Mamata Banerjee Lokpal

• Mamata's party will support Lokpal Bill sans the Lokayukta clause

  Senior ministers met BJP leaders like Arun Jaitley to seek a compromise on the major differences between the government and the Opposition over the proposed legislation. The role of the CBI remains a sticking point. But an agreement appears to have been reached on how the new bill would apply to states, an issue that had placed Mamata Banerjee fir...

• Congress targets Mamata again, plans rally in Kolkata today

  After the FDI, the pension bill and the Lokpal, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Congress seem to be heading towards another confrontation. And this time the issue is Ms Banerjee seeking to rename Indira Bhavan, a building named after the former Congress Prime Minister, in Kolkata's Salt Lake. On Tuesday, the Youth Congress held a dem...

• Lokpal Bill fiasco: Government treated us sloppily, says Mamata's party

  The reverberation of what happened in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday night during the Lokpal Bill debate continues to be felt in the political circles. Now popularly known as the "Lokpal Bill fiasco", or the "midnight mayhem," the issue has brought into sharp focus the deep fissures between the Congress and its largest ally - Mamata Banerjee's Trinamo...

• Snubbed by Mamata, Govt puts up a brave front

  It was yet another embarrassment for the government at the hands of its ally, the Trinamool Congress when Mamata Banerjee's party moved amendments against the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha yesterday. But the government is trying to put up a brave front. "There are differences with allies, but won't say Trinamool Congress's approach is confrontatio...

• Lokpal fiasco: 'Fleedom' at midnight quips BJP, says PM gave his blessing

  The government insists that it did not play dirty to ensure that last night, the Lokpal bill was not put to vote in the Rajya Sabha. "The BJP are the real assassins of democracy," said the Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi. But every major political party today - including Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress - said the government down t...

• Lokpal Bill debate in Rajya Sabha today

  At 11 am today, the government takes its Lokpal battle to its last, and possibly toughest leg. For in the Rajya Sabha, which will discuss and vote today on the Lokpal Bill that the Lok Sabha has passed, the UPA is in a minority. The opposition is flexing its superior number power to say, do it our way. And then there is always ally Mamata Banerjee,...

• Lokpal war: Mamata's amendment finds wide support

  Mamata Banerjee has made it very difficult for the government to get the Lokpal Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha today.

• Lokpal war: Mamata firm on amendment, wants Lokayuktas clause dropped

  As the government preps for a tough battle in the Rajya Sabha over the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill, the focal point of its concern is a key partner, Mamata Banerjee. She wants 14 pages of the bill which deal with Lokayuktas or anti-corruption agencies at the state level to be dropped because she believes this section violates the autonomy of states...

• Lokpal Bill: Under pressure, government makes these big changes

  As the Parliament debate on the Lokpal Bill entered its final phase, the government was gearing up to move a series of amendments to the bill to reflect the opinions of large opposition parties like the BJP and key allies like Mamata Banerjee and the DMK.

• Mamata not moved by Anna's request for help

  Mamata Banerjee has spurned attempts by Team Anna to co-opt her as an ally in its battle with the government over a strong anti-corruption or Lokpal Bill. "Mamata doesn't need lessons from Anna Hazare," said her party's Sultan Ahmed. "Everyone knows she is a crusader."