'If you stay out of power for long, you become irrelevant, your party members become restless and start looking to jump ship.'
The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments of Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala, a crucial electoral exercise since the parliamentary polls in April-May, will begin at 8 am on Saturday.
The footballer, who contested elections twice as a Trinamool Congress candidate and lost both times, took to social media to announce his decision.
The BJP projected the decision of TMC's Muslim MLA to join the party as a vindication of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's slogan of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas'
A total of 73 women got elected to the 18th Lok Sabha against 78 women MPs in the 17th Lok Sabha.
The bypolls were held in six constituencies - Naihati, Haroa, Medinipur, Taldangra, Sitai (SC), and Madarihat (ST) - following the resignation of MLAs who had vacated their assembly seats after securing victories in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
'The water scarcity being faced by 30 lakh people of Delhi is only because of the BJP.'
The ruling Trinamool Congress claimed that the strike call exposed the BJP's game plan to foment disturbances in the state exploiting people's pain over the alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor.
Sources said the reshuffle will also aim at an image makeover for the party hit by school jobs scam probe.
Proceedings of both Houses of Parliament were disrupted on Monday as the treasury benches accused top Congress leaders of colluding with billionaire investor George Soros to destabilise the country, triggering protests from opposition members.
Bypolls will be held on Wednesday in 31 assembly seats spread across 10 states and Kerala's Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, from where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is making her electoral debut. Though these bye-elections are not going to have any bearing on the governments, they are seen as a big test for the Congress and the INDIA bloc which failed to put up a united show in the recent Haryana assembly polls. Most of these seats fell vacant after the sitting MLAs contested the Lok Sabha elections and won while in some constituencies, the bypolls are being held due to death of the representatives. The Wayanad seat was vacated by Rahul Gandhi, who also won from the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency which he kept. Voting will be held in seven seats in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, five in Assam, four seats in Bihar, three in Karnataka, two seats in Madhya Pradesh, and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala and Meghalaya. Votes will be counted on November 23.
A special CBI court in Asansol on Saturday rejected Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal's bail plea in the alleged cattle smuggling scam and extended his custody with the central agency for four days till August 24.
Police said they began lathicharging and tear gassing after the agitators managed to breach the barricades at some locations and attacked the security personnel.
Banerjee said the prime minister will now have to move around the country and also abroad with two crutches.
Eighty-seven days after the body of a woman medic was found at state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, a Kolkata court on Monday framed charges against the prime accused, Sanjay Roy.
In a press conference later in the day Sangma said that any resolution that is decided upon should be acceptable to the people.
The roadshow in Dum Dum Lok Sabha constituency was held in support of the TMC's veteran leader and candidate Saugata Roy, who is seeking a fourth consecutive term from the seat.
The Trinamool Congress on Thursday refuted accusations of a police cover-up by the parents of the woman doctor who was allegedly raped and murdered, insisting that a newly surfaced video contradicts their claims by showing the family previously satisfied with the investigation.
'Mamata will beat the living daylights out of BJP workers with the result that people who are not totally committed, they will promptly leave the party and go back to Trinamool.' 'Or when they find they cannot get what they came to the BJP for they will go back to Trinamool.'
An MP from Baharampur since 1999 and the reigning Pradesh Congress president of West Bengal, this was perhaps Chowdhury's toughest electoral challenge which came in the form Pathan, the non-resident TMC candidate.
Unidentified persons also wrote 'agent of Trinamool Congress' on Kharge's posters and hoardings.
Opposition MPs in the parliamentary committee scrutinising the Waqf (Amendment) Bill are scheduled to meet Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday to protest its chairperson Jagdambika Pal's alleged 'unilateral' decisions and attempts to 'bulldoze' proceedings, indicating that they may disassociate themselves from the panel.
Tanwar had joined the AAP in April 2022. Before joining the AAP, he was with the Trinamool Congress briefly.
Chief ministers of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha on Wednesday evening condoled the demise of Tata Group's chairman emeritus and veteran industrialist Ratan Tata, and said his legacy will live on forever.
His threat was heard in a video clip that has gone viral. However, the authenticity of the video could not independently verify.
A businessman in West Bengal's Howrah district was allegedly assaulted and his house vandalised after a kangaroo court session was convened by a local panchayat pradhan and Trinamool Congress leader to resolve his marital dispute.
The party's prime mover in West Bengal and the state Pradesh Congress president was stunned by Trinamool Congress's star candidate and cricketer-turned-politician Yusuf Pathan who comprehensively defeated Chowdhury by a margin of over 85,000 votes.
The bench allowed the rejoinder affidavit to be filed by petitioners in two weeks thereafter and posted the matter for final hearing in January, 2025.
Banerjee had on Wednesday said an amendment to existing laws will be passed in the state assembly next week to ensure capital punishment to convicted rapists.
Healthcare services remained affected at state-run hospitals in West Bengal as junior doctors continued their cease-work protest.
The MLA later said he wanted to apologise to Alam as he should have controlled his anger.
Daily life was partially affected in West Bengal on Wednesday due to a 12-hour shutdown called by the Bharatiya Janata Party, protesting the police action against demonstrators during a march to the state secretariat.
The state police have called the scheduled rallies, support for which has been mainly garnered over social media platforms, as "illegal" and "unauthorised", and said they have taken necessary precautions to allay apprehensions about potential law and order situations during the march.
Irfan Pathan took time off from commenting on IPL 2024 to campaign for hos brother Yusuf Pathan, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election as the Trinamool Congress candidate from Baharampur in Bengal, which is thousands of miles from Vadodara where the retired cricketers were born and raised.
'Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and the Indian team are just sidekicks.'
The 49-year-old Trinamool Congress leader was called for questioning twice earlier by the central agency, but she did not depose citing official work and sought deferment of the notice.
Senior Trinamool Congress minister Udayan Guha has sparked controversy by claiming that fingers of those blaming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and demanding her resignation over the alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor would be broken.
While one was organised by the alumni of Ramakrishna Mission-run educational institutions, another involved students and past pupils from a well-known convent school, both echoing the demand for justice for the medic.
As the Queen star found herself in the middle of a row, with the BJP distancing itself and the Congress attacking it, here's a look at some of the controversies, political and otherwise.
Among the national parties, the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist opposed the proposal, while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National People's Party supported it.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances