Communist Party of India-Marxist on Thursday urged President Pranab Mukherjee to decide whether West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan's "political interventions" in seeking an apology from the party politburo for the Delhi incident, involving Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was justified.
Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who has always played a key role in defusing tensions with the Left, were also present at the crucial meeting.
In a significant move, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham and the Communist Party of India-Marxist on Friday jointly announced that they have formed an alliance for next year's Lok Sabha elections.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday justified its support to United Progessive Alliance Presidential poll nominee Pranab Mukherjee, saying abstention would have not only meant "lining up" with Trinamool Congress but also blunted its intervention in the emerging political scenario.
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 government had earlier this week briefed top BJP leadership on the same foreign policy issues.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday demanded that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance II government at the Centre take immediate steps to end the nexus between the Trinamool Congress and Maoists to ensure peaceful elections in West Bengal.
Left parties on Friday opposed the hike in diesel price with the Communist Party of India-Marxist terming it a "gigantic fraud" and decided to hold protests across the country while targeting thr Trinamool Congress for its "double standard" on the issue.
The Communist Party of India - Marxist is in favour of mounting diplomatic pressure on Bangladesh to destroy camps of North-East based militant outfits in that country. Party general secretary Prakash Karat told a press conference that the militant camps present in Bangladesh should be destroyed and that "will be possible only by mounting diplomatic pressure." He expressedg grave concern over large-scale infiltration from neighbouring Bangladesh.
Is the CPI-M willing to acknowledge that its cadres were involved in the violent incidents in Nandigram?
Citing the Samajwadi Party's electoral victory in Uttar Pradesh, the Communist Party of India Marxist on Saturday revived the idea of a Third Front, pitching for the unity of Left and democratic forces to give the people another alternative to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat said people wanted an alternative to the Congress and the BJP as both of them had been defeated in the UP elections.
Amid murmurs of formation of a third front, Samajwadi Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist on Tuesday sought to bridge the gap between the two following their bitter parting of ways with the SP inviting top Left leaders for the swearing-in of Akhilesh Yadav as Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
Kerala Chief Minister and senior Communist Party of India - Marxist leader V S Achuthanandan will be removed from the party's politburo and the central committee, said sources in New Delhi. The octogenarian leader, who is currently in New Delhi, will leave for Kerala early on Sunday morning, said sources.Though some leaders from West Bengal had voiced their support for Achuthanandan, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat remained firm on taking action against the Kerala CM.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Friday demanded the resignation of Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah in view of the CBI naming him as an accused in the chargesheet filed in the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh.
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.
BJP state president V Muraleedharan said that the CPM leadership had run out of ideas and was trying to suppress its political opponents by physically intimidating them. Arun Lakshman reports
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.
"We are surprised to see the observation of the apex court. We consider right to organise peaceful protest as a basic right of political parties and citizens. Judicial encroachment is uncalled for," party general secretary Prakash Karat said.
Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Biman Bose on Monday rubbished Somnath Chatterjee's scathing comments on party general secretary Prakash Karat and criticised the former Lok Sabha Speaker for dragging Jyoti Basu's name into the controversy. "I feel that these are rubbish. If somebody wants to malign the party, that is in bad taste and is sad," said Bose, the state party secretary.
Noting that the WikiLeaks cables were a 'sad and revealing' commentary of where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress have landed the country in, the CPI-M has said Americans were willing to do everything to win the trust vote during the UPA government's regime so that the nuclear deal could go through.CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat said the cables show that the Americans are keen observers of the high level of corruption that exists in India's politics.
CPI(M) ups ante against UPA; decides to form joint platform
Last week, Basu had been quoted as saying, "We want capital, both foreign and domestic. After all, we are working in a capitalist system. Socialism is not possible now." Maintaining that Basu's remarks were on the nature of capitalist development in West Bengal and the role of the Left Front government, party general secretary Prakash Karat said, "On the basis of these reports, some political leaders have also come out with equally confused and misplaced reactions."
The Communist Party of India - Marxist, which is under all-round attack over the unabated violence in Nandigram, on Monday accused the Trinamool Congress of taking the help of Maoists to create trouble in the area and insisted that normalcy will be restored there soon. Party General Secretary Prakash Karat said that the Trinamool Congress was indulging in certain activities as it had failed to win the confidence of people in a democratic manner.
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 Left parties will greet visiting US President Barack Obama on Monday with protests but their MPs, barring the Forward Bloc (which has two MPs in the Lok Sabha and one in the Rajya Sabha), will listen to him when he addresses Parliament.
The CPM on Monday decided to explore avenues to resolve its differences with the UPA government about the Indo-US nuclear agreement. the party stopped short of saying it would withdraw support if the govt goes ahead & operationalises the pact.
UPA-Left coordination committee meeting on Feb 13
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Tuesday categorically ruled out forging an alliance or a united front with the Congress in future.
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.
"We will observe January 24 as anti-imperialism day and the campaign will culminate in a big protest meeting at New Delhi and other parts of the country during Mr Bush's visit," he told a press conference in Hyderabad.
A convention would be held in Delhi at the end of October on the issue of foreign policy, he added. \n
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has warned the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre that it will face countrywide protests if it hikes petrol and diesel prices.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo meeting, which began in Kolkata on Tuesday, did not discuss party partriach Jyoti Basu's desire to quit from the highest decision-making forum due to ill-health and age.
Addressing a press conference after a two-day Politbureau meeting, party general secretary Prakash Karat said this was also the understanding of the other Left parties on Article 356, which provides for imposition of Central rule.
Fed up with the nine years of UPA "misrule", Left parties will work for the defeat of Congress in the next Lok Sabha elections, Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat said in New Delhi on Friday.
CPM general-secretary Prakash Karat had said that the government would have to face serious consequences if it went ahead with the nuclear deal.
Karat had on Thursday said the vice-president should be a person who has an exemplary record in some field and should have the widest acceptance.
Making it clear that the Left would not budge from its firm stand, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat said to 'Kairali' TV channel, "We will not compromise, if they go ahead with the strategic alliance with the US. If they go ahead to fulfil their word with President Bush, for 40 years this agreement will bind India. It will affect our independent foreign policy. We cannot accept that.
In a veiled attack on the United Progressive Alliance government, Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday alleged people in power want to make India act as a "junior partner" of the United States.
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