Desperately searching for some issue to turn into a poll plank, the Left Front has grabbed the 2011 Census report with both hands as a godsend. Last week when the census report 2011 of Bengal was officially released, the CPI(M) satraps immediately started poring over its details.

From rice at `2 per kg for the poor to an ‘employment bank’ for job seekers, West Bengal’s political parties have doled out economic sops to sway voters. All parties have pledged to hasten industrial growth in an industry-starved state.

In less than a week before beginning of the crucial Assembly polls in the state, Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that she is completely opposed to the demand for a separate Gorkhaland.

The Election Commission (EC) is looking into an allegation that Congress leader and union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee violated the model code of conduct in West Bengal, a senior electoral officer said on Wednesday.

Kolkata Knight Riders who played their first match of the Indian Premier League season 4 at their home ground without city's favourite son Sourav Ganguly, witnessed their lowest ever turnout and that prompted team co-owner Shah Rukh Khan to get into the damage control mode.

Due to the poor turnout in their IPL-4 opening match at home, Kolkata Knight Riders management on Tuesday decided to slash ticket prices for the upcoming matches.

The Knight Riders CEO and managing

Political violence and the “politics of confrontation” are a big worry for West Bengal as even civil society and the media tend to politicise issues, rues Somnath Chatterjee. The former Lok Sabha Speaker is concerned about free and fair Assembly polls as the trend is to “terrorise and mislead people”.

The resounding success of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s maiden roadshow on Saturday seems to have galvanised the beleaguered Left Front workers. The CPI(M) cadres, in particular, who were earlier campaigning rather listlessly and even half-heartedly have suddenly become more determined.

Brushing aside allegations by the state's ruling Marxists that the railways were being run inefficiently by Mamata Banerjee, union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said she will run West Bengal well if the Trinamul Congress-Congress alliance is voted to power in the assembly elections.

West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Sunday once again batted in favour of his industrial drive in Bengal, saying that if the Left Front is able to form the government by winning the upcoming Assembly elections, then it would come up with “the largest factory” in the state at Singur.