West Bengal

Kolkata, Sep 23 (PTI) Former Farakka MLA Mainul Haque, who recently quit the Congress, joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Thursday at a public meeting in poll-bound Samserganj constituency of West Bengal's Murshidabad district.

Haque, who sent his resignation letter to interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday, joined the state's ruling party in the presence of its national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

Kolkata, Sept 20 (PTI) West Bengal is set to witness its first lung transplantation after doctors at a private hospital here managed to get the vital organ from a brain-dead patient in Gujarat.

The recipient is a senior citizen who was admitted to the facility for over three months, an official said.

The surgery started on Monday night and it may take over 14 hours, he said.

This will be the first time that lung transplantation is being conducted in the state, a health department official said.

Jalpaiguri (WB), Sep 10 (PTI) A man was arrested with snake venom worth Rs 13 crore in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district, a forest officer said on Friday.

The accused, hailing from Dakshin Dinajpur district, was nabbed with three jars of snake venom in Gorumara National Park, he said, adding those were being smuggled to China.

The accused was produced before a court which sent him to six days in the custody of the Forest Department.

Kolkata, Sep 9 (PTI) The West Bengal government has decided to revise the family pension of its employees and raise the monthly income ceiling from Rs 3,600 to Rs 9,000.

The move comes in the wake of recommendations by the 6th Pay Commission.

The question of raising the Income ceiling of mother/father and unmarried/widowed/divorced daughter beyond 25 years has been under consideration of the government for sometime past.

Kolkata, Sep 10 (PTI) The BJP on Friday nominated party leader Priyanka Tibrewal for the September 30 by-poll for Bhabanipur assembly seat against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Tibrewal, a lawyer by profession, is one of the petitioners in the post-poll violence cases against the TMC government in the Calcutta High Court.

The party also announced the names of Milan Ghosh and Sujit Das for Samserganj and Jangipur seats respectively.

The results will be declared on October 3.

Kolkata, Sep 10 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday filed her nomination papers for the September 30 Bhabanipur assembly by-poll.

The TMC supremo will be pitted against BJP's Priyanka Tibrewal and Left Front's Srijib Biswas.

The result will be declared on October 3.

Banerjee, who lost the election in Nandigram, has to win this by-poll to retain the chief minister's post.

Banerjee is a resident of Bhabanipur and had won the seat twice in 2011 and 2016.

Bardhaman (WB), Sep 7 (PTI) A local TMC leader was shot dead in front of his father by unidentified gunmen in West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district on Tuesday, police said.

The ruling party in West Bengal alleged that the BJP was behind the killing, a charge denied by the saffron party.

The incident took place when 40-year-old Chanchal Bakshi, a youth TMC leader of Ausgram's Devshala area, was returning home on a motorcycle with his father Shyamal Bakshi, the local panchayat president, from a party programme, an officer said.

Kolkata, Sep 1 (PTI) The West Bengal BJP on Wednesday threatened legal action against its two MLAs who had joined the TMC earlier this week if they do not resign from the assembly within seven days.

Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, asserted that the party's legislators remain united.

BJP MLA from Bagda, Biswajit Das, switched over to the TMC on Tuesday, while another saffron camp legislator, Tanmoy Ghosh, did so on Monday.

Kolkata, Sep 1 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take steps to withdraw the price hike of LPG cylinders and said rising prices of fuels and domestic cooking gas are "unacceptable".

Claiming that the Centre is taking "anti-people" policies, Banerjee said "unprecedented" hikes in petrol, diesel and cooking gas are taking a toll on common people.

Kolkata, Aug 30 (PTI) Bishnupur MLA Tanmoy Ghosh joined the Trinamool Congress on Monday, alleging that his BJP was indulging in vindictive politics.

Speaking to reporters, Ghosh claimed that the BJP was also attempting to trigger chaos among the people of West Bengal, because of which he joined the TMC.

"I urge all to join the TMC for the welfare of West Bengal. There is a need to strengthen the hands of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee," he said.