Nine moths after the thrashing it received in the Assembly elections, the CPM leadership has undertaken a purge within. It has dropped 13 of its veterans from the West Bengal state committee, three of them several-term MPs, from key posts on grounds of “anti-party activities” or age and health. Party insiders say the exercise was a reflection of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee asserting himself with the party’s state unit. Such a drive had,...
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Two CPI-M activists killed in West Bengal by Tamal Sengupta
West Bengal is slowly turning into a politically volatile state again. Two CPIM activists including a former MLA, Pradip Taa were beaten to death in Burdwan on Wednesday morning. CPIM workers under the leadership of Taa, were holding a rally at Dewandighi near Burdwan town to mobilise public support in favour of the February 28 Bharat Bandh which has been called by the Left trade unions. The rally was attacked by...
More »Maoists ‘won’ Narayanpatna without any opposition by Debabrata Mohanty
The Maoists in Orissa may have given a call to boycott the panchayat polls, but in Narayanpatna block of Koraput district they have reportedly got their “own” candidates elected unopposed. Narayanpatna had almost come under siege in 2009 when the rebels propped up the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh (CMAS) to take on the state. Sarpanch and panchayat samiti candidates ‘backed’ by the CMAS have won unopposed in Tentulipadar, Balipeta, Padapadar, Talagumandi,...
More »Bribing of voters to be made a cognisable offence by J Balaji
The Law Ministry has reportedly accepted a proposal of the Election Commission to amend the law to make bribing of voters, either in cash or kind, a cognisable offence. It has written to the Home Ministry seeking issue of an ordinance to amend IPC Section 171(B), under which the bribe giver is now booked, to make it a cognisable offence. It would also apply to those who take bribes. With the...
More »For Kolkata thana rioting, police blame themselves by Madhuparna Das
Two days after a mob of 300 Trinamool workers and supporters stormed a police station in the heart of Kolkata, assaulted policemen and vandalised government and private vehicles, the police have filed a preliminary report of the rioting — and indicted their own men. The mob, comprising members of two clubs in Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s south Kolkata neighbourhood, fought street battles with policemen from Bhowanipore police station who had asked...
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