next year's panchayat polls.
Attacking the government on FDI in retail and prise rise, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday indicated that her party may bring a 'no-confidence motion' against it in the next Parliament Session and appealed to various political parties to support it.
With a tagline "Dui hajaar uneesh, BJP finish, the West Bengal chief minister met several opposition party leaders as well as Bharatiya Janata Party critics and in-house rebels.
The former BJP president is learnt to have instructed the party leaders to start working on quelling the unrest within party cadre, genuine or sponsored.
She said the Opposition has formed a "nexus" to malign the Trinamool Congress ahead of the state assembly election.
'The condition in Bengal is such that if you chant Jai Shri Ram, you would be put behind bars
Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah, who is on two-day visit to West Bengal to address the party cadre said at a rally that party wants a huge victory in the 2016 assembly elections in Kolkata.
The elections are not only a means for TMC to prove its wide, unopposed mass allegiance but also a way to bargain for national leadership among regional political parties in the road to New Delhi.
'At this moment, the Trinamool has an edge.'
"I feel ashamed to talk to such a prime minister who has blood on his hands," she said.
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari filed his nomination on Friday from the Nandigram seat against his mentor-turned-adversary Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, and said he was '100 per cent' confident of his victory.
'Even if the BJP does not come to power, the system has changed.'
Bengali sub-nationalism is slowly emerging as a rallying cry ahead of the West Bengal assembly elections due next year.
Bharatiya Janata Party president's Amit Shah's road show in Kolkata culminated with violence, arson and a police lathicharge. Parts of the city plunged into a welter of violence as his convoy was attacked with stones by alleged TMC supporters from inside the hostel of Vidyasagar College, triggering a clash between supporters of the two parties, officials said.
'From chaiwala he has now become Rafalewala. He speaks a bunch of lies,' the West Bengal CM said.
Thousands of BJP workers from Kolkata and Howrah began marching towards Nabanna to protest the "worsening" law and order in the state.
Somen Mitra, the one time pillar of the Trinamool Congress and now Congress candidate from Kolkata North constituency, can't help smiling. The SC's order directing the CBI to probe the Saradha scam is the fruit of his hard and lonely battle. On the day when 17 constituencies in the state go to polls, Mitra speaks to Rediff.com's Indrani Roy about the impact of the Saradha scam on the elections and his relationship with his former party chief.
The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday blamed the Communist Party of India-Marxist for the violence at Bamunghata in South 24 Parganas district with a party minister saying that the Marxist party would not have existed had not the TMC given a call for change.
Addressing the mediapersons, Mamata alleged, "It is genocide. We have decided to observe today as a black day. The forces fired on them directly. The Central Industrial Security Force is trained to provide security to industries and not to control a mob. I could not sleep last night but the prime minister was eating sweets. Such an incompetent government, incompetent prime minister, incompetent home minister."
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday assured farmer leaders led by Rakesh Tikait and Yudhvir Singh of support to their agitation against the new agriculture laws.
Criticising the saffron party for "undermining democratic values" in the country, the chief minister said, "Democracy exists in Bengal but it is under threat in several other parts of the country."
In an interview with PTI, Chidambaram also stressed that no Congress MLA elected in the upcoming assembly polls can be poached by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Goa this time, saying 'our house is well-guarded' and though the 'thief' is still out there, the people 'will teach him a lesson'.
The saffron party took out rallies in several parts of the state, with BJP workers sporting black badges.
It is wrong to say the Congress doesn't matter. Certainly one set of people who do not believe that for a minute is the BJP. That's why even in his speech in Parliament on Constitution Day, Mr Modi called dynastic politics a threat to democracy, observes Shekhar Gupta.
She wondered why PM Modi is not removing his own cabinet secretary or the Union home secretary, if he was so 'fond of making last-minute changes'.
Several students organisation, civil society groups and parties cutting across political lines took out rallies in various parts of Kolkata and the state to protest against the violence that rocked JNU.
On Tuesday, police in Suri in West Bengal's Birbhum district used batons to disperse a rally where 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans were raised.
"I have sent my resignation letter (to BJP)," Mitra, who is a senior journalist, said.
The BJP could win only 16 out of 57 seats where Shah campaigned.
It won't be wise old Modi versus an immature Pappu any longer. It will be Modi versus a whole collection of experienced Opposition leaders, predicts Vir Sanghvi.
Justice Chakraborty said that the petitioner BJP will be vicariously responsible for any damage or loss of public property.
The EC has deployed 580 companies of central forces to man over 98 per cent of the polling booths in these constituencies to ensure free and fair polling.
The Tripura police have registered a case against four Supreme Court lawyers under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and various sections of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly promoting communal disharmony with their social media posts about the recent violence targeting Muslims
The 33-year-old, who steered his party to an impressive show in the Bihar assembly polls last year thereby emerging out of the shadow of his father Lalu Prasad, underscored that the opposition needed to bring in "dhaar" (edge) and "nayaapan" (novelty) in its electoral issues.
Shah said Banerjee will not be in a position to oppose the implementation of the CAA as she will cease to be the chief minister after the assembly polls likely in April-May this year.
'People say my personality doesn't have sharp edges, but politics doesn't have to be about pulling down your opponents or bad mouthing them.'
Minister of State for Railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, against whom a non-bailable arrest warrant has been issued by a court at Behrampore, on Saturday accused the Trinamool Congress of pursuing vindictive politics.
'She is worried that the small fry have been caught, soon the big fish too will be caught.'
'Our honourable CM is so shameless that she will say the state is among the safest for women.'
