Kerala's election discourse operates surreptitiously. Its explicit face focuses on important national and local issues. At the same time, it seeks to secure apt communal equations to ensure votes, notes Shyam G Menon.
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.
They had earlier been arrested by the Manipur police in September last year when they were allegedly extorting money by wearing police uniforms and carrying sophisticated weapons, the officials said.
Bharatiya Janata Party workers on Sunday staged a demonstration outside the Communist Party of India-Marxist headquarters in New Delhi
'He should not come to Kerala and fight against the CPI which is an integral part of the INDIA alliance'
While the BJP slammed CPI-M for Monday night's murder of RSS worker, Sujit, the Marxist party has denied it, saying it was the fallout of a local incident relating to insulting a girl.
Inaugurating the solidarity rally, Venugopal, a Rajya Sabha MP, strongly condemned the war unleashed by Israel in Gaza and their attacks against hospitals and refugee camps there.
On Easter, April 9, 10,000 BJP workers are being assigned to visit the houses of 100,000 Christian families. Plans are afoot to visit the homes of Muslims on Eid.
Alleged Naxals shot a worker of the Communist Party of India and triggered a landmine blast, in which two Central Reserve Police Force jawans were injured, in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. All three of them have been admitted to the hospital. District police authorities told PTI that Naxals attacked Chhotebedma village in Kuakonda station jurisdiction in the district on Tuesday night and shot Mudararam Sodhi, 65, a worker of the CPI.
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 overtures by CPI-M state secretary MV Govindan had upset the Congress that had, subsequently, accused the Left party of turning the UCC into a Hindu versus Muslim issue for gaining political mileage.
Shailaja, who had won accolades for containing the Nipah infection effectively in 2018, said the southern state has a protocol and standard operating procedure (SOP) to effectively fight the infection and prevent its spread.
The veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist leader is likely to undergo a few tests later in the day, which will help in ascertaining the severity of the infection in his lungs that landed him in the hospital on Saturday afternoon.
The workers have been hospitalised after they suffered series injuries in the ambush by more than 10 CPI-M workers over political rivalry.
Rifles, guns and ammunition were seized from a Communist Party of India- Marxist party office, a health centre and other places in West Midnapore district on Tuesday, while the hand of a Trinamool Congress worker was chopped off allegedly by a CPI-M worker in Malda district.
By offering aid to China in its hour of need we will create an opening to Xi Jinping to rectify his policy towards India, argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'When the Congress is put against someone like Narendra Modi, they do not have anything new to offer to the people of India.'
Once a reviled practice in the state, both the parties seem to have endorsed a record number of turncoats this time -- triggering a wave of discontentment among their loyalists.
According to the police headquarters in Patna, "more than a dozen police personnel and power department employees" sustained injuries in the incident that took place barely "100 meters away from Barsoi police station".
The attack against the BJP worker, Santosh, took place when he was alone in his house at Andaloor in Dharmadam in Thalassery on Wednesday night.
Among those killed were eight from TMC, and one worker each of the BJP, the CPI-M, the Congress and the ISF.
Against the backdrop of Kerala's appetite for commonsense, it was assumed that this controversy would pass. Respect for rationalism and scientific outlook is strong in the state despite political forces gnawing at it for their own goals, observes Shyam G Menon.
The Z+ security cover of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel has been extended to Khan and Raj Bhavan, his office said in a post on 'X'.
Inarguably the biggest gainer in the Grand Alliance, the CPI-ML, often working in the margins of mainstream politics, had 19 candidates in the fray, most of them students and youth leaders.
In fresh escalation of political violence in poll-bound Kerala, a 28-year-old Youth Congress worker was hacked to death allegedly by Democratic Youth Federation of India workers at Evoor in Alapuzha on Tuesday even as the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India - Marxist workers clashed in Thiruvananthapuram district leaving at least 30 injured.
Sources said the opposition parties would look to avoid the prickly leadership question as of now and emphasise on building a common ground.
After observing ritualistic stipulations for days, a massive "milk pot" procession was taken out in Madurai by AIADMK workers and supporters in which a sizable number of women cadres participated.
The 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly constitutes the electoral college Rajya Sabha elections, scheduled on June 10, and a candidate needs 42 votes to win a seat.
At least three people were killed and several others injured in a blast near the venue of senior Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee's rally in West Bengal's Purba Medinipur district, police said on Saturday.
The agitated workers waved black flags and chanted slogans against him.
The ruling Congress on Thursday swept the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) polls with a two-third majority by winning 24 wards out of the total 34, wresting the prestigious civic body from the BJP.
Six persons received gunshot injuries in a clash between Trinamool Congress and Communist Party of India-Marxist workers at Haroa in North 24 Parganas district, while Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee and a senior leader alleged their cars were intercepted by Marxist cadres while going to a rally in adjoining South 24 Parganas district.
Thackeray accused the Eknath Shinde-led government of being ideologically bankrupt.
"There are clearly two sides. On one side, there is an organisation of patriots in the form of BJP and on the other side, tukde-tukde gang have come together under the leadership of the Congress. It is for the people of Karnataka to decide now whether they are with the patriots or those who support people who want to divide this country," he added.
The tussle between cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist and CPI- Marxist has taken an ugly turn in West Bengal, with as many as 120 CPI (M) workers being selectively identified, abducted and killed by Maoists in the past 11 months.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Member of Parliament Ganeshamurthy and Communist Party of India member of Legislative Assembly M Arumugam were arrested on Sunday along with 1,000 workers of different parties when they tried to cross to Kerala to stage a demonstration to protest that government's move to build a dam across Bhavani river in Chittoor.
The remarks by the BJP leaders came as 17 opposition parties resolved to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections unitedly to defeat the saffron party and work with flexibility by setting aside their differences. They dubbed the planned alliance as "unholy and opportunistic".
The Congress secured 43.90 per cent vote share as it wrested Himachal Pradesh from the Bharatiya Janata Party, winning 40 seats in the 68-member assembly in the hill state which maintained its tradition of voting the incumbent government out of power since 1985.
Justice Subramonium Prasad said petitioner lawyer Sanjay Hegde is a "good friend" of his and that the pleas be listed before some other bench.
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.
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