Amidst ongoing tensions with the ruling DMK government, Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi has invited Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar to inaugurate a meeting of state university Vice Chancellors in the Nilgiris district, sparking criticism from political parties, particularly the Left, who have urged a boycott. The meeting comes in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Tamil Nadu government regarding the appointment of Vice Chancellors, which has stripped the Governor of his previous authority as Chancellor. The Governor, however, maintains his right to convene the meeting, highlighting the ongoing power struggle between the Governor and the state government. The meeting is scheduled for April 25 and 26.
'It is not impossible that there will be some arrangement with the Congress in West Bengal after the ongoing local body polls.'
The demonetisation has caused untold miseries to the ordinary people, Yechury said.
A CPI-M leader was stabbed to dead and two others seriously injured by unknown persons in a procession early Monday at Nischintapur in Rampurhat of Birbhum district.
Leaders from other state units are coming to VS's aid ahead of the party's crucial Central Committee meeting even as some ministers of his Cabinet have refused to work with him.
Earlier in the day, rich tributes were paid to Yechury at the Communist Party of India (Marxist) headquarters at the AKG Bhavan here, where his mortal remains were brought from his residence in the morning.
In fresh escalation of political violence in poll-bound Kerala, a 28-year-old Youth Congress worker was hacked to death allegedly by Democratic Youth Federation of India workers at Evoor in Alapuzha on Tuesday even as the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India - Marxist workers clashed in Thiruvananthapuram district leaving at least 30 injured.
In a bid to take on the government in Parliament on its decision to allow foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, the Communist Party of India-Marxist on Wednesday said it has submitted notices in both the Houses seeking a discussion on the issue under rules entailing voting.
The anti-Congress feeling is so sharp that when General Secretary Prakash Karat proposed to the all-powerful Politburo that for the 2009 election the party's policy should be 'Defeat BJP, Reject Congress', the Politburo sent back the revised slogan of 'Defeat BJP, Defeat Congress.'
Ruling out any election alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party in the coming Lok Sabha polls, the CPI(M) today said the two parties would, however, come together on common issues to keep the Congress-led UPA and BJP-led NDA at bay.
'The BJP lacks a credible mass leader who matches Mamata Banerjee's popularity.' 'Given the division of votes among Opposition parties, the West Bengal government's dole-giving strategy, and the consolidation of the poor, significant sections of scheduled caste groups and Muslim minorities behind the ruling party, it will be difficult to dislodge the Trinamool from power.'
As votes for the Delhi assembly polls were counted on Saturday, latest data of the Election Commission showed that NOTA option got 0.57 per cent vote share as compared to 0.55 pet cent of the Bahujan Samaj Party and 0.01 per cent of Communist Party of India-Marxist.
A supporter of the Communist Party of India Marxist was killed in an attack by Trinamool Congress activists at Hazrakata in Nandigram on Friday, in a fresh eruption of violence after results of Panchayat elections were declared. East Midnapore District Superintendent of Police S Panda said today that the CPI-M supporter was attacked by TC supporters while he was returning home to Hazrakata from Haldia on Thursday night. He was admitted to the Tamluk Hospital. t
He was reviled by critics in his party as a neo-liberal in disguise but till the end, he retained his belief in secularism and the humanity of Communism.
The workers have been hospitalised after they suffered series injuries in the ambush by more than 10 CPI-M workers over political rivalry.
With barely a week left for the panchayat polls in West Bengal's Purulia district, maoist ultras have killed two CPI-M leaders in consecutive days. Dubraj Hembram, a local committee member of the party, was shot dead by a gang of maoists at his village Hitinglohar on Monday night.
The Congress was the only party in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday to demand a discussion on setting up a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe allegations against the Adani group. Other opposition parties gave similar notices on different issues, including violence in Manipur and Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal. The Congress members sought a JPC to investigate the alleged misconduct, including corruption, bribery and financial irregularities of the Adani Group in connivance with other authorities. However, other opposition parties raised different issues, with the AAP seeking a discussion on "increasing crimes in Delhi" and the TMC, DMK, AAP and CPI seeking a discussion on violence in Manipur. The CPI-M, SP and IUML sought a discussion on the recent violence in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh.
