
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed regret over the protest faced by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from Left activists outside the Planning Commission's office in Delhi. Singh spoke to Mamata after her office called up the PMO to cancel the meeting scheduled with him on Tuesday evening, sources close to the chief minister said on Wednesday. The West Bengal Chief Minister had sought cancellation of the...

11:28 AM, Apr 10, 2013

New Delhi: 3:20 pm: Even as the TMC and the Left leaders appealed for calm, there were reports of violence. TMC and CPM supporters clashed in the Presidency University in Kolkata and a few students were reportedly injured in the clashed. TMC supporters reportedly ransacked labs at the Presidency University. 2:10 pm: Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien has called the attack on Mamata Banerjee and Amit Mitra a 'pre-planned' one....

10:15 AM, Apr 10, 2013

Kolkata: West Bengal's politics of violence reached the national capital on Tuesday as Students Federation of India activists manhandled State Finance Minster Amit Mitra outside the Planning Commission. While West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was angered by the incident, Trinamool Congress workers went on a rampage in Kolkata and plan a statewide protest on Wednesday even as the CPM has condemned the violence of its student affiliate body. Mamata...

08:07 AM, Apr 10, 2013

New Delhi: Delhi Police on Tuesday registered a case against unknown persons for manhandling West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra outside the Planning Commission office in the capital. While no arrest has been made yet in the incident, Police registered the case under IPC Sections 186(obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty). The unknown...

11:14 PM, Apr 09, 2013

Kolkata: Questioning the 'certificates' given to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by her Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi, the Congress on Tuesday wondered if there was a secret "nexus" between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP. "What is the actual purpose of Modi's visit to Kolkata and why is Mamata Banerjee away? Whatever it may be, we feel there is a nexus between the two parties," WBPCC President Pradip Bhattacharya...

06:50 PM, Apr 09, 2013

New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be meeting Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia in Delhi on Tuesday to discuss the allocation of funds for her state for 2013. Mamata hopes to get a hike of 25 per cent in the plan size compared to 2012's 16 percent. Mamata is also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the CPI(M) claimed the trip...

07:29 AM, Apr 09, 2013

Kolkata: Ahead of her two-day visit to Delhi, West Bengal's Left Front on Monday accused Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee of looking at opportunities to realign with the Congress - its former coalition partner. "Her visit is an attempt at bargaining with the centre, to reinforce the alliance that had broken, thinking that it would help her party in the next Lok Sabha elections," said Leader of...

05:29 AM, Apr 09, 2013

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she had never sought a special package for her state and asserted that her two-day visit to Delhi starting on Monday had no political agenda. "I am not begging, neither am I demanding a special package (for West Bengal). But I want to know why Bengal is continuously being deprived. Despite all the problems that we are facing, Bengal is number one...

04:53 PM, Apr 08, 2013

Jhargram: A local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and four of his associates have been arrested in West Midnapore district of West Bengal on molestation and other charges lodged against them in March, police said on Saturday. Jaladhar Panda, Binpur block vice-president of Triamool Youth Congress, and four others were arrested on Friday night and produced before the court on Saturday. Jhargram ACJM Priyajit Chatterjee remanded them in jail custody till...

10:57 PM, Apr 06, 2013

Student activist Sudipto Gupta died in a police crackdown on a students' protest in Kolkata. The incident has seen thousands of people pour into the streets of Kolkata. The West Bengal government has been, till now, non-committal about a proper probe into the incident. To what extent will this incident turn the urban middle class in West Bengal against the ruling Trinamool Congress? Will a proper probe be instituted? How...

07:06 PM, Apr 04, 2013

Kolkata: The Kolkata Police on Thursday stated that the final post-mortem report of SFI activist Sudipto Gupta was yet to come out and that the initial report had shown that the 23-year-old student died due to a head injury inflicted by hitting a stationary object and then hitting a rough structure after that. The police have, since the beginning, been alleging that Gupta died after hitting a lamp post and...

04:35 PM, Apr 04, 2013

Kolkata: Kolkata is mourning the death of Students Federation of India activist Sudipto Gupta due to alleged police brutality. There was a partial shutdown in the city on Thursday after the bandh called by the SFI. Since Thursday morning, there were roadblocks in various places across the city. A Congress student delegation will meet the West Bengal Governor at 4 pm on Thursday to demand a judicial probe into Sudipto's...

01:57 PM, Apr 04, 2013

The death of a 23-year-old activist of the leftwing Students Federation of India (SFI) during a police crackdown on students' protest in Kolkata on April 2, 2013, has left the city and the country shell-shocked. Sudipto Gupta, an MA student at Rabindra Bharati University, was admitted to hospital with severe internal haemorrhage and later succumbed to his injuries. Gupta was part of a protest organised by the SFI against the...

09:26 PM, Apr 03, 2013

The post-mortem report of SFI activist Sudipto Gupta on Wednesday said that the 23-year-old student suffered injuries in the middle of his forehead and at the back of his head, apart from a broken jaw. The report added that there were injury marks in other parts of his body as well. "The injury at the middle of his forehead is ante-mortem in nature," the report added. ...

07:43 PM, Apr 03, 2013

After the death of a student activist allegedly due to a police baton charge, the Congress on Wednesday said the era of students getting killed by police was back to haunt West Bengal. ...

05:31 PM, Apr 03, 2013

One person has been arrested in connection with the death of Students Federation of India activist Sudipto Gupta in Kolkata. The person arrested is Raju Das, the driver of the bus which was used to take the demonstrators to the prison by the police. Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met other activists injured in the police crackdown. ...

05:24 PM, Apr 03, 2013

Under pressure from opposition after the death of a Students federation of India activist, Sudipto Gupta, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday termed the episode as "unfortunate", but evaded a question on whether a judicial probe would be ordered as demanded by the CPI-M. "Any death is unfortunate. This is also unfortunate. I will not say anything more than this," Mamata told reporters outside the state-run SSKM hospital...

03:15 PM, Apr 03, 2013

In this season of scams, a new one has been unearthed, this time in West Bengal and a senior state government leader is said to be allegedly involved. According to a CBI probe, Rs 200 crore, meant for fixed deposits, were siphoned off from four state government departments into hundreds of fictitious accounts. The CBI probe points to the involvement of a senior Trinamool Congress politician. ...

06:51 PM, Apr 02, 2013

Citing law and order problems in West Bengal, the Congress on Saturday said it was imperative to conduct the upcoming panchayat (rural body) polls under the strict vigil of central security forces for free and fair elections. ...

04:40 AM, Mar 31, 2013

Ruling Trinamool Congress on Friday attacked the State Election Commission, with which it is engaged in a tussle over the panchayat poll, of being 'biased' in favour of the opposition parties and accused the erstwhile Left Front government of doubling the tenure of the present election commissioner to derive political benefit. ...

02:47 AM, Mar 30, 2013