Controversial People's Democratic Party leader Abdul Nasser Madani has accused the Left Democratic Front government in Kerala of playing into the hands of the Opposition Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the case related to the arrest of his wife, Sufiya Madhani.
Meanwhile, the Congress and RSP whole-heartedly backed the Kollam MP.
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
'He should not come to Kerala and fight against the CPI which is an integral part of the INDIA alliance'
Leaders of several Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties met on Saturday to take stock of the opposition's preparations leading up to the June 4 counting of votes polled in the Lok Sabha elections, and claimed they will get more than 295 seats, enough for them to form the next government.
The National People's Party, which rules Meghalaya, is another national party which received no donations through electoral bonds.
'Those who are starving need not go to watch the match'
24 hours before campaigning ends in Thiruvanathapuram, Archana Masih/Rediff.com discovers Shashi Tharoor and his BJP rival Rajeev Chandrasekhar are busy getting their message across to voters.
Several people are still feared trapped in the debris after a series of landslides that occurred in Chooralmala and Mundakkai of Wayanad.
Gadgil and the report prepared by the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) headed by him are back in news after over two dozen people lost their lives in landslides and flash floods in the past few days in the hilly regions of Western Ghats in central Kerala districts of Kottayam and Idukki.
"We are in close touch with Karnataka police. Madani will be arrested at the appropriate time. There is no confusion on his arrest between us," Kerala DGP Jacob Punnose told reporters at nearby Aluva.
The PMK has now lent its voice to the protests against the mining of atomic minerals in Kanyakumari.
The Karnataka government charged the Kerala government with not extending co-operation to facilitate Madani's arrest in the Bengaluru blasts case in which he is listed as an accused.
The IUML is a major ally of the Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala and an influential political party among the Muslim community.
Polling is scheduled in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, six seats in Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan's move to seek the resignation of vice-chancellors of nine universities has kicked up a huge political storm in the southern state with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday issuing a stern warning to the Constitutional head asking him not to cross the limits of his powers.
Prohibitory orders were clamped in and around the camp of People's Democratic Party leader Abdul Nasser Madani at Anwarssery near Kollam on Saturday as tension prevailed with a large number of his supporters gathering there anticipating his arrest in connection with the Bengaluru serial blasts case.
Amid the bitter tussle with the Left Democratic Front-led government, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Tuesday said he will not interfere in the business of the government unless there was a total collapse of the constitutional machinery and "fortunately" that was not the case in Kerala.
'All those who participated in the agitation were branded as anti-nationals.'
The humiliating rebuff given to the power brokers in Delhi in Kerala's local body election carries a big message: Malayalis thoroughly disapprove of the Modi government's shenanigans to misuse central agencies to destabilise a genuinely popular state government, notes M K Bhadrakumar.
It had been reported in a section of the media Madani and his wife had links with some extremist elements, who were shot dead by the army in Kashmir .It may be recalled that four youths from Kerala were killed I an encounter while they were trying to cross the border into Pakistan.
Veteran Congress leader and former Defence Minister A K Antony said on Tuesday that his son, Anil K Antony, who is contesting as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, should not win the election.
'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.'
Noted poet K Satchidanandan has alleged that he was restrained by Facebook from liking, commenting and sharing posts for 24-hours after he tried to upload online a satire video on the Bharatiya Janata Party's defeat in the recently concluded Kerala assembly polls.
Much drama is likely to continue in the coming year, within the Sangh Parivar as well as involving the Opposition parties and, of course the BJP's allies, predicts Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The Assam Police have issued notices to opposition parties 'ordering' them to 'withdraw' the hartal over the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and warned that 'legal action' will be taken against them if they fail to follow the diktat.
Expressing solidarity with the people of Lakshadweep, the Kerala Legislative Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a resolution demanding the recall of island administrator Praful Khoda Patel and requesting the immediate intervention of the Centre to protect the lives and livelihood of the islanders.
Modi hit out at the Congress for its president Mallikarjun Kharge's attempt to play down his party's poor show in the polls by describing it as "small state elections".
'As we enter 2025, it must be acknowledged that there is a convergence of capital, influential people (from business and politics) and technology deciding the destiny of others in the name of pride, patriotism, nationalism, nation building, all of it thinly veiled disguises for personal profit and glory,' asserts Shyam G Menon.
The Bharatiya Janata Party lined up several promises, including a legislation to protect traditions of the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala and a law against "love jihad", while assuring employment for at least one person from each family and free laptops to high school students, in its manifesto for the assembly polls unveiled in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
A police complaint has been lodged at Barakhamba police station in Delhi, against 26 Opposition parties "for improper use of the name of INDIA and use of the said name for the undue influence and personation at elections."
A fast track court dismissed a bail application of Kerala Peoples Democratic P leader Abdul Naseer Madani, an accused in the 2008 Bengaluru blasts, on grounds that there was "no prima facie case to grant him anticipatory bail". Sessions Judge Srikanth Watavatagi, who heard arguments put forward by both Madani's counsel and the public prosecutor on Thursday, rejected the application, saying there was no prima facie case to grant anticipatory bail to the leader.
He also claimed that the people were asking are all the jobs under Kerala government reserved for cadres and the university jobs for powerful people in Thiruvananthapuram.
In four years, the state has had to battle cyclones, two floods, and two epidemiological disasters. If people bring Pinarayi Vijayan back to power, he must have done something right, obsevers Aditi Phadnis.
What was shocking was the execution of the killings -- calculated, gory and intended to send a chill down the spine.
There are few leaders in the Opposition line up who can claim a path to party leadership like Sitaram Yechury and certainly, very few who blended that ascent through student politics with awareness about non-elite real India, urban India and liberal politics, as he did, notes Shyam G Menon.
He could have blazed a trail that few Indian judges had. It was a missed opportunity of a lifetime, notes Ramesh Menon.
Kerala Minister Saji Cheriyan on Tuesday landed in trouble for his harsh remarks against the Constitution, triggering a huge political row in the state with the opposition demanding for his sacking, but the Left leader later expressed regret and claimed news reports in this connection were 'distorted'.
Even as the dust settles on one election, glory in Thiruvananthapuram has come with a new question on the horizon: Who will be UDF's candidate in the next Lok Sabha election given Shashi Tharoor has said 2024 would be his last? It isn't a vacancy that can be easily filled, points out Shyam G Menon.
Considering the anticipatory bail plea moved by George, the high court granted him interim relief with conditions.
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