In a legal and political setback to the Congress-led United Democratic Front government in Kerala, a vigilance court on Friday turned down its move to wind up the palmolein import graft case dating to 1992 when late Congress veteran K Karunakaran was the chief minister.
As Kerala is set to go for assembly polls on April 13, the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led United Democratic Front have to race against time as they are yet to finalise the seat-sharing exercise among partners and each component to work out the list of their contestants for before the filing of nominations begin on March 19.
The CPI(M) today observed 'Black day' in Kerala in protest against Governor R S Gavai's decision to accord sanction to the CBI to prosecute former Minister and party's state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan in the SNC Lavalin graft case.
The Left Democratic Front-led Kerala government on Wednesday accepted the Advocate General's advice against granting permission to prosecute former minister and CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan in the SNC Lavalin corruption case.
Sandeshkhali, a village in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, has been at the centre of a political storm for nearly a month and has witnessed unprecedented protests over allegations of sexual abuse by scores of women against a local Trinamool Congress leader.
In a huge embarrassment to the Communist Party of India-Marxist in Kerala, party's senior state leader P Jayarajan was on Wednesday arrested in connection with the murder of Indian Union Muslim League youth wing activist Abdul Shukkoor in February.
The Kerala high court on Thursday dismissed a petition by controversial Marxist leader M M Mani, seeking to quash first information report registered against him over his speech on elimination of political foes, saying if such tendencies are not checked, it would sound the "death knell" of democracy.
He also said that the prime minister had failed to live up to his promise to create two crore jobs every year.
'What The Kerala Story is trying to do is take the fake hate propaganda which we saw earlier only on WhatsApp to the big screen now.'
Abdullakutty, a second term Member of Parliament from Kannur, is readying himself to take the Services Selection Board (SSB) interview to become eligible to don the Army's Olive Greens. If the CPM MP clears the SSB, he will be the next big name to join the TA in recent times, with former Indian cricketer Kapil Dev who joined the force late last year,
With Malayalis immune to Modi's charms, the Pradhan Sevak must be quite unhappy today, surmises Dominic Xavier.
Barely days after it faced flak for displaying a painting of Jesus alongside Communist icons at an exhibition, the Communist Party of India-Marxist in Kerala has landed itself in another soup after a billboard carrying a political spoof, allegedly put up by party workers, raised hackles here.
UDF, LDF raise voice against cow slaughter ban backed by BJP leadership.
While Health minister K K Shylaja would lead the chain at Kasargod, senior CPM leader Brinda Karat would be the last person at the end of the chain in Thiruvananthapuram.
According to a senior Congress leader, the constituents of the opposition alliance intend to move forward with the theme "Main Nahin, Hum (We, Not Me)" at the meeting.
801 cases have been registered in connection with violent protests which were witnessed during the dawn-to-dusk hartal called by pro-Hindu outfits on Thursday, police said, adding that 717 people are now in preventive custody.
On the education details of the candidates, the survey said 669 have declared their education qualification to be between 5th pass and 12th pass, while 380 have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above, 29 have declared themselves to be simple literates and 7 have declared to be illiterate.
Shah had launched the high profile 15-day yatra against the alleged 'red and jihadi terrorism' in Kerala.
The state's position is that animal welfare is a state subject, the chief minister said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will not attend the full session of the Communist Party of India(M) extended central committee meeting in Vijayawada. Bhattacharjee's move comes days after Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan's decision to stay away from the meet.
The 18-month-old animal was butchered in an open vehicle as Youth Congress workers raised slogans against the Centre's decision to ban sale of cattle for slaughter.
At a time when the CPI(M)-led LDF government has vowed to take effective steps to regulate corporate retailers, Iyer, a member of the E M S Namboodiripad led first Communist government in the state, has come out in support of Reliance.
The 86-year-old Marxist leader had been ill for some time.
Senior Congress leader and convener of the Opposition United Democratic Front P P Thankachan has accused Kerala's ruling Communist Party of India-led Left Democratic Front of trying to shield Thadiyantavida Naseer, the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative from the state, who was arrested along the India-Bangladesh border recently. Thankachan, former speaker of Kerala assembly, has alleged that the state government is trying to protect the interests of some senior political figures.
The alliance -- Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) -- has resolved to save the character of the republic 'being severely assaulted in a systematic manner by the Bharatiya Janata Party' and safeguard the idea of India as enshrined in the Constitution.
Hoping to make its mark in Kerala, the BJP sewed up an alliance with the BDJS, the new party formed by SNDP, a powerful organisation of the backward Ezhava community.
The brutal rape and murder of a Dalit woman at Perumbavoor is becoming campaign material for the May 16 assembly polls.
"We know that the Communists do not respect the Indian history, culture and spirituality but nobody imagined they would have such hatred," Modi said.
PM Modi came under severe criticism after he compared the infant mortality rate among the Scheduled Tribe community in the southern state to that in Somalia.
'The problem is with those who are entrusted with powers.'
The bitter political rivals -- the ruling LDF and the UDF -- close ranks in the state assembly to oppose the ban.
Scripting history, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday stormed to power in Assam bagging a government in the north east for the first time dethroning the Congress which also lost Kerala while Jayalalithaa and Mamata Banerjee retained power in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal with spectacular victories.
Modi also accused the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist of covering each other's corruption.
Amid the tussle with the government, the Governor on Sunday made it clear he would not remain a 'mute spectator' and would ensure the law of the land is upheld.
A day after the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) sought a ban on staging of the Malayalam play Kakkukali, its director Job Madathil on Tuesday accused the critics of having an agenda behind their charges and urged them to watch the drama first.
Amid massive protests by the opposition in the Kerala assembly state Finance Minister K M Mani, facing corruption charges in the bar licence issue, presented the budget on Friday morning.
Targetting Chief Minister Oommen Chandy over the solar scam, Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front opposition created an uproar in the Kerala assembly, which resumed its sitting on Monday after a fortnight's interlude.
'Oommen Chandy always had time for his people and valued their voices.' 'There was no rest for him as long as the betterment of his fellow citizens was at stake.' Ambassador Venu Rajamony, who knew the former Kerala chief minister for half a century, salutes a beloved leader who worked tirelessly for the welfare of its people.
The party was trounced in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and is now left with only Himachal Pradesh in the north. It is ruling in only three states on its own and is in power in Bihar and Jharkhand as a junior partner in alliance with regional parties.