Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary A B Bardhan stirred up a a storm by admitting that the Left had not done enough to tackle the Naxal menace.
A B Bardhan, who steered the CPI during the turbulent period of coalition politics in the 1990s, died in New Delhi on Saturday night.
'In Parliament, he was the one person who stood for democracy and secularism even when the principal Opposition party was not very forthright in taking on the BJP and RSS.'
Communist Party if India leader A B Bardhan demanded a probe into business dealings between Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra and DLF, saying there were contradictions between the financial statements declared by Vadra and the realty major.
Stepping up her campaign for former Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma's candidature for Presidency, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo Jayalalithaa on Sunday contacted top leaders of several non-Congress parties including Bharatiya Janata Party veteran L K Advani, seeking their support to the tribal leader.
Left parties were on Thursday divided on the Presidential election with the Communist Party of India-Marxist and Forward Bloc deciding to support United Progressive Alliance candidate Pranab Mukherjee while the Communist Party of India and Revolutionary Socialist Party opting to abstain from the voting.
Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and A B Bardhan on Thursday shared dais with Bharatiya Janata Party's Nitin Gadkari and Murli Manohar Joshi at a demonstration against FDI in retail and hike in diesel prices.
The Communist Party of India leader A B Bardhan on Wednesday said there was room for a credible alternative of Left and secular parties in the country to fill the "political vacuum" created by people's rejection of the two alliances led by Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party in the recent Assembly elections.
Communist Party of India National General Secretary A B Bardhan on Tuesday claimed that a 'Third Front', as a viable alternative to the United Progressive Alliance and Nationalist Democratic Alliance, would emerge with like-minded Left parties and some pro-poor regional parties coming together.
Senior Communist Party of India leader A B Bardhan on Thursday said the Left wanted to build a new Front but ruled out a place from the Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, whom he called a "pesudo-Left".
I have no doubt that in 2014 there will be objective conditions for the Left to take initiatives and have a voice, says former general secretary of the Communist Party of India A B Bardhan.
The Communist Party of India on Thursday said it favoured a Dalit woman as the next President of India, but did not spell out any name for the top Constitutional post.
With a Swiss bank staffer handing over details of 2,000 secret Swiss bank accounts to whistle-blowing site Wikileaks, CPI demanded that names of Indian account holders be disclosed and their funds confiscated.
The Communist Party of India on Friday said the Left will move an adjournment motion in the Winter Session of Parliament on the price rise issue as it accused the United Progressive Alliance government of not being able to control double-digit inflation and demanded deregulation of fuel prices.
Describing the drubbing of the Left in West Bengal as a "defining moment", Communist Party of India general secretary A B Bardhan has told Left Front leaders "either change or you are out".
Shell-shocked by its dismal performance in the state assembly elections, the Communist Party of India-Marxist will soon hold a Politburo meeting to consider the reasons behind its massive debacle.
Top Left leaders Prakash Karat (Communist Party of India-Marxist), A B Bardhan (Communist Party of India), Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc) and Abani Roy (Revolutionary Socialist Party), led the demonstration near Parliament House.
Unhappy that the Budget has not done anything to reduce escalating prices, the Communist Party of India said on Tuesday that it\nwould launch a countrywide agitation against high prices of essential commodities\ndespite the low rate of annualised inflation.
Communist Party of India general secretary A B Bardhan and national secretary D Raja will go to Kolkata and represent their party at the cremation.
Criticising the government for exempting the Central Bureau of Investigation from the purview of the Right to Information Act, Communist Party of India General Secretary A B Bardhan on Thursday accused the Centre of putting a veil of secrecy on its 'wrongdoings'.
Naidu broke the fast by taking a glass of coconut water following intervention by Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan, Janata Dal-United chief Sharad Yadav, Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh and other leaders who prevailed upon him to end the fast.
We have lost a devoted communist who was ready to sacrifice anything for the people and the party, says Shameem Faizee, recollecting his meetings with comrade A K Hangal.
