Apparently embarrassed by a Lashkar-e-Tayaiba terror suspect's alleged links with Abdul Naseer Madani-led Peoples Democratic Party, Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said on Wednesday that the Communist Party of India-Marxist, which had "cooperation" with it in Lok Sabha polls, will not have any truck with such outfits in future.
On its own or with allies the Congress has a strong presence in states that account for a total of 253 LS seats, or 20 short of the magic figure of 272 required to form a government at the Centre. So what is Mamata Banerjee talking about, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Bank nationalisation happened because of the Left, CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury tells Saubhadro Chatterji in an interview.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) on Friday organised a 500-kilometre-long human chain with over four million participants in Kerala to protest a treaty signed with the 10-country Southeast Asian bloc. The agreement will be effective from Jan. 1, 2010, and tariffs on the products covered would be reduced to zero between 2013 and 2016. The Communists oppose the agreement saying its would sound the death knell for the southern state's agro-based economy.
Opposition parties on Tuesday asked the government to call an all-party meeting to resolve the current impasse in Parliament, while sticking to their demands for a discussion on Pegasus snooping issue and a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the matter.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday urged top opposition leaders to rise above political compulsions to take on the BJP in the interest of the nation and start planning "systematically" to realise the "ultimate goal" of winning the 2024 Lok Sabha polls
With Assembly elections in the Left-ruled West Bengal and Kerala not far away, the CPI(M) politburo on Wednesday decided to set up a "disciplinary commission" as part of its exercise to rectify "vices and lapses" right from the top.
Stoking yet another controversy, the Bharatiya Janata Party in Kerala on Friday described social reformer and Dalit icon Sree Narayana Guru, who belonged to the backward Ezhava caste, as the greatest "Hindu sanyasi" the state has ever seen.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday filed a chargesheet against Communist Party of India - Marxist Kerala Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan in a graft case. After receiving Governor R S Gavai's sanction four days ago to prosecute 69-year-old Vijayan, overruling the state cabinet recommendation, the CBI filed the 11-page chargesheet in a special court in Kochi, naming Vijayan and eight others as accused in the case.
'These conversations, please understand, were not a one-off exercise, and nor should anyone pretend that they were recorded by accident. I learn that they run to at least 1,200 hours of conversation -- over fifty full days if played from end to end.'
Kerala's iconic Marxist and former Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan turned 90 on Sunday.
'Usually, the Left backed the Congress and other 'secular' parties on the justification of keeping the BJP out. In Bengal, the alliance targets a truly secular rival,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Its efforts to establish itself in politically important North India has not yielded much results till date. But now, in a calculated bid to expand beyond Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura, the CPI(M) has picked up Rajasthan as its target area. The party will field as many as 34 candidates in the forthcoming Assembly elections there. The 200-seat strong state Assembly is currently ruled by the BJP.
Velikakathu Shankaran Achuthanandan, popularly known as 'Comrade VS,' heading the CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front government, reached the Sabarimala hilltop on Sunday night after a three-hour-long walk along with thousands of pilgrims pouring into the shrine to have a 'darshan' of Lord Ayyappa during the peak pilgrimage season.
The Congress chief will also be contesting from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.
The war of words over the SNC Lavalin case is continuing in the political landscape of Kerala with the two prominent political leaders in the state out in the streets as part of their state wide yatras.
After New Delhi, the showdown between the CPI(M) and the RSS in Kerala's Kannur had its fall-out in Pune when RSS activists on Wednesday attacked the Marxist party office, leaving three CP1-M men injured. Around a dozen activists of Hindugarjana Pratishthan, a front organisation of RSS, attacked the party's office in the heart of Pune.
Elections 2024 is not as open and shut as has been presumed. There is some life left in it, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
This is possibly the last election in Bengal where two sides are squaring off against each other. Don't expect the BJP to be a bystander five years hence, says Devanik Saha.
Though Shweta did not reveal the identity of the politician who allegedly harassed her at the President's Trophy boat race on Friday evening, media footage showed Congress MP N Peethambara Kurup from the area touching her but the lawmaker on Saturday strongly denied having committed such an act
A senior opposition member in Rajya Sabha on Friday sought a probe into the manner in which the death of former Union Minister E Ahamed was "handled", alleging he had died soon after being rushed to the hospital but his demise was announced much later.
Temple priest performed a 'purification' ritual for an hour before the doors were opened again.
The central leadership of the CPI(M) and chief ministers of the Left-ruled states of Kerala and West Bengal have discordant views on the question of a cap on the number of Special Economic Zones
The BJP/Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and right wing outfits have made it clear that they would not allow any woman in the 10-50 age group to offer prayers at the shrine, where the deity is 'Naishtika Brahmachari' (perennial celibate).
If everything goes as expected, Arya, now a second year graduation student of a Thiruvananthapuram college, would not only become the new mayor of Kerala's capital, a position held by several significant personalities in the past, but also the youngest ever mayor in the country.
'I told him when I started my political career seven decades ago he was not even born. His political activities, the protests he organises and the way he fights the biggest corporate of India, the Ambanis, give hope to all people who are progressive. My desire is that such a party must grow, and I wished him all success for its growth.' V S Achuthanandan, the senior-most Communist in India, tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier why he turned down Arvind Kejriwal's invitation to join the Aam Aadmi Party.
'Nobody is killing you in Kerala because you are Hindu unlike in North India where Muslims have been killed only because they are Muslims and were carrying some meat.'
Will voters in Ernakulam take to the Communist MP who asked 447 more questions and took part in 162 more debates than your average MP? Will Arun Jaitley's wish come true? Krishna Prasad, the renowned journalist and Outlook magazine's former editor-in-chief, reports from Kochi.
The CPI (M), ruling in West Bengal and Kerala, has strongly advocated for trade unions in the BPO- IT sector but will not favour forced closures during strikes and bandhs.
The outgoing Lok Sabha had 23 Muslim MPs, the most being from Congress and TMC. The highest number of Muslim MPs were in 1980 when as many as 49 MPs from the community which constitute nearly fifth of Indian population present in the Lok Sabha.
'The Congress's arrogance and unrealistic claims have weakened the anti-BJP movement at the national level.'
Why not triple talaq line to Sabarimala, Yechury asks Centre
For the Congress to be taken seriously, it has to convince those around it that it could actually double its Lok Sabha seat share from the existing 52, and vote-share by a third more from the stagnating 20 per cent in 2014 and 2019, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The nationwide strike on Tuesday called by the Left parties against the hike in petrol and diesel prices evoked a mixed response with it getting unruly in some parts of the country.
A senior police officer told PTI that they were taken into custody after they had offered prayers.
A noted South Indian film actress was harassed for two hours allegedly by a gang of five men, who forced their way into her car before fleeing at a busy area in Kochi.
Analysis of conversations on Facebook regarding the assembly polls shows that BJP featured in 61 per cent of them, while TMC chief Mamata Banerjee was the most discussed leader.
Sharma had on Monday slammed Congress' association with the ISF led by Muslim cleric Abbas Siddiqui in West Bengal, contending that it was against the "Gandhian and Nehruvian secularism" and the party cannot be selective in fighting "communalists".
'I am doing all this for the students of Kerala, and when they come and hit me, it is very frustrating.' 'My regret is that something that could set off for the future has been thwarted.' 'We have not changed the syllabus for decades, we have not accepted norms in education and technology is hardly used. Today's students are studying what I studied decades ago.'
'Even if the anti-Modi 'Mahagatbandhan' gets a majority there is simply no way that Nitish Kumar can ensure even a stable government, leave alone a good -- clean, development-oriented -- government,' argues T V R Shenoy.
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