The rise of Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan after last week's dramatic developments in Communist Party of India-Marxist as the undisputed captain of Left Democratic Front in the April 13 assembly polls in Kerala once again is expected to make the contest tougher for Congress-led United Democratic Front.
The political killings in Kerala's Kannur has resurfaced again with two Rashtriya Swaymasevak Sangh men being killed in broad daylight by suspected Communist Party of India-Marxist men.
Karat told reporters that his party wanted an amicable settlement on the issue.
The two day Communist Partyof India-Marxist state committee meeting which is significant after the Polibureau decision of demoting the octogenarian leader and Chief Minister of Kerala ,V S Achuthanandan from the party polibureau will begin in Thiruvananthpuram on Tuesday.
'Only when you are close to the party, will you understand what the BJP stands for.'
Opposition Congress termed the government's decision as 'unilateral' and said it was against the interest of a majority of Ayyappa devotees in and outside the state.
If everything goes as expected, Arya, now a second year graduation student of a Thiruvananthapuram college, would not only become the new mayor of Kerala's capital, a position held by several significant personalities in the past, but also the youngest ever mayor in the country.
'It will be a ghastly mistake for the CPI-M to face the 2019 poll on its own.' 'At best, it can hope to split non-BJP votes in some pockets, but the humiliating rout will spell its doom,' warns M K Bhadrakumar.
In the coming months, globally as well as in India, rice might remain a hot potato.
The Communist Party of India - Marxist Politburo on Saturday began a two-day meeting to finalise a document, to deal with its organisational problems, which led to its rout in the recent polls in its strongholds of West Bengal and Kerala. The purpose of the meeting is to give final touches to amend and strengthen its 'rectification document' that had been prepared several years ago. The meeting is being attended by all top leaders barring CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was hurt mildly on his forehead in stone throwing by Left Democratic Front workers protesting against the solar panel scam in Kannur on Sunday.
In a quick chat with rediff.com's Shobha Warrier before he started his campaign in Palakkad, VS claims that all is well between him and Vijayan.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday filed a chargesheet against Communist Party of India - Marxist Kerala Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan in a graft case. After receiving Governor R S Gavai's sanction four days ago to prosecute 69-year-old Vijayan, overruling the state cabinet recommendation, the CBI filed the 11-page chargesheet in a special court in Kochi, naming Vijayan and eight others as accused in the case.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday hailed the victory of Maoists in Nepal, calling it a 'positive development'. "The Maoists have successfully taken part in the democratic process in Nepal," Mukherjee said. According to Mukherjee, India would be better off with democratically elected governments in place in the neighbouring countries.
CM Pinarayi Vijayan rejected BJP's criticism against the resolution demanding scrapping of the CAA. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had hit out at Kerala government, saying Vijayan should seek 'better legal advise'.
The Sri Ram Sena, which hit the headlines after its activists attacked girls in a pub in Mangalore recently, on Saturday said that false allegations were leveled against the outfit about its involvement in the alleged abduction of the daughter of a Kerala Member of Legislative Assembly on Friday night.
This time Shriram Sena activists allegedly dragged the daughter of a Communist Party of India-Marxist MLA from Kerala, and her friend and kept them captive for over an hour. Their crime--they were speaking with a boy named Shabeeb, who was their acquaintance.
While Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has made his national ambitions amply clear, even rechristening his party to aid the process, his Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin insists he is already in the national scene and used his birthday rally on March 1 to not only strongly pitch for the Congress as a force to reckon with in the efforts to dislodge the Narendra Modi-led dispensation at the Centre, but also sought to shoot down the prospects of a Third Front.
Kannur in northern Kerala, which witnessed violent clashes between supporters of the Communist Party of India Marxist and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh over the last decade, is tense again after the recent killings of a CPI-M member and a RSS worker.Ajit, a CPI-M member, was killed in an STD booth that he owns while RSS worker Vinayan was killed when he was sitting in the verandhah of a shop.The violent clashes between the CPI-M and the RSS has claimed over 500 lives.
Karat, 56, takes over from Harkishen Singh Surjeet, who offered to step down from the post.
Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretary and politbureau member Pinarayi Vijayan, who is leading a yatra from Kasargod in the northern-most part of Kerala to state capital Thiruvananthapuram says that his road show has been getting overwhelming response from all corners and that the people are flocking to take part in it.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he congratulated his friend T M Thomas Issac for, what he sarcastically said, taking over as "Finance Minister of Somalia".
Abdullakutty, a second term Member of Parliament from Kannur, is readying himself to take the Services Selection Board (SSB) interview to become eligible to don the Army's Olive Greens. If the CPM MP clears the SSB, he will be the next big name to join the TA in recent times, with former Indian cricketer Kapil Dev who joined the force late last year,
Seven girl students were taken into custody on Tuesday after they waved black flags against Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
'If it had not been (Major) Sandeep's house, not even a dog would have glanced that way.' This was how Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan heaped scorn on Monday on the family of NSG Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan slain in the Mumbai terror attack during commando operations, igniting a controversy after smarting under the snub from the father of the angry officer's when he went to Bangalore to offer his condolences.
The arrest of two Dalit sisters, daughters of a local Congress leader, for allegedly attacking a Communist Party of India-Marxist activist in Kerala's Thalassery has kicked up a row with the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party attacking the Left Democratic Front government over the issue, even as a local court granted them bail on Saturday.
The move is being seen as an attempt to forge opposition unity to defeat the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said the restoration of statehood and democratic process is a very important step in Jammu and Kashmir as he avoided a question on whether his party would be part of an Opposition alliance in the Union Territory.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday arrested three Communist Party of India-Marxist activists in connection with the September 1 murder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader E Manoj in the district, official sources said.
The Kerala government on Saturday dismissed as false allegations of corruption levelled by bar owners against the state Finance Minister K M Mani over reopening closed bars and ruled out any probe into the matter.
With the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front Opposition continuing its stir against Finance Minister K M Mani, facing bribery charges in bar scam, the Kerala assembly on Monday adjourned sine die on a stormy note after passing the finance and appropriation bills without a discussion.
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.
In a boost to the United Democratic Front ahead of assembly polls in Kerala next year, the Congress candidate K S Sabarinadhan on Tuesday won the Aruvikkara assembly by-poll by a margin of 10,128 votes defeating his nearest rival M Vijayakumar of the Opposition Left Democratic Front.
Veteran Communist Party of India leader and former Kerala chief minister P K Vasudevan Nair died in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The brutal rape and murder of a Dalit woman at Perumbavoor is becoming campaign material for the May 16 assembly polls.
"All students supporting the Left will participate in the campaign along with Kanhaiya. For the first time, the nation can see the power of the youth of Left," Yechury said.
Tharoor said Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha following his conviction in a 2019 defamation case has generated a 'surprising wave of Opposition unity' with many parties having begun to feel the truth of the adage -- united we stand, divided we fall.
Modi said different laws related to Hindus, Christians and Parsis and the Special Marriage Act 1954 has determined minimum marriage age of 18 years for a woman and 21 years for man but the Muslim Personal Law holds marriage of a girl legal after she has attained puberty.
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.
