A new clash between U.S. and Iranian forces in the Gulf dented optimism for a negotiated peace on Friday (May 8, 2026), despite President Donald Trump insisting a shaky truce was still holding while the sides inch towards a deal.

U.S. Central Command said Iranian forces had launched missiles, drones and small boats at three US warships overnight but that none were hit, while American forces destroyed the incoming threat and retaliated against land bases in Iran.

Iran’s own central military command, Khatam al-Anbiya, countered that the clash had erupted when U.S. vessels targeted an Iranian civilian tanker heading towards the Strait of Hormuz, and accused its foe of hitting civilian areas.

- AFP

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday (May 8, 2026) threw his weight behind the TMC and DMK, which faced rout in the Assembly polls, and took a jibe at the Congress, saying “we are not the ones who leave during difficult times”.

Mr. Yadav also posted on X photographs of his meeting with Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata and with DMK chief MK Stalin. “We are not the ones who leave (you) during the difficult times,” he said.

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Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Friday (May 8, 2026) termed U.S. President Donald Trump’s congratulations to PM Narendra Modi over the West Bengal poll results “premature and misplaced”, asserting that State elections are an internal matter of India’s democracy.

In a post on X, where he tagged the U.S. President, Mr. Raut urged the latter to adopt a “more informed and balanced view” about the elections, claiming serious concerns have emerged that the polls were held amid an atmosphere of fear, intimidation, and systemic pressure.

“As a Member of Parliament from India, I write in response to reports of your congratulations to PM Narendra Modi on the West Bengal Assembly election results. These are state-level elections — an internal matter of India’s federal democracy. Any external endorsement appears premature and misplaced,” Mr. Raut wrote.

- PTI

As many as 65% of newly elected legislators in the West Bengal Assembly have declared criminal cases against themselves, marking a sharp rise from the previous election, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday (May 7, 2026) called on Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, in Kolkata.

The SP leader reached the Kalighat residence of the former Chief Minister, and was received by Mr. Banerjee. “You fought very well,” Mr. Yadav was heard telling Mr. Banerjee.

Welcoming Mr. Yadav, Ms. Banerjee said, “We have lost.”

“No, no, you have not lost,” Mr. Yadav said in response.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited the Dakshineswar Kali Temple and offered prayers after arriving in Kolkata on Friday (May 8, 2026).

Mr. Shah, who has been appointed the BJP’s central observer for the legislature party meeting, landed at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport around 11.10 am.

From the airport, Mr. Shah proceeded to the Dakshineswar temple along with BJP president Samik Bhattacharya, and senior party leaders Suvendu Adhikari. There, he offered puja at the shrine.

- PTI

Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Kolkata on Friday (May 8, 2026) morning to attend the BJP’s legislature party meeting, in which its leader will be elected, and the swearing-in ceremony of the party’s first government in West Bengal.

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The Trinamool government had a massive beneficiary network through its multiple schemes targeting women, workers as well as the youth. Moreover, the BJP was portrayed as an ‘outsider’, incompatible to the ethos of Bengali culture. Also, the question of disenfranchisement through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was also a major electoral talking-point. In spite of all these issues, supposedly favouring the ruling party, the BJP has won a thumping majority in the State. What explains these results?

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The BJP legislature party is scheduled to meet in Kolkata on Friday (May 8, 2026) in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to formally elect its leader, with Suvendu Adhikari emerging as the frontrunner to become the party’s first Chief Minister in West Bengal.

The BJP registered a historic victory in the just-held Assembly elections, ending the TMC’s 15-year rule and dealing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee one of the biggest setbacks of her political career.

Though the BJP has not officially announced its Chief Ministerial choice, Mr. Adhikari has emerged as the frontrunner after securing two of the most politically significant victories -- retaining Nandigram, where he defeated Ms. Banerjee in 2021, and now wresting Bhabanipur, long regarded as the TMC supremo’s pocket borough.

- PTI

West Bengal was for decades an unfinished project for the party, as Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of the Jana Sangha — the predecessor of BJP, hailed from the State and played a significant part in setting up the tone of Hindutva politics in pre- Independent India.

The 17th West Bengal Legislative Assembly which was sworn in after the 2021 assembly elections now stands dissolved. The development is significant because Mamata Banerjee had declared that she would not resign as Chief Minister of the State.