West Bengal

Barrackpore/ Krishnanagar/Gaighata/ Tehatta (WB), Apr 18 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modis resignation for mishandling the COVID-19 second wave and alleged he had failed in prior planning to combat the medical crisis.

Asserting that Modi had done little to address the crisis in medical oxygen supplies and shortage of vaccines faced by states, she said the prime minister should have planned for the second wave of infections which have come now in the months after the first peak in September subsided.

Kolkata, Apr 18 (PTI) In a show of strength, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday held a roadshow in parts of south Kolkata considered to be her backyard.

Sitting in a wheelchair with her bandaged left foot, she led the padayatra from Dhakuria Bridge to Kalighat Crossing, covering a distance of over 5 km.

She was accompanied by TMC candidate for Rashbehari assembly constituency, Debashis Kumar, and other senior party leaders.

Chakdah (WB), Apr 18 (PTI) The body of a BJP member was found at Chakdah in West Bengal's Nadia district in the early hours of Sunday, police said.

After the body of Dilip Kirtania (31) was found, BJP activists in the area started protest demonstrations staging roadblocks alleging that he was murdered by miscreants belonging to the rival TMC, the police said.

Galsi (WB), Apr 17 (PTI) A day after a purported audio tape -in which she is heard proposing a rally with the bodies of Cooch Behar firing victims- surfaced, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday alleged that her phone is being tapped and said she will order a CID probe into it.

Addressing an election rally here, she accused the BJP of being involved in the conspiracy as the saffron party "cannot match" the ruling Trinamool Congress' campaigning on development programmes.

Kolkata, Apr 13 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday sat on a dharna in the heart of the city to protest against the Election Commission's "unconstitutional" decision to ban her from campaigning for 24 hours.

Banerjee, still confined to a wheelchair owing to the injuries she sustained last month, arrived at Mayo road here around 11.40 am and began her sit-in next to a Mahatma Gandhi's statue at the venue.

No TMC leaders or supporters were spotted nearby.

Kolkata, Apr 12 (PTI) Shortly after the Election Commission on Monday barred West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC boss Mamata Banerjee from campaigning for 24 hours, her party claimed that the poll panel was behaving like a "wing of the BJP" and its decision smacks of authoritarianism.

Derek O'Brien, the ruling party's Rajya Sabha MP, said it was a black day for India's democracy.

"EC stands for Extremely Compromised. April 12 BLACK DAY in our democracy," O'Brien tweeted.

Kalimpong (WB), Apr 12 (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted on Monday that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will have no impact on the Gorkhas, and accused the ruling TMC in West Bengal of spreading lies to create fear among the people of the hills.

Shah, during an address after a roadshow in Kalimpong, said as long as the Narendra Modi-led BJP government is there at the Centre, no Gorkha will be harmed.

Kolkata, Apr 11 (PTI) West Bengal registered 79.90 per cent polling during the fourth phase of assembly elections held in 44 constituencies spread across five districts, state chief electoral officer Ariz Aftab said on Sunday.

The highest turnout of 84.76 per cent was registered in Cooch Behar district while it was 82.54 per cent in Alipurduar during the polling held on Saturday, he said.

While in Hooghly the turnout was recorded at 79.75 per cent, it was 77.25 per cent in South Parganas and 77.24 per cent in Howrah, the CEO said.

Siliguri, Apr 11 (PTI) Describing the incident of firing in Cooch Behar as a "genocide", West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said the Election Commission has restricted the entry of politicians in the district for 72 hours as it seeks to "suppress facts".

The TMC supremo, while addressing a press meet here, claimed that central forces "sprayed bullets aiming at the torso of the victims" in Sitalkuchi area, when the fourth phase of polling was underway in the state.

Kolkata, Apr 9 (PTI) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday removed an SP rank officer posted in the security of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, an official said.

The step against Asoke Chakraborty, an officer on special duty (OSD) in an ex-cadre post in the rank of superintendent of police, is believed to have been taken because of "security lapses" which led to Banerjee's foot injury in Nandigram last month, he said.

"He is removed from the post with immediate effect," the official in the state CEO's office said.