The possibility of the Congress joining a Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal brightened following discussions between Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and the Trinamul Congress chief and chief minister-in-waiting. The final decision, however, will be taken by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Ms Banerjee said she would personally invite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mrs Gandhi to her swearing-in ceremony.

The Land Acquisition Amendment Bill, expected to be pushed for Cabinet approval shortly, is all set to be opposed by Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee. Preparing to take charge of West Bengal, Ms Banerjee will be meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the contentious legislation since the PMO is also inclined to push it for early approval.

The possibility of the Congress joining a Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal brightened following discussions between Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and the Trinamul Congress chief and chief minister-in-waiting. The final decision, however, will be taken by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Ms Banerjee said she would personally invite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mrs Gandhi to her swearing-in ceremony.

City-based seven industry and trade chambers are jointly planning to felicitate Mamata Banerjee after the oath-taking ceremony of the next government with Ms Banerjee as the chief minister.

Initially he wanted to be the Deng Xiaoping (who was instrumental in China’s economic reconstruction following the Great Leap Forward in the early 60s) of Bengal but Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee ended up as the Mikhail Gorbachev of the Marxist party. Buddhadeb’s similarity to Gorbachev was evident when he like the former ideologue of

The government has decided to split national building construction corporation's existing shares of Rs 1,000 face value into ten shares of Rs 100 each with a view to attract more retail investors to NBCC's proposed 10 per cent initial public offering.

Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said the government had no role to play in the latest petrol price hike as the prices had been deregulated but virtually stood by the oil marketing companies’ decision, saying the crude rates have gone up by $42 per barrel in the last 11 months. "

Mamata Banerjee was on Sunday formally elected Trinamool Congress Legislature Party leader and said pre-poll ally Congress would be part of her "small" ministry.

The drubbing and debacles of the Marxist party in the polls seem to have completed a full circle with all the bigwigs in the previous Cabinet, including chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Nirupam Sen, Gautam Deb, Ashok Bhattacharjee ending up as big losers in the polls. The million dollar question which has now cropped up

When Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee became sanguine of dislodging the Left Front from power and taking over the reins of West Bengal, one concern still kept gnawing her: the sagging economy of the state. To salvage the sagging financial position of the state, she zeroed in on Amit Mitra. She thought that if any one could