Why not polls in 2009, Mamata taunts Left

October 4th, 2009 SILIGURI - Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Sunday apologised to the people of this northern West Bengal town as her party had failed to form the board in alliance with its partner Congress in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation. "I am extremely sorry and I apologise to all of you as we failed to form the civic board in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation.

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 KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress chief and Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday lost no opportunity to needle West Bengal's ruling Left Front when she proposed a new rail line from Singur to Nandigram and sops for Lalgarh - areas in the state that have witnessed violent anti-Left agitations. Exhibiting shrewd political sense in her wide array of proposals for West Bengal in the 2009-10 rail budget, arguably the highest sops the state has got since independence, Banerjee Friday let go no opportunity to woo her votebank with an eye to the 2011 state polls.

June 22nd, 2009 KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Monday accused West Bengal's ruling Left Front of being in cahoots with the Maoists saying the Communists had used the rebels to win the polls in the western districts. "The Left used Maoists to rig the elections and now they are saying Maoists helped the Trinamool.

May 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Ramesh Chennithala, the chief architect of the Congress' spectacular victory in Kerala in the Lok Sabha polls, has asked Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to return to the party to launch a joint fight against the Marxists in West Bengal and Kerala. The Congress won 13 of Kerala's 20 Lok Sabha seats, up from zero in the 2004 elections, leaving the Communist Party of India-Marxist with just four.

May 19th, 2009 KOLKATA - After leaving the Left Front battered in the Lok Sabha polls, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is now eyeing its constituents, the Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP). Banerjee appealed to the Forward Bloc and RSP to switch sides and join her in ousting Left Front major Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) while participating in an interactive programme on Bengali television channel Star Ananda Monday night.

May 18th, 2009 KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Monday said all Left parties are 'not bad', in what is seen as an overture to some partners of West Bengal's ruling Left Front which has suffered major reverses in the 2009 Lok sabha polls. 'We have said the Left is not bad.

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 16th, 2009 KOLKATA - Euphoria was writ large on the faces of Congress and Trinamool Congress activists in West Bengal Saturday, as they shouted slogans and celebrated the surprise wins of their parties that fought the Lok Sabha polls together and trounced the Left Front in its bastion. After having to stomach defeat in all assembly and Lok Sabha polls during the last 32 years, the spectacular showing of the alliance sent Trinamool workers into rapture.

May 10th, 2009 KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Sunday described Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi as a 'young man' and said the media had distorted his comments about seeking the Left support to form a government after the Lok Sabha polls. Banerjee, who ruled out her joining the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after the polls, claimed the Congress was neither too keen and nor would it need the Left parties' support to form a coalition government.

May 9th, 2009 KOLKATA - Days ahead of Lok Sabha polls here, the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Saturday accused opposition Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee of faring poorly as an MP and lacking any political philosophy. Addressing a meet-the-press programme at the Kolkata Press Club here, CPI-M politburo member Biman Bose pointed out that Banerjee had mostly stayed away from the sessions of the outgoing Lok Sabha.

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.

March 7th, 2009 KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Friday said her party was ready with the candidates' list for the coming Lok Sabha polls, but revealed her impatience at the Congress' delay in replying with seat adjustment details. 'I am waiting for the Congress' reply as they asked for 48 hours' time.

March 2nd, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal state Congress president Pranab Mukherjee and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Sunday night held talks to forge an alliance between the two parties for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Senior Congress leader K.