Articles by Avijit Ghosal
Narada after Saradha, most tension-filled Durga Puja for Trinamool leaders this year
It won’t be surprising if several TMC leaders pray for divine intervention after the arrest of an IPS officer in Narada sting case that claims to have taped several prominent politicians accepting wads of cash from a man posing as a representative of a firm.

Updated on Oct 03, 2019 06:01 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Avijit Ghosal
The political cost of Rajeev Kumar’s disappearance | Opinion
Most political watchers believe that Trinamool Congress chief will pay the price for the disappearance of Kumar who has virtually vanished since the Calcutta high court lifted his protection from arrest on September 13.

Updated on Sep 23, 2019 05:00 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Avijit Ghosal
Whispers of ‘Bengal for Bengalis’, but can it impact state polls | Opinion
Trinamool Congress is in a precarious position. The forces of anti-incumbency that it has generated mainly by corruption and high-handedness of its leaders and denial of democratic rights of a large section of the electorate in the 2018 panchayat elections have cost it dear in the general elections.

Updated on Sep 15, 2019 12:52 PM IST
Hindustan Times, | Avijit Ghosal
Opinion | While Mamata was busy with her party’s grip on Durga puja, the saffron camp made inroads with Ram Navami, Janmashtami and Hanuman Jayanti
The BJP has not only gained ground in West Bengal – a state where it always remained in the fringes – but also achieved a degree of penetration and polarisation that has encouraged them to claim they will win the assembly elections in 2021 or even if they are held earlier.

Updated on Aug 30, 2019 04:05 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Avijit Ghosal
Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim is emerging as Mamata Banerjee’s man Friday | Analysis
In November 2018, Mamata Banerjee nominated Hakim to contest for the mayor’s chair. Hakim went on to become the first Muslim mayor of Kolkata since Independence.

Updated on Aug 25, 2019 01:49 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Avijit Ghosal
Is Prashant Kishor facing his toughest challenge in Bengal? | Opinion
As Bengal’s ruling party is passing through the opening sequences of the ‘Didike Bolo’ and ‘Gramey Cholo’ campaigns to reestablish contact with the masses, this anecdote reflects the challenges Prashant Kishor, the poll strategist roped in to embellish Mamata Banerjee’s image and make her battle-ready before the 2021 Assembly elections, is facing.

Updated on Aug 21, 2019 03:08 PM IST
Hinustan Times, Kolkata | Avijit Ghosal
Why Mamata Banerjee needs an image makeover | Opinion
It’s the biggest public relation exercise since Mamata Banerjee swept the 34-year-old and seemingly invincible Left Front regime out of power in Bengal in May 2011.

Updated on Aug 04, 2019 06:19 PM IST
Kolkata | Avijit Ghosal
2019 performance could boost BJP’s assembly prospects in Bengal
Mamata Banerjee’s party swept the subsequent assembly elections in 2011, winning 184 seats in the 294-member assembly and drawing curtains on the 34-year rule of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Updated on May 24, 2019 08:16 AM IST
Kolkata | Avijit Ghosal
Lok Sabha elections 2019: Undaunted by exit polls, Naidu meets Mamata in Kolkata with his plan
N Chandrababu Naidu has already met Congress president Rahul Gandhi twice, once with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, as well as other leaders including Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, BSP’s Mayawati and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar.

Updated on May 20, 2019 07:58 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata/Amaravati |
Avijit Ghosal & Srinivasa Rao Apparasu
Lok Sabha elections 2019: With phase 4, elections move to Trinamool stronghold south Bengal
So far the 10 constituencies where the people have voted in the first three phases were located mainly in north Bengal, where the emerging force of Bharatiya Janata Party is hoping to do better than in the southern parts of the state.

Updated on Apr 28, 2019 10:18 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Avijit Ghosal
Lok Sabha elections 2019: High-stakes battle in Bengal in third phase polling
In phase 3, Bengal’s ruling party has to overcome history. Trinamool has never won any Lok Sabha seat in Malda and Murshidabad districts, traditionally known as the Congress belt.