"The Left parties will take all the necessary steps to stop the government from taking such a harmful step. It is for the Congress leadership to decide whether it wants to be seen as kowtowing to the pressure of the Bush administration or acting democratically and heeding the voice of Parliament and the people. And this decision has to be a quick and clear one. The future of this government depends on the decision they will take," the editorial said.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist has decided to support the Telugu Desam Party in the Assembly byelections in Andhra Pradesh, except in the four constituencies being contested by the Left parties. The party however said this alliance would stand only for the bye-polls and did not extend to general elections to the Assembly and Lok Sabha.
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.
Mahmudabad, head of the political science department at the private university, was arrested on Sunday after two FIRs were lodged on stringent charges, including endangering sovereignty and integrity, for his social media posts related to Operation Sindoor, police and his lawyer said.
At least 10 CPI(M) workers were injured in a clash that broke out after activists of a right wing Hindu outfit attacked the Left party's headquarters in New Delhi on Sunday. The protest turned violent as scores of RSS activists clashed with CPM workers and started pelting stones at the party office where a CPI(M) Central Committee was meeting, police sources said.
Ashoka Univeristy associate professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad has been arrested for his social media post on Operation Sindoor, police said in Sonipat on Sunday.
The delegations led by Baijayant Panda, Ravi Shankar Prasad (both Bharatiya Janata Party), Sanjay Kumar Jha (Janata Dal-United), Shrikant Shinde (Shiv Sena), Shashi Tharoor (Congress), Kanimozhi (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and Supriya Sule (Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Pawar) will visit a total of 32 countries and the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
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.
Trinamul Congress leader Dinesh Trivedi on the violence in Nandigram.
Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and state Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan were on Saturday suspended from the Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo over a war-of-words in public.
The Communist Party of India -Marxist captured fresh areas in Nandigram on Wednesday, where two people were injured in renewed violence. Meanwhile, two of those injured in Tuesday's violence died on Wednesday, taking the toll to four. Two persons, including a woman, were injured in renewed violence at around noon today. Violence was reported from Tekhalibazar, Maheshpur, Bhangaberia, Sonachura, Satengabari, Gokulnagar and Adhikaripara besides other places.
Mounting attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said while the Left is not going to play any major role in Indian politics after the elections, the saffron party was trying to divide society by stoking anger.
Earlier on July 29, a CPI-M activist was killed during the clashes between the activists of the Trinamool Congress-led Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee and CPI (M) workers along the Nandigram-Khejuri border.
'The CPI-M faces multiple investigations, with the CBI, the SIT and the Kerala police pursuing different cases. It is said as many as 70 to 90 CPI-M leaders are under the scanner, and that as many as 30 of these leaders are under imminent danger of being arrested,' notes T V R Shenoy.
After putting the Communist Party of India - Marxist in Kerala in the dock with his controversial comment about it eliminating political foes in the past, party leader M M Mani has once again purportedly made a similar claim, embarrassing the party further.
The Jan Raksha Yatra from Payyannur will travel through the state before ending in Thiruvananthapuram on October 17.
While acknowledging that they needed strong allies for a chance in the assembly polls, AIADMK cadres seemingly prefer actor-politician Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam to the BJP, owing to the latter's 'communal agenda' and consequent hardline Hindutva image, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
One person was killed and around 40 houses were ransacked during a clash between workers of the Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist at Hatishala village under Chapra police station in Nadia district on Tuesday.
The ensuing assembly elections in four states besides a host of issues, including the airport privatisation, Iran and Foreign Direct Investment in the retail sector, would figure prominently at the meet.
The two parties will not campaign jointly and they have not forged a formal alliance.
According to police, CPI-M legislator K Bhimrao and other party supporters were arrested from Guindy railway station in Chennai.
'Rather than assuaging the feelings of the Hindus accommodated in schools and hospitals, she calls a meeting of imams and tries to assuage them.'
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Tuesday said the Left parties would not withdraw support to the United Progressive Alliance government.
