Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, all ministers in Modi 2.0 Cabinet, took oath as cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In all, 71 ministers were sworn-in along with Modi, taking the strength of the Union council to 72.
Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front opposition on Thursday forced the adjournment of the Kerala assembly over alleged police excess against women members of Legislative Assembly demanding re-investigation of charges against Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien in the Suryanelli gang-rape case.
In the financial year 2018-19, the party collected Rs 5.17 crore as contributions and Rs 3.74 crore in FY 2019-20.
Opposition members were up on their feet, holding up placards and banners seeking the resignation of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and other ministers over corruption allegations.
It is early to make out which way the wind is blowing, but there is no denying that challenges for the BJP, far outweigh the advantages in this region, notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Haripad, the rural assembly segment in Kerala's rice bowl Kuttanad, has gained greater political significance with the entry of KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala as the United Democratic Front candidate.
Creating a positive reform that does away with an official who constitutes a flawed aspect of Indian democracy will allow the BJP to rightfully claim this as one of its positive legacies, suggests Karan P Shah.
The BJP scripted history by opening its account in the state assembly.
After marathon discussions lasting for days, the opposition United Democratic Front in Kerala has finalised its sharing exercise among Front constituents for the April 13 assembly elections. As per the agreement reached Tuesday night, Congress, the lead partner in the front would contest in 81 seats, leaving 59 seats to other partners, a UDF sources.
CMO confirmed that Kerala had not figured in the list of states which would be presenting their tableaux on the R-day, but was yet to get an official communication in this regard.
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."
The Delhi high court on Friday sought a response from the Centre, Election Commission of India, and 26 political parties on a petition seeking to restrain opposition parties from using the acronym INDIA for their alliance.
Expressing resentment at party MP Shashi Tharoor praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress' Kerala unit on Wednesday decided to submit a report to the party high command seeking suitable action in the matter.
Is the political class in Kerala being used as a springboard by extremist elements aiming to establish base in the state? The Nadapuram blast shockingly points out this trend, writes rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa
The high command's choice of Thennala Balakrishna Pillai and Vayalar Ravi for the election to the Rajya Sabha appears to have prompted the resignation.
Kerala-based Peoples Democratic Party leader Abdul Nasser Madani finds himself in political isolation with mainstream parties in the state keeping away from him, despite past dalliance with him, after he was chargesheeted in the Bengaluru blasts case.
If a 15 seconds-long mic problem merits a case being registered, then the police risk an avalanche of complaints of similar and greater gravity, seeking their intervention, notes Shyam G Menon.
Congress-led United Democratic Front on Friday managed to wrest power from the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist-controlled Left Democratic Front in Kerala with a wafer-thin majority of two seats in the 140-member Assembly, in the closest poll battle in the state in three decades.
Thomas Isaac has been in and out of the national news in his role as Kerala's finance minister since 2018 for various path-breaking tax initiatives. But it is 2020 that he has become more prominent, principally in the GST council.
'The 2024 election results will lead to much intense targeting of Modi, more intense debates, many more breakdowns in Parliament and many more movements on the streets.' 'The results have hit Modi's standing, and the politics of the Opposition parties will be sharply focused to ensure that Modi doesn't get back his charisma of being 'invincible' with help of State power.' Sheela Bhatt looks at the political situation through the prism of 2024 Lok Sabha election results.
The country has seen that "people are God" in elections, the PM said.
Asked how many seats INDIA bloc will get, Gandhi said, "Have you heard Sidhu Moose Wala's song '295'? So 295 (seats)."
Kerala Public Works minister P J Joseph resigned from the Left Democratic Front ministry and announced the decision of his party to leave the LDF to merge with the Kerala Congress (Mani).
It will be a 'tough fight' between the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress in this month's assembly polls in West Bengal while in Kerala the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front had an 'edge' over the Congress-led United Democratic Front, Communist Party of India General Secretary A B Bardhan said on Friday.
ISIS's online propaganda radicalises Muslim youth in Kerala. A revealing excerpt from Stanly Johny's new book, The ISIS Caliphate From Syria to the Doorsteps of India.
The Catholic Church in Kerala has taken serious objections to the new Social Science textbook for the 10th standard, prepared during the previous Left Democratic Front's rule, alleging that it contained "grossly baseless anti-church contents" and "propagated Marxist political ideology". The newly installed United Democratic Front government recently set up a three-member committee headed by former chief secretary Dr D Babu Paul to examine the controversial textbook.
Setting aside rivalries, ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front and opposition Left Democratic Front in Kerala stepped up the demand for a new dam at Mullaperiyar as water flow into the reservoir in Idukki almost touched the maximum permissible storage level of 136 feet on Sunday due to heavy rain in the area.
The work we have done in the south and the northeast over the last 10 years under Prime Minister Modi's leadership, we have started getting results of the same, he said.
Harping on putting up a united front, the Congress alleged that democracy is being "mercilessly murdered" and MPs who raise people's issues are suspended from the House.
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on March 19 the pleas seeking a direction to the Centre to stay the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024 till the apex court has decided the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.
Leaders from 26 opposition parties, in power individually or in alliance in Delhi and 10 states, are meeting in Bengaluru to discuss strategy to take on the Narendra Modi-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The LDF unanimously decided not to have NCP in the front considering the "changed political climate" in that party after its merger with DIC-K on November 12, front convener Vaikom Viswan told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.
Emerging Kerala Global Connect Summit, a government initiative to attract overseas capital to the state, is set to begin from Tuesday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurating the summit.
Both parties refusing to yield on the key issue of number of DIC-K candidates contesting on Congress symbol.
Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala demanded a judicial probe into the circumstances that led to opening of shutters of 40-odd dams at a time in the state.
'The prime minister's comment on 'revdi culture' was welcome. But I am disappointed he did not follow up on that.' 'All political parties, including the BJP, have been guilty of this.' 'Now, Modi's guarantees, the Congress's 'nyay' path and both ruling and Opposition parties are vying with each other for freebies in my home state Andhra Pradesh.'
Despite their opposition based on ideology, both the political Right and the political Left possess similar behaviour, observes Shyam G Menon.
'If you want to really grow, it has to be geometric progression like it happened at the Centre or Haryana or Tripura, where you made a quantum jump.' 'This is possible in Kerala provided we present a better alternative with a great leadership, but the current leadership is busy fixing each other.'
The bitter political rivals -- the ruling LDF and the UDF -- close ranks in the state assembly to oppose the ban.
