Kolkata: Abhishek Banerjee on Friday claimed that Trinamool has already secured more than 100 seats in the first phase of assembly elections held on Thursday, while accusing Union home minister Amit Shah of “threatening voters”.Addressing a rally in Jagatballavpur in Howrah, Banerjee said, “Are you watching how BJP is behaving in such a restless manner?…
Kolkata: “Our Ganga is clean. That is why the PM could enjoy the boat ride. Can he do the same in (Delhi’s) Yamuna?” CM Mamata Banerjee said on Friday, referring to PM Narendra Modi‘s early morning boat ride on the Hooghly.Dubbing it a photo-op, the CM said, “This is election politics, photo-shopping. You took a…
Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s Friday censure for Jadavpur University, about “anti-national slogans being written on the walls” and “students seen protesting on the streets instead of studying”, prompted chief minister Mamata Banerjee to shoot off an open letter, saying the ability to question was not anarchy, rather, it was education and excellence.“The entire nation…
Kolkata: The intense heat notwithstanding, thousands of people across the city queued up outside liquor outlets right from Friday morning as off-shops reopened after a four-day shutdown.By 8.30 am, 40-50 people could be seen standing outside multiple stores, waiting for their two-bottle-per-purchase quota, ordered by the excise department. While areas with several outlets saw relatively…
Kolkata: Kolkata’s cultural fraternity assembled on Friday evening in front of the Academy of Fine Arts to protest the arrest warrant issued against poet Srijato Bandyopadhyay following a complaint lodged by a Nadia-based lawyer. This meet was organised by the Desh Banchao Gana Mancha.Srijato had posted a 12-line poem, ‘Abhisaap’, after Yogi Adityanath was sworn…
Kolkata: Kolkata Police has verbally advised all officers — from sub-inspectors and above posted at police stations, and preferably assistant sub-inspectors — to remain stationed at their respective police stations, including at night, until the end of the polls so they are readily available on call.Several OCs said the “verbal advisory” reflects mounting operational pressure…
Kolkata: Baranagar has emerged as one of the most closely watched contests, with Trinamool candidate Sayantika Banerjee and BJP nominee Sajal Ghosh fighting a prestige battle in a constituency that went to a byelection just a couple of years back. In that bypoll, Banerjee defeated Ghosh by 8,150 votes. Barely one-and-a-half years later, both candidates…
Kolkata: Veteran actor Biplab Dasgupta passed away at his residence in Kolkata on Friday at the age of 75. Dasgupta leaves behind a legacy spanning memorable stage performances, serials, telefilms, cinema and audio plays. He had been suffering from an autoimmune disease of the nervous system. “He became anorexic and passed away at home,” said…
Kolkata: The city endured another scorcher on Friday when the maximum temperature touched 36°C. However, the Met office has predicted relief in two days. An upper air circulation over east Uttar Pradesh could finally break the warm spell and trigger thundershowers in south Bengal and Kolkata between Sunday and Tuesday. Districts across south Bengal, as…
Kolkata: The city’s heart has beaten for the Trinamool, but in a desperate attempt to add some drama to an uneven contest, BJP fielded Santosh Pathak, an immensely popular Congress councillor from ward 45, in the Chowringhee assembly constituency. The urban seat has witnessed the heaviest voter deletions among Kolkata’s assembly constituencies — 87,725 —…
