Announcing the party manifesto at the state headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, national spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata party said that the BJP will focus on the poor and the downtrodden in the state. He added that the party will be providing homes to the homeless if elected to power in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party lashed out at the Central Bureau of Investigation for procrastinating the filing of the chargesheet in the 2G spectrum scam. Leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha and senior leader Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley alleged that the chargesheet in the 2G spectrum case had left out "core issues" without significantly dealing with loss to the exchequer and alleged that the timetable of investigation was influenced by the TN polls.
Former Kerala Pradesh Congress committee chief and son of late chief minister K Karunakaran, K Muraleedharan, who has just been given a party membership after a long gap of six years when he was expelled from the party, is now the United Democratic Front candidate from Vattiyoorkavu constituency in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.
Union Defence Minister and senior leader of the Congress party AK Antony said on Thursday that no force can stop the Congress-led United Democratic Front from coming to power in Kerala and forming a government in the state.
Kerala Chief Minister and Communist Party of India-Marxist veteran V S Achuthanandan filed nomination for contesting the assembly elections from his sitting seat Malampuzha in Palakkad district on Thursday. Achuthanandan filed his papers before joint registrar (co-operatives) A N Pradeepraj, who is the returning officer for the segment.
With the Congress still pruning its final list of candidates and the Kerala Congress - Mani and the Socialist Janata Dal sulking over seat sharing arrangements, the United Democratic Front is yet to finalise its list of candidates."There are several issues in the Congress party and the party is now reduced to a pocket organisation of Oomen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala.These two leaders have become so powerful that nobody can challenge them" said a source.
With the Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretariat deciding not to provide Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan a seat to contest in the coming assembly elections, sources say that the Congress-led United Democratic Front is all set to emerge as a clear winner.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretariat meeting which went on for a marathon four hours on Wednesday, denied seat to the patriarch of the party, and the Chief Minister of Kerala, VS Achuthanandan, to contest the ensuing assembly elections slated for April 13.
The Kerala unit of the Congress has made it clear to its allies that it would not succumb to their pressure tactics while finalising a seat sharing deal for the party-led coalition United Democratic Front in the forthcoming assembly polls. One of the Congress's allies in the state is Janadipathya Samarakshana Samithi, a political outfit floated by veteran Communist leader K R Gowri, who became part of the UDF fold after being expelled from the Communist Party of India.
Bharatiya Janata Party's national secretary in-charge of Kerala, Muralidhar Rao, on Monday said that the national leaders of his party, including the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushama Swaraj, will be camping in the state for the electioneering of the BJP candidates.
The fight for chief ministership in the next United Democratic Front government has begun in the Congress party ,albeit in a subtle and subdued way. The recent report of the Intelligence Bureau that the Congress-led UDF would win around eighty five seats and head the ruling coalation has set the ball rolling in the Congress party for the post of chief minister.
The Supreme Court on Thursday awarded one-year rigorous imprisonment to former Kerala power minister and senior most member of the Opposition United Democratic Front R Balakrishnan Pillair in the Idamalayar dam corruption case. Two others --Rajendran Nair, the then chief engineer of electricity and V K Sanjeevan, the contractor of the Idamalayar -- were also given the same sentence.
Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan has ordered a probe into the complaint filed by one Shameer from Mattanchery, Kochi against PV Sreenijan, the son-in-law of Justice KG Balakrishnan, the former Chief Justice of India, for allegedly amassing property at worth Rs 7 crore in the last four years.
Kochi will be the new headquarters of Air India Express, while Thiruvananthapuram will be the main engineering centre of the airline.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Saturday paid his last respects to former chief minister of Kerala and Congress Working Committee member K Karunakaran at the Thrissur townhall.
Congress stalwart and four-time chief minister K Karunakaran was on Saturday cremated with full state honours as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a large number of people paid adieu to the colossus of Kerala politics. After the family members performed the last rituals, a gun salute was accorded and Seva Dal volunteers paid their respects.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had paid his last respects to the departed leader at the Thrissur town hall earlier in the day.
A steady stream of mourners led by Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday paid homage to veteran Congress leader K Karunakaran at his residence in Thiruvananthapuram where his mortal remains are kept.
Jayalalithaa termed the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu as a corrupt party, pointing out that the CBI was carrying out raids on the residences and offices of people close to the party's leadership. "The 2G spectrum scam, which has caused a loss of one lakh eighty thousand crores, has been the largest scam in the history of the world .The DMK has always been a corrupt party and this scam has revealed the heights which the DMK leadership can reach in corruption," she said.
In an interview with rediff.com's Arun Lakshman, scholar, writer, teacher and social activist Professor Hameed Chendamangalur says that the people of the state have given a befitting reply to such organisations in the recently held local body polls.
Religious sentiments are simmering God's own country Kerala. The Episcopal churches and the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam of the backward Ezhava community in the state are crying foul, claiming that the new generation Pentecostal churches are poaching their believers.