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
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
Kolkata: West Bengal chit fund scam accused Sudipta Sen and Arvind Chauhan have been remanded to judicial custody till May 22. The court has reserved order on the third accused Debjani Mukherjee as she is in hospital. Mukherjee was admitted after complaining of stomach ailment. Meanwhile, Congress workers protested in Kolkata against TMC leader Kunal Ghosh, who is alleged to have links in the case. On Friday, the manager and...
04:23 PM, May 18, 2013
Kolkata: West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee led government on Thursday released a performance report, claiming the state has clocked a growth rate higher than that of the overall country during the nearly two years it has been in power. The performance report showcasing the achievements of the state government was released at the state secretariat, four days before the regime completes two years in office. Making public the report titled "Powering...
11:35 PM, May 16, 2013
Kolkata: The Saradha chit fund scam's suspected kingpin Sudipta Sen who earlier had reached out to the CBI accusing West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress of complicity in the swindle, has now approached the court opposing probe by the central agency. Sen, now behind bars, has not only filed an affidavit in the Calcutta High Court expressing faith in the state government's investigation as opposed to a Central Bureau of Investigation...
10:30 PM, May 16, 2013
Kolkata: Saradha group chairman Sudipta Sen, who has been accused of cheating lakhs of investors of their money running into thousands of crores, on Wednesday opposed a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the complaints against him and his companies in an affidavit filed before the Calcutta High Court. He claimed before a division bench comprising Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Joymalyo Bagchi that the Special Investigation Team...
10:20 AM, May 16, 2013
Kolkata: Violence broke out on Tuesday at an anti-chit fund rally, held by Democratic Students Organisation (student wing of Socialist Unity Centre of India) in Kolkata. Police had to resort to lathicharge to disperse the participants of the rally, who were trying to hold a law violation programme. There are reports of injuries on both sides. More details are awaited. ...
03:35 PM, May 14, 2013
Kolkata: Delivering a double blow to West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee government, the Calcutta High Court on Monday ordered CBI probe into a Trinamool Congress worker's death allegedly in police custody and refused to suspend its earlier verdict upholding the primacy of the State Election Commission. A division bench of Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Justice JM Bagchi took the twin decisions hearing separate cases within a gap of hours in...
04:42 AM, May 14, 2013
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the death of a Trinamool Congress activist in police custody in January. 30-year-old Kazi Nasiruddin, a TMC activist, had died after he was allegedly tortured by the police. He had been arrested following a face-off with the police over a car parking issue and taken to the police station. He was later on taken to the...
01:55 PM, May 13, 2013
Chakdah: Seeking to turn the tables on the Marxists for demanding CBI probe in the chit fund scam, Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy on Saturday night alleged that most of the chit funds came up during the Left front regime. "If the investigations start now, many CPI(M) leaders may come under net. The CPI(M) is demanding CBI inquiry to actually delay the probe process," the former union minister alleged at...
12:40 AM, May 12, 2013
Kolkata: Sudipta Sen's alleged aide Debjani Mukherjee, who was arrested in connection with the West Bengal chit fund scam, distanced herself from the Saradha Group chairman through a letter that was made public by her lawyers. Debjani in her letter, alleged that Sudipta masterminded the racket while she was merely a salaried employee who was manipulated. She also blamed the media for misrepresenting her relationship with Sudipta. Mamata government has...
05:22 PM, May 11, 2013
New Delhi: The Left parties on Thursday sought a court-monitored CBI probe into the West Bengal chit fund scam and accused the Trinamool Congress-led government of not intervening to check activities of companies with suspicious financial dealings in the state. Senior leaders of Communist Party of India-Marxist, the Communist Party of India, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and Forward Bloc met President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh separately and...
03:25 AM, May 10, 2013
Kolkata: The West Bengal government on Tuesday assured the Presidency University that no political interference would be allowed in the premier institution and there would be an impartial probe into the vandalism there. "The chief minister (Mamata Banerjee) has assured me that no political interference will be allowed in the Presidency University," the varsity Mentor Group chairman Sugata Bose told reporters here after a meeting with the CM. Presidency University...
01:40 AM, May 08, 2013
Kolkata: The CBI on Tuesday filed an affidavit in Calcutta High Court stating that it is ready to take up investigation into the Saradha chit fund scam if directed by the court. The investigative agency stated that the court must also direct the West Bengal government and all other State governments concerned to provide all necessary logistical support to them in case the court directs the CBI to take up...
02:32 PM, May 07, 2013
Kolkata: Attacking West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, her predecessor and CPI-M leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Sunday termed as "lies" her statement that she knew nothing about the chit fund scam before the Bengali New Year day. "New she says I did not know anything before Polia Baishakh (April 15-Bengali New Year's Day). For some people, lying is a habit. She knew everything. Her government has admitted that in an...
05:34 AM, May 06, 2013
Kolkata: The West Bengal government has sealed the offices of MPS group, a business house that has an estimated liability of Rs 17,000 crore and is under the scanner of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The crackdown comes after the collapse of Saradha group's chit fund business in April, which affected thousands of depositors. Panicking depositors and agents protested outside the MPS group's office at Lake Town...
09:58 AM, May 05, 2013
New Delhi: The CBI on Saturday arrested one more accused in the Railway bribery scandal involving nephew of Railway Minister PK Bansal and a Board member, taking the total number of arrests by the agency to seven. Rahul Yadav, one of the middlemen, named in the FIR, was arrested by the agency, CBI sources said. Earlier on Saturday, two courier boys, who allegedly delivered Rs 90 lakh cash as bribe...
01:40 AM, May 05, 2013
Panihati: Stopping short of giving a call for a fourth front at the national-level, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday exhorted regional parties to come under one umbrella and oust the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre. "Now there should be a slogan - No third UPA government. Let all regional parties unite to provide a stable and pro-people government at the Centre," Banerjee told a party rally...
08:11 PM, May 04, 2013
BJP leader Ram Asrey Kushwaha said the PM and Sonia Gandhi should remove corrupt ministers from the government and Bansal must resign on moral grounds. ...
09:59 AM, May 04, 2013
