Political pundits unanimously suggest that the state is not experiencing a discernible Gandhi wave this time around.
After decades of leaning towards the neighbouring Communist comrades in China, the Communist Party of India-Marxist is having a critical look on the shift in policies of Chinese Communist Party that is taking "imponderable" steps like the decision to admit capitalists into the party.
Many were hoping that with Vajpayee's NDA gone, there would be a return to the Congress normal. Nobody was prepared for the opposite. Sonia Gandhi was sceptical. This became the only issue over which Manmohan Singh took on his party bosses and risked his government. Politically, it was riskier than the 1991 reform, recalls Shekhar Gupta.
Biju Janata Dal president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday appealed to all members of the Odisha assembly to support the National Democratic Alliance candidate Droupadi Murmu in the upcoming presidential election, describing her as the daughter of the state.
Sources said senior leaders of the party have been told to reach out to other leaders of the alliance and talks with some parties have begun.
Pointing out that this is the first time that a complete alliance has been formed by the major Left parties in Bihar, the Communist Party of India state secretary Rajendra Prasad Singh said top Central leaders of the three parties will campaign together for the by-elections.
The Communist Party of India Marxist on Saturday raised questions about the alleged presence of American Special Forces in India. The party pointed out that Commander of the US Pacific Command Admiral Robert Willard had stated at a Congressional hearing that American Special forces assist teams are stationed in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. But the ministry of external affairs and the ministry of defence have both denied his claims.
Eleven persons, three of them local Communist Party of India-Marxist functionaries, were sentenced to life imprisonment in the sensational T P Chandrasekharan murder case by a special court in Kozhikode on Tuesday.
Both the rightist Congress and the Leftists, after a long time, are trying to measure their luck depending on their own strength.
The NJAC Act, which sought to overturn the collegium system of appointing Supreme Court and high court judges, was struck down by the top court in 2015.
While the opposition alliance is putting up a united front in Ghosi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand's Dumri, Dhanpur and Boxanagar in Tripura and Uttarakhand's Bageshwar, its constituents are contesting against each other in Dhupguri in West Bengal and Puthuppally in Kerala.
Left parties were on Thursday divided on the Presidential election with the Communist Party of India-Marxist and Forward Bloc deciding to support United Progressive Alliance candidate Pranab Mukherjee while the Communist Party of India and Revolutionary Socialist Party opting to abstain from the voting.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the Centre had sent multiple advance warnings to the Kerala government about possible floods and landslides in the state, starting as early as July 23, and nine National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams were rushed to the state the same day.
The BJP, which rules the Centre, is in power in Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and is all set to get Madhya Pradesh back and snatch Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the Congress after today's vote count.
With Communist Party India-Marxist and Trinamool workers clashing in South 24 Parganas district and indulging in violence, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday held a high-level meeting at the state secretariat in Kolkata.
Both the Congress and AAP are part of the 16-party United Opposition Forum, Assam, formed to contest the general elections together, but a rift had emerged with members of the forum announcing candidates against each other in various constituencies of the state.
Harkishan Singh Surjeet, who passed away at the age of 93 after prolonged illness, would be creamated on Sunday August 3, at 4 pm according to a press release issued by the Communist Party of India-Marxist
The Communist Party of India Marxist on Saturday said the classified American cables released by Wikileaks showed the 'complicity' of the Manmohan Singh government in furthering United States's 'imperialist' interests. "As the Wikileaks cables from around the world have shown, the United States pursues single-mindedly its imperialist interests. The unfortunate part is the complicity of the Manmohan Singh government in furthering some of these interests, CPI-M said.
In a joint address to mediapersons by CPI, CPI-M and CPI-ML-Liberation in Patna, CPI state secretary Badri Narayan Lal said, "The CPI-ML (Liberation) will contest 20 seats, CPI will field candidates in eight seats and CPM will fight on five seats."
The future of India depends on the future the Left and its ideology, Sitaram Yechury, politburo member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist said. Speaking at Columbia University on 'Neo-Liberalism, Secularism, and the Future of the Left in India', Yechury said the destiny of both India and the the Left are intertwined and it was the left which realized the idea of India correctly.
India on Wednesday summoned Norwegian Ambassador Ann Ollestad to seek an expeditious solution to the custody row involving two NRI children, who have been kept in foster care by the authorities of that country. "The Norwegian ambassador was summoned to the ministry of external affairs and she met Secretary (West) Madhusudan Ganapathi," official spokesperson in the MEA Syed Akbaruddin told reporters.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Left leaders met Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar separately on Tuesday to try and convince the veteran leader to be the joint opposition nominee for the presidential election.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Communist Party of India, Samajwadi Party, Shiromani Akali Dal have decided to join forces to oppose the government's move to hike the diesel prices every month for the next one year and also increase the price of gas cylinders by Rs 50 to cut down the cost of subsidy.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee campaigning in tribal Paschim Medinipur district on Thursday for the coming state election asked "Marxist friends" not to vote for either the CPI-M or Congress, who are "cohorts of the communal BJP".
The Left parties on Monday announced a nationwide agitational programme to highlight issues relating to corruption and demand an effective Lokpal bill, with the Communist Party of India saying the Prime Minister and his office should be within the purview of the anti-corruption ombudsman.
The leaders of Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Forward Bloc, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party along with their supporters held a rally on Mahatma Gandhi Road before marching towards the state Secretariat.
Amendments moved by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left to the President's address against the National Counterterrorism Center was defeated in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
'The Congress is trying to reinvent itself -- the caste census demand, OBC emphasis, the anti-corporate thrust, especially on Adani etc -- all this is not standard Congress strategy.'
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday said that the Left unity would not be affected in anyway because of the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Communist Party of India not supporting the candidature of United Progressive Alliance's Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee.
Top Left leaders Prakash Karat (Communist Party of India-Marxist), A B Bardhan (Communist Party of India), Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc) and Abani Roy (Revolutionary Socialist Party), led the demonstration near Parliament House.
Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India Marxist Leninist on Saturday demanded a judicial probe into the killing of Maoists in a recent operation by police and Central Reserve Police Force personnel in the dense forests of Chhattisgarh, claiming they were "innocent tribals".
In financial year 2020-21, the BJP declared assets worth Rs 4,990 crore, up by 21.17 per cent to Rs 6,046.81 crore in 2021-22.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samiti has pinned hopes on the development work his government undertook during the past ten years, while opposition Congress and BJP bank on anti-incumbency and the alleged failures of the incumbent.
In a memorandum submitted to Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey, the 21 opposition MPs who signed the document demanded urgent rehabilitation and resettlement of the affected people to bring peace and harmony to the state.
Local women with sticks and brooms in their hands took out processions in different areas of Sandeshkhali as the protests intensified on the second day on Friday.
The IUML is a major ally of the Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala and an influential political party among the Muslim community.
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