Azad, who was part of the group of 23 which has been critical of the party leadership and has sought an organisational overhaul, has also been awarded the Padma Bhushan for his contribution to public affairs.
Separately, the poll panel also issued a notice to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, asking him to respond to the complaints filed by the BJP against him and the main opposition party's senior leader Rahul Gandhi regarding their remarks.
The overtures by CPI-M state secretary MV Govindan had upset the Congress that had, subsequently, accused the Left party of turning the UCC into a Hindu versus Muslim issue for gaining political mileage.
In the months immediately following the 2024 tragedy, reporting on the landslide per se had been a straightforward affair. On one side was death and destruction. On the other side, survivors and the business of survival. It was black and white. What direction to take was clear. Rehabilitation in comparison, felt like a complex situation. One that is fraught with shades of grey. As grey as human life, explains Shyam G Menon.
The INDIA bloc has 95 MPs in Rajya Sabha of which 45 were suspended on Monday.
Briefing reporters after the nearly two-hour meeting, Abdullah said the leaders decided to formalise the alliance, that has been named 'Peoples' Alliance for Gupkar Declaration'.
'The situation in India is much more grave and serious than all of us think.' 'That's why it's important to defeat the BJP in 2024.'
Among the notable absentees were Congress president Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's M K Stalin, Telugu Desam Party chief K Chandrashekhar Rao, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Delhi chief minister and Aam Admi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal.
A boat carrying mostly school children capsized in the Jhelum river on the outskirts of the city on Tuesday, leaving six people dead, officials said.
Both the parties were not represented at the opposition meeting that decided on fielding Alva as their consensus candidate, but Pawar had said that he is in touch with both TMC leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as well as AAP convener and Delhi Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Senior Communist Party of India-Marxist leader and former Kerala health minister K K Shailaja has declined to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award as it was instituted in the name of late President of the Philippines, who was known allegedly for his brutality against the Communists.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist said that it will field a candidate as those opposed to the TMC and BJP needed an alternative.
Widespread violence between supporters of the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party over alleged electoral malpractices in strife-torn Sandeshkhali marred the final phase of Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal on Saturday, resulting in injuries to a number of people.
A civilian was killed on Wednesday in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir in alleged accidental firing by a policeman who has been arrested, officials said.
Opposition parties on Thursday continued their attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over inauguration of the new Parliament building and accused him of being 'megalomaniac' and the government of being 'arrogant'.
Future Gaming of lottery king Santiago Martin was the biggest purchaser of electoral bonds at Rs 1,368 crore, of which nearly 37 percent went to the DMK.
After the Trinamool's overwhelming majority in the West Bengal assembly elections last year, the SSC scam has given fresh ammunition to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist. Ishita Ayan Dutt reports.
Counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections has begun across states and Union Territories, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar told PTI.
Ramesh alleged that through the "electoral bonds scam", the Bharatiya Janata Party has collected Rs 8,200 crore and used the route of "pre-paid, post-paid, post-raid bribes and shell companies".
The decision of some key regional parties like the Biju Janata Dal, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and the Aam Aadmi Party to skip a key opposition meet called by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the presidential poll has cheered the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as it believes that their absence has only highlighted the faultlines and one-upmanship among its rivals.
Gandhi said the Opposition wanted the House to function "often and well" and added that it was very important that cooperation happens on the basis of trust.
Soon after the panel vice chairman Sasmit Patra called for the start of the discussion amid slogan shouting, leaders of various opposition parties took to raising points of order frequently to get the discussion stalled.
Controversial Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav on Thursday was expelled from the party for six years over anti-party activities.
In their dissent notes, the opposition members alleged that the inquiry process is a "farce" and a "proverbial kangaroo court".
The demonstration was held by the protesting school job aspirants at Camac Street in South Kolkata, where TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee's office is located.
'She could have sat down with the students and taken a list of their grievances including their allegations and suspicions.' 'Not all suspicions are true, but you have to listen, you have to let the steam come out.'
While Dilip Tirkey is the ruling Biju Janata Dal candidate for the Sundergarh (ST) Lok Sabha constituency, his junior and former India hockey captain, Prabodh Tirkey is the Congress candidate from the Talsara (ST) assembly segment also in Sundergarh district.
TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose submitted a letter to the Election Commission on Thursday.
Chowdhury said he has directed Congress workers to extend all cooperation to the CPI-M in fighting the July 8 polls.
Rahul Gandhi's focus will be on his Nyay Yatra, rather than the INDIA bloc's election campaign, leading to speculation among allies that the Congress leader is already looking at the Opposition's fight beyond May 2024.
The Congress expressed its 'whole-hearted' support to the 'Bharat bandh' called by farmer unions against the new agri-marketing laws and announced that it will hold protests that day at all district and state headquarters in solidarity with the demands of the farmers. TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the party rank and file would actively participate in the bandh to ensure it was a success.
Alva, 80, would file her nomination papers on Tuesday, July 19 which is the last date for filing nominations for the August 6 election.
Tipra Motha, a regional party floated by Pradoyt Kishore Manikya Debbarma, scion of the erstwhile royal family, is set to play a key role in the formation of the next government in Tripura.
A 23-year old woman, daughter of a senior Communist Party of India-Marxist leader in Thiruvananthapuram, has accused her parents of forcefully having taken away her new-born child from her soon after its birth a year ago and approached the police seeking to get the baby back.
Ramachandran, an OPS loyalist who took part in the meeting, said the former chief minister would soon meet VK Sasikala, the confidante of former party supremo J Jayalalithaa.
The ruling Trinamool Congress on Tuesday said that the resignation of Laxmi Ratan Shukla as West Bengal minister of state for youth services and sports is unfortunate but it will not affect the party, while the Bharatiya Janata Party said that the former cricketer is welcome to join the saffron camp.
According to the former Union minister, Banerjee has also said that she was ready to forget her experience with the Congress in the West Bengal state elections.
The issue was first raised by Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha during Question Hour, when he asked Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Jogen Mohan if the land in the Kaliabor area was allotted under the state's 'Basundhara' scheme.
Chowdhury termed Banerjee as an "opportunist politician" who altered her stance after realising the changing political landscape.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front government in Kerala on Monday put on hold the implementation of the controversial amendment to the state Police Act citing criticism from various quarters.
