
Kolkata: After two years of rule, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appears to have squandered the overwhelming mandate voters gave her, but as West Bengal gears up for panchayat polls, it seems that the TMC has the advantage as the Left is yet to regroup.
Rattled by the Saradha meltdown and a spate of suicides, Trinamool faces the uphill task of addressing cries of lakhs of anguished investors and agents. With allegations of Trinamool patronage to the ponzi scamsters, Mamata's only advantage is that the Left in disarray.
"There is no major challenge to Trinamool. CPM hasn't got its act together in Bengal, it is true that collapse of ponzi schemes particularly Saradha has created a crisis," TMC MP Saugata Ray....
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07:59 AM, May 20, 2013

Bangalore: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday allocated portfolios to his new 28-member ministry, keeping key posts such as finance, energy, industries, IT and Bangalore city with himself. According to a Raj Bhavan communique, Governor HR Bhardwaj allocated the various portfolios on the advice of the chief minister to 20 cabinet ministers and eight ministers of state. Besides the key portfolios, the chief minister will also be in-charge of five...

04:08 AM, May 20, 2013

Guwahati: BJP will launch a week-long 'Jail Bharo' campaign protesting against alleged corrupt practices of the UPA government. The campaign would start on May 27 and continue till June 2 in all states, BJP vice president SS Ahluwalia told reporters in Guwahati on Sunday. The UPA government at the Centre had over the years been rocked by various scams losing the moral right to continue in office, he said. Various...

03:53 AM, May 20, 2013

Dharamsala: Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Sukhvinder Singh on Sunday asked party workers to start preparations for 2014 Lok Sabha elections, saying they should reach out to people and help solve their grievances. The Congress state chief told party members to work as a unified unit to help achieve desired results in the next Lok Sabha polls. Singh presided over the first meeting of Kangra District Congress Committe in Dharamsala to...

03:41 AM, May 20, 2013

Bhubaneswar: Alleging rampant corruption and plundering of BPL rice, minerals and from gullibles through chitfund during BJD rule in Odisha, Congress on Sunday claimed it would capture power in the next polls by dumping the Naveen Patnaik government in Bay of Bengal. Addressing a function to accord a reception to the new OPCC President Jayadeb Jenan, senior party leaders including Union Minister Srikant Jena slammed the BJD government of failing...

03:10 AM, May 20, 2013

Pudukottai: With the break-up of UPA in Tamil Nadu, Congress leader and former Union minister EVKS Elangovan on Sunday said there was a possibility of his party heading a new alliance sans the two major Dravidian parties - DMK and AIADMK - for the next Lok Sabha elections. Rejecting the charges against Congress over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, he said people were not aware of the party's good work...

01:27 AM, May 20, 2013

Thane: Union Agriculture Minister and NCP Chief Sharad Pawar was greeted with black flags by the Congress, the Shiv Sena, the SP and the BSP workers to protest wastage of water by the civic corporation in Thane on Sunday in Bhiwandi. Pawar inaugurated the Bhiwandi-Nizampur City Municipal Corporation's new administrative building, when protesters including three MLAs Rashid Tahir, Abu Azmi and Roopesh Mhatre waved black flags at him. The three...

10:55 PM, May 19, 2013

New Delhi: BJP youth wing workers led by party's Delhi unit president Vijay Goel on Sunday courted arrest while protesting at the residence of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda demanding release of Delhi's share of water allegedly held back by the state. Goel and scores of activists of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), including Delhi BJYM chief Gauarav Khari, were taken to Parliament Street police station and were later...

06:53 PM, May 19, 2013

Hyderabad: Three Congress MPs from Telangana region on Saturday said they would not hesitate to quit if the party leadership does not take a decision on statehood issue by May 30. The MPs -- M Jagannath, G Vivek and S Rajaiah -- met in Hyderabad and discussed the issue. Talking to reporters, Jagannath said they would not hesitate to quit the party if no favourable decision came by May 30....

