Page 9 - All India Trinamool Congress

Modi has no knowledge of eating habits of people, says Abhishek Banerjee

Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has no knowledge about the culture and eating habits of the people of the country. He said this while addressing an election rally in CoochBehar in support of TMC candidate Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia. "The PM said those who eat fish during this holy month are not devout Hindus. He said they are Mughals. My question to the PM, does he know that in our culture Durga Puja, Kali Puja rituals are not complete without 'maach' (fish), without 'mangshho' (meat) in many Hindu households? What his minister Nisith Pramanik will say about this?" the Diamond Harbour MP, said. "We practice religion at home but at the time of voting should we ask votes in the name of dharma (religion) or karma (deeds)," Banerjee said. At an election meeting in Udhampur on Friday, Modi made a veiled attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, accusing the opposition leaders

LS polls: BJP will not even win 200 seats, says Mamata Banerjee

Alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's guarantees are "false", West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday claimed that the BJP will not even win 200 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Speaking at an election rally here, the Trinamool Congress supremo accused the BJP of destroying the country's Constitution drafted by B R Ambedkar. "The BJP will not even win 200 seats. What have they done for north Bengal? Do not fall prey to PM Narendra Modi's 'guarantees'. These are nothing but electoral jumla (false)," Banerjee said at the TMC's programme. The BJP-led NDA is aiming at crossing the 400 Lok Sabha seat mark in the upcoming elections. "You (BJP) have destroyed the country's Constitution drafted by Babasaheb Ambedkar," she alleged.

Will not allow implementation of CAA, NRC, Uniform Civil Code: Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she will not allow implementation of the CAA, NRC and the Uniform Civil Code in the state. Addressing a gathering here on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr, she claimed that some people will try to "engineer riots" during elections and urged those who participated in the programme "not to fall prey to the plot". Eid-ul-Fitr marks the culmination of the fasting month of Ramzan. "We will not accept the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, National Register of Citizens and Uniform Civil Code. If we will live unitedly, nobody will be able to cause harm to us," Banerjee said while addressing the gathering at the Red Road. She asserted that her party TMC's fight is against the BJP. "We will decide about the INDIA bloc later. But in Bengal, please see that no vote goes to any other party," the TMC supremo said. She also slammed the BJP government at the Centre for "using the central probe agencies against the opposition parties". TMC nation

Calcutta HC orders CBI probe in Sandeshkhali sexual assault, land grab case

The court said that it will oversee the probe by the central agency, which is also handling the inquiry into the January 5 attack on Enforcement Directorate officials

NIA calls back officer to Delhi after Trinamool alleges meeting with BJP

West Bengal's ruling party says BJP leader met with NIA officer Dhan Ram Singh at his home on March 26 and had an envelope of cash with him

10 TMC MPs sit on 24-hour dharna outside Election Commission office

The leaders are alleging that the probe agencies are targeting Opposition leaders ahead of the Lok Sabha elections

TMC smells unholy alliance between NIA-BJP, BJP refutes allegations

Alleging an "unholy alliance" between National Investigation Agency (NIA) and BJP, Trinamool Congress on Sunday said the Election Commission remains "conspicuously silent" to the issue. TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said in a post on X handle, "Experience the unfolding alliance between the @NIA_India and @BJP4Bengal, orchestrating conspiracies against Trinamool leaders and the Model Code of Conduct. "While this collusion persists, the ECI stands by, conspicuously silent, neglecting its duty to ensure fair play," Banerjee said. His post was preceded by a press meet by TMC where senior party leader Kunal Ghosh alleged that a senior state BJP leader from Paschim Bardhaman district, who had earlier been with TMC, had met an NIA SP at his apartment in New Town area of the city on March 26 evening and handed over a list of TMC leaders to be arrested by NIA ahead of the Lok Sabha elections from different parts of the state. "I dare this leader to either refute my ...

Arrested TMC leader's wife lodges FIR against NIA officers alleging assault

Wife of arrested TMC leader Monobrata Jana has filed an FIR against NIA officials alleging that they tried to outrage her modesty after forcibly entering her residence in Bhupatinagar in the pretext of conducting a probe, a police officer said on Sunday. The National Investigation Agency on Saturday arrested two key conspirators - Balai Charan Maity and Manobrata Jana - in a 2022 blast case in West Bengal's Purba Medinpur district in which three persons were killed. Jana's wife Moni Jana lodged her complaint with Bhupatinagar police station alleging that NIA officers also vandalised properties in her residence during their raid on Saturday morning, he said. "We have registered an FIR after receiving a complaint from a woman alleging assault by NIA officers. We are looking into the complaint," the police officer told PTI. IPC Section 354 (for assaulting any woman, with an intention to outrage her modesty) was attached to the complaint, the police officer added. A team of the NIA wa

Lok Sabha polls: Minorities likely to support TMC in Bengal, say leaders

Minorities in West Bengal, constituting nearly thirty per cent of the electorate, are likely to vote for the TMC to halt BJP's advance, despite the presence of a secular alternative in the form of Left-Congress alliance, community leaders said. According to minority leaders, Muslims in West Bengal, pivotal in several Lok Sabha seats, are inclined towards the Mamata Banerjee-led party, which they see as a credible force, unlike the Left-Congress alliance. This inclination is particularly evident in districts such as Murshidabad, Malda, and Uttar Dinajpur, where minorities form the majority. With the Indian Secular Front (ISF) opting to go solo, efforts to woo minorities might become more challenging for the Left Congress, especially with the saffron party capitalising on various polarising issues such as the Ram Mandir and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). West Bengal boasts the second-highest number of Muslim electorate in the country after Kashmir and Assam. Even though there may

Mamata's Trinamool is a carbon copy of CPIM: Tripura CM Manik Saha

Saha also slammed the opposition CPIM for 'shedding tears for democracy'

LS polls: 28% of BJP candidates so far are defectors, mostly from Congress

Out of the total of 417 candidates announced so far, 116 are turncoats, claims report while saying majority defections happened after PM Modi came to power

'Extremely shameful': High Court pulls up Bengal govt over Sandeshkhali

State government fully responsible for safety of citizens, says Calcutta High Court Chief Justice

23 politicians have got reprieve in corruption cases on joining BJP: Report

A newspaper investigation has revealed that with Opposition leaders switching to the ruling party, cases by central agencies have either halted or gone away completely

Highlights: PM Modi to kick off Uttarakhand poll campaign from Rudrapur

Lok Sabha elections 2024 latest news: Catch all the latest updates on the announcements related to General Elections here

Bengal education minister accuses Modi govt of holding back funds for SSM

West Bengal Education minister Bratya Basu has alleged that the Centre has not released the third instalment of the Sarva Shiksha Mission (SSM) for the state. Basu claimed in a social media post on Friday that the Centre is yet to send the amount as West Bengal has not signed MoU with the Centre on PM SHRI (Pradhan Mantri School for Rising India) scheme. "Ministry of Finance and Internal Finance Division of Ministry of Education has cleared the release of the third instalment for West Bengal for the SSM. Still, the fund has not been released to our state. The unstated reason is that we have not signed the MoU with GoI on PM SHRI. It is completely unethical and illegal to link the release of funds of one scheme with a separate scheme," the senior TMC leader said in a post on X. Basu also wondered why should a scheme be named PM SHRI when the state is bearing 40 per cent of the share. This is nothing but petty politics, he alleged. Basu told reporters on Saturday "I haven't seen suc

LS polls: Notification issued for 2nd phase of polling in 3 Bengal seats

The Election Commission on Thursday issued notification for the second phase of polling in three parliamentary constituencies of West Bengal on April 26. Voting will take place in the Darjeeling, Raiganj and Balurghat Lok Sabha constituencies in the second phase. "The notification for the three Lok Sabha constituencies going for polls in the second phase has been issued today," an EC official told PTI. The notable candidates in the second phase are BJP's West Bengal president and sitting MP from Balurghat, Sukanta Majumdar, who is pitted against TMC's Biplab Mitra. In the Darjeeling constituency, the TMC has nominated Gopal Lama against BJP MP Raju Bista. BJP's Kurseong MLA Bishnu Prasad Sharma, however, has announced that he would contest as an independent candidate against the party's official nominee from the Darjeeling seat. Sharma had earlier told PTI that he would remain within the BJP while contesting as an independent, and the party can take any disciplinary action it des

FIR lodged against BJP leader Dilip Ghosh for remarks against CM Mamata

He expressed regret for his remarks on Wednesday, acknowledging that both his party and the general public had reservations about his choice of words

Mahua Moitra to campaign in Bengal's Krishnanagar today, skip ED summons

TMC leader Mahua Moitra has said she will campaign in her Krishnanagar constituency on Thursday, giving a miss to the Enforcement Directorate summons that asked her to appear for questioning at the ED office in New Delhi. I will be out for campaigning in the Krishnangar constituency in the afternoon, she told reporters. The Enforcement Directorate had issued fresh summons to Moitra and Dubai-based businessman Darshan Hiranandani for questioning in a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) contravention case. The 49-year-old Trinamool Congress leader was called for questioning twice earlier by the central agency, but she did not depose citing official work and sought deferment of the notice. Moitra, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha in December for "unethical conduct", has been renominated by her party from West Bengal's Krishnanagar seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had raided her premises in connection with the cash-for-query case on

BJP MP Dilip Ghosh apologises for his comments on CM Mamata Banerjee

BJP MP Dilip Ghosh said that wherever Mamata Banerjee goes, she calls herself the daughter of that state, and "she must identify her own father"

LS elections: TMC complains against BJP MP Dilip Ghosh for violating MCC

TMC moved the Election Commission after the BJP MP from Medinipur constituency, Dilip Ghosh, made personal remarks about Mamata Banerjee's ancestry, calling it a violation of the model code of conduct