Trinamool Congress on Saturday stayed away from the all-party meeting convened by the state Election Commission in Kolkata to discuss the upcoming panchayat polls in West Bengal, prompting the opposition Congress and Communist Party of India-Marxist to accuse the ruling party of disrespecting a constitutional body.
Congress as the opposition party has become increasingly aggressive against the Narendra Modi government over its handling of the border standoff with China.
'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.
Gen Wang is the fourth commander to head the Western Theatre Command after the eastern Ladakh standoff began in May last year.
It is likely that the party's allies in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, two of the five states going to the polls in April-May, might insist on allocating fewer seats than they did in 2016, reports Archis Mohan.
At an Onam celebration that took place recently at the Indian consulate in Dubai, Muraleedharan said nobody knows how legendary king Mahabali got linked with the celebrations.
The new law, effective from January 1, weakens the role of the State Council, China's Cabinet headed by Premier Li Keqiang, in formulating military policy, handing decision-making powers to the Central Military Commission (CMC), the overall high-command of the two million-strong People's Liberation Army (PLA) headed by Xi, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Sunday.
Jacob, also the chief coordinator of the party, charged that Deepu was brutally beaten up for 15 minutes by the CPI-M workers last week and the accused got in touch with the MLA before and after the incident.
It also demanded increasing the number of liquefied petroleum gas cylinders per family to 12, instead of nine as decided by the government on Thursday.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will visit Chennai on November 2 and is likely to hold a meeting with her Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin to discuss their strategies for the 2024 Lok Sabha poll, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
More screenings are expected to take place in some colleges in Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram later Tuesday, a senior police officer said.
The Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly was adjourned on Tuesday with out transacting any business as members of Telangana Rashtra Samiti stalled the proceedings demanding that the House should adopt a resolution on formation of a spereate Telangana state.
The impact of the explosion "was so massive" that the factory, which was being run from a residential building, collapsed, the police said.
Defending the liquor ban in Bihar, he said that the state's prohibition policy has benefitted several people and a large number of people have given up drinking alcohol due to his measures.
Whenever they are announced, the bypolls to 20 assembly seats in Tamil Nadu will be a mini referendum on the state government's performance. It will also be a do-or-die battle for the ruling AIADMK, opposition DMK, as well as the rebel AMMK, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Prima facie there was a nexus between human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, and Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, an agent of Pakistan's spy agency ISI convicted in the United States for terror funding, a special NIA court has said in its order denying bail to the campaigner.
Rejecting an offer made by Odisha police, top Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda on Saturday said he has no plan to surrender as being speculated.
Under fire from the opposition on the Union Public Service Commission row, the government on Wednesday decided to convene an all-party meeting on the issue while indicating its unwillingness to postpone the civil services preliminary examination scheduled for August 24.
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.
The talks took place in a beach resort in Benaulim on the sidelines of a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Confronting a slowdown in growth, China says it will only increase its defence budget by 7.6% this year, against the anticipated rise of between 20% and 30%. 'It is difficult to explain the reduction in the Chinese defence budget,' says Claude Arpi. 'Is there a hidden budget? Possibly!'
Telugu Desam Party chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is coordinating the meeting. He has invited the leaders of all the non-BJP parties.
At a media briefing in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the two sides have maintained smooth communication on border-related issues through diplomatic and military channels.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist has expressed serious concern over Indian investigating agencies not being allowed to interrogate Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley and sought to know what steps the government is taking into the matter.
The development came just days after West Bengal Left Front chairman and CPI-M Politburo member Biman Bose in a change of stance had said the party is ready to join hands with Trinamool Congress to fight the BJP at the national level.
Masoodi said all the participants are against giving voting rights to non-locals as "it will be tantamount to the disenfranchisement of the local voters."
President Xi Jinping on Monday vowed to build China's military into a "Great Wall of steel" to protect its sovereignty and developmental interests as he sought a bigger role for Beijing in global affairs, days after brokering a Saudi Arabia-Iran detente, regarded as a diplomatic coup.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed the need for the recruitment of new talent to support the rapid modernisation of the armed forces and win future wars amid reports that the military has committed more resources to enrol 3 lakh personnel for frontline positions.
Banerjee told journalists after an all-party meeting that though the participants differed over ways to tackle the pandemic, consensus emerged that the lockdown should be extended with relaxations.
After targeting employees in the sectors of insurance, banking and hospitality, militants in Manipur have now targeted mobile operators in the state to continue their activities of extortion and abduction.The militants had earlier burned down mobile towers after employees of telecom companies refused to fulfill their demands. In February, militants of the Kangleipak Communist Party (Nongdrenkhomba faction) outfit burnt down a mobile tower and gunned down a security personnel.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has ruled Gujarat for 27 years, is trying to retain power in the state for the seventh term in a row.
'You can attack and conspire to weaken us, but you cannot destroy the Congress permanently.'
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha, party member Brinda Karat claimed that Headley, earlier a drug smuggler, worked as an undercover agent of the US intelligence agency CIA since 1999 and the US government helped him make frequent trips to Pakistan.
The national award-winning actor had organised a mass Vishu kaineettam campaign earlier this week in Thrissur, where he unsuccessfully contested in the last assembly and Lok Sabha polls.
CPI-M leader Basudeb Acharya says the two parties are in talks but no decision has been arrived at yet.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday took a dig at Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar's New Delhi visit as she said a 'child can be cajoled into silence' but not an elderly man, noting that she has thrice written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw him from the state.
'One goal of the Congress would surely have been to rebuild its organisation so that it begins to match that of the BJP.' 'However, this has not happened, though Rahul Gandhi has been in the party for 15 years now,' says Aakar Patel.
Nepal last month released the revised political and administrative map of the country laying claim over the strategically key areas, more than six months after India published a new map in November 2019.
While the Congress has cited alleged poaching attempt as a reason for keeping their MLAs in the hotel, the BJP said they moved theirs to train them on the Rajya Sabha poll process.
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