ACTOR ARINDAM ROY JOINS BJP
Lok Sabha polls 2024: Hema Malini gets 3rd term in Mathura, newcomers Kangana, Govil also emerge victorious
Indian film stars Kangana Ranaut, Arun Govil, Hema Malini, Manoj Tiwari, and Ravi Kishan shine in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The country also held assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim.
Showbiz personalities galore in Bengal electoral fray
The trend of major political parties in West Bengal backing film personalities continues in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, with stars of yesteryears and contemporary icons vying for seats. The ruling Trinamool Congress leads with six filmstars in the fray, including Shatrughan Sinha and Dev. The BJP and CPI(M) have also fielded film personalities. While TMC's strategy aims to consolidate its support base, the opposition hopes to dent it. The role of these stars-turned-politicians and their impact on the election remains to be seen.
BJP banking on ex-IPS officer Debasish Dhar to halt TMC's juggernaut in West Bengal's Birbhum
The BJP has surprised by fielding former IPS officer Debasish Dhar against TMC's Satabdi Roy in Birbhum, West Bengal. Absence of Anubrata Mondal, arrested in a money laundering case, has made the electoral atmosphere lacklustre. Dhar aims to challenge Roy, confident with BJP's support. Congress also contests the seat.
Eyeing fresh term in LS from Asansol, TMC's 'Shotgun' Shatrughan Sinha sets the bar higher
Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who was renominated by the ruling TMC from the Asansol Lok Sabha seat, said on Friday he would try to ensure an even bigger margin of victory than what he recorded in the previous bypoll.
LS polls: TMC, BJP favour turncoats over seasoned leaders in Bengal
TMC and BJP in West Bengal elections favor turncoats over experienced leaders, triggering protests. Both parties defend decisions based on 'winnability and political strategy'. Notable turncoats like Biswajit Das fielded by TMC.
Former BJD founding member, Bhartruhari Mahtab, joins BJP; May contest poll from Cuttack
Bhartruhari Mahtab, a six-time Cuttack Lok Sabha MP and founding member of BJD, joins BJP ahead of elections, signaling a significant political shift in Odisha. His defection follows a trend of prominent leaders leaving BJD. With elections looming, Odisha braces for a competitive battle across parliamentary and assembly constituencies, as parties vie for dominance in the state's political landscape.
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Mukul Roy's return to TMC will make no difference for BJP: Dilip Ghosh
Ghosh, while talking to reporters, said to he was not sure if the BJP would lose anything from Roy's decision, given that he was "unsure whether we gained anything" from his entry three-and-half years back.
Mukul Roy returns to TMC after meeting West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee
Mukul Roy met West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee at the Trinamool Congress Bhavan in Kolkata.
Assembly Polls: In Behala Purba, an all-women fight for former Kolkata Mayor's turf
The noteworthy house in the middle-class locality of Parnasree Pally in south Kolkata is the residence of Ratna Chatterjee, the Trinamool Congress candidate from Behala Purba, who is fighting her first election, in the middle of a bitter separation from her husband Sovan Chatterjee, the former mayor of Kolkata and sitting MLA from the seat who joined the BJP in late 2019.
Countdown begins: Bengal gears up for Phase-III polls
A total of 31 Assembly constituencies in districts including eight in Hooghly, seven in Howrah and 16 in South 24 Parganas will go to polls in phase-III. There are 205 candidates in the fray in this round of polling. However, when it comes to women representation, there are only 13 women candidates contesting in this phase, merely six per cent.
BJP engineering communal strife in West Bengal to win polls: Mamata Banerjee
The TMC chief, while addressing an election rally in Raidighi in South 24 Parganas district, also called upon Muslims not to "fall in the trap of a BJP-aided party from Hyderabad and its Bengal ally that are out to polarise votes."
Celebs without party tickets happy being ‘learners’, focus on campaigns
For the likes of Sreelekha Mitra and Kamaleshwar Mukherjee, campaigning for Left is a matter of propagating their own political ideology. Both don’t hold party tickets and have no aspirations of contesting elections. Mitra feels it is a different scenario for celebs who joined parties before the nominations for the 2021 polls were announced and had dormant interest in getting tickets.
