Opposition parties on Tuesday asked the government to call an all-party meeting to resolve the current impasse in Parliament, while sticking to their demands for a discussion on Pegasus snooping issue and a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the matter.
'The Left is dying, but its economic ideology rules, unchallenged.' 'Modi is its newest standard-bearer.' 'Even in today's bitterly polarised politics, if there is one thing on which not just the BJP and Congress, but all other parties agree, it is that socialist economics is the only way to survive,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Exuding confidence that Left Front would come back in its bastions, Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat on Monday criticised the United Progressive Alliance-II for following anti-people policy. "In the UPA's first term, the Left exercised all restrains and succeed in checking prices, disinvestment and subjugation by the government to the corporate," said Karat.
Top leaders of 26 opposition parties were arriving in Bengaluru on Monday for a two-day brainstorming session with a call for unity and are expected to chalk out their joint programme aimed at defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Four people, including two staff of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's Wayanad office, were arrested on Friday for allegedly causing damage to Mahatma Gandhi's photo nearly two months ago when an Students' Federation of India protest march led to violence on the premises.
23-year-old Anandan, who was riding a motorcycle, had been knocked down by a car carrying his attackers and then hacked to death on November 12.
With official and unofficial bans, attacks on traders, and non-availability from inside the state, the beef eater knows not what to do now.
'The claim that Hindi unifies our country is absurd. That language is not the mother tongue of a majority of Indians. The move to inpose Hindi on them amounts to enslaving them. The Union Minister's statement is a war cry against the mother tongues of non-Hindi speaking people'
'I told him when I started my political career seven decades ago he was not even born. His political activities, the protests he organises and the way he fights the biggest corporate of India, the Ambanis, give hope to all people who are progressive. My desire is that such a party must grow, and I wished him all success for its growth.' V S Achuthanandan, the senior-most Communist in India, tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier why he turned down Arvind Kejriwal's invitation to join the Aam Aadmi Party.
'Here is a woman who has got widespread appreciation for her work.' 'Social media was full of posts wanting her as the chief ministerial candidate.' 'This kind of popularity did not go well within the party.' 'See, today the party is Pinarayi Vijayan!'
Chandravat, the Sah Prachar Pramukh of RSS in Ujjain, had announced the reward to avenge the killing of its workers in Kerala
Since the formation of the CPI-M, following a split in the Communist Party of India in 1964, the party never drew a blank in the state in Lok Sabha elections.
Tharoor suffered head injuries while performing a ritual at a temple in Thiruvananthapuram.
The government order, issued in this regard last evening, made it clear that the festivities should not be conducted during office hours.
However, Head priest Tantri Kandararu Rajeevaru told reporters at the temple that he had only consulted senior tantri Kandararu Mohanararu on the matter.
'If Kerala votes back the LDF, if Tamil Nadu brings the DMK and if Bengal votes for the Trinamool, we will project a formidable opposition to the BJP.'
Interestingly, PM Modi had thanked his UAE counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum for offering the support to the rain-battered state on August 18.
Pinarayi is exploring the potentials of 'socialism with Indian characteristics'. The next five years under Pinarayi's watch will be a transformative period for Kerala's development, observes M K Bhadrakumar.
A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices L N Rao and Dinesh Maheshwari said it was only going into the aspect of security of the two women -- Bindu and Kanakadurga, and would not like to entertain any other prayer made in the petition.
Mamata Banerjee fended off a spirited challenge by a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal with a landslide victory for her Trinamool Congress on Sunday for a third consecutive term and the saffron party and the Left Democratic Front were poised to form government again in Assam and Kerala respectively while the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam stormed back to power in Tamil Nadu after a gap of 10 years.
Demanding the resignation of Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy over the solar scam, Communist Party of India - Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat on Monday said the Congress was setting a "shameless" standard of not accepting responsibility for "what is happening right under its nose."
She was capable of a level of human compassion that is rare today among politicians, recalls Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who knew the Communist legend K R Gowri, who passed into the ages on May 11, from his childhood.
'Samsung declared they would not allow the presence of any trade union.' 'This is unacceptable as the rule of law in India permits employees to have a trade union.' 'So, the crux of the strike is this.'
Admitting that he knew the woman, Binoy, however, said the allegation was 'baseless'.
Police said 34-year-old Rajesh's left hand was chopped off in the attack which took place around 9 pm on Saturday night.
In a legal and political setback to the Congress-led United Democratic Front government in Kerala, a vigilance court on Friday turned down its move to wind up the palmolein import graft case dating to 1992 when late Congress veteran K Karunakaran was the chief minister.
Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal (94) became the country's oldest candidate to fight elections as he filed his nomination papers from Lambi on Monday.
Around 62 per cent newly-elected legislators have criminal cases against them in Kerala, while 32 per cent in West Bengal face serious charges including murder and crime against women, a report said on Friday.
The opposition bloc also got support from Telanagana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's BRS, which saw the bill as a move to usurp powers of an elected government in Delhi, and asked the House to vote against it.
With Pinarayi Vijayan set to be chief minister, what will be the role for party patriarch V S Achuthanandan? And what are the key takeways from the election results in Kerala?
Apart from around 100 MPs of the Congress, leaders of several opposition parties including Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Communist Party of India, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party attended the meeting.
'The problem is with those who are entrusted with powers.'
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, MP Achuthan (Communist Party of India-Marxist) said that in Kerala public sector oil companies had made it mandatory for people to get Aadhar-linked bank accounts for getting subsidy on liquefied petroleum gas.
The hill shrine had been witnessing protests by devotees and right wing groups against the government's decision to implement the September 28 Supreme Court verdict, permitting women of all age groups to offer prayers at the temple.
The LDF would meet on Sunday to discuss matters related to ministry formation, Vijayan said when asked about the nature of the new ministry.
Bharatiya Janata President president Amit Shah on Sunday said his party's main agenda was a "Congress free India".
'The Congress party hated him because he had not gone to jail, he was not lathi charged, he had not gone on hunger strike.' 'They felt he had lived in London all his life and then he came to India and became an MP and a minister.'
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.
Her husband and other relatives had shifted to a rented building, the police said, adding Kanakadurga then took refugee at the One Stop Centre here.
The Kerala Story is among a long list of films that invited bans and censorship.
