Politics

Udhayanidhi arrestedfor comment insultingactress Trisha, released

UDHAYANIDHI Stalin, who was arrested on Tuesday for his alleged “double-meaning” remark alluding to popular actor Trisha and insulting her modesty, was released on station bail following questioning at Sengipatti near here, police sources said. After he was arrested from his Chennai residence at about 11 am, Udhayanidhi was brought to Sengipatti police station, about 27 km from here, and he was questioned in the presence of senior police officials, sources added...

Ready to quit as chief if workers don’t trust me: Uddhav amid MPs’ rebellion

AMID a rebellion by six Lok Sabha MPs of his party, an emotional Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said he had not lost his resolve despite challenges and attacks, but was ready to quit his post if the party didn’t have faith and trust in him. In his first comments on the impending split in his party for the second time in four years, Thackeray said he has been leading the outfit for over a decade and given the persistent attacks on him, he was ready to quit the top Shiv Sena (UBT) ..

20 TMC MPs write to Speaker backing NDA

THE crisis engulfing the TMC deepened on Monday as 20 Lok Sabha MPs, led by Chief Whip Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, wrote to Speaker Om Birla declaring support for the BJP-led NDA, triggering a split in the party’s parliamentary unit and dealing a severe blow to Mamata Banerjee’s authority after the party’s Assembly poll debacle. The development comes barely days after the TMC leadership suffered a setback in Assembly, where 58 of its 80 MLAs defied the party high command’s decision to appoint veteran leader ..

Chandranath Rath: From IAF serviceman to Suvendu’s most trusted aide

CHANDRANATH Rath, the close aide of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari who was shot dead in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, had travelled an unusual path - from serving in the Indian Air Force to becoming one of the Opposition leader’s most trusted political associates. Rath, 41, originally hailed from Chandipur in Purba Medinipur district, the political turf that shaped Adhikari’s rise in Bengal politics, party sources said. Soft-spoken and low-profile, he remained largely away from public attention ..

Women safety top priority: Mother of R G Kar victim

BJP’S Panihati candidate Ratna Debnath, also the mother of R G Kar rape-murder victim, cast her vote in Sodepur in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district and said women’s safety is her top priority. She exuded confidence that people would vote for a regime change and free West Bengal from “the misrule of TMC”. “The TMC failed to address the worsening law and order situation in the State. Only one arrest has been made in the R G Kar case. How did the accused get access to a secure place supposedly ..

High-octane campaign for WB polls ends

 BJP candidate from Nandigram and Bhabanipur Suvendu Adhikari on last day of campaigning for the West Bengal Assembly elections, in Kolkata on Monday. (R) West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee rides pillion on a s..

WB polls: 23 pc candidates have criminal cases, says ADR report

 NEW DELHI :  AROUND 23 per cent candidates in fray in the second phase of West Bengal Assembly polls have declared criminal cases against themselves, while 22 per cent are crorepatis, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Refo..

FIR lodged against TMC candidate, 6 others over alleged vandalism

KOLKATA Police have lodged an FIR against TMC candidate from Behala Paschim Assembly constituency Ratna Chattopadhyay and six others in connection with alleged vandalism in Parnasree area of south Kolkata, officials said on Monday...

‘Ghatak hoon...’: Raghav Chadha hits back at AAP; says he is in Parlt to create impact, not ruckus

THE spat between the Aam Aadmi Party and its Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha intensified on Saturday with the sidelined leader dismissing AAP’s allegation against him as “lies” and asserting that he went to Parliament to raise people’s issues and not to create ruckus. “All these lies will be unmasked. Kyunki mai ghayal hoon isiliye ghatak hoon’ (I am wounded, therefore I am dangerous),” the MP said in a video statement, quoting from the movie ‘Dhurandhar’, and alleged that there was a coordinated campaign ..

Won’t allow BJP to snatchvoting rights: Mamata

WEST Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused the BJP-led Centre of attempting to “snatch away the voting rights” of people through the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls ahead of the Assembly polls. Addressing thousands of worshippers after Eid prayers at Kolkata’s Red Road, the TMC supremo alleged that the SIR exercise, which the ruling party claimed had led to large-scale deletions of voter names, was part of a “broader attempt” to influence the electoral process in ..

‘TMC to contest 291 of 294 seats, sure to win over 226’

BETTING on calibrated generational change and organisational loyalty rather than star power, the ruling TMC on Tuesday unveiled candidates for 291 of the 294 West Bengal Assembly seats, signalling a strategy of controlled churn as it seeks a fourth straight term in office. The Mamata Banerjee-Suvendu Adhikari rivalry is set to acquire a fresh electoral theatre in Bhabanipur, where the Chief Minister will defend her seat even as the BJP has fielded the leader of Opposition from the constituency. The ..

Fadnavis not party to NCP merger talks, has no right to comment: Sharad Pawar

NCP (SP) head Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was not part of merger discussions between the two Nationalist Congress Party factions and therefore had no right to comment on them. Speaking to reporters in Baramati, the former Union Minister claimed that NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil and his nephew and NCP chief Ajit Pawar had been leading the merger talks. Deputy CM Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash on January 28. After his death, Sharad Pawar and other leaders ..

Confident of winning upcoming polls in WB, Tamil Nadu: BJP after Nabin-led meeting

THE BJP on Wednesday asserted that it will form its Government in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu for the first time by defeating the ruling TMC and the DMK respectively in the upcoming Assembly polls. In a statement, the BJP said based on the ground reports presented by the party’s State units here at a meeting chaired by BJP National President Nitin Nabin, it is confident of dislodging the Mamata Banerjee Government in West Bengal and the M K Stalin Government in Tamil Nadu in the upcoming polls. At ..

Parth Pawar land row ‘Random’ accusations raised in poll season; truth will surface soon, says Ajit

FORCED to do the firefighting to defend his son in a controversial land deal, Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar on Sunday wondered how a document can be registered without a “transaction of one rupee” and sought to link the allegations with elections to local bodies. He reiterated that the ongoing inquiry will reveal the truth about the land deal to the public. The sale of 40 acres of land in Pune’s upscale Mundhwa area for Rs 300 crore to a company in which Ajit Pawar’s son Parth Pawar is a majority ..

Uddhav, Raj come together for ‘Marathi’

SHIV Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said, he and MNS head Raj Thackeray have come together to stay united as the cousins shared a political stage for the first time after two decades on the issue of Marathi identity and “imposition” of the Hindi language. Addressing a “victory” rally in Worli here to celebrate the rollback of the Hindi language GRs (resolutions) by the BJP-led Government, Uddhav hinted at contesting the upcoming civic elections together. “We have come together to stay ..

BJP MLA Munirathna booked in gangrape case

AN FIR has been filed against BJP MLA Munirathna and his accomplices after a 40-year-old woman accused himof gang raping her and urinating on her face and injecting her with a deadly virus, police said on Wednesday. The FIR was registered based on the complaint of a BJP worker at RMCYard police station on Tuesday, they said. In her complaint, the woman, claiming to be a BJP worker, alleged that the incident occurred at the MLA’s office in Mathikere on June 11, 2023...