The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) distanced itself from the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on Friday, saying it is not part of the opposition alliance anymore and questioning the Congress party's role in leading it.
Asked why she is not taking the charge of the bloc, given her credentials as a strong anti-BJP force, Banerjee said, "If given the opportunity I would ensure its smooth functioning."
The government has convened an all-party meeting on July 21 ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament which will start next Monday, the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry said.
Sporadic incidents of unrest marred the West Bengal bypolls, with a local Trinamool Congress worker Ashok Shaw dying following a crude bomb attack in Bhatpara, an area adjoining Naihati assembly constituency where voting was underway.
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 juggernaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which triumphed in three of the four east and north-eastern states that went for assembly bypolls on Saturday, was halted yet again in West Bengal where Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress registered a six-on-six clean sweep.
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.
He drew the roadmap of India's economic reform, unshackled it from the licence raj and pulled it back from the brink when even its gold reserve was pledged.
Announcing the first list of candidates, Left Front chairman Biman Bose said that of the 16 names announced, 14 are new, of whom three are women.
The judgment will impact a sizeable number of people in the state, according to a lawyer involved in the matter.
There have been media reports of Banerjee meeting Rahul Gandhi at his residence in New Delhi on Wednesday morning. A leading Bengali daily had reported the meeting.
Speaking on the resolution, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the CAA is 'against the Constitution and humanity'. The resolution was supported by both the opposition parties Congress and the CPI(M)-led Left Front. The BJP legislature party opposed the resolution.
The return of the Communist Party of India - Marxist-led Left Front in Tripura and the victory of the Forward Bloc in Nalhati in West Bengal reflects the "re-emergence" of the Left parties, said senior CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury.
With Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front government in West Bengal not readily implementing the ban imposed on Communist Party of India-Maoist, Congress on Wednesday accused the Marxist party of "double speak" and warned if state governments implement Central laws "selectively", it would lead to "constitutional chaos."
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that West Bengal has been taken on a road of destruction under the 34-year Left Front rule and assured that the Congress-Trinamool alliance is determined to free the state from this "misrule".
The unrest in the Sandeshkhali region of West Bengal ballooned into a major political row on Thursday as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the saffron camp of fomenting trouble in the area, while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Commission for Women (NCW) accused her party Trinamool Congress and the state government of being complicit in crimes against women in the area.
The Supreme Court on Friday pulled up the Delhi police in connection with the 2008 cash for votes scam, saying it was giving the latter four weeks (one month) to find the source from where the money had originated.
Kerala state Congress president Ramesh Chennithala has called for the resignation of the state Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan from the post following the defeat of the Communist Party of India-Marxist led left front in the local body elections.
The results of the 10 assembly by-elections in West Bengal once again proved that the people wanted the Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance and the ruling Left Front was losing popularity, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Kolkata on Wednesday.
With successive electoral setbacks in Panchayat, Lok Sabha and municipal polls in the past three years, Left leaders in Bengal have realised that there has been a steady and serious erosion in their traditional vote bank among the urban and rural poor.
Developments in Nandigram and Singur, where the government's bid to acquire farm land for industrialization ran into stiff resistance from locals and main opposition Trinamool Congress, have given enough worries to the ruling alliance.
The map of West Bengal has turned green with intermittent patches of red as the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress swept to power bulldozing the CPIM-led Left Front with a success rate of over 81 per cent.
In a jolt to the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress defeated its candidates in trouble-torn Nandigram in the three-tier panchayat elections. The front also faced rout in three zilla parishad seats in Singur to Trinamool Congress candidates. The polls are seen as a litmus test for the Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee government's farmland acquisition policy for industries.
If the Third Front -- currently comprising nine parties opposed to both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party -- manages to get more seats than the Congress, the Communist Party of India - Marxist led Left Front will work towards ensuring that the next prime minister is made from this bloc.But if the Congress' own tally turns out to be larger than the cumulative strength of the alternative-seekers, the Left will support a Congressman for the top slot.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday criticised the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee led-government in West Bengal for its handling of the situation in Nandigram, and said that she was concerned over the law and order situation in the area. She said that the Congress officer-bearers in the state had complained of repeated torture and atrocities against the people, adding that in a democracy, there was no place for political violence.
A Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front government headed by Manik Sarkar assumed office for the fourth consecutive term in Tripura on Monday. Sarkar was sworn in as the chief minister for the fourth time along with 11 ministerial colleagues by Governor Dinesh Nandan Sahaya.
The new alliance is called United Democratic Alliance.
The second round of the crucial Front meeting also decided that the state government would be run strictly on the basis of policies decided at the LF meetings.
Outgoing Mayor and chief of the Paschimbanga Unnayan Congress Mancha Subrata Mukherjee has won in ward 87.
Mamata asserted that she has not spoken to anyone in the Congress on seat-sharing in the state for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
TMC's campaign in the seat in south Kolkata is already underway with the Election Commission announcing the by-poll on Saturday, following a request from the state government to avoid a constitutional crisis.
The BJP, which has emerged as the main opposition party in West Bengal after winning 77 seats in the assembly polls last year, failed to win even a single civic body.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front has decided to support the Congress-nominated independent candidate for the ensuing Rajya Sabha elections in the state.
Upadhyay submitted the resignation to Governor K N Tripathi at the Raj Bhavan.
The middle portion of the structure near Siliguri collapsed on a canal below at around 9.30 am when a truck was crossing it.
Sources at the private hospital where Mitra was admitted to said he died due to heart and age-related ailments.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre was not disbursing funds under the PM-Kisan scheme to peasants in the state despite the Trinamool Congress administration having sent the verified names of farmers to it.
Manik Sarkar was elected chief minister after the 1998 polls.
Mamata Banerjee's party won 132 seats and was all set to pocket two more to post a hat-trick of wins, decimating a frail challenge from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, the Left Front and the Congress, officials said.
The BJP's strong showing came as a surprise for many as the party did not even have a councillor in Tripura.
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