Updated on Apr 22, 2019 07:17 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Avijit Ghosal
Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata Banerjee’s heir apparent, needs to be battle ready
A fluent speaker, Abhishek Banerjee has imbibed her aunt’s aggression and confidence but as he made his political debut when Mamata Banerjee was in power, he lacks the baptism by fire like his aunt, who survived decades of Left aggression in West Bengal.

Updated on Apr 15, 2019 12:57 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Avijit Ghosal
Battle of Bengal set to heat up with PM Modi’s twin rallies today
Over the past two Lok Sabha and two assembly elections in Bengal, the vote share of the BJP has remained at a level that is way behind that of the ruling TMC.

Updated on Apr 03, 2019 01:23 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Avijit Ghosal
Rahul Gandhi to launch Congress campaign in Bengal today, his first rally since 2016
Congress president Rahul Gandhi to address a rally in West Bengal on Saturday to launch party’s campaign in the state. This is his first rally in Bengal since April 2016.

Updated on Mar 23, 2019 09:21 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Avijit Ghosal
Trinamool Congress declares 40% reservation for women candidates
Facing a tough triangular fight against BJP and the Left-Congress combine, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has made sweeping changes to her Trinamool Congress’s candidates lineup in the upcoming general elections.

Updated on Mar 12, 2019 11:24 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi/Kolkata |
Saubhadra Chatterji and Avijit Ghosal
Lok Sabha elections 2019: Mamata Banerjee, fighter to the core who banks on planning
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is one of the principal proponents of a front of regional parties that are opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party and organised the first unity show in Kolkata on January 19, which she announced as far back as July 21, 2018.

Updated on Mar 11, 2019 03:47 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Avijit Ghosal
Mamata Banerjee lands in Delhi on mission to turn a threat into opportunity
It was a difficult process that Mamata Banerjee launched on the evening of February 3, a couple of hours after a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team went to the official residence of Kolkata Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar.

Updated on Feb 12, 2019 11:06 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Avijit Ghosal
‘Country not run by guns and gaurakshaks’: Mamata on Supreme Court order
Mamata Banerjee said the court order was a victory of democracy. “We are not against officers of any investigative agency. They are also our brothers and sisters. But they should not be used politically.”

Updated on Feb 05, 2019 01:51 PM IST
Kolkata | Avijit Ghosal
Why Rajeev Kumar features in the Saradha scam
It was as the commissioner of Bidhannagar police and the SIT chief probing the Saradha scam that involved deposits of Rs 2,460 crore (as later quantified by the Enforcement Directorate) that Rajeev Kumar has come under the CBI’s scanner.

Published on Feb 04, 2019 11:35 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Avijit Ghosal
Mamata Banerjee says PM Modi, Amit Shah forced CBI to act against her
In her midnight speech, Mamata Banerjee warned that the BJP may plan President’s rule in West Bengal.

Updated on Feb 04, 2019 01:32 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata |
Avijit Ghosal and Tanmay Chatterjee
Mamata Banerjee begins dharna, says PM Modi, Amit Shah plotting coup in Bengal
Mamata Banerjee accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah of plotting a ‘coup’ in Bengal.

Updated on Feb 04, 2019 12:54 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Avijit Ghosal
Highlights| ‘Didi, why fear if you haven’t done anything wrong’, says PM Modi in Bengal’s Durgapur rally
Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned in West Bengal on Saturday for the coming Lok Sabha election with rallies in the border district of North 24 Parganas and the industrial town of Durgapur.The Durgapur rally of the prime minister will be part of BJP’s ‘Ganatantra Bachao’ (save democracry) programme in the state.The rallies are being held at a time when the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal has upped the ante against the BJP-headed government at the Centre and has given the call to oust the Modi government in the next General Election.West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said apart from Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and many other top leaders will attend several ‘Ganatantra Bachao’ rallies across the state.Follow highlights here:

Updated on Feb 02, 2019 04:48 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Avijit Ghosal
PM Narendra Modi to address concerns over NRC, Citizenship bill, infiltration in Bengal rally
The corruption issue still remains the soft spot.

