Racing against time, the government made the attempt during a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and top Left leaders Prakash Karat and A B Bardhan in the presence of United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Whole-timers, who form the backbone of the party, are more difficult to get nowadays, admits the CPI-M. Although the party membership has increased in the past few years along with its might in national politics (it has 43 Members of Parliament in the Lok Sabha), the CPI-M has conceded its problems of a continuing high attrition rate. The rate of attrition from the party is as high as 7.5 per cent. In other words, for every 200 members, 15 members are leaving the party.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat have been keeping a low profile, but their interest for the presidential nomination has been debated upon by the media.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has said the attack by the Bharatiya Janata Party workers and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on the party headquarters in New Delhi will be raised in Parliament on Monday. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, party general secretary Prakash Karat said, "What is worse is that the local leaders of BJP and RSS were leading the mob which threw boulders and stones on our national party headquarters in New Delhi."
"We are surprised to see the observation of the apex court. We consider right to organise peaceful protest as a basic right of political parties and citizens. Judicial encroachment is uncalled for," party general secretary Prakash Karat said.
The CPM on Monday decided to explore avenues to resolve its differences with the UPA government about the Indo-US nuclear agreement. the party stopped short of saying it would withdraw support if the govt goes ahead & operationalises the pact.
Reaching out to the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh, which has 17 MPs in the Lok Sabha, Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat drove to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister's residence in New Delhi to hold the first meeting after the Left parties withdrew support to the United Progressive Alliance government over the nuclear deal.
After two hours of deliberations between the United Progressive Alliance and the Left parties, it was decided that they would meet again on October 5 to narrow down their differences over the Indo-US nuclear deal
He flew down to Mumbai as a Congress troubleshooter with a mission to save the wobbly coalition government in Karnataka, but minister D K Shivakumar hardly found any support from the Maharashtra unit of his party in his task and was sent packing to his home state.
He just wanted to see some snow. But he got much more than that. Samanyu, all of 7, scaled Africa's loftiest peak and proved that no dream is impossible. And that age is just a number.
CPM general-secretary Prakash Karat had said that the government would have to face serious consequences if it went ahead with the nuclear deal.
Karat's meet with PM fails to break nuclear deal deadlock
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has warned the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre that it will face countrywide protests if it hikes petrol and diesel prices.
'No other Communist leader after Lenin had such an internationalist vision as Fidel,' says Prakash Karat, the CPI-M leader in this eloquent tribute to Fidel Castro who passed into the ages on Friday.
When asked if it would not be good for farmers as they would be rid of an anti-farmer government, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan said that the farmers would continue to die as there would be nobody to save them.
Karat had on Thursday said the vice-president should be a person who has an exemplary record in some field and should have the widest acceptance.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier called for consensus in passing the bill.
CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat and Politburo members Sitaram Yechury, S Ramachandran Pillai and R Umanath are expected to attend the meeting on Saturday.
On the sidelines of the high political drama on the elusive consensus among the UPA constituents on the presidential candidate, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury quietly managed to break the three-day strike by the employees of Indian.
The UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal will meet on November 16.
For the first time in the history of the Communist Party of India - Marxist, its two founding members Jyoti Basu and Harkishan Singh Surjeet will give a miss to the party's 19th All India Congress, which begins in Coimbatore on Saturday, due to health-related reasons. The 94-year-old Basu expressed his regret and inability to attend the Congress. "Their absence would be deeply felt. But both the comrades, we know, are always with us," MP Brinda Karat said.
The Communist Party of India Marxist on Thursday vowed to oppose a strategic alliance between India and US, stating such a move is aimed at countering China. ''We shall not rest in our fight till the strategic ties with the US is snapped out,'' Karat said at a CPI(M)-sponsored programme in Kolkata to celebrate the October Revolution. He said the US was trying to make India its strategic ally in countering China, which is "the most powerful socialist country."
What does the prime minister's position on the nuclear deal mean? What does the Congress want from the issue? What does the Left stand to gain? Sheela Bhatt explains.
Dalit leaders, including Prakash Ambedkar, Jogendra Kawade, Sulekha Kumbhare and Rajendra Gavai were scheduled to take part in the protest rally.
Celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor was flown to the United Arab Emirates to prepare a five-course vegetarian extravaganza for no other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
An inhospitable climate and the smallest population of any World Cup nation have failed to dampen Iceland's burning desire
The CPM argued that though the Kolkatta high court order asking the Central Bureau of Investigation was judicially not correct, it will not contest the order.
They will also demand a review of strategic aspects of Indo-US relations in Parliament.
Teaching your kids the value of money should be fun. Here are six ways in which how you can inculcate the value and importance of money in them.
In a fresh ultimatum, the CPI(M) has threatened mid-term polls to Lok Sabha if the government goes ahead with IAEA talks beyond December.
Forget running miles on the treadmill and hours on the elliptical, these workouts will keep you on your toes.
Strongly condemning the Israeli attacks, he said the campaign was a continuation of the Jewish state's "war and genocide against the Palestinian people" and it has the full backing of the US and other imperialists.
Left parties on Sunday decided to suspend participation in the United Progressive Alliance-Left coordination committee\nmeetings to protest against the government's decision to go ahead with disinvestment .
A group of Indian-American community leaders are planning to travel to New Delhi and convince the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left Front to accept the deal as it is in the best interests of both countries. "Many of us are planning a trip to New Delhi in November to meet leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpai, L K Advani, Brajesh Mishra, Prakash Karat and others to exchange ideas," said chairman of the Dallas based US-India Forum, Ashok Mago.
BCCI spokesman Rajiv Shukla has told Greg Chappell to refrain from making comments about Members of Parliament.
President Kalam's term ends on July 25, 2007, and the new president has to be sworn in by then.
'The Sena is always ready for any and every eventuality.'
