At a crucial meeting on the alliance of the Left Front in Kerala, furious CPI leaders walked out of the discussion as the CPI-M stuck to its position to field an independent candidate from Ponnani in northern Kerala's Mallapuram district. The CPI wants to field its own candidate as the constituency has been traditionally with it according to the seat-sharing agreement between the Left partners.
However, Head priest Tantri Kandararu Rajeevaru told reporters at the temple that he had only consulted senior tantri Kandararu Mohanararu on the matter.
Mamata Banerjee fended off a spirited challenge by a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal with a landslide victory for her Trinamool Congress on Sunday for a third consecutive term and the saffron party and the Left Democratic Front were poised to form government again in Assam and Kerala respectively while the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam stormed back to power in Tamil Nadu after a gap of 10 years.
Former speaker of the Kerala Assembly and one of the stalwarts of the Communist movement and three-term Lok Sabha MP from Chiraynkeezhu constituency Varkala Radhakrishnan passed away in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. He was 83
A 15-year old boy was stabbed to death allegedly by a group of people during a temple festival at Padayanivattom near Alappuzha on Wednesday night, the police said.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday dismissed reports that it had decided to initiate disciplinary action against Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan for approaching the Centre for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the lottery issue without taking the party leadership into confidence.
This is a complete betrayal of the mandate of the people of the Sagardighi Assembly constituency, Ramesh said on Twitter.
If a 15 seconds-long mic problem merits a case being registered, then the police risk an avalanche of complaints of similar and greater gravity, seeking their intervention, notes Shyam G Menon.
In the Upper House of Parliament, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu did not allow adjournment notices moved by opposition members on the issue of price rise, prompting members of the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Left parties, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Shiv Sena to create an uproar.
It is hard to say who is pursuing the more stupid course -- the CPI-M in Kerala or the Congress in Andhra Pradesh, says T V R Shenoy.
The budget, presented by Finance Minister Thomas Issac, focused on infrastructure development, strengthening of social welfare measures, steps to enhance safety of women, giving impetus to public education and health. It is the second budget by the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF after it came to power last year.
The governor had opened a 'Peace Room' at the Raj Bhavan to address violence-related complaints from people in districts during the recently held panchayat elections.
'I am the senior most Congress party leader from Kerala, and I don't know why I am sidelined.'
The LDF would meet on Sunday to discuss matters related to ministry formation, Vijayan said when asked about the nature of the new ministry.
With barely a month left for Lok Sabha polls in Kerala, both the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front and Congress-spearheaded United Democratic Front opposition, are yet to start their election campaigns in the state following issues related to seat-sharing and selection of candidates.
Marxist 'students' attack former diplomat.
The victory of the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front in 12 of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state has made Chief Minister Oommen Chandy stronger as Kerala is one of the few states that bucked the anti-Congress trend in the country.
Both LDF and UDF are finding it hard to set their houses in order.
Voters are disillusioned with the two rival fronts in the state and there are no effective alternatives either. G Sreedathan explains
Chandy said Modi had kept mum on the controversy and what Keralites want is not his silence, but an unconditional apology from the prime minister.
In a Facebook post, Jaleel himself confirmed that he had put in his papers. "I am happy to say that those who had been baying for my blood can be relieved for now. I have submitted my resignation to the chief minister. Since the past two years, I have been facing a media onslaught," Jaleel, second minister in the LDF ministry to resign on nepotism charges, said in the post.
The verbal duel between the Congress and BJP over the controversial 'love and narcotic jihad' remark by Pala Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt, intensified on Sunday with the former saying it does not want the Sangh parivar to gain foothold here while the latter claimed that both CPI (M) and Congress were cornering the Bishop over the issue.
In Kerala, the use of black ranges from such convenience to strictures by community and religion to fashion and personal choice. One would have to be really insecure or too fond of the well settled life to see black solely as a badge of protest, points out Shyam G Menon.
Sreesanth said he would decide on whether to contest in the election on Wednesday.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the land of tourism like Kerala has turned into "nursery of terrorism", as he accused the Congress-led government of ignoring the state's development agenda.
The day-long hartal called by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in Kerala on Tuesday to protest murder of an activist in Kannur district disrupted normal life across the state.
The statement by the Communist Party of India man in the CPI(M)-led ministry has spurred widespread criticism against the V S Achuthanandan government.
Led by CPI-M stalwart, 87-year-old V S Achuthanandan, the LDF succeeded in staving off the anti-incumbency trend against the government, which was reflected in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls and civic elections last year, in which the UDF had stolen march over the Left front.
It is for the first time that Kerala is having multi-phased elections.
According to BJP insiders, every Union minister has been given 3-4 seats to mentor and has been told to work hard on these constituencies in the next 20 months to ensure the party's victory.
Biju Ramesh's campaign may be different from what voters in Kerala are used to. But he is determined to do things his way... or rather, Amma's way.
'Our reform policies are always people friendly. The problem with the Congress government is that its reform policies are only meant for the party leaders to make money,' says V S Achuthanandan, Kerala's next chief minister.
Ending weeks long suspense, Kerala Chief Minister and CPI-M politburo member V S Achuthanandan has taken part in the yatra taken out by party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan.
The arrest of two Dalit sisters, daughters of a local Congress leader, for allegedly attacking a Communist Party of India-Marxist activist in Kerala's Thalassery has kicked up a row with the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party attacking the Left Democratic Front government over the issue, even as a local court granted them bail on Saturday.
This is the second time Vijayan is contesting from Dharmadam constituency.
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 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.
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