BJP declares last Bengal list, Mithun Chakraborty fails to make the cut
Actor Mithun Chakraborty, who had sparked speculation about his chances of getting a ticket by moving back from Mumbai to Kolkata’s Cossipore-Belgachhia constituency as a voter, didn’t make the cut.
Ashok Lahiri's seat goes to a local, more BJP top guns to contest; party announces 156 more names
Just five days after it announced the candidature of former chief economic adviser Ashok Lahiri for Alipurduar in North Bengal, the BJP released another list on Thursday nominating the district’s party general secretary Suman Kanjilal from the same seat.
BJP announces 148 candidates for WB assembly polls
The party continued with its strategy of fielding personalities from different walks of life and sitting MPs as it named folk artiste Ashim Sarkar from the Haringhata assembly seat and scientist Gobhardhan Das from the Purbasthali Uttar.
TMC MLA Debashree Roy quits party after being denied poll ticket
Debashree Roy was scheduled to join the BJP in 2019 but her plans got scuttled after TMC turncoat and former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee and his friend Baisakhi Bandopadhyay opposed her induction into the saffron camp.
Four MPs, actors, defectors, and an economist, BJP raises stakes in Bengal game
In the ST-dominated Alipurduar constituency which has many tea estates, Lahiri is pitted against TMC’s sitting MLA Sourav Chakraborty who polled over 44% of votes in 2016, and was recently in a controversy for taking Covid-19 vaccine despite not being a frontline worker.
View: Why BJP and TMC are in a celeb-wooing competition
Stars and politicians are no strangers in Bengal. Before he became a Trinamool-nominated Rajya Sabha MP Mithun Chakraborty was so close to Left Front minister Subhas Chakraborty that he organised a star-studded flood relief extravaganza and got Amitabh Bachchan to come for it.
Bengali theatre actor dropped from play after joining BJP
Kar, had been invited by Palodhi's group Ichcheymoto' in 2019, to play a character whose name had a reference to the victim who was lynched in 2015 Dadri case on suspicion of eating beef.
TMC faces a fresh spate of defections to BJP, losses control over Malda Zilla Parishad
This was TMC's second largest single-day exodus after political heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari along with 35 TMC leaders, including five MLAs and an MP, switched over to BJP December last year.
Actor Mithun Chakraborty joins BJP ahead of Prime Minister Modi's rally in Kolkata
Chakraborty was welcomed into the party fold by BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and state party chief Dilip Ghosh among others.
West Bengal Assembly polls: PM Modi to address public rally in Kolkata today
Bollywood veteran Mithun Chakraborty is expected to attend the rally at the central Kolkata venue. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya met Chakraborty in Kolkata on Saturday amid speculations that he may be joining PM Modi's Brigade rally in Kolkata.
Celebrities join Trinamool Congress ahead of West Bengal polls
Aditi said only TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee thinks or works so much for people in the performing arts and allied fields. The singer said that she will be at the party's service in whichever way it deems fit.
Yash Dasgupta, several Tolly actors join BJP
Dasgupta was welcomed to the saffron camp by BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and party national vice-president Mukul Roy.
Rajib Banerjee, other TMC leaders may join BJP today in Delhi
Former West Bengal minister Rajib Banerjee, who recently quit the TMC, will on Saturday fly with a few other disgruntled MLAs and leaders to New Delhi where they may join the BJP, sources in the saffron party said.
Those having problems should discuss it with party instead of looking for other options: Satabdi Roy
Roy, an actor-turned-politician and a leading face in the Mamata Banerjee's cultural brigade, said it would be "unethical to look for other options" when the party is facing a tough fight.
Books, movies and music you should watch out for in 2018
Rajinikanth will be back in 2018, on the big screen at least if not in the political arena, with his film 2.0. The year will also see a slew of politicians bringing out books, from autobiographies to political analyses.
Playing political role again: Subrata Roy is quietly meeting key political players in UP
People who know Roy and his past moves in UP politics say the Sahara chief wishes for a Samajwadi Party-Congress understanding in UP elections.
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