It will be a 'tough fight' between the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress in this month's assembly polls in West Bengal while in Kerala the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front had an 'edge' over the Congress-led United Democratic Front, Communist Party of India General Secretary A B Bardhan said on Friday.
For the first time in 25 years, all the trade unions, including INTUC and Bharatiya Janata Party-affiliated Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh have forged an ideological link on the issue of price rise and food security. These TUs would launch a fill-the-jail campaign on March five across the country, the CPI leader said.
The government has unleashed hectic behind the scene activity and is lobbying with non-Bharatiya Janata Party parties to break the logjam in Parliament and divide the Opposition ranks, in a bid to ensure there is no repetition of the winter session of Parliament where not a single item of business could be transacted.
Communist Party of India general secretary A B Bardhan called upon the Central government to initiate steps to hold unconditional talks with the militant outfits in the North East, including the United Liberation Front of Asom, for the sake of peace and development of the region. "The government must open dialogue with the militant outfits, including the ULFA, at the earliest, without setting any pre-condition," Bardhan told the media in Guwahati.
Opposition-sponsored Bharat Bandh against price rise on Monday did not evoke much response in New Delhi barring some areas where BJP and Left activists blocked road and rail traffic and forcibly shut shops.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said the issue of alleged suicide by farmers hit by natural calamities in Andhra Pradesh would be looked into.The assurance was given by the prime minister to a delegation of seven opposition parties which met him to draw his attention to the plight of farmers in the southern state, Communist Party of India leader A B Bardhan told reporters after the meeting.The delegation also handed over to him a letter from TDP chief C Naidu.
Rejecting Orissa government's formula of excluding 300 acres of private land from the proposed Posco site area near Paradip, the Communist Party of India (CPI) on Friday demanded that the entire site be shifted elsewhere and an official statement made about its overall impact on the state.
The survey is likely to begin soon for Posco's proposed mega steel project in Orissa near Paradip, where security forces were redeployed today after the eviction of protesters five days ago.
Leaders of Left parties, who have strongly opposed the implementation of the Indo-US nuclear deal, have started receiving "death threat" mails.
Having kept it alive for four years with outside support, the Left on Tuesday branded the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government as 'no different' from its predecessor National Democratic Alliance government, on the economic and foreign policy fronts.The Marxist leader said Left parties, at their joint meeting in New Delhi on May 23, will further review the performance of the UPA government and take appropriate position.
'Bossism' by Left cadres in West Bengal and Kerala, erosion of mass base, 'unilateralism' by Communist Party of India-Marxist and infighting in its Kerala unit were major reasons behind the poll debacle suffered by the Left parties, Communist Party of India said on Tuesday.
CPI general secretary A B Bardhan accused the government of 'wilfully violating the Common Minimum Programme, which commits the United Progressive Alliance to pursue an independent foreign policy aimed at promoting multi-polarity in world relations and opposing all attempts at unilateralism-which is what the US pursues.'
Top Left leaders on Thursday held discussions with former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda in Delhi on the prevailing political scenario reportedly giving focus on major developments in the country and Bahujan Samaj Party-ruled Uttar Pradesh.
Bardhan blamed former governor Lt General S K Sinha for taking steps which resulted in the widespread violence in the state.
Amid the Bahujan Samaj Party's keenness to project Mayawati as a prime ministerial candidate, the Communist Party of India on Friday said the Third Front would not name any leader for the top post in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election. "The Third Front will not project anyone as its prime ministerial candidate during electioneering," CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan told reporters, a day after the Left and some regional parties joined hands to cobble up a Third Front.
Communist Party of India leader A B Bardhan said on Thursday that Third Front leaders are in touch with Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who severed ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party, to rope his party Biju Janata Dal into the coalition.
A day after failing to topple the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government during the trust vote, leaders of the Left parties, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the United National Progressive Alliance met in New Delhi to chalk out their future course of action.The meeting, held at the residence of BSP supremo Mayawati, was attended by Communist Party of India Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat, Communist Party of India leaders A B Bardhan and D Raja.
On Saturday, the Congress leader had said the government had kept the Left and Opposition informed during the negotiations of the nuclear deal.