Prayers for success of Congress-Trinamool in West Bengal

July 31st, 2009 KOLKATA - The Congress Friday bowed to the Trinamool Congress' demand and agreed to concede both the seats in the coming West Bengal assembly by-polls to the Trinamool. The Congress, which earlier demanded one of the two seats in Kolkata - Bowbazar and Sealdah - which are slated to go to the polls Aug 18, agreed to withdraw its candidates from both the constituencies following instructions from the party high command.

July 1st, 2009 KOLKATA - Continuing their electoral success, West Bengal's opposition parties Trinamool Congress and Congress Wednesday crushed the ruling Left Front (LF) in the urban civic body polls, winning 10 of 16 municipalities and leading in one. Six weeks after they suffered a debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, the LF continued to lose ground, particularly in south Bengal, as urban voters reposed their faith in the opposition.

May 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Trinamool Congress Thursday demanded the imposition of president's rule in West Bengal, alleging there was complete breakdown of the constitutional machinery and people had lost confidence in the Left Front government there. 'The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front government has to come to an end in West Bengal.

May 17th, 2009 KOLKATA - A day after her alliance's spectacular showing in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee had an unexpected visitor Sunday - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's sister Preetam Kaur. Preetam Kaur and her husband called on Banerjee at her spartan Kalighat residence in south Kolkata and congratulated her on the victory of the Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance over the ruling Left Front in West Bengal.

May 17th, 2009 KOLKATA - After the electoral drubbing to the ruling Left front in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress Sunday reiterated that it wants early assembly elections held in the state. It also said it was confident that the Congress would have the party 'on board' in the new United Progressive Alliance government.

May 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Congress spokesperson Veerappa Moily Wednesday said his party will not form any alliance that will upset its poll partner Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. 'We won't do anything which will upset the Trinamool,' Moily told reporters here.

April 20th, 2009 KOLKATA - In a move to could indicate future Trinamool Congress alliance with Congress, party chief Mamata Banerjee and Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee and Trinamool Congress have shared a platform for the first time. Addressing an election rally Dinajpur region of West Bengal, both the leaders harshly criticized ruling left parties.

April 14th, 2009 KOLKATA - Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat Tuesday conceded that West Bengal's ruling Left Front (LF) will face a tough battle in the Lok Sabha polls in the state after the Congress-Trinamool Congress pact but hoped it will win majority of seats. 'My party's assessment is that we'll have a tough battle in this election.

April 14th, 2009 KOLKATA - The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) faces a tough fight in the Lok Sabha elections but would get a majority of seats in West Bengal, the party's general secretary Prakash Karat said here Tuesday. 'We will have a tough battle in the elections, but we have faced situations in the past when the opposition had virtually come together without an alliance,' Karat told reporters in response to the Congress and Trinamool Congress joining hands in the state.

March 16th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal Transport Minister and senior Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Subhas Chakraborty has said that 700-odd Trinamool Congress workers have joined the CPI-M in Howrah district's Uluberia Lok Sabha constituency. 'Around 700 Trinamool Congress activists have joined our party (CPI-M) before the Lok Sabha polls, as they were dissatisfied with the Trinamool's ideology,' Chakraborty claimed Saturday while addressing a political gathering.

March 14th, 2009 KOLKATA - The Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) has joined hands with the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal but that will not deter it from fielding candidates against the latter's new ally, the Congress, in the Lok Sabha elections. 'We've decided to support the Trinamool but will field candidates against the Congress in nine Lok Sabha seats,' SUCI state secretary Probhas Ghosh told reporters here Friday.

March 13th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal's ruling Left Front Thursday termed the Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance for the Lok Sabha elections as an unholy nexus and asked them to clarify the basis of their understanding. 'People of West Bengal don't know on what basis the Congress and Trinamool joined hands in the Lok Sabha elections,' Left Front chair Biman Bose said.

March 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress Party will contest 14 out of 42 seats of West Bengal, where as its ally the Trinamool Congress (TC) will contest from 28 seats. Announcing the seat sharing agreement, AICC in-charge of West Bengal K Keshav Rao that they have entered into a seat sharing pact with the TC with the objective of ending the over 30 years of misrule of the CPI-M, which has shattered the economy of West Bengal.

March 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress Thursday announced it would contest the Lok Sabha elections from 14 of West Bengal's 42 constituencies under a seat-sharing agreement with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress. 'We have reached a broad understanding with the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal for seat sharing,' the party's West Bengal in-charge Keshava Rao told reporters here.

March 3rd, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal's main opposition party Trinamool Congress Monday expressed dissatisfaction with the state's voting schedule announced by the Election Commission. The poll panel Monday declared that the Lok Sabha election in northern Bengal will be held April 30.