Senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy was sworn in as the 21st chief minister of Kerala on Wednesday at the Raj Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram. Along with Chandy, six floor leaders of the United Democratic Front coalition were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor R S Gavai at the lawns of the Raj Bhavan.
Three-way contest, an advantage for CPI-M in West Bengal
Developments in Nandigram and Singur, where the government's bid to acquire farm land for industrialization ran into stiff resistance from locals and main opposition Trinamool Congress, have given enough worries to the ruling alliance.
Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned till noon on Friday following uproar over Nandigram issue.
Despite being in the Opposition in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee is 'setting' the agenda for the state government. In the past weeks, the government has taken three major policy decisions for which the Trinamool Congress had been agitating to make a public opinion.
Ruling Congress-led UDF in Kerala on Saturday suffered a setback in the civic elections, billed as the semifinal ahead of next year's assembly polls, as CPI-M-led LDF won a majority of local bodies while the BJP made inroads improving its performance.
In a jolt to the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress defeated its candidates in trouble-torn Nandigram in the three-tier panchayat elections. The front also faced rout in three zilla parishad seats in Singur to Trinamool Congress candidates. The polls are seen as a litmus test for the Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee government's farmland acquisition policy for industries.
The decision was taken by the state cabinet, which gave its approval to the proposals of the high power committee headed by Local Administration Minister Paloli Muhammadkutty, set up to study the state-level implementation of the Sachar Committee report.
Kerala has never witnessed such a close call in assembly elections in its history, as it did this year. It was indeed a photo finish between the Congress-led United Democratic Front and the Communist party of India-Marxist led Left Democratic Front today. It was like a thrilling Twenty20 match with one batsman pitching in with a spectacular performance. The LDF has managed to win as many as 68 seats, against 72 of the UDF, only because of the goodwill of V S Achuthanandan.
The rival fronts were locked in a fierce combat in most of the constituencies making it a close contest in the state, which had alternately voted for the LDF and UDF every five years and where even a small swing could be decisive.
With barely a month left for Lok Sabha polls in Kerala, both the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front and Congress-spearheaded United Democratic Front opposition, are yet to start their election campaigns in the state following issues related to seat-sharing and selection of candidates.
As Kerala is set to go for assembly polls on April 13, the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led United Democratic Front have to race against time as they are yet to finalise the seat-sharing exercise among partners and each component to work out the list of their contestants for before the filing of nominations begin on March 19.
Outgoing Mayor and chief of the Paschimbanga Unnayan Congress Mancha Subrata Mukherjee has won in ward 87.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday criticised the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee led-government in West Bengal for its handling of the situation in Nandigram, and said that she was concerned over the law and order situation in the area. She said that the Congress officer-bearers in the state had complained of repeated torture and atrocities against the people, adding that in a democracy, there was no place for political violence.
Mamata asserted that she has not spoken to anyone in the Congress on seat-sharing in the state for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Hours after a three-member central team began the exercise to assess law and order in West Bengal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led ruling Left Front on Tuesday dared the Centre to invoke Article 356 in the state and said it was ready to accept the challenge.
The state government said these bills had been pending with the governor for as long as about two years and his action "subverted" the functioning of the state legislature, rendering its very existence "ineffective and otiose".
It is for the first time that Kerala is having multi-phased elections.
The second round of the crucial Front meeting also decided that the state government would be run strictly on the basis of policies decided at the LF meetings.
TMC's campaign in the seat in south Kolkata is already underway with the Election Commission announcing the by-poll on Saturday, following a request from the state government to avoid a constitutional crisis.
Arun Jaitley will visit Kerala on Sunday. The same day, Kerala Governor P Sathasivam will discuss law and order with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
'Metro man' E Sreedharan, a much-admired technocrat who is credited with changing the face of public transport system in the country, will join the Bharatiya Janata Party giving a boost to the saffron party ahead of the assembly polls in Kerala.
In a stunning electoral victory, the ruling Communist Party if India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), rode back to power in Kerala winning 99 of the 140 seats, bucking the over four decade long trend of Communists and Congress-led United Democratic Front coming to power alternatively.
Modi said his government had made efforts to make all kitchens in the country smoke free.
A special session of the Kerala Assembly is being convened on Wednesday to discuss the three contentious central farm laws and pass a resolution against the acts, whose repeal is being insisted by farmers agitating at the borders of Delhi for nearly a month.
The visit by an official delegation from Kerala to the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Gujarat has come under criticism from opposition Congress and Muslim League in Kerala.
CPI-M alleged that some Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-Bharatiya Janata Party workers came in a vehicle and hurled a bomb at Pinarayi in Dharmadam assembly segment from where CPI-M politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan won.
Meena said political parties should be responsible enough to decide to what extent they should use the Sabarimala issue during the campaign.
The BJP, which has emerged as the main opposition party in West Bengal after winning 77 seats in the assembly polls last year, failed to win even a single civic body.
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.
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.
Nationalist Congress Party in Kerala, a component of the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front, has conveyed its reservations to the central leadership over the offer of support to the Bharatiya Janata Party to form the government in Maharashtra.
Shah had launched the high profile 15-day yatra against the alleged 'red and jihadi terrorism' in Kerala.
He served the right-wing organisation for around 16 years under the guidance of Gobinda Acharya and Krishnagopal Sharma, two prominent Sangh leaders.
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 combined vote share of the Left Front was also reduced to nearly 24 per cent from 41 per cent in 2011.
Bharatiya Janata President president Amit Shah on Sunday said his party's main agenda was a "Congress free India".
Although the leaders are not on same page on many matters related to the party, they have apparently come together to check Tharoor's larger political ambition in the state, they said.
Upadhyay submitted the resignation to Governor K N Tripathi at the Raj Bhavan.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances