The RJD said that it is boycotting the swearing-in ceremony of Kumar as the mandate is against the National Democratic Alliance.
It was a protest which held a mirror to the government of a state taking pride in its commitment to democracy, gender equality and social indices.One person, who in his employed days had known governments and political parties at close quarters, told me that public perception of how the Kerala government handled the ASHA workers' strike had been terrible, reports Shyam G Menon.
The rise of Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan after last week's dramatic developments in Communist Party of India-Marxist as the undisputed captain of Left Democratic Front in the April 13 assembly polls in Kerala once again is expected to make the contest tougher for Congress-led United Democratic Front.
After weaning away Biju Janata Dal from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition, the Left parties are now eyeing another National Democratic Alliance ally with senior Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury on Sunday holding discussions with Janata Dal-United leader and NDA convenor Sharad Yadav.
The Kerala Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution demanding that the Centre provide COVID-19 vaccines free of cost to all states, even as the ruling and opposition members clashed over the COVID-19 fatality numbers in the state.
Women's organisations on Monday took out a march towards Parliament demanding removal of Delhi police commissioner and other officers in the wake of rape of a five-year-old girl here, but were prevented by police.
The Communist party of India-Marxist on Thursday demanded a judicial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the 1995 Purulia arms drop, saying both the Congress and the Bharatiya janata party have a lot to explain in the matter and said Trinamool Congress was a member of the Union Cabinet when Peter Bleach was released on Presidential pardon.
Congress-led United Democratic Front on Friday managed to wrest power from the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist-controlled Left Democratic Front in Kerala with a wafer-thin majority of two seats in the 140-member Assembly, in the closest poll battle in the state in three decades.
The unrest in the Sandeshkhali region of West Bengal ballooned into a major political row on Thursday as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the saffron camp of fomenting trouble in the area, while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Commission for Women (NCW) accused her party Trinamool Congress and the state government of being complicit in crimes against women in the area.
Shukla claimed that the current Nitish Kumar-led dispensation would be ousted after the elections and people have started protesting against the ruling alliance leaders in public meetings.
In a virulent attack on BJP, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said the Lok Sabha polls are vital to safeguard cherished national ideals like "unity and secularism" which were under threat.
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.
The BJP will not announce the chief ministerial candidate before the Assam polls and a decision in this regard will be taken by its Parliamentary Board at the time of forming the next government, the saffron party state unit president Ranjeet Kumar Dass said on Monday.
While EC Secretary General Umesh Sinha would be visiting Tamil Nadu next week, Deputy Election Commissioner Sudip Jain would be in West Bengal in the coming days, sources said.
The Election Commission is making sure that the winds of potential change cause no disruption in the counting process.
Coming out against the report of the Supreme Court-appointed Empowered Committee on Mullaperiyar dam, over which Kerala and Tamil Nadu are at loggerheads, Communist Party of India-Marxist veteran V S Achuthanandan on Monday said it was "unilateral and in favour of Tamil Nadu".
Political parties and leaders wait with bated breath for the Haryana and Jammu-Kashmir assembly poll results on Tuesday.
Apparently embarrassed by a Lashkar-e-Tayaiba terror suspect's alleged links with Abdul Naseer Madani-led Peoples Democratic Party, Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said on Wednesday that the Communist Party of India-Marxist, which had "cooperation" with it in Lok Sabha polls, will not have any truck with such outfits in future.
Uncertain political times in Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura.
The LDF would meet on Sunday to discuss matters related to ministry formation, Vijayan said when asked about the nature of the new ministry.
As the din continued, the Speaker adjourned the House till noon. Similar scenes were witnessed in the House on Thursday leading to its adjournment for the day.
According to the Election Commission data, 30 out of the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats went to the BJP-led coalition in the latest elections, a sharp drop compared with 39 in 2019 and lower than the tallies of 2014 (31) and 2009 (32).
A day before the start of the Budget session of Parliament, as many as 18 opposition parties, led by the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Shiv Sena and the Trinamool Congress, decided on Thursday to boycott the President's address to the joint sitting of both Houses in solidarity with the farmers protesting against the new farm laws.
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 need of the hour is unity among all Indians who wish to protect and preserve our cherished values of democracy and secularism'
A meeting of top Opposition leaders on Wednesday night decided to unitedly fight the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre.
Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran criticised those who were trying to give a communal colour to the tourism department tweet on the Kerala delicacy -- "Beef Ularthiyathu" and said in the southern state none links food with religion.
The Kerala state advocate general, C.P.Sudhakara Prasad, has given his opinion in the multi-crore corruption case involving the Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and has opined that the prosecution need not take any action against the former state electricity minister.
He called the NDA a weird combination and said its constituents are opportunists who have come together not for the welfare of the people, but for their own selfish gains.
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.
Senior AICC member and former Union minister K V Thomas, who has been at loggerheads with the party's state leadership, on Wednesday said he would campaign for the ruling Left Democratic Front candidate Jo Joseph in the upcoming by-poll in the Thrikkakara Assembly constituency, but reiterated that he would not quit the Congress.
CPI-M veteran Pinarayi Vijayan, who led the Left Democratic Front (LDF) to an unprecedented consecutive victory in the April 6 assembly polls, on Thursday took oath as chief minister of Kerala for the second time along with 20 ministers.
The Congress spent nearly Rs 49 crore on publicity.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah on Tuesday took a dig at Congress President Sonia Gandhi, saying everyone was aware of her "love for her son, National Herald and 2G".
Saturday's voting will mark the end to the marathon polling process that began on April 19 month and has already covered 486 Lok Sabha seats in 28 states and Union territories.
Yadav said all parties have joined hands against the BJP in the Bihar assembly, and added "now this is going to be replicated across the whole country".
Tension gripped Kerala as an unidentified person allegedly hurled an explosive substance at the state headquarters of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist on Thursday night.
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced Adhikari's name as leader of the BJP legislature party in the assembly after a meeting of the legislators at the party's Hastings office.
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