Deeply embarrassed by railway minister Mamata Banerjee’s pro-Maoist speech in Lalgarh on August 9, the UPA government has sought an explanation from her. Sources said that parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal has spoken to Ms Banerjee over the phone requesting her to make a statement in Parliament over her speech in Lalgarh rally.

Deeply embarrassed by railway minister Mamata Banerjee’s pro-Maoist speech in Lalgarh on August 9, the UPA government has sought an explanation from her. Sources said that parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal has spoken to Ms Banerjee over the phone requesting her to make a statement in Parliament over her speech in Lalgarh rally. Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is also likely to call on Ms Banerjee at her Kalighat home on Saturday.

CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat and the party’s dissident West Bengal unit appear to have struck a quid pro quo deal at the recent extended central committee meeting here: in return for letting the Bengal unit determine strategy for the coming Assembly elections, it will not directly challenge Mr Karat’s authority and supremacy till the 2012 party congress.

The CPI(M) central leadership’s decision to launch a nationwide movement for the protection of the land of the farmers and demand the repeal of the Land Acquisition Act 1894 have come as a shot in the arm of the arch rivals, Trinamul Congress. “Prakash Karat and his comrades have now realised what our leader Mamata Banerjee said four years ago in Singur: The state government should not acquire any land without the consent of its owner,” Trinamul Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee

The West Bengal government on Wednesday ordered a CID probe into Monday’s incident in which a truck hit a vehicle in the convoy of railway minister Mamata Banerjee at Kolaghat when she was returning f

The CPI(M) extended central committee meeting starting from August 7 at Vijayawada is all set to witness the clash of two titans, certainly ideologically, over the party’s political final tactical line. The Bengal unit of the party led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has planned to seek a review of some “arbitrary decisions” like ill-timed withdrawal

The Maoists are planning to launch an offensive on the security forces after the Lalgarh rally on August 9. A secret meeting headed by Maoist leader Manasharam Hembram alias Bikas was held on Tuesday at Pidrakhuli to fine-tune the action plan, claimed an intelligence report that has reached the state home department. Some top level Maoist leaders are expected to enter West Bengal on August 8 or 9 to spearhead the operation, intelligence sources said.

Using the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA)’s announcement of support to Mamata Banerjee’s Lalgarh rally on August 9 as a stick to beat her opponent, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said that anti-Left forces could go to any length to remove the CPI(M) from power. “Our opponents launch

The CPI(M) satraps who have landed in a soup after giving a miss to the first death anniversary of party leader Subhas Chakraborty following the whip from party general secretary Prakash Karat on Tuesday, have decided to mark the 122nd birth anniversary of party founder-member Muzaffar Ahmed on Thursday with all renewed zeal.

Serious disaffection has surfaced in the state Congress only weeks after the appointment of Manas Bhunia as the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) president. Over half a dozen former Congress district presidents left for Delhi to lodge their protest over their unceremonious removal. “We will meet Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi and apprise them of our grievances,” former Nadia district president Shankar Singh said.