Humayun Kabir, recently suspended from the TMC, has launched a new political party, Janata Unnayan Party, and announced candidates for the 2026 assembly elections.
'The biggest game changer has been the belief among Maoists that they can surrender and join the mainstream'
Suspected Maoists have killed four political party workers separately in the Jhargram sub-division of West Midnapore district, police said on Friday.
Security forces on Wednesday apprehended four suspected Naxalites from a village in West Midnapore and recovered a weapon from them.According to sources, the troops of Central Reserve Police Force nabbed the four from Jaamthor village of the district after a search operation.Two of them have been identified as Manoranjan Mahato and Sudarshan Mahto.All four have been handed over to the police and a country made pistol has been recovered from them.
Maoists blew up a building housing the office of a farmers' organisation and set afire a community hall in Jhargram sub-division of West Midnapore district early on Friday.
The deep depression over central Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm by Sunday evening and after changing course in a northeastward direction from northwest.
Union minister V Muraleedharan has alleged that his convoy was attacked by goons of Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress during his visit to the state.
Adhikari, a former Trinamool Congress minister and MLA, quit all posts and had switched over to the saffron camp last week.
Cyclonic storm Yaas is very likely to make landfall near Balasore in north Odisha with a speed of 155 kmph to 165 kmph, gusting to 185 kmph, around noon on May 26, the Met department said.
Addressing a rally in West Midnapore district, Banerjee asserted that she would rather stay in jail than "remain silent or put up with BJP's misrule".
The Eastern Railway has cancelled the departure of Howrah-New Delhi AC Special Express for Wednesday.
The Central Reserve Police Force and the police have seized a huge cache of arms from Maoist hideouts during a search operation in West Bengal's West Midnapore District.
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday unveiled a 'development-oriented' manifesto for the upcoming assembly polls in West Bengal, promising an income scheme for all families, a student credit card and constitution of a task force to examine the inclusion of several communities under the OBC category.
Prime accused in the Jnaneswari Express train sabotage Asit Mahato, who was carrying a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head, was arrested on Sunday from Gorneta village in West Midnapore district of West Bengal.
In another embarrassment to the ruling Community Party of India-Marxist after the February 21 Netai massacre, joint forces have arrested nine persons, all suspected supporters of the party. They have also seized a cache of arms and ammunition at a village in Salboni in West Midnapore district.
As West Bengal readies for its sixth and final phase of the assembly election, rediff.com's Sanchari Bhattacharya visits the Maoist-affected districts West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia, to find that talk about poriborton is the last thing on the villagers' minds as they struggle each day to make ends meet.
As West Bengal readies for its sixth and final phase of the assembly election, rediff.com's Sanchari Bhattacharya visits the Maoist-affected districts West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia, to find that talk about poriborton is the last thing on the villagers minds as they struggle each day to make ends meet
Rifles, guns and ammunition were seized from a Communist Party of India- Marxist party office, a health centre and other places in West Midnapore district on Tuesday, while the hand of a Trinamool Congress worker was chopped off allegedly by a CPI-M worker in Malda district.
A woman self-styled Maoist commander on Friday surrendered before the police in West Midnapore district alleging sexual exploitation by ultra leaders.
Arrested Maoist-backed tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato has been charged with sedition and booked under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for raising funds for a terrorist outfit and attempting to murder police personnel.
After getting a tip-off that a group of 22 Maoists had taken shelter in Ranja forest near Duli village in the Salboni police station area, the joint forces -- comprising Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, COBRA and the state police -- raided the area, West Midnapore District Magistrate N S Nigam said.
At least 120 passengers are feared killed and 150 injured after suspected Maoists blasted rail tracks in West Midnapore district early on Friday, derailing 13 coaches of a Mumbai-bound express train, five of which were hit by a speeding goods train.
After a meeting with Buddhadeb, Indrani -- the wife of officer-in-charge of Sankrail police station, Atindranath Dutta -- said they had conveyed to the chief minister Maoist leader Kishenji's demand that the women arrested by joint forces in West Midnapore district be released immediately.
Three Maoists and a civilian were among those killed when the ultras attacked the Eastern Frontier Rifle camp in West Midnapore district leaving 24 jawans dead, police said on Tuesday.
The death toll in the Gyaneshwari Express derailment in West Midnapore district on Saturday rose to 104 after more bodies were extricated from the wrecked coaches of the Mumbai-bound train.
Bengal police officer Atindranath Dutta, who was released unharmed after being kidnapped by the Maoists last month, faces disciplinary action for not joining work.
The West Bengal government on Monday reinstated its seven senior officials who were removed from their posts early last month on the directive of Election Commission, to their previous postings.
Normal life was affected for the second day on Tuesday in West Bengal's Maoist-infested districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura during the 48-hour bandh called by the ultras in five states to protest the offensive by security forces against Naxalites in Lalgarh.
Complying with the Election Commission's order, the West Bengal government on Wednesday removed seven officials from their existing posts and replaced them with different officials as desired by the poll panel.
The first group of securitymen arrived at Lalgarh police station, which had been cut off by the tribals since November last year, with the police saying that it was a 'partial victory'.
Nine persons have lost their lives in the recent floods in five districts of West Bengal, state disaster management department sources said on Thursday.
Seven more deaths were reported on Friday from interior villages of the flood-hit East and West Midnapore districts, raising the toll to 53, even as the situation further improved.
Twenty-three persons have died in flash floods in East and West Midnapore districts of West Bengal during the past two days, officials said. West Midnapore District Magistrate N S Nigam said 15 persons died in his district. All 15 deaths were reported from Sabang, Pingla and Narayangarh. Of these, Narayangarh alone accounted for 11 deaths.
The Army was called out on Wednesday to assist the administration in West Midnapore district where the flood situation remained grim affecting 1.5 lakh people.
With the disease now virtually knocking at Kolkata's doors after spreading in Howrah, Rehman told PTI that poultry products from the affected areas would not be allowed to enter the city. The fear has aggravated since the spread to South 24 Parganas, part of which form the city's suburbs, and Kolkata Municipal Corporation has formed eight teams to monitor the situation in the city.
The cyclone, according to an IMD report early Sunday, is developing into a severe cyclonic storm over the Bay of Bengal and can potentially become a very severe cyclonic storm in the next 24 hours, S N Pradhan, the chief of NDRF said in New Delhi.
Alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party was bringing in goons from outside to stop people from exercising their franchise in Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged women to 'confront the hoodlums with ladle, spatula' and other cooking utensils.
Tight security measures were in place in view of the exercise, with the police putting up barricades on roads leading to the Air Force station.
It's a political gambit aimed at the BJP's Suvendu Adhikari who won the seat in 2016 as a TMC candidate, while also retroceding to the land movement that catapulted her to power.
Speaking at a programme at Kolaghat in West Midnapore district, the chief minister said, "We are against forceful acquisition of land. In West Midnapore district the Haldia Development Authority and West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation have land banks. "We will allot land for projects from there."
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