"It is a huge scam. . . . The CPI-M has been opposing this. The Parliamentary Standing Committee, of which I am the chairman, has also all along opposed it," Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said. He said the public-private participation route, pursued by the Planning Commission, was 'disastrous as finally the burden falls on the people'.
The government has gone ahead with the move 'notwithstanding the widespread opposition' to FDI in multi-brand retail trade, the party said, adding it would wage struggles "to get this anti-national decision rescinded'.
Stung by the Left parties' drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls in Kerala and West Bengal, Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat on Saturday said his party was critically analysing the reasons for it.
As pressure mounted, the CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front seemed to be supporting Mukesh, taking a cautious wait-and-watch stance.
The Special Investigation Team probing the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party leader T P Chandrasekharan arrested two Communist Party of India-Marxist functionaries on Thursday on the charge of helping the assailants, police said.
Two CPI(M) MPs from Kerala delayed an Air India flight to Thiruvananthapuram by almost four hours when they refused to deboard the aircraft which developed a technical problem, Air India sources said on Saturday.
Virtually rejecting Trinamool Congress' appeal to support a no-confidence motion to be brought by it, Communist Party of India-Marxist said such a move would only help the government cover up all its "wrong" policies.
The Communist Party of India Marxist on Friday announced that it will contest the Gujarat assembly polls in December from at least ten constituencies. "In Gujarat, our party is going to contest total ten seats. Today we are releasing a list of six candidates and we will later announce other names," former Member of Parliament and CPI-M leader Sukomal Sen said while releasing the party manifesto.
A former MLA and a prominent leader from the CPI(M) bastion of Kannur, Jayarajan has been charged under Section 118 of IPC (concealing design to commit offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life), in connection with the murder of Muslim League youth activist Abdul Shukkoor at Keezhara in February this year.
As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi launched an attack on parties opposing FDI in retail and other measures, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said FDI will be the central issue in the coming session.
Chief minister-designate Omar Abdullah met Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to present letters of support from coalition partners, shortly after the Congress officially extended its backing to the party.
While they are trying to unite different parties to form a non-Bharatiya Janata Party, non-Congress alliance at the Centre, the Communist Party of India - Marxist and the Communist Party of India on Monday intensified their tussle over the Ponnani Lok Sabha constituency in northern Kerala's Mallapuram district.After the CPI announced its intention two days earlier to field its own candidate from that seat, the CPI-M's Central Committee today put its foot down.
Accusing the UPA government of failing to check anti-Christian violence, the CPI(M) on Tuesday demanded invocation of Article 355 to issue "specific directive" to Orissa government to arrest the culprits involved in the attacks on the minority community.
According to party sources, the situation is more or less beyond repair. "We can forcibly remove Mamata Banerjee's agitators from Singur within a few hours. But it seems the Tatas have developed cold feet. After whatever has happened over the last few weeks, it is almost impossible to convince the Tatas to stay back in Bengal and restart the Nano project," said a central committee leader of the party.
The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday blamed the Communist Party of India-Marxist for the violence at Bamunghata in South 24 Parganas district with a party minister saying that the Marxist party would not have existed had not the TMC given a call for change.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Saturday expelled young leader Prasenjit Bose, who resigned from the party attacking the leadership for supporting Pranab Mukherjee's Presidential bid, saying he had sought to "malign" its political line.
After embarrassing the Communist Party of India-Marxist by his controversial statement that the party had often eliminated its political foes, senior party leader M M Mani has found himself in trouble with the police registering a case against him on murder and other charges.
Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday said the recent communal incidents were part of a "planned effort" by communal-political forces and the upcoming Lok Sabha polls seemed to be a "catalyst" for communal activities.
Despite the intense internal questioning, for Karat and CPI-M politics is still in command, writes Aditi Phadnis
As Congress intensified efforts for a consensus candidate for the vice president's post, the Communist Party of India Marxist said it is in favour of a candidate who does not belong to the Congress. This was conveyed by CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had recently contacted him as part of efforts to seek support of political parties in selection of a candidate in the vice presidential election.
Perhaps sensing mid-term polls, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has reinstated Kerala Chief Minister V S Achutanandhan and the party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan in the politburo
The Odisha government has constituted a fact-finding committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of a Nepali student at KIIT University and the subsequent protests by students. The three-member panel will investigate the institute's handling of the situation, including the suspension of students seeking justice. The incident has sparked outrage and raised concerns about the safety of international students at the institute. The Nepal government has threatened to stop issuing no objection certificates for students studying in Odisha if the situation is not resolved.