Updated on Feb 02, 2019 07:57 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata |
Avijit Ghosal and Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
Amit Shah in West Bengal highlights: ‘Mamata di, you can’t remove Modi by gathering 23-25 leaders’ says BJP chief in Malda rally
BJP president Amit Shah today kicked off the party’s campaign in West Bengal for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with a rally in Malda. The event comes days after chief minister Mamata Banerjee hosted a mega opposition gathering in Kolkata.The rallies came after the Mamata Banerjee government refused permission for BJP’s “rath yatra”, citing law and order concerns. The party had contested the denial of permission in the courts and fought it up to the Supreme Court, but failed to get any relief. The apex court had, however, allowed the BJP to hold public meetings. Bengal is crucial in the BJP’s plan for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the party has set itself a target of 22 seats in the state. The party which currently holds two seats in the state, has been bolstered with a number of senior Trinamool Congress leaders joining it.Shah’s rally in Malda, where he will address party workers in north Bengal, comes a day after a row between the BJP and the state government over a landing spot for his helicopter.:

Updated on Jan 22, 2019 03:52 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Avijit Ghosal
Mamata uses rhetoric, hyperbole to underscore Opposition unity, attack Modi regime
Clad in her customary white sari and chappals, the Trinamool Congress chief was the 23rd and the last speaker at the rally, and lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Modi in her own style .

Updated on Jan 19, 2019 07:10 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Avijit Ghosal
Opposition unity rally today is Mamata Banerjee’s crowning glory
On Saturday, the Trinamool Congress chief is going to have a third feather in her cap. On the dais of the United India Rally that she has convened in Kolkata, as many as two dozen leaders of anti-Bharatiya Janata Party outfits will be present.

Updated on Jan 19, 2019 10:59 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata | Avijit Ghosal
HIGHLIGHTS | Mamata Banerjee ends Opposition unity rally with chants of Vande Mataram
TMC’s mega rally is underway at the historic Brigade Parade ground in Kolkata, that would virtually kick-start the opposition’s campaign ahead of the coming general election. Convened by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who is aiming to project herself as the face of the opposition, the rally at noon is being attended by the who’s who of Indian politics -- a former prime minister, several current and former chief ministers and stalwarts from various political outfits from across the country.Also Read | ‘Country waiting for new prime minister’: Akhilesh Yadav before mega Opposition rally in KolkataMore than 20 national leaders, including former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha, Shatrughan Sinha and Arun Shourie; three present chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal, Chandrababu Naidu and H D Kumaraswamy; and former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, Akhilesh Yadav and Gegong Apang attended the meeting.Also Watch | If speaking truth is rebellion then I am a rebel, says Shatrughan SinhaWhile Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi have given the rally a miss, they have deputed senior party functionary and leader of the party in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.Here are the HIGHLIGHTS:

Updated on Jan 19, 2019 07:59 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Avijit Ghosal
TMC on spree of bypoll victories with over 50% votes; Kolkata mayor gets 77% in KMC by-election
The ruling party won the bypolls at Lok Sabha, Assembly and Kolkata Municipal Corporation with more than 50% votes, which means the candidate could have won against a combined opposition.

Updated on Jan 09, 2019 07:32 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata |
Avijit Ghosal and Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik announce farm sops
Under the initiative, the Farmers will get Rs10,000 a year for purchasing seeds, fertilizer and insecticides, life and accident insurance for a small premium and an interest-free crop loan of ₹50,000, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief announced.

Published on Dec 31, 2018 10:50 PM IST
Hindustan Times, Kolkata / Bhubaneshwar |
Avijit Ghosal and Debabrata Mohanty
Mamata Banerjee on her way to throttle BJP’s West Bengal strategy
The momentum that the saffron camp built around the proposed yatra appears to be fizzling out

Updated on Dec 29, 2018 12:39 AM IST