Congress MLAs including women members wore helmets when they entered the West Bengal assembly on Wednesday, a day after a scuffle inside the House spun out of control, even as the Speaker ordered a probe into the role of security men during the violence.
Raising the matter during Zero Hour, Chatterjee, a BJP member, said Lord Shri Ram signifies noble thought and honesty and the state of West Bengal should be run by people who believe in these.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday suggested that black money stashed away abroad be brought back to the country for state funding of elections.
Banerjee scored a personal point with a massive victory in the bypoll with a record margin of 58,835 votes.
Addressing the party's national executive, Nadda also reached out to Sikhs, who are in majority in poll-bound Punjab, by listing a number of measures the Modi government has taken for the community, including expediting action against 1984 riots accused, facilitating foreign grants to gurudwaras and keeping langars outside the review of the Goods and Services Tax.
Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress overcame the might of the BJP and is all set to be CM for a third term.
The West Bengal assembly on Tuesday plunged into bedlam with ruling Trinamool Congress and Left members coming to blows and the speaker suspending three Left MLAs, while three injured members were taken to hospital.
'I told Rahul: "You have to become president. Taalne se nahin hoga (you can't avoid the responsibility any longer)".' 'Rahul said: "I will think about it".'
"I am very excited about joining the TMC. I will work for the development of Bengal," he said.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state government, pointed to the members of the committee that has been formed to investigate the incidents and said, "Can you imagine these people have been appointed to collect the data? Is this a BJP investigating committee my Lords?"
The Trinamool Congress has no chance of winning the forthcoming assembly elections in West Bengal, said Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee at a press conference in Kolkata on Wednesday.
A day after Communist Party of India-Marxist member of legislative assembly Sushanta Ghosh was apprehended by the Criminal Investigation Department in a murder case, the West Bengal Assembly on Friday witnessed uproarious scenes on the issue with the ruling bench demanding the arrest of former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
While the leadership of the biggest Opposition party, the Congress, has not reacted, even non-Congress and (now) anti-BJP parties like the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) have voiced no view on Banerjee's appeal, reports Aditi Phadnis.
Noted writer and human rights activist Mahasweta Devi, who had actively campaigned for Trinamool Congress before the West Bengal assembly elections, on Monday described the government as 'fascist' and alleged that it was trying to throttle people's voices. "The people are denied of their legitimate right to protest and this is nothing but a fascist attitude. The government will have to withdraw the undemocratic diktat," Devi told a press conference.
Trinamool Congress Legislature party on Monday formally nominated party leaders Biman Banerjee and Sonali Guha for the posts of speaker and deputy speaker respectively in West Bengal assembly.
A seven-year-old boy was killed and another child injured in a crude bomb explosion in Burdwan city in West Bengal on Monday, triggering tension in the area ahead of the elections amid a political war of words over the law and order situation in the state.
The Left Front camp seems shellshocked as news of its heavyweights Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Gautam Deb, Ashim Dasgupta trailing in their respective constituencies poured in
Her victory significantly coincided with a verdict of the Calcutta High Court upholding the Singur land act as constitutional and valid.
Wednesday's expansion shows that Modi still has a keen eye on Bengal. The BJP is gearing up for the panchayat elections in Bengal next May and the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
On Monday, Railway Board, the apex body in the ministry, issued a circular that the Prime Minister's Office would handle all projects worth Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) and above.
Trinamool Congress first timer Biman Bandopadhyay was today elected unopposed Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly. Leader of the House Partha Chatterjee proposed his name which was supported by the Chief Whip of Trinamool Congress Legislature Party Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay.
Hours before the counting for West Bengal assembly polls, four Trinamool workers were on Thursday injured when some unidentified men hurled bombs at the party office in Titagarh area of North 24 Parganas district.
Around seventy seven per cent voting was recorded in the third phase of West Bengal assembly polls in 75 seats covering Kolkata, North and South 24 Parganas districts on Wednesday.
An electorate of 1.44 crore is expected to vote on Wednesday in the crucial third phase of the West Bengal assembly polls spread over three districts of Kolkata and North and South 24 Parganas district to decide the fate of 479 candidates including Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
A former Indian Police Services officer, who lodged an FIR against Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and was considered very close to the Left Front government during Jyoti Basu's tenure, is among five former police officers contesting the West Bengal assembly polls on Trinamool Congress tickets.
At least 12 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) reached West Bengal on Saturday morning as the state prepares to go to elections, officials said.
Triumphant over the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in making it swallow threat to quit the United Progressive Alliance government, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked the party managers to strike a similar hard bargain with Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress for alliance in the upcoming West Bengal assembly elections.
The decision of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee not to contest the West Bengal assembly polls reflects her "weakness", Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury said on Saturday.
Modi later contended at a rally at Gangarampur in Dakshin Dinajpur, that Banerjee has been abusing him almost every other day as he raises questions on Trinamool Congress track record of "corruption".
The elections for five assemblies are over and the results are out. As the new governments get ready to take their place and commence their five year term, Vicky Nanjappa compiles a report on nature of the MLAs these governments will have.
First the 2009 general elections and now the assembly elections -- the Communist Party of India-Marxist seems to be rolling downhill in the political spectrum. This is reflected from the drubbing the party received in West Bengal, its bastion of over three decades, as also Kerala, another stronghold.
"The polls were held absolutely peaceful and totally incident free," Deputy Election Commissioner Vinod Zutshi told media persons at the end of polling.
As the crucial third phase polling of the West Bengal assembly elections begins on Wednesday morning, Indrani Roy Mitra tries to gauge the political temperatures as she strolls through the by-lanes of poll-bound Kolkata.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to withdraw the Centre's order recalling Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, and said her government 'is not releasing' the top bureaucrat.
The Congress on Wednesday decided to take on Trinamool Congress ally Socialist Unity Centre of India in two seats at South 24 Parganas for refusing to withdraw nominees against it in 29 other constituencies for the West Bengal assembly elections.
Taken by surprise, the Congress on Saturday said it has sought more time to resolve its differences with ally Trinamool Congress, which had made a unilateral decision to announce a list of candidates for the West Bengal assembly polls. "This is a new situation, new development. The party central leadership will discuss the issue in detail and then take a decision," said Congress Working Committee member-in charge for West Bengal Shakeel Ahmad.
Differences between Congress and Trinamool over seat-sharing for the West Bengal assembly polls appeared to have narrowed down with the two parties holding a series of confabulations involving senior party leaders. Sources said that Congress has whittled down its wish list from 100 to 75 seats while Trinamool, which was initially offering only 45 seats, is now willing to go up to 60 in the 294-member state assembly.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit Mukherjee on Monday quit his job from Steel Authority of India Limited to join politics and contest the upcoming West Bengal assembly elections.
The West Bengal on Thursday became the sixth state to pass a resolution against the three contentious farm laws enacted by the Centre, even as the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party staged a walkout from the assembly amid 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans.
The TMC chief has been complaining for long alleging that her rivals have brought in goons from other states to intimidate voters.
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