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Sunday took on the Communist Party of India-Marxist saying that the language used by them is similar to that of terrorists.
Defying a Communist Party of India directive to quit his post before the trust vote, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Monday chaired an all-party meeting in New Delhi ahead of the special session of the Lok Sabha to decide on the confidence motion.The Speaker had called the meeting of the floor leaders of parties to discuss issues related to the trust vote being sought by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in the wake of the Left withdrawing support to the UPA.
After running into controversy again, Communist Party of India-Marxist leader M M Mani on Sunday strongly refuted having made a speech two days back in which he purportedly said that the party was involved in the murder of an INTUC leader in Idukki district.
As the Congress in West Bengal on Tuesday threatened to intensify its agitation over the proposed renaming of Indira Bhavan at Salt Lake, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee alleged the Congress was colluding with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to attack her party.
Communist Party of India - Marxist veteran Prakash Karat was on Monday re-elected general secretary for the third consecutive term at the party's 20th Congress, which concluded in Kozhikode, Kerala. Karat, 64, was elected as general secretary in 2005 at the New Delhi Congress and reelected at Coimbatore for the second term. Attended by over 700 delegates from all states, the meet, which had deliberated on the poll debacle the CPI-M suffered in West Bengal and Kerala.
CPI-M leader W R Varadarajan said senior party leaders Harkishan Singh Surjeet and Jyoti Basu have requested the party to relieve them from politburo due to their advanced age and immobility. A decision on the request would be made on April 3. Both had urged the CPI-M to relieve them in the last Congress, but the party had requested them to continue as it felt their advice and guidance would be vital.
CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat on Monday parried questions on whether veteran Marxist leaders Jyoti Basu and Harkishan Singh Surjeet would continue in the politburo, but said he favoured "an early retirement policy". "We will decide on that in this Congress," he said when he was asked the question.
The CPI-M slammed the government for merely stating that New Delhi was studying the evolving situation in Serbia as there are 'several legal issues' involved in the declaration.
The outrageous remarks by Trinamool Congress leader Tapas Pal reflect the reality of "politics of terror and intimidation" in West Bengal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said on Thursday, as it moved Parliament to seek action against him.
Communist Party of India-Marxist is expected to reveal its strategy on Saturday afternoon amid suggestions from allies that it was time to redefine ties and extend merit-based support.
'In Parliament, he was the one person who stood for democracy and secularism even when the principal Opposition party was not very forthright in taking on the BJP and RSS.'
A 39-member parliamentary panel has been constituted to examine the two bills proposing simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The panel, chaired by BJP leader Bhratruhari Mahtab, will include prominent members from various political parties, including the BJP, Congress, SP, TMC, and DMK. The panel is expected to submit its report to the Lok Sabha by the first day of the last week of the next session. The government has decided to increase the committee's strength to include more political parties, highlighting the significance of this proposal to reform the election process in India.
In an editorial in the forthcoming issue of party organ People's Democracy, the CPI-M claimed that a 'disingenuous campaign' was on against it over the nuclear deal and sought to demolish the '1942, 1962 and 2007 syndrome.'
The Maha Vikas Aghadi of the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar, and the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Wednesday announced to contest 85 seats each in Maharashtra assembly elections even as deliberations to seal a final seat-sharing pact are still underway.
Indicating a scam in the export and import of onions and some other essential items, CPI(M) on Thursday said the prices of these commodities were rising even when there was more than enough supply in the market.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday retained Garoth assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur district albeit with a reduced margin than in the 2013 assembly polls. The Congress, however, termed the BJP's win with a lower margin than earlier as a "moral defeat" for the ruling party.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist met in Vijayawada last week to confront the many challenges facing the party, especially in its strongholds, Bengal and Kerala. What did the meeting achieve? Can the CPI-M emerge from the crisis it finds itself in?
There are few leaders in the Opposition line up who can claim a path to party leadership like Sitaram Yechury and certainly, very few who blended that ascent through student politics with awareness about non-elite real India, urban India and liberal politics, as he did, notes Shyam G Menon.
