Like Mamata, unlike Sonia!

September 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has lauded Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's train ride as part of his party's austerity drive. Mamata Banerjee, who inaugurated the newly spruced up terminal of New Delhi railway station in the capital along with Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday, lauded the austerity act.

July 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Indian Railways has over 1.7 lakh vacancies for various grades, which will be filled in after reviving the existing recruitment process, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee informed the Rajya Sabha today. Replying to a question, Banerjee said the review of the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) would also examine regional aspirations and problems raised during the railway recruitment process in Maharashtra, Assam, and Karnataka.

July 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday said her ministry would look at providing infrastructure and land for setting up Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). "We might even look at building IITs in the future," Banerjee told the Lok Sabha in a discussion on the railway budget.

July 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Aware of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's temper, Congress president Sonia Gandhi Friday gestured her party MPs not to upset her when she presented the railway budget in the Lok Sabha. Banerjee clashed with Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MPs as she began her budget speech.

June 14th, 2009 HOWRAH - Known for being the voice of the voiceless, Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday ordered officials to reduce the exorbitant price range of food available on board a new express train. Banerjee, who arrived here to flag off the Kandari Express between Howrah and the tourist resort of Digha in East Midnapore district, expressed annoyance over the price-chart, saying she "didn't agree with it".

May 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday re-elected as the chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which is all set to form the next government at the Centre. During a meeting of the UPA, held at Gandhi's residence 10, Janpath, she was re-nominated the chairperson of the UPA.

May 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - President Pratibha Devisingh Patil invited the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to form the new Government at the centre after he claimed that he had the support of 322 members of Parliament.

May 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Congress president Sonia Gandhi was Wednesday formally named chairperson of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) with DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi proposing her name and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee seconding it.

May 17th, 2009 KOLKATA - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi have congratulated Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for her 'historic' victory over West Bengal's ruling Left Front in the Lok Sabha polls. 'The prime minister rang me up yesterday (Saturday).

May 10th, 2009 KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee Sunday said the alliance with the Congress will not be jeopardised by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and its general secretary Rahul Gandhi's inability to jointly campaign with her before the third phase elections in West Bengal. 'Why they are not coming, I cannot say,' she told a journalist during a meet-the-press at the Kolkata Press Club here.

April 27th, 2009 LALGOLA - Campaigning jointly for the first time since the 2001 West Bengal assembly elections, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee left a marked impression on their audience in a West Bengal town Monday. In a display of unity that brought back memories of the Rajiv Gandhi era, a beaming Banerjee was seen whispering to Gandhi on stage at the rally in Lalgola in Murshidbad district in support of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is contesting the Jangipur seat in the district.

April 27th, 2009 JANGIPUR - Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who is sharing the dais with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for the first time in eight years, slammed the Left parties for their failure to support the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government on the nuclear deal issue. "To meet the growing energy requirement, we went for the nuclear deal, but the Left parties opposed us saying it was not required," Sonia Gandhi said while addressing a joint election rally in Jangipur in West Bengal's Murshidabad District on Monday.

April 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - It was an unusual sight. Residents of South Kolkata were startled to find hundreds of Mamata Banerjees walking in a procession, canvassing for votes for the Trinamool Congress chief.

April 12th, 2009 KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee will share the campaign platform with Congress president Sonia Gandhi April 27 at a rally in West Bengal's Jangipur, from where External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is seeking re-election to the Lok Sabha. This was decided at a late Saturday meeting between Mukherjee and Mamata at the former's south Kolkata residence.

March 14th, 2009 KOLKATA - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday fielded a woman candidate against Mamata Banerjee for the Lok Sabha's Kolkata South seat after Trinamool Congress snapped ties with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to team up with the Congress in West Bengal. BJP sources here said the party's state Mahila Morcha (women's wing) president Jyotsna Banerjee has been nominated for the prestigious constituency.