In an unprecedented admission, Communist Party of India-Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu on Friday said he had breached party discipline by openly canvassing for maverick West Bengal transport minister Subhas Chakraborty's induction into the Central Committee as well as the state secretariat.
The Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, where Rahul Gandhi won for the second time in a row, comprises three assembly constituencies each in the tribal district of Wayanad and the Muslim-dominated Malappuram, as well as one in Kozhikode district where Christians hold a significant vote base.
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.
He was reviled by critics in his party as a neo-liberal in disguise but till the end, he retained his belief in secularism and the humanity of Communism.
MLA of the ruling CPI-M and actor M Mukesh was on Tuesday formally arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the rape case against him on a complaint by a female actor.
As BJP leaders went all out to project the event as a moment of national pride, some leaders were directly critical of the ceremony with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, belonging to the Communist Party of India-Marxist, slamming the state's role in the Ram Temple consecration, saying the line that demarcates religion and state seems to be 'getting thinner and thinner'.
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.
While Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala mockingly called the CM as "the most knowledgeable" person in the state who has the habit of terming priests "wretched creatures" and "ignorant", BJP leader V Muraleedharan said that Vijayan's remarks indicate that he continues to be intolerant towards those who disagree with him.
This takes the number of suspended MPs in the Lok Sabha to 97.
Congress deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi claimed in a social media post that the website of the Ministry of Food Processing shows the CM's wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma's firm Pride East Entertainments Pvt Ltd has received Rs 10 crore as part of credit credit-linked subsidy.
Arivandakshan's arrest is the first of a political person in the alleged scam in which several political functionaries of the CPM are under scanner, they said.
The Left parties on Sunday announced a 12-hour all-India general strike on September 20 to protest against government's decision on diesel price, LPG cylinders and FDI in multi-brand retail, coinciding with the agitation by other opposition parties and United Progressive Alliance supporter Samajwadi Party.
To govern effectively, to legislate successfully, Modi must reach out to the Opposition. As long as he does not and he is showing no signs that he accepts the reality, the drift his fans are anguishing over will remain, cautions Aakar Patel.
Saifuddin Laskar (47), TMC area president of Bamungachi area in Joynagar was shot dead from close range near his house by miscreants when he went out to offer prayers in the morning, the police said.
Left parties on Wednesday demanded the resignation of Shashi Tharoor, saying it was 'highly inappropriate' for a minister in the Union government to be involved in 'murky dealings' with regard to the IPL. "It is incumbent upon Tharoor to step down from office till his name is cleared of any unethical or irregular behaviour," the CPI-M said in a statement. Tharoor is battling allegations that a beautician romantically linked to him had received Rs 70-crore free equity.
After they were suspended from the State Assembly for disrupting the Question Hour, 46 opposition members, led by Leader of the Opposition N T Rama Rao, took out a rally from the Assembly premises to the state Raj Bhavan.
Nine opposition parties, including the Left, on Friday termed the government version of the Lokpal Bill as "unacceptable" and said they would jointly organise nationwide protests next week to demand an effective legislation to curb corruption in high places.
The exit polls on Saturday predicted the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance winning most of the seats in Congress-ruled Karnataka in the Lok Sabha elections and the Congress not putting up a good show.
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.
The Trinamool Congress will file a defamation suit against the Communist Party of India-Marxist and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for equating the party with the Maoists.
On a day a sexual abuse case was registered against actor Siddique based on a complaint by a woman actor, the Left government appears to have adopted a cautious approach in the case of MLA Mukesh, with two ministers indicating that further action hinges on the findings of the probe by the special police team.
He also said that the party "cannot be selective in fighting the communists" and it must do so in all its manifestations, irrespective of religion and colour.
The committee headed by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar is meeting later on Thursday to adopt its draft report in what is likely to be hotly contested by opposition members of the panel.
Left parties on Monday decided to extend support to the 'Bharat Bandh' called by Confederation of All India Traders on December 1 to protest the Centre's decision to allow FDI in retail.
Besides the four ministerial berths, the Congress has also sought the post of Speaker of the state assembly, but Kumar is not keen on giving that, sources said.
Left parties on Sunday decided to suspend participation in the United Progressive Alliance-Left coordination committee\nmeetings to protest against the government's decision to go ahead with disinvestment .
Catch all the action from the Upper and Lower House of Parliament.
In a significant political development, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah announced on Thursday that an alliance with the Congress was finalised for all 90 assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir, which is going for its maiden assembly polls after being reorganised into a Union Territory.
As rescue operations in the landslide-hit areas of this north Kerala district entered fifth day, rescuers unearthed more bodies and body parts, taking the death toll to 215, with around 206 people still reported missing.
In a sharp deviation from his party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M), West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday described gheraos, the practice of disrupting work by intimidating managements, as "illegal and immoral" and said he was opposed to bandhs, or full-scale closure of state services.
It is believed that the Left will go ahead with its threat to withdraw support to the alliance following Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement that he would meet the Nuclear Suppliers Group on Tuesday and seek their support for the civil nuclear cooperation with the US.
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.
'The Bengali middle class, who never fully embraced Mamata Banerjee's policies, are now expressing their deep-seated frustration by spilling out on to the streets.'
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to produce before it in sealed cover the "up to date" data of funds received by political parties through electoral bonds till September 30, 2023.
Saha said BJP is confident about winning the assembly elections due this year.
In a new report, the ADR said the BJP declared a total income of Rs 3,623.28 crore during the financial year 2019-20, but spent only 45.57 per cent (Rs 1,651.022 crore) of it.
The meeting of the 14-member all-important panel of the opposition will take place at the residence of Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar in New Delhi on September 13 evening.
Condemning BJP president Amit Shah's statement on 'exodus' of Hindus in Kairana, the opposition parties alleged that the statement has created anxiety and tension in Western Uttar Pradesh.