Bengal
The Election Commission of India has frozen the Trinamool Congress name and ‘Flowers & Grass’ symbol for the October 6 bypolls, assigning separate interim designations to factions led by Mamata Banerjee and Arup Roy. Amid an urgent Supreme Court challenge by the party supremo, an emerging Congress-Mamata alignment has prompted the resignation of Trinamool’s Nandigram nominee.
The upcoming October 6 by-elections in Nandigram and Rejinagar have turned into a crucial referendum on Bengal’s political ground reality. While the BJP seeks to consolidate its hold, the contest between Mamata Banerjee’s loyalists and Ritabrata Banerjee’s dissident bloc will decide who commands actual public support as the state’s true opposition voice.
The fight for control of the Trinamool Congress reached the Election Commission of India on Thursday as rival camps led by Mamata Banerjee and Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee staked claim to the party name and symbol. With high-profile by-elections in Nandigram and Rejinagar scheduled for October 6, the ECI’s imminent verdict will determine which faction enters the fray as the authentic TMC.
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari is set to lead a ‘Saffron Samman Yatra’ from Golpark to Jadavpur University on September 9. This comes after a recent ‘Vande Mataram’ programme held at the politically charged campus on Rakhi Purnima.
The centenary of Bengali cinema icon Uttam Kumar has become more than a celebration of his contribution to films. It has also turned into a political moment, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) using the actor’s enduring popularity to strengthen its cultural connection with West Bengal. Uttam Kumar, popularly known as the “Mahanayak”, remains one of the most respected figures in Bengali culture, nearly five decades after his death.
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday launched ‘Arjun Vahini’, a force aimed at ensuring a rapid response to natural and infrastructure-related disasters in vulnerable areas across the state.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee was summoned by the Kolkata Police in connection with a clash that broke out during the removal of an alleged illegal billboard from the party’s office on Camac Street. The development has sparked a fresh political controversy in West Bengal, with the TMC leader alleging political vendetta after being questioned by the police.
Ahead of Bengali cinema icon Uttam Kumar’s birth centenary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid tribute to the legendary actor in his monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’, recalling a personal memory of passing by his Kolkata residence during a roadshow before the Assembly elections and receiving a photograph of him as a gift.
A fight broke out at Diamond Harbour Trinamul Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee’s office in the city on Thursday when a team of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials and Kolkata Police personnel raided the address and forcibly removed the party’s billboard there amidst resistance.
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