05:15 PM, May 19, 2013

Mumbai: The Congress party is debating holding a General Election in November, six months ahead of schedule, senior party leaders said, reflecting an internal discussion over whether to pull the plug on the shaky ruling coalition or have it serve a full term. Officially, the Congress party says the government - which has been battered by a series of corruption scandals and now governs as a minority after two allies...

11:45 AM, May 19, 2013

Burdwan: West Bengal Agriculture Minister Malay Ghatak on Saturday said he has received a letter threatening to kill him and his family unless he resigned from the Cabinet and quit Trinamool Congress. "I saw the letter this evening. It was sent by post from Kharagpur in West Midnapore district on May 13 by N Rama Rao of Indian People's Liberation Army," Ghatak told reporters. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the...

07:59 AM, May 19, 2013

Kolkata: Bringing out an assessment report of West Bengal's Trinamool Congress government, two days before it completes two years in office, the Congress on Saturday alleged that the regime was moving in a negative direction and was clueless about the course it wanted the state's economy to take. "We do not expect that within two years, they will be able to change the face of the state but the direction...

05:20 AM, May 19, 2013

Pithoragarh: Ruling Congress MLA in Uttarakhand Harish Dhami on Saturday surrendered before a local court which rejected his bail plea and sent him to jail. Dhami, an accused in a clash that took place between two groups in 2007, surrendered before the first class judicial magistrate at Didihat on Saturday, two days before the time given to him by the Nainital High Court. The court on Saturday rejected the Dhami's...

01:33 AM, May 19, 2013

New Delhi: Holding the opposition's "disruptionary tactics" responsible for not allowing passage of the Food Security and Land Acquisition Bills in Parliament's Budget Session, the Congress on Saturday expressed its willingness for a special session if the other parties were agreed. Congress spokesperson PC Chacko also said that the party will take "disruptionary tactics" of the opposition to the people, alleging they had displayed "least inclination" towards passing pro-people legislations...

11:22 PM, May 18, 2013

Rajnandgaon: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said only BJP had challenged the prevailing vote-bank politics in the country. At a rally in Rajnandgaon, the Assembly constituency of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, Modi said before BJP came to power in December 2003, there was no growth in this mineral-rich state. "The country has witnessed vote-bank politics for fifty years. After gaining power through vote-bank politics, leaders subsequently promoted...

10:24 PM, May 18, 2013

New Delhi: Congress on Saturday said the issue of separate Telangana does not form part of the UPA's national agenda and it only concerned the state government- remarks which may cause consternation in Andhra Pradesh. "The issue does not form party of the national agenda of UPA. It definitely does not form part.... It concerns the state government", party spokesman PC Chacko told reporters at the AICC briefing. Chacko's remarks...

08:53 PM, May 18, 2013

New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday ruled out change of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the run up to next Lok Sabha elections but steered clear of questions whether he would again be at the helm if the UPA-III comes to power. In reply to questions about change of the Prime Minister soon and holding of early Lok Sabha elections, Congress spokesman PC Chacko said "please do not think of...

07:50 PM, May 18, 2013

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the opposition parties for stalling the Food Security Bill in Parliament, and asserted the UPA government was determined to enact the legislation for the benefit of people. "I am sad that the opposition is acting against the interests of the poor Indian...I can understand politics. But I cannot understand political parties hurting the poor of the country," Rahul...

07:14 PM, May 18, 2013

Ahmedabad: After a U-turn by the Gujarat government on the death penalty for former minister Maya Kodnani and nine others, convicted in 2002 Naroda Patiya riot case, the SIT has decided to seek Supreme Court's guidance on the issue. "Very soon, we are going to file an application before the special bench of the Supreme Court apprising it about the recent Gujarat Government's decision to withdraw the sanction for filing...

06:42 PM, May 18, 2013

Bangalore: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said the session of the Karnataka Legislature is likely to be convened for a few days from May 29. After expanding the ministry inducting 28 members, he chaired a Cabinet meeting and told reporters later, "Most likely the Legislature session will be convened from May 29." He said senior Congress leader and former Minister Kagodu Thimmappa would be elected as the Speaker of the...

05:54 PM, May 18, 2013